CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN | BRADY
“January!” the loud bellow of Duke’s voice immediately greeted me when I stepped into the firehouse kitchen. “It’s about damn time you showed up!”
Duke was standing over the kitchen counter, dicing an onion on the wooden chopping block. I ignored him and made a beeline for the Keurig machine, but Logan intercepted my path:
“We’ve been looking for you all morning!” Logan wrapped his arm around my shoulder and redirected me towards the kitchen table. “Where the hell have you been hiding?”
“I think we all know where January was hiding out this morning,” Troy said smugly. He plopped down into a chair at the table and slid down in the seat, crossing his legs and folding his hands behind his head. His overgrown dirty blonde hair was tied up in a man-bun -- a look that only Troy could pull off.
He glanced up at me and wiggled his eyebrows approvingly as Logan corralled me into an empty chair at the table. Then he sank into the seat next to me.
“I want to hear it from the man himself,” Duke insisted. He dropped his knife on the chopping block and leaned forward, resting his elbows on the countertop and blinking eagerly my way. “Tell us where you were this morning.”
“If the answer isn’t ‘between a woman’s legs,’ I’m going to be very disappointed in you,” Troy said.
“I’m going to be disappointed, too,” Logan nodded. “I almost had my hand blown off, trying to light those damn fireworks last night.”
Troy rolled his eyes: “Stop being so dramatic. Your shirt sleeve caught on fire because you were trying to light the firework fuse like a total dumbass.”
“If I hadn’t gotten the fire under control, it could have been disastrous,” Logan said defensively.
“Disastrous for what? Your arm hair?”
“Did she like the show?” Bryce asked, changing the subject as he popped a pod into the Keurig across the kitchen. I eyed the coffee machine desperately.
“Could you brew a cup for me, too?” I asked. “I’m dying for some coffee…”
“I bet you are,” Duke quipped from the chopping block. “Look at the bags under your eyes! That’s the face of a man who pulled a pussy all-nighter!”
“In that case,” Troy said, “You need to rehydrate, and replenish your electrolytes.” He leaned his chair back and reached for the fridge, then popped the door open and extracted a bottle of Gatorade.
Then, with a wink, he tossed it my way and added: “So you’re ready to give your girl round two, later tonight.”
I caught the Gatorade bottle and rolled my eyes.
“You guys seriously act like you’re fifteen years old,” I muttered. I twisted the cap off the Gatorade and took a swig. Then I caught something out of the corner of my eye. I turned and saw Josh stride into the kitchen, and I nearly spat the mouthful of syrupy blue Gatorade back into the bottle.
“Josh!” I gulped.
We locked eyes, and his stony face remained blank for a few seconds. Then he pressed his lips together in a firm grin and nodded at me.
“Hey,” he said. “Did Cassidy like the fireworks last night?”
“Umm…” I frowned, confused. I didn’t think Josh knew about the fireworks. He definitely hadn’t been around when I had shared my plan with the other guys at the station.
“Yeah,” I stammered. “It was perfect.”
“Good. I’m glad I could help.”
“You… helped?”
“I got called in for backup,” Josh said, then he nodded over his shoulder and added: “After Logan blew his hand off, or whatever…”
I heard Troy cackle again over my shoulder, but I ignored him.
“Well, um…” I stammered uncertainty, searching for the right words. “Thank you.”
“No biggie,” Josh shrugged it off. He reached into the fridge and grabbed a bottle of water. Besides the sound of Duke dicing onions, the kitchen was silent for a few awkward seconds. Then Josh turned on his heel and headed for the kitchen door.
He stopped when he reached the doorway, and he turned to look back at me.
“Hey, Brady…”
“Yeah?”
“I could use your help with something in the vehicle bay. You got a sec?”
“Yeah,” I jumped out of my seat and followed my brother out of the kitchen, then down the metal stairs that led to the station’s garage.
“What do you need help with?” I asked. “Is fire engine 6 acting up again?”
“No,” Josh said reluctantly, folding his arms awkwardly. “I don’t actually need help. I just, uh… wanted to tell you something, but without the other guys around.”
“What is it?” I frowned. I wasn’t used to seeing Josh act like this. It was out of character for him to be shy or awkward… and it was definitely out of character for him to hesitate when he had something to say; our showdown at the Laurent’s house was proof of that.
