Forsaking Truth (25 page)

“How come you didn’t come home on
Saturday?” Tristan finally asked.

Sheilagh
shrugged. “I had things I wanted to do.”

His gaze cut to Alec’s
who was indeed studying him. Tristan glanced back in her direction. “I’ll bet.
Tomorrow night we’re hitting O’Malley’s. You like whiskey,
friend
?”

“When it suits.”

What kind of answer
was that
? Tristan nodded. “Good. I’ll have your shots
ready.”

The door to the house
opened and Maureen came out. “Oh, I didn’t know you boys were here. Well, come
and eat. The food’s getting’ cold and I didn’t cook for nothin’.”

Tristan stepped toward
the house wi
thout waiting to see what Luke did. He
didn’t make room for Alec the old Brit and the man had to step aside to let him
pass.
That’s right. This is my family and no
stranger’s gonna come sniffin’ around without our permission.

When they settled in
at the ta
ble Tristan started his inquisition. “How
long are you staying, Shei?”

“We have to go back early Sunday
morning.”

“What are you majoring
in, Alec?” Tristan asked, his tone suspicious.

Alec cleared his
throat. “My concentration is philosophy.”

Sheilagh dre
w in a breath. “Actually, Alec’s a—”

Alec interrupted.
“Pass the salt, sweetheart.”

Everyone stilled.
Sweetheart?

Frank stood and
cleared his plate. The man lingered at the sink, giving them his back. Tristan
and Luke eyed Sheilagh’s
sweetheart
challengin
gly.
Maureen, who was still chatting around them, slipped in a quick prompt for
Sheilagh to slide over the salt, but then went back to her abridgment of the
current McCullough events and doings.

After dinner Tristan
still wasn’t at ease. As they lay in bed
he texted
Finn. He kept it short and to the point.
Devil
brought a guy home. I don’t like him. Bring your torches and pitchforks to
O’Malley’s tomorrow.

Finn texted back a
minute later.
Lol. I’ll have the wife polish the gun.

Tristan laughed.

“What’s so f
unny?” Luke asked.

“Finn. I told him
about Sheilagh’s
sweetheart
.”

Luke’s expression was
not amused. “Why do you care so much?”

Tristan shrugged. “I
dunno. I just do. Don’t you think it’s goofy the way she looks at him all
cow-eyed?”

“No different than the
way she looked at you for years.”

“That’s not true.”

“Uh…yeah, it is.”

Tristan bristled as a
thought occurred to him. “Do you think he knows about us?”

Luke rolled over and
faced him. “Would it bother you if he did?”

“No. Not really. I
just don’t think Sh
eilagh should go spreading around
shit that isn’t her business to people we don’t know.”

Luke studied him for a
moment. “Oh, my God. You don’t want him to know you’re gay. You’re
embarrassed.”

“No, I’m not!”

Luke laughed, but not
with humor. “Then what?
Are you afraid he’ll think
you’re a pussy if he knows? The guy was wearing slacks for Christ’s sake,
Tristan. I’m pretty sure you’re tougher than he is.”

“I know I am.”

“Then what is it—”
Luke’s words cut off. His eyes
moved in the shadows and then he sai
d, “You’re
jealous.”

Tristan scoffed. “Of
what?”

“Sheilagh. You’re all
bent out of shape, because she’s finally over you.”

“She was never under
me.”

“Yeah, she was, maybe
not the way she hoped to be, but you still let her get under your skin. She’s
had a c
rush on you since you fixed her truck when she
was a kid. Now she shows up with some guy in a fancy car with a fancy accent
and it’s making you crazy.”

“That’s bullshit.”

Luke chuckled. “I
didn’t know a gay man could get jealous over women.”

“I’m not fucki
ng jealous.” He wasn’t. It wasn’t anything sexual. It was
just strange. Sheilagh had always been there. He feared she didn’t need him
anymore and he didn’t like that.

“Whatever,” Luke
muttered turning back to his stomach. “All I know is that this guy bette
r not say shit tomorrow night about
us.
I don’t know him and
I’ll have no problem kicking his ass if he starts spreading rumors.”

Tristan glanced at the
ceiling. For some reason he cared that Alec might know they were gay. Would
this be what it felt like i
f they were open about
their personal life? He didn’t like the paranoid worry running through him. He
felt…insecure and distrustful that he was being falsely judged before he was
given a chance.

Wait. Who was that
prick to judge him? He was the new guy. Tr
istan had
been around for years. Why was he so bent out of shape over this?

He’d always been
cautious, but this was the first time he ever really understood how Luke might
feel. It was the first time he ever experienced the actual awkward sensation of
wan
ting to deny who he was, like he was ashamed of it
or something. That didn’t make any sense.

Luke fell asleep and
Tristan’s mind wandered. Maybe it wasn’t so much that he was ashamed of it, but
that Sheilagh was yet another McCullough moving forward in a t
raditional sense. If she moved on, who would he have to
fall back on?

