He slid the slim black iPhone into Coury’s front pants pocket. “You’re the one who keeps pointing out we’re not doing anything wrong. He may not agree with it, but that doesn’t mean it’s wrong.”
“I wish we’d told him sooner. He’s going to be upset we waited.”
“I hope this doesn’t come out wrong, but we need to stop worrying about him so much. We can’t control what he does.” He pulled Coury toward the basement door. “Let’s go play pool while we wait for him.”
Coury snorted and pulled back. “Playing pool isn’t really why you want to go downstairs.”
“Of course it isn’t.” He gave Coury a peck on the lips. “But since we don’t have the weekend to ourselves . . .”
It sounded petty. This would almost certainly be the last weekend Beckett visited, for a while at least. He’d recover from his breakup, assuming he and Rayna didn’t make up and get back together, and the drive would become too much. There were plenty of parties at Penn State. He wouldn’t need to come to Harrison to have fun.
“Yes, Helen. The boys are going out,” Pop said from the kitchen “If you’d like to come over and watch a movie, that would be wonderful.”
Pop shooed them away. Since when had he wanted privacy for a phone call?
Liam’s gaze landed on a picture of him and Beckett when they were younger. They’d had an epic fight on the drive that day, and his father took the picture after they had made up. He said it summed up brothers perfectly. It also spoke to why, deep down, he hesitated to tell Beckett the truth. His brother would forgive him, but Beckett might not forgive Coury.
He tried to convince himself his fear was to save Coury and Beckett’s friendship, but it wasn’t that altruistic. Losing Beckett as a friend would destroy Coury. It would taint whatever time they had left. Coury might cut things off with Liam.
That last bit was his true fear. That no matter how Beckett found out, he’d extinguish his friendship with Coury.
“Let’s go out tonight and tell him tomorrow.”
Coury looked confused. “Why?”
“Because if things go south, I want us to all enjoy tonight before he storms off.” He moved closer. “One night won’t change anything. We’ll still do it in person and we’ll still do it this weekend.”
Closing his eyes, Coury exhaled. “Fine, but tomorrow. No excuses. The fact it scares me to tell him means lying to him is wrong.”
“You’re a good person Coury.” It was one of the many things Liam found so attractive. He reached out to pull Coury close, but Coury hesitated.
“He’ll be here any minute.”
Liam laughed. “When was the last time Beckett was on time? We’ve got fifteen minutes.”
“Right but . . .” Coury’s hesitation didn’t stop him from letting Liam press their bodies together.
“Relax.” He pressed his lips to Coury’s. Coury stiffened a second before the front door swept open with a burst of cold air.
Time froze as his brother entered the house, smiling ear to ear. It couldn’t be. Beckett was always late. It was his thing.
“I’m . . . What the hell?”
Fuck!Liam jumped back.
“Helen?” Pop’s voice cut through the shock. “I need to call you back. Beckett showed up early.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Coury
Every terrible reaction Coury had envisioned played across Beckett’s face. Anger, betrayal, shock, disgust. Tomorrow was too late. They’d screwed up.
“Beckett,” Liam said. “You’re early.”
Beckett’s gaze had locked on Coury’s when he came in and it hadn’t moved. Coury’s heart stopped, and his stomach twisted into a pretzel.
“What the fuck,” he repeated. Beckett shook his head, never moving his accusing glare away.
