Page 102 of The Finding Series: Vol. 1

“Couple months.”

Roman didn’t react in any way. He just asked, “Victoria and Walt don’t know?”

Hearing his father referred to as Walt was just as strange as hearing Roman call his mother Victoria. And even though Roman and their father actually shared blood, Gray’s mother had decreed that Roman wouldn’t be calling his own father “Dad” anytime he was in her presence so he’d just resorted to calling him by his first name too.

“No,” Gray said and he didn’t bother to ask Roman not to tell them. Roman could and would do whatever the hell he wanted – he owed Gray nothing.

“Who’s the guy?” Roman asked.

Thatwas the ultimate question. Who was Luke?

“That answers that,” Roman said softly and Gray looked up to see a slight smile folding up the edges of Roman’s mouth. It was so strange to see his brother smile that it actually took Gray a second to realize what Roman was inferring.

“We’re just friends,” Gray said in irritation. He felt like a parrot because he’d been having this same conversation with Dane and Jax less than an hour earlier. Not to mention the many times he had to repeat the phrase over and over in his mind to try to remind himself that Luke was just a friend – a very straight friend.

Roman had the decency not to argue with him. They both fell into an awkward silence before Roman whispered, “Is it curable?”

Holy shit? Was his brother actually worried about him? The thought was so unexpected that it took Gray a second to answer and he saw his brother visibly stiffen and then open his mouth. Before Roman could blow off the question, Gray said, “My doctor is hopeful. I have one more round of chemo and then he’ll do a CT to see if the tumors are gone or if it’s spread any further.”

Roman seemed to swallow hard and the move actually had a surge of hope going through Gray. What if it wasn’t too late to salvage a relationship with his brother? What if he could make up for the poor excuse of a big brother he’d been?

“So you off to some exotic location to build cabanas and golf courses?” Gray asked.

Another small smile.

“Bermuda,” Roman said.

Gray hadn’t ever been to one of the many resorts his brother had built all around the world but he’d heard of them.

“Maybe I’ll finally be able to afford a stay at one soon,” Gray joked, although he wasn’t far off since Roman’s clientele were some of the wealthiest men and women in the world.

“Maybe,” Roman said with a slight nod and when his eyes lifted to meet Gray’s, it was all Gray could do not to get up and pull his brother into his arms for a hug.

“You think you might want to come back this way on your way home?” Gray asked as Roman rose to his feet.

Roman seemed surprised by the indirect invitation and Gray steeled himself for rejection. But instead, Roman said, “Might be a few weeks.”

“I’ll be here.”

His brother studied him long and hard and then bobbed his head before turning and heading towards the door.

“Roman-”

Roman tensed but turned before he reached the door.

“Tell Mo-Victoria that I’m good. And thanks.”

There was no acknowledgement on Roman’s expression just before he turned and left the cabin but that was just fine with Gray. What Roman had just given him was more than Gray could have asked for.

Gray got up to watch his brother’s car pull out of the driveway. The door opened a moment later when Luke entered and Gray instantly flashed to the moment Luke’s big body had caged his against the truck.

“How did it go?” Luke asked as he carried one of the cabinet doors into the kitchen and put it on the counter.

“Really good,” Gray managed to say even though his throat had dried up at the sight of Luke. Fuck, his attraction was getting out of control. He absolutely did not want to fuck up his budding friendship with this man. “My mom asked him to check on me.”

Luke’s brows lifted. “You going to call her? Put her mind at ease?”

Gray thought about it a moment and then reached into his pocket for his phone. “Yeah, yeah, I am.”

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