40. Ford

CHAPTER 40

FORD

The following weekend, I was getting dinner with Brooks, when Kale showed up. I wasn't sure if it was a setup, but as soon as I saw the steely set of Kale's mouth, I knew it didn't matter. We were sitting at a four-top, and Kale threw himself into the seat across from me, immediately flagging down the waiter and getting himself a drink. Beside me, Brooks tensed, but didn't say a word.

"Didn't expect you out tonight," Brooks finally said.

Kale narrowed his eyes and sighed, leaning back in his chair and shifting his attention from Brooks to me and back again. It was a good thing Boston had decided to stay home, because if this was how Kale acted toward me on my own, I didn't want to see him if we were together. After Boston had lunch with his brother earlier in the week, he'd come home that night smelling like chicken stock and carrots, telling me all about it. To me, it didn't sound like it had gone well, but Boston seemed optimistic about things, so I was happy to wait it out .

"I didn't expect to be out," Kale said. "I'd rather be home with Christian."

"Then why aren't you?" he asked.

Kale cracked his knuckles, and the waiter brought Kale's drink to the table. Brooks and I got refills, and I chewed the inside of my lip while I waited for Kale to answer. I'd known all along that he wasn't going to take me and Boston well, but I hadn't thought the whole thing through to completion when I'd started it. I hadn't truly walked myself through what it would feel like to lose Kale's friendship.

I fucking hated it.

I hated that there was a divide between us now that felt insurmountable, but I wouldn't go back and change what I'd done. Boston had given me so much more than I'd ever expected, ever dreamed of, and I was beyond grateful for him and the life we were going to build together. Kale was my closest friend, but Boston was the love of my life, and I wished the two of them could find peace about it.

"Because Alex called me and said the two of you were out. He said he missed the way things used to be before and he wanted me to fix it."

"Things haven't been right since Beamer moved," Brooks said.

"They were more right than they are now," Kale said. "At least that's what Alex told me on the phone."

"Did he say it was your fault?" I asked.

Kale swirled the ice around his drink. "I told him it was yours."

"Do you really believe that?"

Before Kale could answer, Alex yanked out the chair beside him and sat down. He looked tired, as he normally did, but the corner of his mouth tugged into an amused smile. "Did I miss the fun?" he asked.

"This feels orchestrated," Brooks muttered.

He wasn't wrong.

I hadn't been avoiding Kale, but I'd definitely been giving him time to process. It had been awhile since I'd seen any of my friends, and since Kale wasn't talking to me and Alex was still playing the role of recluse, Brooks was the only option. I'd called him up and he'd said yes to dinner and drinks, but he'd apparently spilled the beans to Alex who felt like causing some trouble by telling Kale. It was the most on-brand reaction any of them could have had to the situation, and I found it impossible to even be mad about. Things were going to come to a head sooner rather than later, better to hash it out in public where cooler heads would have to prevail.

"Kale was just telling us now it was my fault things are weird here," I said, arching a brow. "What do you think, Alex?"

If he thought he was going to start a shitstorm with his meddling and send all of Kale's self-righteous rage down on my head, he had another thing coming.

"I think that Kale is always too worried about who everyone else is fucking," Alex answered with a shrug.

"That's not true."

"You were an asshole to Beamer when he brought Dalton around," Brooks offered.

"You were an asshole to Beamer when you found out I was the one who'd marked him," Alex added. "We're both consenting adults, Kale. Just like your brother and Ford."

"Don't gang up on me, you pricks," Kale grumbled, taking a huge swallow of his drink.

"Don't give us cause to," Alex said .

"Stop being so level-headed."

"Stop being so wrong."

Brooks huffed out a laugh, but quickly smothered it with his drink. I hadn't expected either of them to come to my defense, but I wasn't unhappy with the support.

"If it's any consolation," I interrupted, knowing it was my battle to have and not theirs, "we didn't mean for you to find out the way you did."

"How did he find out?" Alex asked.

"He walked in and found all of his brother's clothes on the floor in front of the door," Brooks answered for me.

"And then found my brother in Ford's clothes," Kale added.

"Better than naked," Alex teased.

I chuckled, shaking my head and turning toward Kale with as much seriousness as he deserved. "I know you don't want to hear this, but I love your brother, Kale."

"You love all of them," he snapped.

"That's not fair and you know it. I've never…it's different with your brother."

"How?" he asked.

"Do you really want me to paint a picture of it for you?" I frowned, lifting one shoulder. "I will, but I don't think you want to know."

Kale grit his teeth, cheeks burning red. "I didn't mean in bed, Ford."

I scrubbed a hand down my face, wishing I had an entire bottle of whiskey instead of just a glass. "I don't know how to explain it, Kale. He makes me want to be better and no one ever has before. "

"You've always done anything to seal the deal," he interjected.

I groaned, picking at an itch inside the shell of my ear.

