Headlines (Prime Time #3) - Ella Frank Page 0,27

did that mean I was destined to be alone…for good?

Only time would tell.

13

Sean

APPLES AND CINNAMON…

That was the one memory that always hit first whenever I set foot in my childhood house. It was the scent that had lingered in the air when my mother had been alive, whether it had been from the fall candles she burned all year round or the pies she liked to bake. It was the smell of comfort, the smell of home, and I remembered the first time I walked into this house and that smell had vanished.

That was the day it really sank in that she was never coming back. The day I had to let her go all over again and remind myself what she would want from the three boys she’d left behind—unity, loyalty, love—and right now, I was failing her.

The creak of the hardwood floors made me turn from the living room window to see Bailey standing behind me, his arms crossed and with a grim expression that told me he’d rather be anywhere else but here.

God, I couldn’t remember the last time he’d looked so angry and disappointed in me. Actually, that was a lie. The last time had been a few months back. I’d been in a bad spot after a particularly long and horrible case and had been doing my best to forget about it—with the help of any alcohol I could get my hands on.

Bailey had pulled me out of that. Sat me down and given me a “come to Jesus” talk that had basically ended up with the ultimatum: clean up or stop coming around to see us. Now here I was, better than ever before, largely thanks to him.

It was anyone’s guess how long we stood there staring at one another. Seconds, minutes, hours? But all the words I’d carefully rehearsed, the ones that explained how and why what happened had happened? Well, they’d up and vanished. I felt like a pauper finally getting a showing with the king, only to lose all ability to form coherent sentences now that I was finally here.

“Bailey.”

“Sean.”

Yeah, we were off to a fantastic start. On the plus side, he hadn’t forgotten my name. I slid my hands into the pockets of my shorts, and when he merely stood there, I let out a sigh. “Is this why you asked me over? For a silent standoff?”

“No. I asked you because I knew you wouldn’t leave me alone until I did.”

“And what did you expect me to do? Just stop calling you?”

“I was hoping.”

Right. Bailey was like a time bomb, and if I’d been smart, I would’ve gotten the hell out of the blast zone. But I was not so smart.

“What the hell, Bay? You’re acting like a damn stranger.”

“I’m acting like a stranger?” Bailey dropped his arms to his sides and strode over to me. “You’re the one, who after three decades, has burst out of the closet to start sleeping with my best friend.”

I opened my mouth to refute that but didn’t have a great response, considering he was right.

“Never in a million years could I have guessed that one, Sean. So you want to talk about strangers and not being able to recognize people? Why don’t we start with you? Where the hell did my oldest brother go and who is this coward in his place?”

Okay, that finally got my tongue working. “Coward? How the hell do you figure that?”

Bailey took another step forward and jabbed me in the chest. “Only a coward would go behind someone’s back the way you two did. You must’ve had a great laugh at the hospital when Xander convinced me he wanted to stay with you out of the goodness of his heart. I should’ve known better, that it was his dick he was thinking about.”

“Hey, hold up a second. This is Xander you’re talking about. You know, your best friend?”

“I know exactly who I’m talking about. I also know he isn’t a saint. Neither of you are, for that matter. So, tell me, was fucking him worth ruining the relationship between all three of us?”

I couldn’t believe the shit flying out of Bailey’s mouth. In fact, if I wasn’t seeing him with my own two eyes, I would’ve believed this was someone else altogether. Reminding myself I was there to talk this out with my brother—not get into a fistfight with him—I did my best to swallow my impulse to go on the defense. Instead, I took in a deep