Vengeance (The Protectors 5)

The simple solution was to call the whole thing off. I could easily tell him any number of lies as to why I couldn’t share a place with him. But every time I picked up the phone to do just that, I immediately put it back down. I was definitely a glutton for punishment because I could think of few things worse than being around Tristan 24/7 and having to pretend he was nothing more to me than a brother.

“When are you moving into your new place?”

Eli’s question pulled me from my thoughts and I glanced at him. “Zane, Connor and Ren helped me move my stuff in yesterday,” I responded.

“You should have called me,” Eli said. “Mav and I could have helped.”

“I figured you guys were busy christening your new place,” I said with a smile. I laughed when Eli’s cheeks flooded with color. “Have you even managed to unpack anything?” I asked.

“No comment,” Eli murmured and then he gave me a gentle shove when I started laughing.

“Come on, give me the tour,” I said as I climbed to my feet and reached my hand out. Eli took it and stood.

“Okay, but we have to make it quick. Mav and I have a few more rooms to christen.”

I laughed and shook my head. “TMI, man. TMI.”

Chapter Three

Memphis

Fuck. What the hell had I been thinking?

I stared at my reflection in the mirror as I considered the answer to my own question. I hadn’t been thinking – not really. Because if I had, I wouldn’t have had to sit through what I could only call thirty minutes of pure torture.

Plain and simple.

Watching two men commit themselves to one another should have been an easy thing to do, but the second I’d seen Brennan Devereaux walk across the threshold of the door leading from the house to the picturesque backyard, I’d felt my insides knot up tight and I’d regretted accepting Ronan’s invitation to his impromptu wedding.

I’d gotten the call from Ronan two days ago and while I’d assumed he was contacting me to go over business, I’d been caught off guard when he’d told me he and Seth were getting married that weekend and had asked me to attend. I’d said yes out of pure obligation. It wasn’t the best reason to watch two people in love promise themselves to one another, but it was the truth.

I’d secretly hoped I’d get called away for a case, but it hadn’t happened and as I’d made the drive to Seattle from my house in the foothills of Mt. Hood, I’d felt my excitement increase at the mere prospect of being in the same city as the young man I still hadn’t been able to expel from my mind in the nearly five days since I’d last seen him. When I’d been so close to him that I’d been able to see the flecks of gold in his pretty green eyes, even as his pupils had dilated as his body had responded to mine.

But even though part of me had wanted to have another encounter with the young man I was fast becoming obsessed with, I hadn’t actually considered it to be even a remote possibility since the ceremony was taking place at Ronan and Seth’s home on Whidbey Island. It hadn’t even occurred to me that Brennan might have befriended the couple, though it should have been an obvious possibility since Ronan had saved Brennan’s life.

The reminder of a lifeless Brennan lying in the back of an ambulance while Ronan leaned over him doing chest compressions, had me flipping on the cold water and running my hands under it and splashing it on my face.

There’d been less than a dozen people at the wedding and while I knew most of them, I hadn’t bothered to interact with any of them and I’d made sure to arrive only minutes before the ceremony had been set to start. I’d arrived discreetly and had selected a chair in the back row and had only briefly acknowledged the men who worked for Ronan…and now me. There’d been little to no frills for the actual service. Just a dozen chairs sitting near the bluff that overlooked the dark blue water and an older man with thinning hair to officiate. I’d already taken my seat when I’d looked over my shoulder to watch for the grooms, only to see Brennan step out of the house and hurry across the yard. He’d been adjusting the dark blue tie he’d been wearing and hadn’t been looking up as he’d made his way to where the chairs had been set up. When he’d finally looked up, he’d paused as our eyes had connected. I’d taken in every detail I could about him from the way his white dress shirt clung to his chest to the sleek black dress pants that hugged his ass and thighs. He hadn’t started moving again till I’d forced my gaze from his, and the only relief I’d felt in that moment was when he’d gone to sit next to Eli and Mav, who’d saved him a seat. I’d forced myself to turn my attention back to the house so I could watch the grooms and their tiny wedding party make their approach.