Forsaking Truth (14 page)

He lifted the hood and
went to work. Sheilagh stuck by his side except for the times she went in to
get hi
m a glass of lemonade and make him a sandwich.
A white Taurus pulled up while he was eating the turkey and mustard on rye and
Sheilagh, who was eating beside him on the front porch, groaned.

“Who’s that?” he
asked, unable to make out the driver.

“That’s
Erin. Finn’s girlfriend. She’s a bitch.”

He raised a brow and
bit his sandwich. The girl climbed out of the car and marched toward the house.

“Hi, Erin,” Sheilagh
greeted, none too friendly.

The girl stopped as
though just noticing them. She didn’t return
the
greeting, but smiled as she took a long, perusing gander at Tristan. “Who’s
your friend, Shei?”

Sheilagh’s eyes
narrowed. “Erin, Tristan. Tristan, Erin,” she snapped out. Then with more
emphasis, she said, “Finn’s inside. You know…your
boyfriend.”

The
girl scowled at Sheilagh and Tristan thought she might be
right. This girl looked like a bitch.

“Of course he is,”
Erin huffed, rolling her eyes. “Where else would he be?”

“He’s probably hiding
from you,” Sheilagh grumbled under her breath, shoving the las
t bite of bread in her mouth.

Tristan’s lip
twitched. She was a fiery little thing and he liked it.

When Erin stomped in
to the house, he turned to Sheilagh and jokingly said, “You’re mean.”

She lifted her chin,
long locks of copper hair shaking out over
her
shoulder, and smiled sweetly. “I happen to be very nice, actually, but Erin
doesn’t respond to nice. She’s a bitch to my brother, so I’m a bitch to her.
Besides, I’ve actually gotten a lot nicer to her.”

He arched a brow.

Sheilagh’s lips
pressed in a
tight smirk. “I used to kick her under
the table and stick things in her hair at church.”

He laughed.
“Shei-Devil indeed.”

Shouting from the
house drew their attention. Sheilagh hopped off the steps and he followed. A
second later the screen door whipped
open with a snap
and Erin came marching out. Finn followed a second later.

“Are we still going
out tonight?” he called.

“No!” Erin snapped.
She got back in her car, turning the key so hard the engine squealed and they
all winced. A moment later she peeled
out of the
driveway leaving them fanning away a cloud of dust.

“Hey, Tristan. What
are you doin’ here?” Finn asked, coming over to where he and Sheilagh were
standing at the truck.

It was remarkable how
much he looked like Luke, but there were also differ
ences.
Luke had a hard glint to his eyes, where Finn’s were soft and easygoing. Finn
was slightly smaller as well. Not by much. He’d seen first hand what logging
would do to a man’s body, but Luke had that extra muscle from training.

“I’m fixing Sheilagh’
s truck.”

He frowned. “Why
didn’t you ask me to do it, Shei, ’stead of making Tristan come all the way out
here?”

Sheilagh’s lips parted
and she looked up at him, a flash of guilt showing in her green eyes.

Tristan quickly said,
“I don’t mind. I told her
I’d do it.”

“You need any help?”
Finn asked.

They looked under the
hood and Tristan made a few more adjustments. Finn suggested they change the
oil while they had everything open. Just as Tristan was tightening a cap, he
heard a door close and his neck pri
ckled. He turned
and saw Luke, keys in hand, staring at his truck.

Pretending he was
still tightening things up, he watched as Luke scanned the yard. Their gazes
met and Tristan’s breath caught. His heart sped up as Luke strode in their
direction.

“What a
re you guys doing?” he asked. Tristan pulled himself out
from under the hood and grabbed a rag to wipe his fingers. “Hey, Tristan.”

“Just fixing Shei’s
car. We got it covered,” Finn said and Tristan definitely picked up on his
clipped tone.

“Need any
help?” Luke offered.

His brother and sister
both looked surprised. Sheilagh snorted. “Yeah right. I’m sure you have other
stuff to do. Isn’t Oscar the Grouch expecting you for your weekly meeting to go
over the finer points of being a surly douche muncher?
”

Tristan frowned at her
and she immediately looked contrite and embarrassed.

“We got it covered,”
Finn said and turned back to the truck.

He watched as Luke
took a deep slow breath, his smile falling. It took everything he had not to go
to him. “Okay then
,” he said in a tight voice.

That was enough.
“Actually,” Tristan said. “We’re doin’ a tune up and could use an extra pan.
You know where I can get one?”

Luke’s eyes met his
and he nodded. “Yeah. I’ll grab one.”

Sheilagh and Finn were
involved in a lecture
Finn was giving about not
abusing her brake pads. Quietly, Tristan slipped away and followed Luke into
the big house. The house was quiet and he found him in the kitchen holding
three cake pans.

“Hey,” he said.

Luke tried for a smile
and failed. “Hey. My
family’s not real happy with me
right now, if you couldn’t tell.”

He didn’t comment and
Luke shifted. He looked at the door leading to the side porch and asked, “How’d
you get here?”

“Drove.”

“But why?”

“Sheilagh called me.”

