Page 48 of Relief Pitcher

“What are you knuckleheads up to?” I leaned against the doorway.

I caught a flash of guilt on Seth’s face.

“Just chatting.” Ethan smiled at me too sweetly before shooting Seth a look.

“About what?”

I tried to ignore my annoyance and appreciate that Seth was getting along so well with my friends. Well, his friends now too.

Since Seth had returned to Dahlia Springs, he’d acted like he had a lifetime of giving me shit to make up for. Which was fair. As the older brother, I’d fulfilled my duty of loving sibling torture while growing up. And, okay, fine, a little into college and adulthood too. I wasn’t a saint.

I’d gone off to college in a different city and had been busy enjoying my independence. Then Seth got into some nerdy Portland college and spent all his time studying. Well, most of it. There was a persistent rumor that each spring, all the students at his college got high as fuck on a variety of drugs to burn off steam before finals. I didn’t understand the hardcore academic types, but whatever worked for them and their sexy brains.

Since Seth had moved around after college, living in different cities and traveling before starting a cruise ship work stint, the most substantial time we’d had around each other had been small chunks at the holidays or when Seth was between jobs. I was grateful to make up for lost time. Though less glad that it involved him gossiping about my sex life.Since when did I care if people talked about my sex life?

Seth had turned out differently than I’d expected when we were young. Gone was the dweebie kid who followed me, Austin, and Gavin around. He wasn’t as shy as he used to be. His travels and cruise ship jobs had done wonders for him and his comfort around people. I liked the man my brother had become.

“About how your cologne should be classified as a biohazard.” Seth dropped a handful of chopped radishes onto several trays.

Okay, maybe not.

“How did it go after the game last night?” Ethan’s smile reminded me of an angel taking their lunch break in hell, intent on causing trouble.

Asking aboutafterthe game, not the game itself, was a horrible tell.

“Seth mentioned you lost the game. Sorry about that. Was the new queer bar cool?”

Ooh, he’s good.

I crossed my arms and leaned against the doorway. “It was great. Their beer selection was lackluster, but they had a great cocktail menu. I’ll reach out to set up a pitch to carry ours.” It would throw him off if I kept things focused on business. I adopted my best innocent expression.

Ethan narrowed his eyes as Seth popped a chunk of radish into his mouth.

“That’s great. Keep me posted. How were the restrooms? Clean?” Ethan’s tone oozed sweetness.

Seth turned around, but his shoulders shook. I was going to murder him after shoving my foot into his big mouth. Even worse were the lethal heart eyes Ethan pointed at me. Oh no. I didn’t need him getting his hopes up and meddling with his romantic bullshit.

Ethan had always been good about not pushing his lovey-dovey agenda with Dom and me. He’d always accepted I was wired differently and didn’t care about it like he did. But ever since I’d come back from the weekend with Cooper, and especially since softball had started, there’d been little comments. An innocent “How’s Cooper?” An innocuous “You should tell Cooper to stop by.” A quick “What’s Cooper up to today?” It smelled fishy.

Ethan was quickly becoming as annoying as a stinkbug infestation with his knowing looks and, Jesus, patient smiles. Those were theworst.

“Coop have fun last night?” Ethan aimed his eager puppy look my way.

“Yup. I was playing wingperson.” The words were sour on my tongue. It wasn’t exactly a lie since I’d wingpersoned myself into another hookup with Cooper. The one thing I’d told myself I wouldn’t do. It was like I’d told myself to cut back on processed sugar and Coop was a delicious piece of peanut butter fudge.

My dick was all too happy to produce a litany of excuses for why Cooper made a reasonable exception to my rules. I was helping him get back out there. He knew the score and wouldn’t expect more from me. He was hot. He was great at sucking dick. I liked spending time with him. His laughter made my stomach swan dive.

“Wingperson, huh? I get the feeling we’re missing some important information.” Ethan crossed his arms. The kitchen nitrile gloves on his hands took away from his sternness.

He opened his mouth, but then a knocking pounded from the brewery’s front door. I glanced at the security camera Dom had set up in the kitchen to help us keep an eye on the taproom and saw Hayden standing there. I looked at the clock.

“He’s five minutes early.”

Ethan grinned. “Bet Dom was hoping he’d be late so he’d have an excuse to fire him.”

Ethan took off his gloves and followed me to the front. I let Hayden in and shook his hand. I was eager for the lifeline to escape Ethan’s interrogation.

“Good to see you, Hayden.”

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