27. Damon

CHAPTER 27

DAMON

Damon was out with Jonah and Spencer for the first time since Colby went and made an ass of himself. The rift between the brothers wasn't healed yet, but Damon knew Taylor was close to cracking. He wanted to forgive his brother; he was just being stubborn about it.

"I'm not above locking them in a room until they talk it out," Damon said, popping a pretzel into his mouth. "Taylor is already over his anger about it. Now he's just hurt. But it's nothing that can't be fixed."

"I think everyone but them knows that," Jonah said. His fingers wrapped around his untouched drink.

"I'm glad I'm best friends with the smartest brother." Damon nudged Jonah's foot under the table and shot him a grin, but it faltered when Jonah lifted his gaze and looked at him.

"It sucks that you didn't tell me about Taylor. I was just left to be blindsided by everything."

A burst of anger flared deep in Damon's guts. How dare Jonah have the audacity to be butt hurt about something that he'd also done? But he didn't want to fight with him. Their relationship was more important to him than that, so he swallowed down the flare of annoyance.

That didn't mean he wasn't going to mention the fact that Jonah was guilty of the same thing.

"I think you know that just because we're best friends, not everything needs to be shared right away." He made a point of pausing and looking over at Spencer, who remained quiet, looking like he wanted the earth to open up and swallow him whole.

Spencer had been good for Jonah. Any fool could see that, and Damon wasn't mad that they'd kept things between them a secret until they were ready to tell everyone. It was the same thing he and Nash had done. Sort of. At first, they didn't tell anyone because there wasn't anything to tell. Best friends or not, Damon wasn't generally the type to kiss and tell.

"Why didn't you tell anyone about you and Nash?" Spencer asked. "I've gone over it in my head a million times, and I can't figure out why it needed to be a secret for so long."

Damon sighed. "For the exact thing that ended up happening anyway. Once Nash and I realized that we were into each other in a more than a fling way, we decided to not tell anyone because if things went badly, we didn't want the Bennett brothers choosing sides."

"We wouldn't, though." Jonah's protest was kneejerk and weak and he knew it. He let out a sigh. "Yeah, we totally would have. At least a little."

"But now Taylor is involved with us too, so it kind of takes the pressure off because we know, no matter what, you'll take Taylor's side. Problem solved."

Jonah looked at him like he'd grown a second head. "That's not how things work."

Spencer wrapped an arm around Jonah and pulled him closer, placing a kiss on the side of his head. "Shhh, let the man have his harmless delusions."

Damon scoffed. "You're not seriously going to tell me that if everything went to shit, you'd take my side over Taylor's?"

"This whole conversation is giving me a headache." Jonah reached up and rubbed his temples. "We're all adults. There doesn't need to be sides. I am perfectly capable of staying the hell out of your relationship drama. And so is Spencer."

"Yeah, but can you say the same for Colby?" Damon didn't miss the way Jonah winced. "But anyway, we're now arguing about hypotheticals. Ones that I'm going to do my best to make sure never happen."

"I can drink to that." Jonah raised his glass, as did Spencer and Damon, and the three friends clinked them together.

"But I am sick to death of talking about myself." Damon looked at Spencer. "Tell me about your current projects. What kind of scrap are you making magic with this time."

Spencer was the shop teacher at the high school, and he was also a sculptor who worked mostly with metal and scrap materials. He once made a sculpture of a bear out of chain that had to be at least eight feet tall.

"Windmills," Spencer said, as if that explained everything.

"Windmills?" Damon asked.

"Windmills." Spencer grinned at Damon, fully aware that he was being annoying.

Jonah rolled his eyes and gently elbowed Spencer in the ribs.

"You're impossible," he said to Spencer. "He made a tabletop prototype out of forks, spoons, and butter knives. Now he's onto making a bigger one." Jonah pulled his phone out and scrolled through his pictures until he found what he was looking for. "That's the prototype."

Damon looked at the screen. "I both love and hate how talented you are. That you see a box of discarded cutlery and think, ‘gee, someone threw out this perfectly good windmill.' All I would see is a box of dirty forks. You could probably make a ton of those little ones and sell them to people for their gardens."

Spencer shrugged. Other people had always seen more value in his work than he did. "I suppose I could," he said after a time.

"They'd make good housewarming gifts, too. Say, if people you knew were going to officially move in together."

Jonah's eyes went wide and even Spencer looked surprised.

"I wasn't going to say anything, but I think after all the recent events, there's no reason not to. Except, don't say anything to Taylor about it. He doesn't know and Nash and I have something special planned for him."

"You're going to ask him to move in with the two of you?"

