Quinn (The Beck Brothers 3)

“Eh, I was on my way to work. Figured I’d stop by and fuck with you a little bit,” Shea said nonchalantly.

“Gee thanks,” Christian said dryly.

Shea was always playing jokes and pranks on him. Christian has gotten him good a time or two, but Shea was constantly coming up with something new. It was one of the things that he loved most about Shea; there was never a dull moment.

“How’s your heart? You okay? Did it give out? Are you gonna puke?” Shea teased.

He was also always making fun of Christian’s anxiety problem, too. Christian thought he did it to try to distract him from whatever was making him anxious. Sometimes it actually worked, other times it pissed Christian off, especially when he was anxious about something serious.

“Screw you, dickhead,” Christian muttered.

“No thanks, that’s your thing,” Shea chuckled.

He rolled his eyes. “Ha ha, you’re so funny.”

“I’ll go make some coffee,” Shea said, his voice still tinged with amusement.

Christian muttered to himself as he finished his shower. Shea was crazy. Christian got out of the shower and dried off. He wrapped the towel around his waist and went into his bedroom, which was right next door to the bathroom. He got dressed in a pair of dark gray slacks and a white button down shirt that he tucked into his pants. He put on a black belt and black dress shoes. Christian did his hair, checked himself out in the mirror, and headed downstairs.

Shea was lounging at the table sipping at a cup of coffee while reading the newspaper. He was in his work clothes, which consisted of tattered jeans, a beat up long sleeved T-shirt that used to be white, and tan work boots. He was a licensed contractor; it was pointless for him to wear nice clothes since he would be dirty by the end of the day. If Christian was honest with himself, Shea looked damn fine in his work clothes.

Christian was gay, and Shea was the only one who knew. Christian just hasn’t had the guts to tell his family. He has three older brothers who are the epitome of everything male. They are all big, buff, and loved women. Not that Christian was small, but he was smaller than they were. He was scared to death at how they would react. He loved his brothers and he wouldn’t be able to stand it if they couldn’t accept him for being gay.

Christian was also in love with Shea - his best friend who...was not gay. He didn’t know how it happened or when, but he was. He realized it when Shea went to Europe. It was slowly killing Christian, too. It was extremely hard being in love with someone who would never fall in love with you back. Christian figured if wanted to keep his friendship with Shea, he needed to keep his mouth shut about his feelings because he didn’t know what Shea would do if he ever found out.

Shea Dempsey was a ruggedly handsome man; he was a bit shorter than Christian at six feet two inches. Shea was thin and toned like Christian, and didn’t need to work out because his job was physically demanding enough to keep him in shape. His dark hair was cropped short and he’s had the same goatee on his face since he was able to grow facial hair. He kept it short and neat. He also has warm, laughing dark brown eyes that Christian swore he could stare into all day and night.

“There’s an open mic night at The Raven Lounge on Wednesday at 9:45 pm,” Shea murmured, sipping his coffee.

Christian groaned and hung his head. “Dude, I’ve told you a million times already. I’m not singing at an open mic night.”

“Why the hell not? You’re wasting your voice by not sharing it with the world,” Shea argued, setting the paper down on the table.

“Shea, I can barely sing in front of you, let alone a bar full of people,” Christian muttered as he poured himself a cup of coffee.

“Which I don’t understand. You have an incredible voice, and I could listen to you sing for hours,” Shea said.

“I appreciate that, Shea. I really do. But you and I both know that as soon as I step onto that stage, I’d be puking all over the front row.” Christian sighed.

Shea chuckled low. “Yeah, probably.”

Alright, so Christian had another secret that he hid from everyone except Shea. He could sing, and sing really well. He went to a vocal coach for years that no one in his family knew about. Shea once said he sounded like a mixture of Bruno Mars and Jason Mraz - a little raspy, a little jazzy, a little poppy, and a whole lot of incredible. Christian also played the guitar, but his family did know about the guitar since he started playing when he was eight.