Jesus. That was a
fucked up thought. Why did he need a fallback person? A fallback
girl
for that matter. He
wasn’t into having a beard in his life, but was that what she’d become? His sa
fety net? The one guarantee that if Luke ever stopped
loving him she’d keep him breathing?

God, he was fucked in
the head.

Luke wasn’t going
anywhere. Sure, they still had issues from time to time, but who didn’t? Yes,
Luke occasionally still flirted with
women in public
and it pissed him off, especially when he drank, but they were engaged. Things
were different now. Someday they’d make vows like the rest of them. He was
being ridiculous.

His mind went back to
Sheilagh. What if this guy was using her? And
why was
he so much older? Sheilagh was older than most college students. She should
have brought home some veal, not this guy.

The following night he
went home and showered then headed to O’Malley’s. He wasn’t even sure why he
was going after th
e day he had. Chad and Dalton, the
new guys, had worked with him and Luke that day and since then he’d been in a
bad mood.

Luke was pissed at him
because he called him out on being a pussy. They’d all been loading up the
chipper when Dalton said something
derogatory about
gays. Tristan stilled and apparently didn’t do a good enough job hiding his
irritation.

“What’s the matter,
Tristan?” Dalton had sneered. “You ain’t no faggot lover, are you?”

Luke made a sound that
said
not likely.
“Yeah right. Tristan’s
a lady-killer. You should have seen the girl he went home
with last week.”

Tristan’s gaze
narrowed as he eyed Luke, but his lover played it off, going on about all the
hot chicks Tristan bagged on a regular basis.

“Why don’t you shut
the fuck up and work,
Dalton?” Finn said. Tristan
looked at Luke’s brother, surprised he’d stepped in. Finn, usually a mellow
guy, looked pissed.

“Whatever,” Dalton
muttered and mumbled something under his breath.

“What was that?” Finn
got right in the guy’s face.

Luke stopped
what he was doing and watched as his twin did what he
should have done.

“You got a problem
with me, McCullough?” Dalton said, tossing down the branch he’d been lugging.

Dalton was a big guy,
but Finn didn’t back down. “Yeah I got a problem. I got a problem
with you running your mouth when you should be workin’.”

Dalton stiffened. “You
ain’t my boss.”

“Wanna bet? It’s my
name on your check. So from now on, how about you save all your little
comments, save us all a headache, and do your fucking job. Can’t wor
k with that? Work somewhere else.” And with that Finn got
in his truck and left.

“What’s his problem?”
Dalton said, but no one commented.

Tristan had steamed
the rest of the day until Luke finally caught up with him in the locker room.

“Hey, you all right
?” Luke asked.

Tristan looked around
and tossed his gloves in his locker. “No, I’m not fucking all right. What the
fuck, Luke?” he hissed.

“What did you expect
me to do?”

“Well, being as you
just stood there when your brother came to my defense, I’m
guessin’ I shouldn’t expect much.”

“I did stick up for
you—”

“No!” Tristan hissed,
getting right in his grill. “You mocked me.”

“I covered your ass.”

“To a guy like Dalton
Thorndale? Like I give a fuck. I’d rather let that prick know exactly what I am
and
deal with the consequences then have him think I
agree with his little
fags
should die crusade.”

Luke grabbed him by
the shirt. “Lower your fucking voice before someone hears you.”

He smacked his hand
away. “Why? Because they might know what I am? What you
are?”

Luke shoved his face
close. “No, because those guys are big and they got friends. I don’t want to
have to worry about you when I’m not there because your damn foolish pride got
you on their hit list.”

Tristan stepped back
and glared at him. “You’re
bigger than all of them,
Luke. You could have stood up to him, but you didn’t. Once again you lied
because you’re too much of a pussy to stand up for what you believe in.” He
grabbed his keys. “I’ll see you tonight.”

As he drove to
O’Malley’s he wondered w
hy he was even bothering to
go. He noticed Luke’s truck the minute he pulled up and thought about bailing.
Then he noticed the BMW. “Fuck.”

He’d go and check out
this guy Sheilagh was with then he’d leave unless he got a bad feeling about
him. Tristan str
ode to their usual table, meeting
Luke’s eyes and then Sheilagh’s. Luke still wore a surly puss on his face.

Like always, Luke made
no gesture of acknowledgement at his arrival. The others greeted him and he
nodded. He shouldn’t have come. He was in no mo
od for
social bullshit.

The first round of
shots was delivered and he picked his mark. Sliding one to Sheilagh’s date,
Tristan mumbled, “Drink up, old man. You’re going down tonight.”

Alec twitched,
obviously hearing his comment, but he made no outward re
ply. Sheilagh slowly tipped back her shot. No one else seemed to notice
Tristan’s mood.

As the night carried
on and the booze saturated their brains, everyone was laughing and shouting
over each other. When Sheilagh stood to use the restroom Tristan casual
ly abandoned his beer and headed to the back.

She came out of the
restroom smiling and staggered to an abrupt halt when she found Tristan waiting
outside the door for her.

“Having fun?” he
asked.

She frowned. “As a
matter of fact, yes.”