"What do you think then? Do you think this is some long con? I lured your brother into bed for fun to get my rocks off, to ruin my relationship with you? Do you really think I would have risked all of that for a piece of ass?"

"My brother isn't a piece of ass," Kale growled.

"No shit. That's what we've been trying to tell you."

Brooks gave the waiter a wave and ordered a new round for all four of us. I finished what was left in my glass and pushed it toward the edge of the table.

"I love him, Kale. And, frankly, our worries over your reaction to that has spent far too much time between us." Dragging my tongue across the front of my teeth, I gave him a helpless shrug. "And I'm done letting you be there. So, you can get over it or not. I don't want to lose you, but I'm not leaving him to save our friendship."

Alex's eyebrows rose toward his hairline and he threw a wide-eyed glance at Brooks, who leaned toward the edge of the table.

Kale glared at me, swallowing before grinding his teeth together so loud I could hear it from across the table. I knew him well enough to read all the emotions that flashed across his face, from anger to confusion, before finally settling on something that looked a little like tired resignation.

"Good," he muttered, finishing the rest of his drink and pushing his empty toward mine.

Over the years we'd known each other, Kale had managed to be both predictable and surprising at the same time. Flying across the country to kidnap a prince was expected because it was just the kind of person Kale had always been. But his acceptance over my willingness to walk away from our friendship to be with his brother was not a reaction I ever would have expected.

"Pardon?"

The waiter brought us fresh drinks, and Kale drank half of his in one shot, shaking his head like that would clear either the alcohol or his thoughts.

"Good," he repeated, gritting his way through the word like it was covered in razor blades.

"Good?"

"My brother deserves that."

I swallowed. "I know."

Kale set his drink down on the table and drummed his fingers against the edge.

"Good," he said a third time, pairing it with a jerky nod. "If you leave him, I'll cut your dick off."

I snorted, rolling my eyes. "I bought him a farm, Kale. I'm in it for the long haul."

"You bought him a what ?" Brooks asked, swiveling toward me so quickly he almost fell out of his chair.

"I haven't had a chance to tell him yet. I mean, he knows I put in the offer, but I just got the acceptance this afternoon."

The call from Lisa was a welcome break from the frantic crush of work, and my first instinct had been to call Boston and let him know the good news, but he'd been fresh off lunch with his brother and I did really want to tell him in person. Part of me wanted to get through closing and then tell him by giving him the keys, but I was only making the purchase in name and money. The property was for him, and he needed to be involved in as much of the process as he wanted. I'd planned to tell him after drinks with Brooks, but I wasn't sure how long the night was going to run now that Kale and Alex had shown up.

"Where?" Kale asked.

"Just outside Clintondale."

"How big?"

"Eighty acres," I said.

"That's smaller than where we grew up."

"I know."

"Does he like it?

"Very much," I answered.

"You're not moving away, are you?" Alex asked, his tone a little shaky.

I shook my head. "We're not leaving the city."

Kale let out a long breath and closed his eyes, nodding at my answer. "Thank you, Ford," he said so softly I almost didn't hear it.

That was the first moment I'd ever seen Kale show fear. And I realized how out of his mind he must have been with worry at the thought of Boston packing up and going back to California.

"I just want him to be happy," I said.

Kale cleared his throat with a swish of his drink. He stood up quickly, shoving the chair away from the table with a quick jerk of his arms. "I'll be right back."

All three of us watched Kale navigate his way through the maze of tables toward the bathroom. It seemed like the revelation about the farm was the only thing Kale needed to believe how committed I was to Boston, and if I'd known that, I would have opened with it the weekend before. As it were, I thought my level of dedication to his brother would have been a red flag instead of a green one, but I'd apparently misread the situation. It wouldn't have been the first time I got something wrong about a Sheffield, because up until he'd slid his hand around my thigh in front of his brother's office, I'd been wrong about Boston too. Just went to show how people could always surprise you if you gave them the opportunity.

"So." Alex grinned, clapping his hands together. "That went well."

"It could have gone horribly," I said.

"But it didn't."

"What were you thinking?" Brooks asked, shaking his head.

"I was thinking the three of you are the best friends I've ever had, and something as stupid as Ford falling in love with Kale's brother shouldn't be the thing to ruin that for me."

"So this came from a place of selfishness?" I laughed, raising my glass to toast him.

"Absolutely." He and Brooks brought their glasses up and clinked the rims against mine. "To being a narcissist."

I laughed again, and Kale was back, a little red-faced, but overall looking a thousand times less tense than he had on arrival.

"What are we toasting?" he asked, sliding his glass in a circle around the table, not quite committed to the celebration, but not ready to leave. Relief had flooded my chest when he returned and I flashed him an apologetic smile.

"Being bold enough to fight for what we want," Brooks answered, reaching across the table to push Kale's glass into his hand.

"To getting what we want," he muttered.

"And what we deserve," I added, clinking my glass against Kale's. He sucked in a breath, then lifted his glass and took a drink.