Dare You by Ella Frank
Kieran
THE MUSIC BLARED out of the new stereo I’d recently installed in my blood-orange 1970 Pontiac Firebird as I turned onto my brother Bailey’s street and headed down to the far end of the cul-de-sac.
It was Saturday afternoon, and me and my brothers usually congregated at our childhood home for a barbecue if we were free. This weekend it seemed the fates had aligned and we were all available, judging by my oldest brother Sean’s truck, which was already parked in the drive.
I pulled in behind it and cut the engine, then sat there for a minute and stared at the house I’d grown up in. There were so many memories inside those walls. Some good, some not so good. But ever since Bailey and his boyfriend Henri had moved in and made the place their own, nothing but good memories had come out of there.
I shoved open my car door and grabbed the double pack of beer on the seat beside me, then climbed out and pushed the door closed with my ass. It was another scorcher today, and the sooner I got out of the heat, the better.
The muffled sound of laughter erupted from the deck around back as I reached the front door, and after several knocks it was pulled wide by my brother.
“Well, it’s about time you got here.” Bailey flashed his easygoing smile and reached for one of the six-packs I held, then pulled me into a warm hug and clapped me on the back. “Sean’s about polished off half the beer he brought with him, and God knows I didn’t want to deal with his complaining.”
“That must be his loud mouth I heard back there.” I kicked the door shut behind me and followed Bailey into the kitchen, where Xander, our longtime family friend—though a little more friendly with my oldest brother lately—stood seasoning the burger patties he had meticulously set out on a platter.
He glanced over his shoulder at me, not a black or silver hair out of place, and grinned. “Wow, look who decided to grace us with his presence today.” With his hands full, he held out his elbow, and I knocked it with mine in greeting.
I set down the case of beer on the counter and grabbed a handful of the chips already laid out in a serving bowl. “It’s been a busy few weeks. You know, saving the city one burning building at a time.”
“And so modest, too,” Xander said dryly.
Bailey clapped me on the back. “Can’t run into fires without being a little cocky.”
Xander glanced at us and raised a brow. “Cocky? Or unhinged? I can never tell with you Bailey brothers.”
“Says the man who reports live from wars, hurricanes, drug busts…”
“Not to mention living with the biggest pain in the ass in Chicago,” Bailey finished.
Xander smirked. “You really want to go there?”
Bailey blinked, and then realized what he’d said. “No. Hell no. Keep all that to yourselves and in the bedroom, thanks.”
“I can’t promise we keep it in the bedroom—”
“Oh God, can we not? I don’t need to know what happens in either of your bedrooms.” I shoved the whole handful of chips in my mouth and went to grab for more, but Xander swatted me away.
“Hmm. Is this need to keep us quiet about our relationships a way to keep us from asking about what’s going on in yours?”
I shrugged and licked the salty vinegar off my fingers. “Nothing’s going on in mine.”
“No?” Xander exchanged a glance with Bailey, and I had the feeling I was about to get teamed up on. “You haven’t saved any damsels in distress lately?”
Why my mind flashed to the image of Sebastian Vogel in his tight red dress, I didn’t know, because from what I’d learned of the guy so far, he was the furthest thing from someone who needed to be rescued.
“No. Nope. No damsels in my bed—my life.”
Xander narrowed his eyes at me. “Uh huh.” Then he handed me the platter of raw burgers. “Why don’t you take these outside so Bailey and I can gossip about what that quick denial meant.”
Surely that wasn’t a pang of guilt I felt, because I hadn’t been lying. There was no need to say anything about Bash. He was just one of the many people I’d rescued over the past few weeks. No big deal.
“Well, it looks like Kieran, but I don’t think I’ve seen him thinking that hard before.”
As I stepped outside, I shook all thoughts of the bewildering AnaVoge CEO out of my head, only to see Henri, Bailey’s other half, scraping the grill. Even with the current heat wave, the man wore nothing but black from head to toe, and the sunlight hitting the silver jewelry covering his knuckles—and in his nose—made him look all the more out of place for a family barbecue. How the hell my quiet boy-scout brother fell for that guy, I had no idea, but he cooked a mean burger, so he was all good in my book.
Sean’s chuckle made me look over to see him sprawled out in one of the Adirondack chairs, an almost-empty beer in one hand, and a full, unopened one in the other. He was three sheets to the wind, all right, especially with that lazy grin on his mug, not to mention the fact that he was out here laughing with Henri—a man he used to hate.
Man, we’d all come a long way.
I set down the platter beside Henri so he could get started on the burgers, and then crossed my arms and stared down at Sean. He didn’t look like such a schlumpy bastard anymore; gone were the crumpled old shirts and jeans he used to wear, and in their place was someone slightly more put together. Newer clothes that actually looked like they’d seen an iron, and I knew who we all had to thank for turning our unkempt brother around.
“Nice shirt,” I said. “What’s that color, anyway? Xander-picked-it-out-for-you blue?”
Sean looked down at himself, and when he realized he was still holding two bottles, quickly downed the almost-empty one before popping the top off the other. “‘I look good’ is what it’s called. Jealous?”
“Yeah, I’m dying for Xander to come make over my closet.”
“Be careful,” Henri said. “Xander has a way of making people come out of closets.”
“Ha!” Sean laughed and held his beer up. “I came out of the closet! I got that one. Finally, the gay jokes all make sense now.”
