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“No, no, and no,” Lake said, inserting fake cheer into his voice. There was no reason to make Avery worry any more than was needed or to reveal just how shaky he felt about it. He spent hundreds of hours a year thirteen thousand feet in the air doing some death-defying shit, and he’d never once had to crash land or even come close. He’d also never been in a boating accident, or a car accident before today, or any other kind of accident.
He’d prepared for it, of course—emergency training at work was no joke, and they’dreplicatedcrashes so that he was properly instructed on what he needed to do—but this had been different. This had been real. He might have been in uniform, but he hadn’t been thinking with his officer cap. He’d just been him. And the relief he’d felt on seeing Grady coming to rescue him once more had been allLake.
Avery didn’t need to know that his hands were still shaking slightly, or that all he wanted to do was lean over and grip Grady’s thigh so he could feel the warmth under his palm.
“Lake…”
“I was just calling about the number,” Lake said, trying to convey that he didn’t want to talk about it without actually coming out andsayingit. Sibling bonds had to be good for something, right? “You just stay and enjoy your night with Zach and Felix.” He knew that Zach had planned something special for the three of them, and considering it was their first Valentine’s Day together, Lake really didn’t want to fuck it up. Even if he was a little annoyed at Avery because he was a fucking hypocrite.
“Fine,” Avery bit out, though Lake knew that he wasn’t finished with what he wanted to say. The next time they saw each other, he would have something else unflattering to add.
“Fine,” Lake repeated because he was mature like that.
“Zach wants you to come over for dinner on Friday.”
Lake bit his lip. He tried to temper himself, but the, “Well, thenZachcan ask me,” came out snippier than he’d wanted it to. But not snippier than he’d meant, because why the fuck was that message coming through his brother?
Grady glanced at him, and Lake looked away.
“Touchy.”
“I’m nottouchy,” Lake said even if he totally was.
“There’s a customer, so I have to go. See you on Friday!”
He was gone before Lake could respond. He stared at the blank phone for a long moment. Grady had a boring wallpaper, some kind of forest landscape that was probably a generic one that came with the phone.
“Lake…” Grady trailed off.
Lake winced. Fuck, he must look pathetic. “Don’t. Please.”
“All right.”
The silence went on for a block before Lake couldn’t take it anymore. He’d never been a fan of silence.
“So,” he said suggestively, wanting to get them back on an even keel. “Your place or mine?”
Grady chuckled as he glanced at Lake. “You don’t have plans for tonight? It is the ‘day of love,’ after all,” he said, sarcasm slipping into his tone.
Lake snorted. He hadn’t ever had a date on Valentine’s Day, even when he’d been dating someone, and he didn’t plan on starting now, unlikesomepeople. Besides that… “I’m taking a hiatus from dating at the moment. I’m still dealing with the trauma from the last one.” He hesitated, not sure he wanted to know, but feeling like he should probably ask anyway. “Do… you have plans? You can just drop me off if you do. It’s no biggie.” It was, but Lake didn’t know why, so he kept that part to himself. “Unless it’s with your ex, in which case I’m not letting you out of this car because friends don’t let friends make bad decisions.”
“I definitely don’t have plans,” Grady said. “Unless getting blind drunk is a plan?”
“It’s my favourite kind,” Lake said with a grin.
“We need to go to mine first. I need to shower and get into clean clothes. I stink, remember?”
“I haven’t forgotten,” Lake said impishly. He could also still smell it because his nose, unfortunately, was still working. And the stop-start routine of the busy traffic meant that the wind wasn’t picking up enough to waft it out properly. “What do you mean by ‘first’? Are we going somewhere else?”
“I thought we could go to your place,” Grady said. He flicked his indicator on before turning the corner. And then they stopped again at a pedestrian crossing.
“Oh,” Lake said, unable to hide his disappointment.
“Is there a reason you don’t like your house?” Grady asked.
It was a fair question since they hadn’t spent a lot of time in the last few months at Lake’s, even though they’d spent so many evenings together.
Lake didn’t answer at first, staring out at the dozens of people milling about like ants with a purpose. “It’s empty,” he said quietly. “I bought it when my grandpa died about ten years ago, from my half of the inheritance. There was a lot of space for a family, and a pool, and a big yard for a dog. I fixed it up using money I got from a really long deployment.” He stared down at his hands. “I guess I thought it would be filled by now.” He couldn’t quite smother the feeling of failure when he thought about all the personal accomplishments that he hadn’t ticked off yet. As though his life was nothing more than a checklist that he had to work his way down. He knew that wasn’t right, but it slithered in there anyway.
