Chapter One
October 31st- Almost two monthsago…
“Tell me again why I let you get me into these things,” Drew sighed, leaning his head against the passenger’s seatwindow.
Sebastian pulled his sleek blue Charger into a spot on the dark, tree-lined suburban street and cut the engine, while Drew glared at the sprawling Colonial across from them. Purple and green strobe lights flickered from the wide-open garage, and through the large front windows, he could see a throng of people millingaround.
“Because you never go out and have fun anymore. It’s beyond introversion - it’sunhealthy.”
“This from the man who turned his living room into a cave for months onend?”
“Uh huh. Takes one to know one. And speaking of my brief time as a hermit, you’re here because you owe me,” Bas reminded him, leaning over to check his artfully messy, dark hair in the rearview mirror. “Two months ago, when my little brother was jetting off to St. Brigitte with that overgrown golden retriever he calls his boyfriend,youtold me I had to get my ass off the couch and come with you.Stop wallowing, you said.The plane crash happened more than a year ago, you said.Your parents and Amy wouldn’t want you to be this way, you said.Help your brother, yousaid.”
Drew sighedagain.
“And when I wouldn’t listen, you yelled at me,” Bas continued, flipping the mirror closed. “Cursed a blue streak, called me an asshole, said Cam deserved a brother who wasn’t a… how did you put it? Hmmm… Aself-absorbed prickwho wastoo busy wallowing in grief to save the only family he had left?” He nodded. “Yep, pretty sure that wasit.”
Closing his eyes on a wince, Drew shook his head. “Right, fine. Iremember.”
“Andthenyou hit me.” Bas touched his jaw as if the long-healed injury might still be tender. “Hard. Aaaand, I went with you to help Cam. So this is what we callpayback.”
Drew folded his arms over his chest. Bas had conveniently forgotten a few pesky facts, as he tended to do. “Your brother was following a guy who wasnotyet his boyfriend to a remote island. A guy who happened to be an FBI agentandwasrelated to the pilot we all thought had killed your parents and my sister.Andyou had just figured out that there was a connection between our parents’ oldest friend and the plane crash. I shouldn’t havehadto hit you to get you tocome.”
“Eh. All that’s irrelevant. You did hit me.Hard,” Bas repeated, blue eyes wide and guileless. “It’s not about right or wrong here, McMann. It’s about you hitting me, andpayback.”
Drew shook his head and thunked his head back against the headrest repeatedly. “Serves me right for trying to help your sorry ass. And Cam’s. No good deed goesunpunished.”
“No good deed goes unpunished,” Bas mocked, sing-song. “Listen to you. It’s a Halloween party, Andrew. With a bunch of old friends we haven’t seen in a decade.Costumes, and candy, and spooky music. Hardly a firing squad in sight.” He shook his head, pulling the handle to open his door. “I thought we decided a long time ago that I was the pissy, dramatic one in thisfriendship.”
“Who decidedthat?”
Bas waved a hand in the air. “Who remembers? Point is, it’s been that way forever. We can’t be changing the rules thirty years down the line. I won’t know who I amanymore.”
“Yeah, right.” Drew opened his door and pulled himself out to stand on the sidewalk. “You’ll still be Sebastian Seaver,” he said gloomily. “Millionaire heir. Tech genius. Too single-minded to care about other people’s boundaries.” Or their hatred of loud parties, costumes, and high school ‘friends’ they hadn’t seen in a decade. “But somehow people like youanyway.”
He walked around the hood of the car and stood next to Bas for a second, staring up at the house. “Meanwhile,Iam a humblelawyer…”
“Humble,” Basscoffed.
“Ahumble lawyer,”Drew repeated loudly. “A man who has more than a dozen people reporting to him, a mother to support, and a reputation to uphold - and I’m letting you drag me out, dressed like this.” He looked down at the thick work boots, flannel shirt, necklace, and jeans that made up his costume. “Nobody’s going to get who we are, you know. I look like a grunge musician, circa 1990-something.”
“Okay, first, these are kick-ass costumes!” Bas said, offended. “The Winchesters from Supernatural? Everyone with a brain will get this. And second, I chose these outfits for you because I knew youwould want something low-key! You should be thanking me, man. I debated making you come as aPokémon.”
“Like hell. There are limits,” Drew told him, leaning back against thecar.
“To our friendship?” Bas lookedoffended.
“To how much I can beguilted.”
“Fine. Four hours,” Bas said. “Then the debt iscleared.”
“Jesus. I smacked your face. Once. I didn’t fatally stab you. They’re going to be getting drunk and playing games like we’re still in high school,” Drew argued. “A time in my life I don’t need to relive. I’ll give you two hours. Tops.” Two hours to nurse a drink so he could get them home safely wasplenty.
Bas shook his head as he started walking backward across the wide, leaf-strewn street toward the driveway. “The punch was a betrayal, McMann. It wasn’t fatal, but the pain ran deep.Andthese people are old friends, so it’s not like I’m torturing you in a dungeon here. No skin flaying. All your teeth will remain intact. Three hours, finaloffer.”
“Fine.” Drew pushed himself off the car and reluctantly followed his best friend. “Do you realize how often we have followed this pattern? You dragging me somewhere - whether it was summer camp, or some terrible party with warm beer, or that Frisbee golf team - all so you could hook up with a…” He paused, horrified. “Oh, Sebastian. Tell me we’re not here so you can hook up with some girl.Please?”
“We’re not here so I can hook up,” Bas repeated dutifully, throwing an arm around Drew’s shoulder as they reached the bottom of the driveway. Though Bas was stockier than Drew, far more muscular, they were nearly the same height, which meant Drew had to lean toward Bas in order to walk this way. It brought Drew close enough to smell Sebastian - some cologne that smelled like bay leaves, along with the salt and spice that was uniquely Bas. The smell made Drew’s heartbeat accelerate, just as it had since they were fourteen, despite all the very important reasons why it shouldn’t: their lifelong friendship, Drew’s (brief, disastrous) relationship with Bas’s brother, Bas’s (very brief, tragic) engagement to Drew’s sister, and the fact that unlike Drew, Bas was one hundred percentstraight.
