“Why? What happened?”
“He’s in love with Ava.”
“Did he say that?”
Trey stared at his brother. Magnus didn’t have to say it. Trey could tell.
“For fuck’s sake, Trey.”
“What? You and I both know it never woulda worked out with him. I’m too fuckin’ old for him, for one thing. And another, he’s bisexual.”
“So fuckin’ what?”
“He wants…” Trey swallowed and glanced down at the table. “He wants what Travis had with Gage and Kylie.”
“Oh.”
Yeah.Oh.“I don’t swing that way.”
Brantley’s eyebrows slammed down. “Meanin’ you’re gay? Or meanin’ you can’t bear the thought of sharin’ him with a woman?”
“Hell if I know.” When he’d first learned that Magnus wanted a man and a woman, he never could’ve imagined sharing him with anyone else. Then Ava came around, and he worried about it a little less. When he thought about the two of them together, he never considered it sharing because Trey had a piece of her, too. Not sexually, of course. But he did have her friendship. So in a sense, it worked.
However, intimacy would become a thing at some point, and Trey damn sure wasn’t cut out for that shit.
His gaze lowered to his arm, and he swore he could still feel the coolness of her fingers against his skin. He shook off the thought, looking up at the same time Bailey approached to deliver another round. Trey thanked her before she sauntered off.
As soon as she was out of earshot, Brantley spoke, his voice lowered. “I’m gonna tell you somethin’, and I want you to listen to me closely.”
Trey met his brother’s eyes, held his stare.
“When Reese got shot and nearly fuckin’ died, I thought my world had ended. And when I found out he’d been out with his ex-girlfriendwhenhe got shot, I knew it had.”
“And you left him,” Trey reminded him.
“You’re right. I did. And I hated every fuckin’ second without him. I felt empty. I hated myself for walkin’ away, but he’d made a choice. Or I thought he had, anyway.” His voice lowered a little more. “When he came back, I was pissed, but I knew I loved him and didn’t want to spend my life without him. If you care about Magnus like that, you need to take a damn hard look at what you want before you give him up.”
“Nice to know you’ve got my back,” Trey bit out.
“I’ve always got your back. No matter what. You tell me Magnus needs his ass kicked, I’ll call up Travis and them, and we’ll line up with our fuckin’ boots laced tight. You tell me Ava’s makin’ a move on your man, I’ll sic JJ on her. But if you wanna tuck your tail between your legs before you know what’s what … that’s on you, Trey.”
This conversation certainly didn’t go the way Trey had expected, but he had to admit—at least to himself—Brantley had a fucking point.
The shithead.
Chapter Six
Friday, July 22, 2022
Magnus knew Trey was coming before hestepped foot in the main office. For the better part of the day, Trey had been hanging out in the play yard with the dogs. And when he wasn’t there, he was hanging out with Sarge and Aurora, taking them for walks, feeding them lunch, sneaking them treats when he thought Magnus wasn’t looking. The guy spent more time lounging than he did working. Not that Magnus gave a shit. Trey had more than pulled his weight, stepping in at a time when Magnus would’ve let the entire place go to shit because he hadn’t cared about anything but Ava.
Trey had cared enough not to let that happen. He’d been there throughout, learning the ropes, filling in when someone called in, and coming in early to relieve Billy and Gia from the night shift. According to Gia, Trey continued to apologize for dragging them down, but she didn’t understand why. She’d told Magnus that he certainly didn’t give himself enough credit. Magnus knew that to be true because that was the way Trey was. With everything. For the past four months, he hadn’t missed a single day.
And come tomorrow, Trey would no longer be coming in. He was quitting.
If Magnus knew a way to keep him, both at the camp and in his life, he would be doing it now. Only he was at a loss because he didn’t know why everything had gone to shit in the first place. One minute Trey was introducing himself as Magnus’s boyfriend, the next, he was fucking him goodbye. Oh, yeah. Magnus had no doubt in his mind that the other night had been Trey’s way of saying thanks for the good time but sayonara, asshole.
“I gave the evenin’ meds,” Trey drawled when he stepped into the office.
