Page 10 of Stay with Me
“Liam, get your ass up here. My granddaughter will not be born on a stage,” Mike commanded.
Chapter Five
Drew walked down the hallway outside the battalion offices. He’d spent so many hours in these offices and classrooms over the past four years. He’d chosen ECU after telling his parents that he was passing his congressional nomination for West Point to… what the hell had her name been? He’d known that his grades and extracurricular activities, not to mention his family, could’ve secured him an appointment but… yeah, he wasn’t going to second guess himself now. He had excelled in his political science program with his concentration in public health protection. He remembered listening to Uncle Danny talk about helping after Hurricane Erin had devastated the coast one year. How the different agencies had come together and helped the residents rebuild. He had listened with fascination as Uncle Danny described the K-9 teams searching for survivors in the hotel that had collapsed. Drew was determined that he was going to do that one day. Maybe before he was here for his tenth reunion? Of course, first he’d need to get the balls to tell his family he didn’t want to be in the Army as a career.
He snorted at himself. Like he was ever going to have balls that big.
“How big are they now?” Brody asked from behind Drew.
Spinning to face Brody, Drew almost fell on his ass from moving so fast. “What did you say?” he gasped, because there was no way that he’d heard Brody correctly.
“You said your balls were never going to be that big. Are they tiny now? Should I be embarrassed on your behalf, Nolan?” Brody teased.
Holy shit. He didn’t realize he’d said that out loud. How the hell was he going to cover that blunder?Bluff, baby, bluff.“Would you like to find out?” Okay, that was more of a flirt than a bluff but Drew was going with it. What was Brody going to do? Kick his ass? Yeah, Drew was confident that he could at least hold his own with Brody. A soft blush covered Brody’s face as he looked to the side. Huh, didn’t look like they’d be tossing around in anger today, and that answered Julia’s question. She wouldn’t have had a chance with Brody.
“Ummm… I…” Brody couldn’t seem to string together a sentence. “How’s Nova?” he finally asked. Drew was feeling generous, so he was going to let Brody off the hook. It wasn’t like they had the time to start anything at this point. He was on his way to Fort Leonard Wood and he was assuming Brody was going to Texas. Which was a damn shame, he thought as he looked Brody over objectively. Maybe Noah was right. He should’ve left his apartment more often.
“Nova and my newest cousin are doing fantastic. Darien, however, had to have a few stitches on his forehead where it connected with the floor after he saw his daughter for the first time, covered in guck. Or that’s the story Nova is telling everyone. None of us, never mind Darien, are going to correct her. From the speed of the delivery, they think she’d been in labor for a week or more.” Drew counted himself lucky that he wasn’t female because there was no way that he could comprehend giving birth.
Brody was nodding as Drew finished. “Sounds about right to me. She was having contractions at the cookout the other night.”
“What? And she didn’t say anything? You didn’t think to tell anyone?” Drew was trying really hard not to be pissed, but to keep something important from his family? Okay, maybe he was guilty of keeping secrets from his family but it wasn’t the same. He wasn’t going to blush as that thought crossed his mind. Oooh, pot, kettle.
“Wait a minute. I might not be a registered nurse yet but I still believe in patient confidentiality. It wasn’t my place to walk up to you, or anyone there and say ‘oh, by the way, I think Nova’s in labor.’ Maybe if you’d paid a bit of attention to her yourself, you would’ve figured it out. Or wait, isn’t one of your uncles a doctor? Shouldn’t he have figured it out?” Brody was just shy of yelling when he’d finished tearing Drew a new one.
Drew didn’t think he’d ever seen Brody this wound up. Granted, they weren’t the closest of friends but he did consider Brody a friend. Drew held his hands up, chest high palms toward Brody. “Hold up. You are one-hundred percent correct. Nova covered it all up. When Aunt Trish got done lecturing her, while Uncle Mike was a big ball of mush with baby Nicole in his arms, Nova tried to push herself up, saying she hadn’t wanted to take the spotlight from me. That it was my turn to shine.”
“I didn’t spend a lot of time talking with Nova, or any of your family really, but I can see any one of them saying that. The support and love radiate from all of you for each other. I’d hazard a guess that someone was at every event for you?”
Drew could hear the want in Brody’s voice.
He nodded. “Mom’s a given and if Dad couldn’t be there, one of my uncles was. You probably saw Julia at our balls. Tris was around until he graduated from West Point and started his military moves. You didn’t have that, did you?” he asked Brody quietly. He took so long in answering, Drew hadn’t thought he was going to.
Brody spoke so softly, Drew almost couldn’t hear him. “Not really. My caseworkers through the years did what they could. Most of them went above and beyond, but it was still their job. I thought my last foster family might have been my forever but—”
Drew could see the tears forming in Brody’s eyes and there was no way that he was going to stand there and let Brody cry, because those assholes weren’t worth his tears. He wasn’t sure where the impulse came from but he leaned over, cutting Brody’s obvious self-blame off by kissing him.
§ § § §
Brody froze on the spot. Drew was kissing him. He didn’t think he was even breathing. It took him a second or three to realize he wasn’t dreaming. Brody brought his arms up to Drew’s waist. He opened his mouth and slipped his tongue out to lick Drew’s lips. If this was going to be his one opportunity to taste and feel Drew, he wasn’t going to waste the chance. Shifting his weight, he pushed Drew up against the wall, covering the man from shoulders to thighs. Drew had him by a few inches in height but they lined up well enough. He felt more than heard a low groan from Drew before his tongue came out to meet Brody’s.
From one heartbeat to the next, Brody was wrapped in Drew’s arms and the man’s thigh was between Brody’s legs. They seemed to be hearing the same internal beat as their hips were moving and shifting in rhythm while they only parted to breathe before diving into another kiss. Heads moved from side to side, teeth nipping at lips. Brody felt Drew’s tongue trace the roof of his mouth, causing him to shiver. Who knew that was a hot spot for him?
A door slammed down the hallway, waking them both to where they were. They pulled back from the kiss at the same time. Drew dropped his head to Brody’s shoulder, making room for Brody to place his face against Drew’s neck. They stood there, breathing deeply for a minute or two.
“I’m not going to apologize,” Drew managed to say.
“Why would you? Should I apologize? I’m the one that pushed you into the wall,” Brody offered. He thought that Drew was right there with him, but maybe Brody was projecting.
“And that was fucking hot. I wish—” Drew shook his head.
“Wish what?” Brody had to know what Drew was wishing. If this was all he was going to get, he wanted each moment.
“That I had gotten my ass out of my apartment more often. That I’d opened my eyes. That I’d—”
Brody pulled back and covered Drew’s mouth with his finger. “No regrets. Could this have been more? Maybe, maybe not. How about we just keep this as a memory to look back on fondly? Isn’t that what your brother instructed us to do? Look back on the memories we made fondly.”
Brody stepped out of Drew’s embrace but, before he walked away, he took a long look at Drew. “You are definitely going to be a wonderful memory for me, Andrew Nolan. Be safe wherever the Army sends you.”
