Donovan’s head snapped around so fast that Brady sat back and held up his hands in mock surrender.
“Hey, if you wanna pretend it’s a secret, go for it.” He lowered his hands and leaned in, resting his arm on the table. “But I know you were there. Your truck was out front. And like I said, Reilly was tryin’ to drown out the noise with her headphones.”
“Fuck.” Donovan thrust his hand through his hair. “I didn’t want her to find out like that.”
Brady leaned forward. “Did you think you could keep it from her?”
Donovan shook his head. He opened his mouth but closed it just as quickly.
“So what happened?” Brady forged on. “And I’m not talkin’ about details. I mean … today.”
“What’re you talkin’ about?”
Brady rolled his eyes. “Come on, D. I’ve known you damn near your whole life. You might not be the most pleasant guy to be around sometimes, but usually you’ve got a reason for gettin’ pissed off.”
Donovan leaned forward and sighed. “I’m not pissed. Okay, maybe a little. Fuckin’ Tate,” he muttered. “He was gone when I woke up.”
“Like gone from the bed? Or…?”
“Gone from the house,” Donovan said, staring into his nearly empty coffee cup.
Whoa.
Brady didn’t mean to, but he laughed.
“Seriously?” Donovan shook his head. “You find amusement in my pain.”
“Sorry,” Brady blurted. “I just never thought there’d be a man with balls big enough to walk away from you. Damn sure didn’t see it bein’ little Tate Riggs.”
Donovan rolled his eyes. “I wasn’t expectin’ it, that’s all.”
“That’s not all,” Brady said, sobering. “It’s real for you. You can admit it.”
He knew that like he knew his own name. Donovan didn’t get pissy over the guys he was seeing. Hell, for the most part, he shrugged them off because he could take them or leave them. This was quite possibly the first time Brady had seen him so twisted. Not since … a lifetime ago.
Donovan met his stare. “Yeah. It’s real. At least I thought it was.”
Brady didn’t like the fact that was in the past tense. Although he wasn’t sure when this came to be, Brady didn’t want Donovan to give up too quickly.
“What’re you gonna do about it?”
“Fuck if I know.”
Donovan appeared sincerely stumped by the turn of events. Which was probably a good thing. Someone needed to shake up the man’s life. Who would’ve thought it would be little Tate Riggs? And he meant that with the utmost sincerity. He liked Tate. Hell, the guy made him laugh all the damn time, especially when he got on his kick and started calling everyone sweetie.
Brady took a sip of his coffee and stared at his best friend. Yeah. He could definitely see Donovan with Tate. Complete opposites. But like they say, opposites attract, and as far as Brady was concerned, those two would be good for each other.
Of course, he never thought he would be thinking that. Then again, he’d never expected to spend a night with Reilly, so maybe they were in some alternate universe, and tomorrow they would wake up to find it was Christmas, and the past couple of days had been a dream.
He hoped not.
Brady’s cell phone chimed. He peered down at the screen.
—You can tell my brother Tate’s here at the store. In case he wants to talk to him.
Brady grinned wide. Leave it to Reilly to play matchmaker.
“Tate’s at the store,” Brady told Donovan.
