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I managed to get a late check-out today, but it’s now closing in on eleven, so I quickly get changed and toss all my stuff back into my duffel bag before heading down to reception to check out. On the one hand I kind of miss the days before my brothers all settled down in relationships and I could just crash at one of their places during my brief visits to the city, but on the other I do appreciate the privacy that comes with having my own hotel room. I could never have had the kind of weekends I’ve been having with Ellie at one of my brothers’ places. The fact that she’s currently living at Aidan’s midtown apartment kind of proves that.
Leaving the hotel, I head a few streets over so I can take the subway over to Hell’s Kitchen where my oldest brother, Shay, has an apartment. I saw my whole family at my nephew’s birthday party yesterday, so the bulk of my family obligation has been taken care of for the foreseeable future, but I agreed to grab some lunch with a couple of my brothers before making the drive back this afternoon.
When I get to Shay’s place, his boyfriend, Jamie, opens the door, offering a bright smile that turns into a knowing smirk as his eyes linger on the space on my neck where I now remember Ellie had a lot of fun biting and sucking last night. Jeez, no wonder the girl at reception was giving me the side-eye this morning.
“Fun night, mate?” Jamie teases in his London accent as he ushers me inside the apartment.
I shrug. “Might’ve been.”
I set my bag on the floor next to the kitchen counter and am about to ask where Shay is when he sticks his head out from the bedroom. “Hey, Finn. Can you help me with something?”
I exchange a curious look with Jamie before taking a hesitant step toward the bedroom. “If this is about some weird boil or something, that’s really Jamie’s territory.”
“It’s nothing like that,” Jamie says. “Trust me, I’d know.”
I give an exasperated shake of my head and step into Jamie and Shay’s bedroom, my curiosity growing when Shay slides the door closed behind me. “What the fuck’s going on?”
“I need your opinion on something,” Shay says, shoving a tiny ring box under my nose.
“What the—?” In the box sits a gleaming purple ring, inlaid with shining purple stones. It looks like something a Disney princess would wear. “What is it?” I ask curiously.
“It’s an engagement ring,” he announces, a little hesitation in his tone.
“It’s purple,” I point out.
“It’s forJamie.”
I nod. “Yeah, fair enough.” Then the significance of what he’s telling me actually sinks in and I snap my gaze up to his face. “Wait…you’reproposing?”
Shay smiles down at the ring, that same expression of love and awe he always gets when he looks at his boyfriend shining across his features. “Yeah. I want to do it Christmas morning,” he says. “It’ll be his first Christmas in America, so I want it to be amazing.”
“Wow.” It’s not that I didn’t think Shay and Jamie had it in them to go the distance, it’s just that up until a bit over a year ago, Shay seemed determined to be a bachelor for life. I could never even fathom him settling down, let alone getting married. But then he met Jamie and, well, here we are. I reach out to clap Shay on the shoulder, squeezing gently. “Congratulations, man.”
Shay draws in a deep breath. “You think he’s going to say yes?”
I roll my eyes. “Of course, he’s going to say yes. It’s actually really ridiculous how much that guy loves you.” I give a wry shake of my head. “I don’t understand it at all.”
Shay pockets the ring and turns for the door.
“Your pocket?” I ask skeptically. “That’s where you’re planning on keeping the ring for the next three months?”
Shay rolls his eyes. “Of course not. I’ll put it back in my pencil case when Jamie’s not there.”
Shay’s a line artist, and his ‘pencil case’ is actually more like a mini-suitcase, holding a vast array of pencils and pens and markers. It’s one place that Jamie would never dare trespass so it really is the ideal hiding spot.
“If Jamie asks, we were talking about Jake,” Shay says, referencing our seventeen-year-old cousin who Shay took over the guardianship of last year after he got into a bit of trouble back home in Baltimore.
My brows shoot up. “Why? What’s wrong with Jake?”
Shay shrugs. “Nothing. He’s doing really well, actually. But if you ruin this surprise for me, I won’t hesitate to castrate you, you understand me?” he growls.
I cringe, my hands flying protectively to cover my crotch. “Yeah, I got it. Jesus.”
Shay tugs the heavy sliding door open and we step back out into the living room, where Jamie has now been joined by Jake.
I offer my cousin a broad grin, striding over to pat him on the arm. “Hey, buddy, we were just talking about you. How’s it going?”
“Finn, you’re not supposed to tell him that. That’s why the door was closed,” Shay chides, giving no indication whatsoever that he’s bullshitting.
