one brother. And I was probably lucky Adrian hadn’t convinced him to disown me or something.
I nudged a little closer to Adrian, my gaze wandering to the collection of empty bottles just behind him. “So, uh, what did Leo have going on today?” I tilted my beer to my mouth, still real casual. “He mentioned he had some business?” I glanced at Adrian from the corner of my eye. Hopefully he’d answer without wondering when the hell Leo and I had started exchanging news items about our lives.
Adrian glanced around like he was harboring a state secret and tugged my sleeve, drawing me farther from the group. He glanced around again and nodded, seemingly satisfied. “Leo has gone apartment hunting for his move,” he announced in a stage whisper.
“What?” I must have misheard him.
“Shush!” Adrian gestured toward his family. “Keep it down, dude.”
“But what do you mean, his move? You did say move, right? Apartment hunting.”
He nodded. “Yup.” Then he took a sip of beer and nodded again. “Yup, he’s leaving Lakeshore.” His head nodding turned into head shaking. “He’s looking in other cities.”
Adrian’s words hit me like a physical blow, and I put a hand out to steady myself. “Other cities?”
He drew his brows together. “Are you really just going to repeat the things I tell you?”
I forced a chuckle. “In the absence of other information, I guess so.” But my stomach rolled and twisted, and I put my half-full beer bottle down.
Leo was planning to uproot his entire life and leave his family, his entire support system, and it had to be because of me. I met Adrian’s eyes, hoping I was wrong, but before I said anything, he patted my forearm.
“Don’t be so hard on yourself, dude.”
I shook my head. “It’s my fault.”
But he waved a hand. “You know, I get it. What you did was supremely shitty.”
I almost laughed to hear the beer Adrian had consumed doing the talking for him like this. Apparently, it made him a master of understatement.
“But it was also a long time ago, and I think if we just give him enough space, Leo will start to realize that.” He took another sip of his beer as if that was all he had to say on the subject.
As if speaking about him had conjured him, Kane’s back gate clicked shut, the soft sound like cannon fire to my ears, and I turned to watch Leo saunter into the yard.
“Wot! Leo!” Jamie approached him and grabbed him into a huge and the following brothers played pass the present a little with their brother, each greeting him and hugging him, offering him high fives and ridiculous-looking fist bumps.
But I smiled. It was the way they all related and got along.
Leo approached his mom and gave her a hug and bent down to pick up one of his nieces, accepting her tight hug around his neck before releasing her to go back and play with her siblings and cousins.
He spun around and seemed to be looking for something. His gaze lingered so long on Kane at the grill, that I thought maybe he was just hungry, but then he continued searching the crowd of people in the yard.
I held my breath, not sure what I wanted. I wanted him to want me, and I wanted him to look right past me as he searched for Kairo, or something. I didn’t want to be the guy in his sights, and I wanted nothing more than to be the only guy he was looking for.
His gaze landed on me and I froze in place, fear making my limbs heavy and my head light. I didn’t stir as he seemed to swallow and straighten his shoulders. Then he started to walk toward me, and I wanted to evaporate into mist and run toward him all at once.
Caught between the two, I held perfectly still, waiting.
“Hello, Shayne.”
I glanced around for a beer to offer him, but every time I picked a bottle up, it was one of Adrian’s empties.
He laughed. “I see Adrian was here before me.”
I nodded and smiled. Then, “Hey, Leo. I didn’t think we were going to see you here this afternoon.” I cringed in case he thought that meant I didn’t want to see him, but I didn’t dare correct myself, so I just waited him out to see what he’d say next.
He gazed over my shoulder. “My business wrapped up early.”
I swallowed, not daring to confess I knew exactly what that business was.