Page 22 of Something Unavoidable

When Keegan drove him home? He tried, but he couldn’t picture a time Izzy was ever in his truck.

Izzy laughed, the sound painfully raspy. “You really don’t remember.” He looked away, but not before Keegan caught the glassiness in his eyes. “Whatever. It’s not important.” He started for Sunny’s stall.

“Isaac,” Keegan said, stopping him in his tracks. “Remind me.”

Izzy’s chest heaved and his shoulders hunched at Keegan’s demand. “When you drove me home,” he said again.

Keegan shook his head, feeling helpless and not liking it. “When did I drive you home? From where?”

“From here,” Izzy said with a half shrug. He opened Sunny’s stall and got teeth bared in his direction, but she held still for him to clip the lead rope to her halter.

Homefromthe ranch. That meant Izzy was talking about something that had happened years ago. Izzy had taken over the hayloft apartment when Ryan and Micah had gotten married and moved up to the house. That was fiveyearsago. Keegan vividly remembered telling Ryan he’d buy him a new TV if he didn’t have help him move the old, 200-pound monstrosity he’d had up there. Before that, Izzy had rented a room in town. Keegan was surprised he remembered that. Had he driven Izzy there?

“The night Ryan finally got his head out of his ass about Micah,” Izzy supplied when Keegan was silent for too long. “I made you drive me ’cause Micah was busy getting his ass railed by his dream man. You were pissed about it. About me. Not about Micah’s ass.”

Shit. That night? Most of what he remembered about that time was Ryan talking his ear off for hours while he paced the back room of Keegan’s clinic. His best friend had been a wreck. He’d finally admitted that he’d been in love with Micah for years, and he’d convinced himself in the same breath that he couldn’t have him. Keegan had already been having a shitty day—he couldn’t remember why—but he’d agreed to come out to the ranch for dinner to be a buffer between Ryan and temptation.

He’d been more inclined to put temptation in Ryan’s lap and let proximity do the rest, but he hadn’t needed to. Because Izzy had threatened to do the opposite.

Oh.

“I’d spent half the day trying to convince my devastated best friend that he hadn’t missed his chance with the love of his life. I wanted to strangle you when I realized you’d set the whole thing up to make him jealous.”

Izzy went still, one hand gripping Sunny’s mane, the other clutching the lead rope. “It worked,” he said, tone defensive again.

“It worked,” Keegan agreed. “But it didn’t make me want to do you any favors.” It wassixyears ago. Keegan didn’t have a clear recollection of much of it, but Izzy obviously did. “You asked for a ride— No, youannouncedI was giving you a ride.”

The back of Izzy’s neck reddened, and he shifted his weight. “I’m an asshole, and you can’t stand me. I know. Do we need to rehash it?”

“What am I not remembering?”

Izzy made a sound that was somewhere between a bark of laughter and a pained groan. “Of course you can’t let it go,” he muttered, then wiped his face with his coat sleeve. “I asked you inside.”

Keegan shook his head. “I assume I turned you down?”

Izzy laughed again, sounding a little hysterical. “You said that you weren’t into manipulative brats. That there were plenty of easy marks to practice my talents on at the Lookout.”

Keegan’s stomach twisted, and he had to swallow against the nausea creeping up the back of his throat. “Ah,” he managed. Unfortunately, that did sound like something he might have said. He wished he could tell Izzy that he was wrong or that he’dmisinterpreted, but past-Keegan hadn’t been one to sugarcoat his thoughts. He still wasn’t, but he hoped he’d matured enough not to take a bad day out on a virtual stranger. “Izzy—”

“Can we get back to work now?” Izzy cut him off, then didn’t wait for a response. He pushed his way out of the stall, forcing Keegan to move or get stepped on.

Keegan put his arm across the opening.

Izzy stopped just before he ran into it and shot Keegan a furious glare. “Move.”

Keegan stepped closer and lifted his other arm, trapping Izzy between them, his back against the doorframe.

“Seriously?” Izzy rolled his eyes with a massive sigh, but he gave himself away when it shook at the end. He slouched and looked past Keegan, down the aisle. He startled when Keegan cupped the side of his neck, giving a squeeze.

“Are you gonna listen to me now?” Keegan asked, rubbing the soft skin behind Izzy’s ear with his thumb in a soothing motion that was half automatic.

Izzy’s lower lip quivered until he bit the inside of his cheek to stop it. He didn’t answer, but he didn’t push Keegan away either. Keegan figured that was the best he was going to get.

“I don’t remember,” he started.

“Clearly,” Izzy muttered, his cheeks suspiciously pink.

Keegan tugged on one of the curls poking out from under his wool cap. “Let me finish.”

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