“Oh my God, you’re such a fucking dumbass.” I took the seat beside Sean.
“Hey, Xander would be proud.”
“Because you finally don’t look like a stunned mullet whenever he tells a joke that’s full of innuendo? Dude, Bailey came out in high school. Has it really taken you this long to catch up with the jokes?”
“This long and the right man to, you know, teach me.”
Okay, these guys were worse than my crew back at the firehouse. Sex on the brain twenty-four seven. But while we were all sitting around joking about it good-naturedly, the guys last night—or at least one of them—had had to go and act like a total dick. I still couldn’t believe the shit Sanderson had said to Bash. It hadn’t sat right with me last night and still didn’t today, because if that had been either of my brothers, I would’ve knocked that fucker’s teeth out.
“Kieran?”
“Huh?” I glanced over to Henri and realized I must’ve missed something.
“I asked how work was. I saw that big fire over at the Royale the other night. You get called to that?”
“You saw that?” I couldn’t say why, but my pulse began to speed up a little, and my mind immediately jumped to the image I would’ve made handing a shoe over to Miss Razzle Dazzle.
“Yeah. It was on the news, but I couldn’t see the truck number to know if it was you or not.”
An immediate feeling of relief washed over me, which was ridiculous. I stared stupidly up at Henri, who was looking at me with a frown.
“You feelin’ all right there, Kieran? You faint with hunger or somethin’?”
Sean’s annoying voice snapped me out of my daze, and I turned to glare at him. “I’m just fine, but you might wanna stop drinking.”
“I’m relaxing. You’re acting weird. So, what gives?”
“Nothing gives. I’m just tired.” I looked back to Henri, blocking Sean out. “And yeah, I was at the Royale. It was a nightmare climb. Twenty-five fucking floors.”
Henri grimaced. “That does sound like a nightmare. Everyone out safe?”
“Yep.”
Henri turned back to the grill, and when I looked back to Sean, he gave me that shit-eating grin he was most despised for. “You’re hiding something.”
I scoffed and shook my head. “You’re drunk.”
“I’m relaxed, how many times I gotta say that? Which makes me wonder why you don’t have a beer in your hand if you’re so tired and stressed out.”
“Okay, detective, calm down over there. I’m just trying to put some food in me before I try to compete with you.”
“Or you’re tryin’ to keep a clear head and keep your secret.”
“I don’t have a secret.”
“Okay.”
God I hated when Sean said that. Okay, like he actually believed you. When deep down you knew he thought you were full of shit. No one, and I mean no one, could get under your skin like my big brother, which made him an extremely effective police detective but the worst person ever to try to hide shit from. If Sean even got a whiff of something he could use to heckle me, I’d be done for.
“I think I’m gonna go get that beer.”
“Oh, so now you’re thirsty. Gotcha.”
I flipped my brother off and was about to get to my feet and escape when Bailey and Xander stepped outside armed with extra beer and chips.
“Sit. Sit,” Bailey said as he handed me a cold one. Then he headed over to Henri and wound an arm around his waist.
Xander took up a spot on Sean’s lap and gestured to the bowl of chips. “Maybe you should have a few of these?”
Sean chuckled and nuzzled into Xander’s neck. “You trying to kill my buzz?”
“No, just trying to lower it to a simmer.”
“Good luck with that.” I tipped my beer back and took a swig as the two of them looked at me, and Sean kissed his way up to Xander’s ear.
“Kieran’s acting weird.”
“Is he now?” Xander said, and I rolled my eyes.
Great, this was just great—now everyone was ganging up on me. “For the hundredth time, I’m not acting weird. I’m tired.”
Bailey frowned. “I don’t know. Your phone isn’t in your hand. You’re acting grumpy. Maybe the popularity from that calendar win is finally starting to fade.”
“Fuck you.”
“Ooh, and he’s feisty,” Xander said. “What happened to our laidback Kieran? Do you need something stronger than beer? A few shots, perhaps? Or maybe something other than alcohol?”
I shook my head, not wanting to even think about the alternative right now. Although… Shit, maybe that was the problem. I’d been so busy on rotation the last few days that I hadn’t had the time or energy to even think about hooking up. A call back to any of the girls who’d messaged lately would fix that issue, but somehow that wasn’t piquing my interest at the moment.
Instead, I felt that same pang of guilt I’d felt last night when I saw the vulnerability lurking in Bash’s eyes outside the pub. Yeah, he seemed to be an eccentric guy, and yeah, maybe he didn’t fit in—whatever that meant—at the pub, but he was still a human being, a decent one at that, and I couldn’t help but feel responsible for what had gone down last night.
As I looked around the patio at my family, I knew exactly why the guilt had taken hold. Here I was surrounded by all this love and acceptance, and I’d done a piss-poor job of defending someone who could have easily been standing here with us, giving back everything the others threw at him.
Shit. I hadn’t even realized I’d been acting strange until I arrived and everyone called me out. Ugh. I hated when they were right.
I drained half the cold beer in one go, hoping the alcohol would help me loosen up a little. I’d worry about my moral compass later.
“All right, fuckers,” I said, stealing the bowl of chips away from Sean’s greedy hands. “How about you stop worrying about me and start worrying about what’s gonna happen if you don’t get a few burgers in my stomach soon?”
