“Kids. No kids.” Gavin shrugged. “Whatever. I mean you and me. G&T. We’re family. You and Graham too. You’re family. The same way Dakota and I are.”
“Yeah, true,” Thad agreed, squeezing his brother’s hand. “And at the risk of being sappy, I’m glad I have you. I fucking missed you when we weren’t talking.”
“Fuck. You’re gonna make me cry in a diner, youasshole,” Gavin said in a disgusted tone, his eyes red-rimmed. But he didn’t pull away.
“Yeah, well, this is payback. You almost made me cry on the patio on Halloween,” Thad shot back. “I wanted to stuff your head in a bush the whole time.”
Gavin laughed, still sniffling a little. “Seems fair then.”
Thad smiled. “Yeah. Yeah, it does.”
“We’re good though?” Gavin said, searching his face intently. “You and me?”
“Yeah. We’re good,” Thad assured him, squeezing his hand before letting go.
They were always going to argue. They were brothers, after all. Not to mention competitive assholes. But tonight, they’d had each other’s backs, exactly like they had growing up.
And now all Thad wanted to focus on was the future.
“Shall we get back to our guys then?” Gavin asked as Thad pulled out his wallet to pay for the dinner they’dactuallyeaten.
“Yeah.” Thad smiled at the thought of crawling into bed with Graham tonight and falling asleep in his arms. “Let’s.”
As they left the diner, the snow was falling heavier, in huge, fluffy flakes. Thad tilted his head up and stared for a moment, appreciating its beauty.
When he lowered his head, he found Gavin watching him with a small smile on his face.
“What?” he asked.
“I’m glad you came looking for a job last year,” Gavin said quietly. “I’m glad we had the opportunity to do this. To be brothers again.”
Thad swiped some snow from the top of the SUV and packed it into a ball, firing it at Gavin’s face before he could duck.
“Me too,” he said with a grin. “Now, gimme the keys. I’m driving back. You drive like a fucking lunatic.”
By the time they finally made it back to the Pennington house, they were bickering about who was a better driver and still drenched from the snowball fight they’d gotten into in front of the restaurant.
Graham and Dakota met them at the door, clearly worried.
“It went okay then?” Graham asked when Thad pulled him close and kissed him. Out of the corner of his eye, Thad caught Gavin doing the same to Dakota.
Thad drew back. “Dinner with our parents was fucking awful. But overall, yeah. Yeah, it was a good night.”
He glanced over at Gavin with a smile to see him already grinning back.
Maybe they’d lost something tonight, but he knew what they’d gained was far, far more important.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
It was the first week of the New Year, the Harriers were still holding their position in the division, and Thad whistled as he strolled the halls of the Hawk’s Nest on his way to the locker room before the Harriers’ afternoon game against the Dallas Steers.
“Hey, Thad!” Tyson called out.
Thad glanced over his shoulder to see his boss jogging toward him and slowed his steps until he drew even with him. “Hey. What’s up?”
“Just wanted to give you a heads-up we’ve got a couple of VIP guests tonight. It’s a last-minute addition to tonight’s schedule.”
“Yeah?” Thad asked with a frown. “Who?”
