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“It was good.”
Xander frowned and opened his mouth as though he were about to ask something, but before anything came out, the front door swung open and Sean sauntered inside.
“All right, where is he?” Sean’s voice bounced off the walls as he stopped in the entryway with a six-pack of Heineken under one arm and a bag full of groceries under the other.
He had a smile on his face that was kind of…scary in its joy, and when he spotted Bailey standing with Xander by the fireplace, the smile widened.
“There you are.”
Bailey frowned, unable to remember the last time his brother had been so jubilant, and was ashamed to admit his first question was whether Sean had been drinking.
“Here I am,” Bailey said as he put the poker back in its holder. “You seem unusually…cheerful this evening.”
“Do I?”
“Yes, you do,” Xander said as he walked over to Sean. “What happened? Did you run over someone’s puppy on the way here?”
“No, I reserve that activity for Sundays, but I’m happy because of what happened last night.”
“Oh?” Xander said as he reached for the brown paper bag. “And what exciting adventure did you get up to last night, detective? Maybe we could compare notes.”
Sean opened his mouth to reply, but when nothing came out, Xander smirked and looked at the bag. “You going to let go of that?”
“Huh?”
“The grocery bag.”
Sean looked down to the brown sack and nodded. “Oh, yeah. Take it.”
“Now that’s something I don’t mind hearing on my Friday nights.” Xander hefted the bag into his arms and laughed at Sean’s bewildered expression. “Oh, forget it. How do you have a gay brother?”
Bailey finally felt the beginnings of a grin creep across his lips as Xander turned toward him and winked.
“At least I finally got you smiling.”
“What’s the matter with you? Why aren’t you smiling?” Sean said. But Bailey wasn’t in the mood to share. Not with Xander and definitely not with Sean.
“Don’t bother,” Xander said. “I already tried. He’s deflecting.”
Bailey sighed. He knew he hadn’t fooled Xander. “I’m just not in a great mood. Is that a crime?”
“For you? Yes,” Xander said.
“He’s right, Bay,” Sean said. “I’m usually the grumpy fucker. And the one night I’m finally in a good mood, you’re being all broody and won’t tell us why.”
Bailey rubbed a hand over his head. “Why don’t we talk about your good mood, then? That sounds like a better plan to me. I can’t actually remember the last time I saw you in one.”
Xander chuckled as he headed toward the kitchen, and Sean and Bailey followed.
“Turns out it actually involves your guy, Boudreaux.”
Bailey’s feet came to a grinding halt. No one noticed, though, because Xander was in front of him, and Sean had already launched into the rest of his story.
“We finally got him, Bay. You know, that motherfucker who’s been killing off his girls? Your guy walked in there last night as though he didn’t have a worry in the world—ballsy as fuck, he was—and got one of the nastiest pieces of work to tell him exactly what we wanted to hear. I told you Boudreaux was a charming asshole.”
Bailey wanted to congratulate Sean, knowing how much this meant to his brother, but he was busy trying to hide his reaction to the fact that Henri had been in real danger last night.
At Bailey’s non-response, Sean’s exuberance vanished. “Okay, what’s going on with you?”
Knowing Sean would put this together quicker than he could think up a good lie, Bailey decided that avoidance was the best course of action. He turned on his heel, ignored Sean’s question altogether, and headed through to the kitchen.
Xander had the fridge open and was busy putting the steaks and veggies in there for later. Sean put the six-pack on the kitchen island and said, “This bad mood of yours. It got something to do with Boudreaux?”
Yes. It had everything to do with Henri. But there was no way Bailey was admitting that.
“Because the last time we spoke, you were busy telling me to back off because this was serious.”
Xander straightened and shut the fridge, then pulled a bottle of Heineken from the pack and twisted the top off. “You’re such an asshole.”
“Hey.” Sean pointed at Xander. “I backed off, okay?”
“What made you think you had a say in the first place? Bailey can date whoever he wants.”
Sean looked to Bailey. “Is that it, Bay? Did you and Henri have a fight?”
Bailey chewed on the inside of his cheek, trying to decide how best to put this. “Uh, no. We just decided to take some time apart, you know. Things were going a little fast.”
Sean grabbed a beer and twisted the top off. “No shit. I told you to take it slow with him. What happened? He show his true colors or something?”
Bailey stiffened and automatically went on the defensive. “True colors?”
