Chapter Three
Riley started awake at the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs. The clock on the DVR showed that it was a little after two in the morning, and he knew he’d only drifted off around midnight when he’d decided that Brent wasn’t getting up again.
Apparently, he’d been wrong.
Riley sat up just in time to see Brent wandering into the kitchen in a t-shirt and his underwear, pushing his hair away from his face and yawning widely.
He looked less miserable, but Riley’s heart was still breaking for him. Brent didn’t deserve the way he’d been treated. No one did, but Brent especially so. He’d never hurt a soul. He was kind to a fault.
Riley didn’t believe anyone was perfect, but Brent was as close as anyone could get. Not that Brent would ever agree with that. His lack of self-confidence was his biggest flaw.
“Hey,” Riley said as he followed Brent into the kitchen, flicking one of the lights on to see by. “I thought you were asleep for the night.”
Brent shrugged. “Guess not. Sorry about falling asleep on you and letting the hot chocolate go cold.”
“It’s okay. Do you want me to make another mug, or do you want me to reheat dinner for you? It’s just pasta, but you must be starving by now.”
Brent opened his mouth to respond, but his stomach growled instead.
“Pasta it is,” Riley said, not about to take no for an answer. He wasn’t going to let Brent make himself sick over this, not even if he had to spoon-feed him.
“Thanks,” Brent murmured, moving to sit down at the kitchen table.
“Don’t thank me until you’ve tasted it.” Riley turned the oven on and adjusted the temperature dial before opening the fridge. He could have reheated it in the microwave, but microwaved food always went cold quickly. For a quick bite after a long day, it was fine, but what Brent really needed was a kind of internal hug.
Besides, that gave them time to talk, and Riley knew that Brent needed to talk.
“Hey, uh. There’s a bottle of champagne in the fridge that I was saving for, y’know, tonight,” Brent said. “You wanna help me drink it?”
As much as Riley knew that was a terrible idea, he couldn’t bring himself to refuse. Brent wasn’t asking for much, and one hangover wouldn’t kill either of them, despite the fact that they were both turning thirty this year.
If it would make Brent feel better about today, Riley was willing to go through ten hangovers.
“Sure. You want it in a fancy glass, or should I get out mugs?”
Brent laughed at that, and it almost sounded as though there was the tiniest spark of actual humor in it. Maybe he was feeling a little better.
“Fancy glasses. Let’s at least pretend to be celebrating.”
“What are we pretending to be celebrating?” Riley asked, reaching up into one of the top cupboards to find a wine glass. Brent didn’t own a champagne flute—he had no reason to—but Riley figured that was close enough.
“Dodging a bullet, I guess.”
Brent was probably trying to sound upbeat about it, but if anything, he just sounded more miserable.
Riley was fairly sure hehaddodged a bullet. He liked Rose well enough as a person, but he didn’t like her for Brent. They didn’t fit together. They weren’tright.
He’d never said that, of course, and he’d chalked it up to a combination of fear and jealousy. Brent washisbest friend, and he hadn’t wanted to lose him. Thinking ill of Rose had seemed petty and selfish, so he’d brushed it off as uncharitable and ignored his instincts.
At least he wasn’t trying to help Brent get a divorce right now. Things could have been worse.
“Well, if she was going to leave you, at least she did it before the wedding,” Riley said. “After would have been a lot messier.”
Brent huffed softly, sitting back in his chair. “This is my fault. I wanted so badly to get married and settle down that I was totally blind. I should have known.” Brent wet his lips. “You knew, didn’t you?”
“No,” Riley said, hoping it wasn’t too obvious that he was hiding something. Brent didn’t need to hear that he hadn’t thought they worked together. “I just wanted you to be happy.”
That part was true. And Riley had convinced himself that Brent would be happy with Rose. Brent deserved to be able to settle down, have a stable, loving relationship with someone who’d treat him right and value everything about him.