"That's the plan."

Jonah narrowed his eyes. "How long have you been seeing my brother?"

Damon shrugged. "Does it matter? It's not like he's a stranger. And even if he were, I think my best friend would put aside his own weird feelings and thoughts and just let his best friend be happy and enjoy the moment."

Jonah continued to scowl at him. "You suck. Of course I'm happy for you, but I worry about Taylor rushing into things."

"He's an adult, Jonah. And this is the reason Nash and I didn't want to tell you about us. The Bennett family does one thing really well and that's love each other. But sometimes they're shitty at listening to each other, or anyone else."

Spencer rubbed Jonah's shoulder and Damon watched him unwind. It was like magic, the way Spencer knew how to calm Jonah down without using words. The way he was quietly supportive and seemed to know exactly what Jonah needed from one minute to the next.

Damon wanted that with Nash and Taylor. He wanted to curl up with them at night and wake up with them in the morning. He wanted to be the one to support them when they needed it. He wanted Nash's do not disturb office hours and Taylor's love of plants. Nash's oversized sweaters and Taylor's slowly evolving wardrobe.

"We're going to ask Taylor to live with us." Saying the words out loud gave them power. "We don't know if he'll say yes, so we also have a backup plan. But don't say anything to him. We want it to be a surprise." Damon's leg jittered under the table, bouncing up and down, shaking Damon all the way through.

He was terrified that Taylor would say no. That he'd feel left out or less important to them because they hadn't involved him in the process from the beginning. The ink was all but dry on the place Nash had his heart set on, and soon they'd be able to surprise Taylor with it. Damon hoped it would be a good surprise.

"I hope it goes well for the three of you." Jonah managed to smile at Damon. "I mean that."

"I know you do." Damon forced his leg to stop bouncing.

"Any chance you can tell me what the surprise is? Beyond asking him to live with you, of course."

"Not a chance." Damon grinned and ate another almost-stale pretzel before pushing the dish away. "I don't know why I eat those. They're not even good."

"They're better if you're loaded," Spencer said, taking a sip of his beer.

"I have to say, I think you took the whole ‘I'm seeing your brother, and your brother's best friend' thing better than I'd anticipated."

That earned him a shrug from Jonah. "Nash isn't my business, and Taylor seems happy. Beyond that, I don't really care. Maybe it makes me a bad brother. I'm probably supposed to growl and beat my chest like an angry gorilla, but I have enough on my plate with my students and keeping track of this one." Jonah leaned against Spencer.

"I don't think you're a bad brother."

"I'm not protective like Colby is."

"That doesn't make him better than you. It makes him bossier and a bigger pain in the ass, if you ask me. It's not like you're not there for them when they need you, or that you don't support them. You just don't live in their pockets. Besides, look where being intrusive and protective got Colby." Damon nudged Jonah's drink toward him, urging him to have a sip. "Don't be so hard on yourself."

"I tell him that all the time," Spencer said. "Maybe he'll listen when it comes from someone else."

"Not a chance." Jonah laughed, picking up his drink. "You're both biased." He drained the rest and then set his glass back down. "I don't know about you two, but this week has felt like a fucking eternity and I'm ready for bed. I feel so fucking old saying that, but here we are. In a few years, we'll all be grumpy old men."

"Speak for yourself. I have a gorgeous young boyfriend to keep me fit as a fiddle."

Jonah wrinkled his nose. "Please don't ever say that again."

It was tempting to torment Jonah with innuendo, but he had the feeling that Jonah was not in the mood for his bullshit. Damon pulled out his wallet and tucked a couple of bills under a glass for the server. They always paid for their own food or drink, but they took turns on who left the tip and even though it wasn't his turn, he paid the tip anyway. Jonah and Spencer didn't argue with him about it, but Damon did catch Spencer leaving a couple bills of his own on his way out.

Jonah paused outside the doors and took a deep breath. "Smells like snow." He huddled in closer to Spencer.

"It's not even Halloween yet," Damon protested. He wasn't overly fond of winter.

"It won't stay." Jonah let Spencer tuck him close. "Tell me how the surprise goes, will you?"

Damon nodded. "I will. Have your people call my people and we'll do lunch." Damon shot them a smile before peeling off in the opposite direction to where he'd parked. Jonah was right; it did smell like snow. Damon shoved his hands into his pockets to keep them warm on the short jaunt to his car. He couldn't wait to get home and huddle up with his men.

He didn't like the strife that lingered between Taylor and Colby, but he definitely hadn't minded having Taylor around more often. It felt perfect. Like it was meant to be.

Damon crossed his fingers and sent a wish out into the universe.