“I…” he kicked the toe of his boot at the concrete floor, then his grey eyes flashed up to me and the words tumbled out in one breath: “I just wanted to say that I’m sorry, ok?”
“Ok,” I nodded.
My brother’s shoulders slumped down and his demeanor relaxed.
“I had no right to get involved with your life like that,” he said. “I wasn’t thinking straight. You were right: it was none of my business. I was just pissed off and jealous, and I was worried that I was losing you.”
“Losing me?” I frowned.
Josh nodded, looking down at his feet and crossing his arms across his chest.
“I’m always going to be your big brother, Josh,” I told him sincerely. “No matter what. I’m not going anywhere. No matter how much you piss me off, or try to sabotage my relationship…”
He smiled weakly, but his eyes stayed planted on the concrete.
“I mean that,” I told him. “I’ll always be here for you. You know that, right?”
“Yeah,” he shrugged. His shoulders tensed again. “But… things change when you get married, you know? You’re going to start a new life with Cass, and someday you’ll have kids… and then you’ll have a new family that I’m not a part of anymore.”
“Of course, you’ll be part of my family!” I said, gripping his shoulder firmly. “You are my family! That won’t change when Cass and I get married, and it won’t change if we have kids someday. In fact, knowing you, you’ll probably wind up being the crazy uncle who buys my kids beer and teaches them how to flirt with girls.”
Josh cracked a smile and chuckled.
“Besides,” I reminded him, “Cassidy is your family, too. The Laurents have always been like family. You said that yourself.”
“You’re right,” Josh nodded.
“And don’t forget about the Colonel,” I added with a wink. We both burst out laughing, imagining our miserable old grandfather.
“I’m happy for you,” Josh said once the laughter had died down. “I really am.”
“So… does that mean we have your blessing?”
“Of course you have my blessing.”
“Good,” I smiled. “Then I have something else I need to ask you.”
“You don’t need to ask,” Josh held up a hand to stop me. “I already signed the papers for my own place. I get the keys tomorrow night, and I should have all my stuff moved out of the house before the wedding.”
“Huh?”
“You were going to ask me to move out of the house, right?” Josh sniffed. “I figured you and Cass would want your privacy, once you’re married… so I found my own apartment.”
“Josh, that’s…” I was caught off guard. I had known, in the back of my head, that I’d need to talk about Josh about how our living arrangement would change after the wedding, but since things had gotten so awkward, I had been avoiding the conversation.
“It was long overdue,” Josh shrugged. “I think it’s time for me to grow up and make something out of myself.”
“Listen to you!” I teased. “My baby brother is all grown up! You’ve got a steady job, your own place… what’s next? Do I hear wedding bells in your future?”
“I don’t know about that,” Josh rolled his eyes, but he couldn’t hide his smile as he glanced down at the floor. “But I am ready to grow up. Maybe I can make my big brother proud, for a change…”
“I’m already proud of you,” I told him. “And I think it’s awesome you got your own place. But uh… that’s not what I was going to ask you about.”
“Oh. Really?”
“Actually, I wanted to ask you if you’d be my best man,” I said.
Josh was silent as he glanced up at me. Then a giant smile spread across his face.
“Hell yeah!” he whooped, slapping me on the back. “I thought you asked Duke!”
“I definitely did not ask Duke to be my best man…”
“Yikes,” Josh chuckled. “Someone’s gonna have to break the news to Duke...”
“I’ll save that heart-to-heart conversation for later,” I rolled my eyes. Then I wrapped my arm around my brother’s shoulder and pulled him into a hug.
“So… if I’m your best man, does that mean I’m in charge of the bachelor party?” Josh asked.
“Shit,” I muttered. “I forgot about that. Are the guys still trying to plan something?”
“Nah,” Josh shook his head. “I think the party planning committee officially disbanded after Troy deleted all of the wedding shows that Duke had saved to the DVR in the breakroom.”
“I’m actually relieved,” I confessed.
“You don’t want a bachelor party?”
“I just want to do something lowkey,” I shrugged. “Maybe grill out, grab some beers, just hang out…”
“I can work with that,” Josh grinned.