He faced him and
frowned. “How
does she have your number?”

“I gave it to her.”

His brow continued to
crease. “Why?”

“In case she ever
needed anything, like her car fixed. What’s the big deal?”

Luke’s Adam’s apple
rolled as he swallowed. “I don’t have your number.”

Taking a step closer,
until they were only a foot apart, he whispered. “I’ll give
it to you.”

Luke’s eyes searched
his and he wanted so badly to touch him. He took a half step closer and Luke’s
nostrils flared. His arms extended, passing him the pans. “You can use these.”

Trist
an took the pans and stilled when Luke’s finger
intentionally grazed his. “I could come over when we’re done with the truck.”

“Yeah. That’d be
good,” Luke whispered.

The front door opened
and slammed and they stepped apart. “Tristan?”

He turned as Sheilag
h came into the kitchen. “There you are. Finn said to bring
out the pans.”

“On my way,” he said
turning and following her out.

Luke helped with the
car and Finn and Sheilagh seemed to drop the attitude they’d originally treated
him to. Every chance Luke go
t to brush his hand over
any part of Tristan, he did. His expression was always blank, but Tristan
recognized the longing banked in those navy blue eyes. He felt it too.

As they finished, Luke
mentioned a game on television and Tristan immediately took the
hint. The problem was, Finn wanted to watch the game too.
Rather than heading to the barn, the three of them—four, once Frank showed
up—wound up in the big house on the couch. It definitely wasn’t the plan he and
Luke had in mind.

When the game ended,
Luk
e stood and said, “I gotta get ready. I’m going
out tonight.”

“You going to
O’Malley’s?” Finn asked.

Luke hesitated and
said, “Yeah.” His lips compressed the minute Finn jumped up and said he was
heading there too since Erin canceled their plans.

It was
almost laughable. Tristan would have found it amusing if he
wasn’t dying to get Luke to himself again. When they got to O’Malley’s, things
didn’t improve. It was bad enough they couldn’t sit next to each other or get a
second alone, but what was worse was
the parade of
women that came up to Luke every five minutes.

Luke had the decency
to flush, but that didn’t make it any easier to bear. These were women he’d
slept with, fooled around with, most of them recently. The longer this went on,
the more they both
got pissed off.

“I think I’m taking
off,” Tristan said as some girl rubbed up against Luke and insinuated in none
too cloudy terms where they’d left off, basically with her mouth full of Luke.

Luke’s head snapped
up. “You’re leaving?”

“Yeah. I think I’ve
had enough.”

Luke’s shoulders
lifted and his eyes moved as if he didn’t know what to do. “See ya.”

“Byeee,” the girl next
to Luke cooed. Yeah, he’d definitely had enough.

When he got into his
truck his phone buzzed. He read a text from Luke.

Industrial p
ark
by the high school. Ten minutes.

Sighing, he tossed his
phone aside and backed out. He wasn’t in the mood for excuses. It was what it
was. This, until Luke was ready to open up to those around him, was how it
would be. Eventually the barrage of women
would ease,
but for now there was nothing either of them could do about it.

He waited at the
industrial park, feeling like a trespasser, for twenty minutes. It was remote
and backed up to the school, which was closed for the weekend. When he finally
saw Lu
ke’s headlights he climbed out of the truck.

Luke parked next to
him and met him halfway. “I’m sorry. That sucked.”

“Yeah,” Tristan
agreed.

Luke stepped close,
but didn’t touch him. “I didn’t know what to do.”

He sighed loudly.
“Isn’t much you can do. It i
s what it is.”

“You’re mad.”

“No, just irritated.
How would you feel if all my ex-lovers showed up and hung all over me?”

“Fuck that,” Luke said
quickly. “I’ll make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

“It’s gonna happen
from time to time, Luke. Unless you want
to go
announcing to the world that you prefer sucking cock, the girls will continue
to come.”

His lips thinned and
he stepped close, his body heat encroaching on his space. “Only your cock.”

“That’s right.” It was
essential Luke knew he wasn’t the only one
who could
be demanding.

Luke’s nostrils flared
as he stared at him challengingly. His hand snaked out and cupped him through
his jeans. Tristan stepped back.

“What’s wrong?” Luke
asked.

“We’re in an
industrial park, Luke.”

“I want you.”

“I want you too,
but not here.”

“Leave your truck and
come back to my place. I’ll bring you to get it in the morning.”

So clandestine. “Why?”

“Because I want to
prove to you you’re who I want. No one else matters.”

Maybe he would have
objected had he not needed the reassur
ance. Instead,
he nodded.

They drove in silence.
When they reached Luke’s place the big house was dark. Shutting the lights on
the truck, he followed Luke into the barn quickly. Luke locked the door and
they faced off in the den.

“Tell me what you
need,”
Luke said.

“You.”

He came to him in
three strides. His mouth crashed over his, needy and giving. Tristan gripped
the back of that strong neck and kissed him almost punishingly. He was angry
with Luke for sleeping around. He knew it was all an attempt to fu
ck Tristan out of his life. It hurt like hell seeing so
many women he’d touched.