His Saint (Forever Wilde 5)

We ended up with an odd kind of accidental secret handshake before he jumped up and mumbled something about needing to get out of there.

I led him back into the locker room for a shower and showed him where everything was. There was no way I could take my shower in the large open room at the same time without getting a giant hard-on in front of him, so I told him I was going to find us some bottled water while he showered and dressed. For some reason he looked relieved that I wasn’t going to be showering with him, and I wondered if he’d somehow pegged me as gay.

In my internet search of him, I’d seen many photos of him with the same beautiful woman on his arm, so I assumed he didn’t play for my team. Even if he wasn’t dating the television news reporter, he was clearly into women. I hoped he wasn’t homophobic, but the way he seemed to relax after I announced I was going to leave him be to shower alone wasn’t a good sign. Then again, he’d referred to the nongendered cereal box as nonbinary, which was a sign he at least had some passing familiarity and comfort with sexual identity terms.

As I left the locker room to grab some water, I saw my brother Otto walking out of the weight room with his husband, Seth. We clapped palms in a kind of shake before walking to the water fountain between the two locker room doors.

Otto’s big toothy grin was a sight for sore eyes. “Dude, that pop star? Really?” he accused.

I rolled my eyes. “Don’t. It’s bad enough Lanny pulled me out of the field.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m stuck here in Hobie until the media shit with Gemma dies down,” I confessed. “I’m lucky to still have my job, to be honest.”

Otto looked sympathetic. “I can’t say I’m surprised, but you have to know you’re the only person he’d let get away with that kind of shit.”

“Yeah. I know. He’s been great. I don’t know why he gives me so many chances,” I said.

Seth looked at me with a twinkle in his eye. “Because you’re cute and you have a tight ass?” he teased.

“Hey!” Otto barked with a scowl. “That’s my brother you’re talking about, and you’re taken.”

Seth grabbed Otto’s butt. “I was talking about you, Wilde Man.”

I laughed at his blatant attempt to rile Otto up. “Plus, Lanny’s straight as an arrow. But speaking of, you two want to go out later and maybe find some trouble? I could use a little action tonight to help drown my sorrows. Doesn’t Fig and Bramble do LGBT night on Wednesdays?”

“Yes. And there’s actually more action there than you’d expect, especially since the resort opened up by the lake. I’ll see who else wants to go. Give us a few minutes to talk to Neckie about something, and then I’ll walk over to the pub with you while Seth checks in at the sheriff’s office. You staying at the ranch?”

I shrugged. “I guess. Doc didn’t pick up when I called him on the way to town.”

“Well, you can’t stay with us. Tisha is at her mom’s, and we have plans,” Otto said, making the last word sound positively filthy.

“Gross. If all else fails, I’ll sleep in my truck,” I muttered as I reached to fill two paper cups with water from the fountain.

The two of them wandered off, flirting and touching as if they were still the teenage lovebirds they’d once been.

Seeing them together like that was heartwarming but strange too. When Seth had moved away in high school and dropped my brother with little explanation, it had gutted Otto. He’d wound up joining the navy with me after graduation to get away from his broken heart. After watching him mourn the loss of his soul mate, I’d vowed to myself to never, ever fall in love. It wasn’t worth the heartbreak if things went wrong.

As I watched the two of them walk away, I felt emptier than normal. It was a feeling I’d never noticed before until recently. Otto reconnecting with Seth had been a dream come true, but it had also caused me to rethink everything. How could I not believe in love after seeing them together?

And then when my brother Hudson had fallen for a quirky Irishman earlier this year, I’d been shocked. Hud had been the only straight one of us brothers. But watching him find someone to love the way he loved Charlie had awoken a need in me. Maybe it was my age. Or perhaps it was that my life was finally less chaotic now that I was out of the navy. There was something obviously missing now. And it had never been more apparent than when I’d spotted little August Stiel standing at the front of Twist looking lost and nervous.