“Yeah, you idiot, I know.” Malcolm smirked. “I was pretty happy about it, too. Logan acted like I was going to get a shotgun and murder him, but you know, Logan has always been like a brother to me. If he hooks up with you, then he pretty much will be my brother. So I say that’s a win for me.”
A small smile touched the corners of Derrick’s lips, and he shook his head slightly.
“Trust you to make it all about you, you jerk,” he said to his brother, but there was genuine affection in his voice.
“Damn straight,” Malcolm replied comfortably, and the tension in the room had definitely lessened. And Derrick still hadn’t kicked him out, that had to be a good sign, right?
“So you really don’t care?” Derrick asked. “That I’m, um, bisexual?”
“You know I’m married to a man, right?” Malcolm replied, and Derrick gave a soft laugh. Derrick, it seemed, had been having the same issues that Logan had had. Malcolm had changed a lot, or maybe it was more that he was actually showing people who he really was.
“Okay. Then get the hell out of my room,” Derrick ordered. Malcolm shot his little brother a grin, then went to him and gave him a one-armed hug.
“I’ll go find the cafeteria,” he said. “Come find me, and I expect good news when you do.”
With that demand made, Malcolm left the room. Derrick and Logan both followed him with their gazes until the door was shut, then slowly, they turned to each other. Only a few feet separated them, but Logan felt like it was a lot more than that. Or like it could be if they let it.
“I only got the text today,” Derrick explained. “Jess made me turn on my phone. I didn’t have it in me to do it before, after what happened between us.”
Logan winced. He couldn’t even help it. That hurt, but he deserved it, he knew that he did.
“Craig said that you and Jess weren’t dating. That you’re just friends, and that you were being a good friend by being there for her while she grieved the death of her sister,” Logan admitted.
“Wait, you thought—” Derrick cut himself off at Logan’s sheepish little nod and shook his head. “Wow. You could have just asked me. I would have told you that Jess and I have been broken up for years.”
“I know that now,” Logan replied. “I just got jealous. And I didn’t know if I was allowed to ask you about anything because I didn’t know what our deal even was. I’m sorry.”
“I think I should apologize, too,” Derrick said, probably the last thing that Logan would have expected. “I didn’t know what our thing was, either.”
“Huh. There’s a pretty good chance that we’re both idiots,” Logan commented, and Derrick shrugged but couldn’t seem to disagree with that.
“So what about Wyatt?” Derrick asked, and Logan looked at him thoughtfully.
“To tell the truth, I was wondering about that, too,” he admitted. “Wyatt said that you were on board with selling the ranch and that I should join you to convince Malcolm to—”
He cut himself off when he realized that Derrick was laughing. Not just a little bit, either, but huge, body-wrenching sobs of mirth so that he could barely breathe. He staggered to the bed, and Logan followed, a little concerned but ready to wait to figure out what was so damn hilarious.
“Care to let me in on the joke?” he invited, and Derrick shook his head and wiped away tears from his eyes, but he got himself under control.
“Yeah. Sorry. It’s just that he told me the same thing about you,” Derrick said. “So he was trying to use us against each other. Get us both on board with the selling of the ranch. What I don’t get is how he thought he would ever get away with it. We would have figured it out eventually, right?”
Logan shook his head, trying to clear it.
“I don’t know,” he said slowly. “I think that he’s brilliant. He must have been watching us the whole time, and seen that we weren’t talking to each other. He must have counted on that. After all, we didn’t have to not talk to each other about it forever. Just until the ranch was sold. He’s desperate.”
Derrick nodded thoughtfully. “You could be right. But it didn’t work. Because we know now.”
Logan settled down on the bed beside Derrick, not too close, but inviting him closer, if he wanted to. It was too soon, he cautioned himself, and he shouldn’t let it hurt too much if Derrick never really trusted him again. But Derrick squirmed over the bed toward him, resting his head on Logan’s shoulder. The clean scent of his hair filled Logan’s lungs as he breathed in deeply, then let out a sigh of contentment as he wrapped his arm protectively around Derrick’s shoulders.
“I only have one more question,” Derrick murmured, as they cuddled together on the bed, both of them cautious, but both of them ready to try.
“What’s that?” Logan asked, and Derrick raised his head, his green eyes direct as they gazed right into Logan’s.
“Did you mean it? When you said that you loved me?” Derrick asked, and for maybe the first time, there was a sort of openness about his gaze. He was letting himself ask the questions instead of just assuming the worst, and that, just by itself, was a huge step for him.
“Yeah. I meant it. I love you. I’m crazy about you. My life sucks without you.” Logan found himself saying things that he had just kept to himself, and right to Derrick’s face. It was intimidating, but strangely liberating, too.
“Okay. Good.” Derrick paused briefly and then added, “I love you, too. And I think we’ll be okay as long as we remember to talk to each other.”
