I sighed.
“Nothing is going on between me and Mason,” I repeated. “The twins screwed up his hotel room, so he’s staying with me while he’s in town. That’s all.”
Kaine’s ears perked up at that.
“Oh, I see,” he said facetiously. “You just happen to meet this smart, funny, talented guy, not to mention rich, who also has an ass you could bounce quarters off and he, coincidentally, doesn’t have anyplace to stay andhasto sleep in your secluded cabin in the woods? Yep, sounds legit to me.”
“Fuck you,” I said, and threw a wadded-up napkin at him. He didn’t even have the decency to duck and it flew right past his ear to land on the booth seat. Something about the way he had talked aboutMason had my blood boiling. He really didn’t need to be looking at him like that.
“Again, with the no thank you,” he said, “…but if you keep bringing it up, I might just have to find you a blind date.”
“I don’t need a blind date,” I said. “And you can tell the moms that I’m fine. Nothing a little sleep won’t solve.”
I knew he was debating continuing the argument when our server walked up. I noticed, almost indifferently, that our harried server was a cute young guy with messy reddish-brown hair and a smattering of freckles across his cheeks. His eyes were bright blue and he looked strangely familiar to me.
“I’m so sorry for the wait, guys, what can I get you?” he asked in a rushed, slightly out of breath voice.
“Just coffee for me, please,” I said.
Kaine was busy looking down at his menu. “I think I’d like the…” as he looked up his eyes caught on our server’s face, and Kaine’s normally tan face went white. “…Nicki?” He gasped, the name sighing out of his mouth as he locked eyes on the man’s face.
My heart sank as I saw the man freeze. Sure enough, his name tag said “Dominic”, for all the world to see. What the hell?
“Kaine,” the man whispered, his cheeks turning pink. I looked at my brother, who seemed frozen in shock. The last I'd heard Nicki had moved with his family to Florida or something. I must have made some kind of movement, because Nicki’s eyes flitted to me.
“…Lee?” He asked, lifting an eyebrow in question. I stood, reaching my hand out to shake his, while I tried to cover for Kaine’s shock.
“Good to see you, man! How’ve you been?” I asked.
“Um, good, I guess?” He mumbled. Though he was talking to me, his eyes kept flitting nervously to Kaine who still sat in the booth dumbstruck.
“When did you get back in town?” I asked, as I sat back down, real worry beginning to seize me as I looked at Kaine. He was still pale and frozen as he looked at his former friend in shock.
“Um, a while now,” he said, nervously shifting from foot to foot.
“What… What can I get you guys?” he asked, looking around the restaurant nervously, but avoiding looking at Kaine.
“Just coffee for me. Kaine, what did you want?”
Kaine finally stirred when I said his name, his eyes dropping to his hands as they gripped the menu. His knuckles were white, and I saw the conscious effort he made to relax them and lay the menu down. We sat there for a few seconds.
“Kaine?” I asked again softly.
“I… I’m sorry. I can’t…” he paused, taking a deep breath. “I can’t do this.”
He slid out of the booth suddenly and bolted for the door. I stood quickly and threw some cash on the table for the drinks and ran out after my brother.
When I got outside, Kaine was standing on a stone wall that was halfway across the parking lot and separated it from the traffic on the Circle, his hands buried in his hair.
“Kaine!” I yelled, and he finally stayed there, pacing back and forth so I could catch up with him. I reached my hand out to grip his shoulder gently.
“I take it you didn’t know?”
He just stood there and shook his head.
“Nope,” he finally answered, his voice bitter. “Last I heard from him his family was living in Tampa. About a month after he moved, he—” his voice broke a moment, and I could hear the unshed tears in it. “He asked me to stop calling him. He said it would be… better… if we made a clean break.”
“Fuck,” I said. I wrapped my arms around him and tugged him close. For a few minutes he just stood there, then I felt his chest heave and a sob tore loose from him.
