“He tells the story this way because fragile egos are fragile, Ev.” Brian rolled his eyes as he jumped down from the picnic table. “Truth is, I got up the hill ahead ofhim, and some guys can’t take it when their friends are better hikers than they are.” He spread his hands helplessly.What can you do?
Ev looked back and forth between us and nodded to himself. I wondered what the hell he thought he knew.
“You know, since Cal and Ash didn’t want bachelor parties, a bunch of us are getting together Friday night at the Bar and Grill,” he offered. “Constantine calls it ‘pre-gaming the wedding.’ Parker and Jamie are doing five-dollar pitchers, Silas has threatened karaoke, and I’m designated driver. You guys should come.”
Ordinarily, Brian would have been all over that invitation, especially now that he was friends with Parker, but he only shrugged noncommittally. “Maybe. Thanks for the invite.”
He wasn’t any more talkative as we wandered back down the path, either. In fact, he didn’t say a single word. For once, he was totally closed off from me, and I couldn’t get a read on his emotions.
Maybe he was irked about my comment to Everett.
Or maybe he was annoyed about the kiss. Maybe he hadn’t been as into it as I was.
Maybe he was pissed that I’d practically dared him to do it.
Or, for all I knew, he was thinking aboutMark.
Thatidea pissedmeoff, even though it absolutely shouldn’t.
When the trail widened, I hurried a step to catch up to him so we were walking side by side. Brian darted a glance in my direction.
“So,” he said calmly. “That kiss wasn’t weird? It didn’t change anything in our friendship for you?”
I nearly refused to answer the question directly on the grounds I would step even deeper into the shit than I already was, but instead I shook my head, turned my lips down in an exaggerated frown, and lied. “Not at all.”
“Mmm.”
Mmm?Once again,nofucking clue what that meant. Brian’s face was blank, though his cheeks were pink. So I kept talking. “I mean, it was a great kiss. An amazing kiss. I really enjoyed it. I’m… It’s…” I cleared my throat.Keep your shit together, Turner. “The thing to keep in mind is that the kiss was so great because you and I already know each other. If you’d kissed me at a bar”—we’d be fucking right now— “it might have been weird. Which is why I’m saying, you need to get to know Mark better. Combine that tug you already feel for him with all the stuff you’llgetto knowand all the stuff he’ll get to know about you. Imagine how cool that would be.”
“Right,” he said faintly. “Imagine.”
“You don’t need to impress him, Brian,” I said, feeling a distinct lack of enthusiasm on his part and not understanding the origin of it. “You’re thoughtful and smart and fun andkind.” I stopped him with a hand on his chest and forced him to look at me. “Heneeds to impressyou.Make sure he looks at you like you’re the sexiest guy on the planet and treats you like gold before you decide to take it further. Don’t settle for anything less, you hear me?”
He snorted, which I took as a positive sign that he wasn’t mad at me, but then he said, “Dare, you’re a really good friend, but you’re not very objective. It’s like listening to my mom talk about what a catch I am.” He turned even redder. “I am the least sexy person in the universe.”
My jaw dropped and my fingers flexed against his breastbone with the need toshowhim how wrong he was.
“You are hot as fuck,” I said hoarsely.
“Okay, now you’re talking bullshit, so stop it.” Brian pulled away. He looked genuinely bewildered and upset. “That’s notme. Nobody sees me that way. Literally no one.”
“Um, hey!” I raised my hand. “Hi! Am I chopped liver?Isee it. And if Mark is the guy you think he is, he’ll see it too.” I took a deep breath like I was bracing for a dive into unpleasantly cold waters… because that’s kinda what it felt like. “We’llmakehim see it.”
“We?” Brian blinked. “Oh, no. Nope. You know, the more I think about it, we should just leave the man alone.”
I should have known him too well by that point to be shocked by his perpetual lack of confidence… but I still found it in me to be fuckingshockedby his lack of confidence. How could a person be so funny and sweet and giving and simply not know it? Brian deserved the best ofeverything.
I was going to make sure he got it.
“No backing out now, babe.” I gripped his shoulders and shook him just slightly. “You’re going to ask him to go to Cal and Ash’s wedding with you.”
Even though the thought turned my stomach.
Brian stared at me like I had three heads. “I absolutely am not. I couldn’t! Mark thinks I’m a creeper, Dare—”
“If he does…”I’ll kick his ass.“…he won’t when we get through with him and you show him what a great person you are. Okay?”
“Not okay! I thought you and I were going together!” he insisted, spinning away. “I’m not abandoning you to macarenaalone, Dare Turner! I’m a better friend than that.”
“Brian, I would never,everlet our friendship stand in the way of your happiness.” Even if it mean sacrificing my own. “I’m gonna get you the guy you want, and that’sfinal.”
And then somehow, some way, I was gonna figure out a way to move on.
