Headlines (Prime Time #3) - Ella Frank Page 0,59

and even though Xander had assured me that everything between us was good, I braced myself all the same.

“Hey, guys.” Bailey’s smile was warm and inviting, a far cry from the last few times we’d all been in the same vicinity, and it immediately put me at ease. “Come on in. Henri’s just finishing up in the shower.”

Xander stepped inside first, and with his hand still tight around mine, he pressed a kiss to Bailey’s cheek. “It’s good to see you.”

“You too.” Bailey grinned. “Don’t look so worried, Sean. I’m not going to freak out on you.”

Xander chuckled as Bailey shut the door behind us. “He’s been worrying the whole way over here.”

My mouth fell open as I stared Xander down. “Traitor.”

“What? It’s the truth.”

“Well? Can you blame me?”

“Not at all.” Bailey looked between the two of us. “But you don’t need to worry anymore. I’ve moved past the denial and stupidity stage and am now well and truly in the happy-for-you stage.”

When I just stood there, Bailey let out a deep breath and said, “I mean it, Sean, seriously. After talking to you and then Xander, I realize what an idiot I’ve been. I love you both so much. I just want you to be happy, and obviously you make each other happy.”

“We do.” Xander leaned into my side, squeezing my fingers.

“Then what more could I want?”

I was about to respond when there was a loud knock on the door. Kieran stepped inside, his goofy grin greeting us all.

Shit. Somewhere during the past week I’d forgotten all about Kieran and telling him what was going on. That wasn’t all that surprising, however. He worked insane shifts down at the station, so we basically caught him on Saturday for dinner, and since Bailey had cancelled the last few, I hadn’t had the opportunity to catch him up on, well…everything.

He shut the door behind him, turned to look at the three of us, smirked, slapped a magazine up against my chest, and held up a pen. “You think you could autograph this for me?”

I stared down at the copy of Entertainment Now! then aimed a withering look his way.

“Oh, you’re right,” he said, and snatched it back before handing it to Xander. “I should get the famous guy to do it. It’s worth more that way.”

“Shut the hell up,” I said, and took the magazine away from the moron before Xander decided to placate him by actually signing the thing.

“What? You’re famous now, and gay, apparently. But the last one isn’t going to do much for me, so…” Kieran smirked, and I whacked him in the arm with the magazine. “Ouch.” He rubbed his bulging bicep then looked to Xander. “You sure you want this guy? Really? I mean, I’m the best-looking one out of the Bailey brothers. Let’s be real.”

Xander grinned. “You’re also the straightest.”

Kieran seemed to mull that over and then laughed. “Huh, fair point. But if I ever change my mind—”

“You’ll stay the hell away from him.”

Both Bailey and Kieran’s eyes widened to the size of saucers, and I realized just how possessive that sounded.

“And on that note…” We all looked over Bailey’s shoulder to see Boudreaux sauntering down the hall. “I say we move this little get-together out onto the deck, before Dick decides to draw his sword and show us all how big it is.”

31

Xander

“SO HOW’S WORK these days? Busy?” I asked, as Henri took a seat beside me at the outside table, while the brothers watched over the grill.

“Busy enough. There’s always someone doing something they shouldn’t. But I don’t need to tell you about that, now do I?” He popped the bottle caps off the beers he’d just grabbed and handed one over. “So, you and Dick, huh?”

I laughed. “Way to ease into things there.”

“Eh, we’re way past that now. We’ve moved on to the ‘you lied to me’ part. So spill.”

Henri and I hadn’t really gotten around to having a one-on-one about the me-and-Sean deal, and I’d been curious about his thoughts, considering that one conversation we’d had when he thought we were an item.

“I didn’t lie.”

“Bullshit. I asked you flat out if the two of you were fucking. You said no.”

While not as shocking to hear as it was the first time around, I still found myself choking on my swallow of beer. “So classy, Henri.”

“I’m a classy kinda guy. And you’re avoiding my question.”

“Fine. To answer your question, the last time you asked me, we weren’t together. I was…feeling things, but