Page 71 of Reach Around

“I do not,” Brogan says immediately. “One time. I saidonetime.”

“You mouthed every word,” Bennett adds. “With feeling.”

I look at Brogan. “Which album?”

“Don’t answer that,” he quips, dragging a hand through his hair.

“Folklore,” Shep coughs.

“Respect,” I say, biting back a grin.

Brogan looks skyward like he’s praying for a sinkhole to open beneath us. Then he mumbles something about needing to “go hide some damn coasters” and stalks off like a man on a mission. He’s been twitchy ever since Bennett threatened to toss another box into the flames like a sacrificial offering to the Hockey Gods.

I turn to Bennett, who’s now staring at the fire with the intense focus of someone trying to solve the mysteries of the universe—or at least which kindling will burn fastest.

“Why do you mess with him like that?” I ask, nodding in the direction Brogan disappeared.

Bennett doesn’t look away from the flames. “Why don’tyoutell him you designed the coasters?”

Um. Nope. Not falling into that trap.

“Tell you what,” I say sweetly. “You go first. Tell him you love him and you’re proud of him and you cry watching those Subaru commercials. Then I’ll go next.”

“I’m on your side,” he says with a shrug. “And his side. I mean… if I cared enough to take a side.”

I roll my eyes. “Don’t you ever get tired of pretending to be an asshole?”

“Who’s pretending?”

I raise a brow. He cracks the tiniest smile.

“If you tell him I love him and care about his happiness,” Bennett says, taking another sip of his bourbon cocoa, “I’ll deny it until the day I die.”

“You do, though. I see it.”

Bennett glances sideways at me. “You do, too. That’s why I like you. Brogan needs a wakeup call. Just… wake him up faster.”

“I’m trying.”

“I am, too.” He lifts his mug toward me. “Your method is probably more effective. After all, you’ve got boobs.” He pauses, eyes flicking over my shoulder. “And dat ass.”

Before I can respond with the full snark he deserves, Brogan reappears.

“Ben, you may be bigger than me, but—”

“But what?” Bennett says, spinning around like he’s been waiting for this exact moment. “Since when do you care what I say to Joely? Is there something… I should know?”

Brogan stiffens. “Nope. Just… be respectful. Your number one considers her family.”

That hits me right in the chest.

Family.

Before I can spiral into that special flavor of emotional damage, Bennett smirks and tilts his head. “And what does my little brother think? And no, I don’t mean Boone.”

Brogan doesn’t answer. Instead, he drops down beside me on the log bench, close enough that our shoulders touch.

Gage calls out from the back porch, “We doing s’mores or what?”

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