Sandpipers' Secrets (12 page)

“Gus quit. That’s why I’m in here. I have to find a replacement fast. We’ve got a huge weekend booked and even with me filling in, we’re still going to need an extra set of hands.”

Huh! Brody couldn’t say he was sorry to see Gus go, but… What a prick! He caused trouble while he was here, then quit and caused trouble when he was gone. But Brody was more concerned by the way Zak was looking at the moment. The stiff, brooding way he concentrated on straightening his clothes.

There was a world of things Zak wasn’t saying about Gus’s decision to quit and the whole situation. He suspected it was the real crux of his sudden silence. Brody just wanted to make things all better somehow, but he wasn’t sure how he could do that. Or even how to broach the subject.

“I know I haven’t done much prep, but I’d be happy to come in early and help, if I can.” It wasn’t much, and it wasn’t even scratching at whatever the deeper issue was that had Zak looking so hurt and solemn. But Zak smiled at him anyway, and something inside Brody eased at the sight of it.

“Thanks, babe. That would help. We’re still going to be short, but…that helps a lot.”

The way Zak looked at him made Brody think he meant more than just the offer to help out in the kitchen. Brody felt his cheeks heat in a blush at the soft, adoring way Zak was looking at him. It was almost the same look he saw on Zak’s face sometimes when he looked at Lark.

With a jolt, Brody realised he wanted that. It might not happen now or even next week. It might never happen. But Brody wanted more than anything for Zak to look at him like that…forever.

Zak looked away. “You know, about what Gus said—”

Brody was just about to interrupt him to tell him it didn’t matter, that he really didn’t care, when they heard a loud bang against the wall. Something heavy smashed into the building.

“What the hell?” Zak shouted.

Together they rushed outside, just in time to hear the squeal of tyres from around the side of the building.

Zak took off running and Brody tried to follow, but the bigger man was too fast. A few seconds later Zak jogged back to him, his brows furrowed in irritation.

“Did you see who it was?” Brody asked as Zak continued towards him.

“Nah! They were too quick. Probably just kids—” Zak froze. He was looking back towards the restaurant’s loading area. A stunned look of disbelief crossed his face then faded to anger. “What the fuck!”

Brody spun around to see. Bright red paint dripped down the wall like blood from a horror movie. But the real horror was the phrase ‘YOU SICK FREAKS!’ scrawled in large letters. The bang had obviously been the tin hitting the wall as a final angry act to punctuate the obscene vandalism.

“Oh, Zak!”

“Help me get it off. I don’t want Lark to see it.”

“But shouldn’t we call the police?”

“No.”

“But—”

“Brody, I don’t want every nut job and media hound in the district camped out on my doorstep, making our lives miserable. And that’s what would happen if this got out.” Zak angrily gestured to the wet paint mess.

“It had to be someone from last night. Someone from the kitchen.”

“Maybe. I don’t know. Maybe someone said something to someone else and they did this. I just don’t know. We just have to wait and see what happens. If we start getting more and more people making trouble, I’ll deal with it then. Right now I just want to get this mess cleaned up so Lark doesn’t see it. He was upset enough last night without this shit.”

“Do you think it was Gus?”

“Who knows? Who fuckin’ cares?” Zak ran a shaking hand over his head as if he was about to lose it.

Brody draped his arm over Zak’s huge shoulders. The angle was slightly weird because Zak was so much taller, but it still felt good, so he didn’t pull away. “Don’t worry. We’ll get it cleaned up. Lark won’t have to know anything.”

“Thanks,” Zak said wearily as he leaned into Brody a little. Zak’s acceptance of his embrace and support made Brody feel about a mile high.

“I want to protect him too, Zak. I don’t ever want Lark getting hurt. Especially not like this. He’s too…”

“Yeah, I know. He is. I’ve always known he was.”

* * * *

Tuesday came bright and clear. And far too quickly, as far as Lark was concerned. On Monday, their one day off, he’d tried to make a complete break from the restaurant, but it had been a complete and utter disaster this week. Not only had Zak spent the entire day trying to replace Gus, but it also turned out Gus hadn’t just forgotten to order some ingredients. He’d actually pissed the suppliers off so much that they had refused to deal with Sandpipers anymore.

What a fiasco. Lark had spent the day trying to soothe and placate the aggrieved suppliers. At least the restaurant was back in their good books now. But what a waste of his time when it could all so easily have been avoided if Gus hadn’t been such an asshole.

Worst of all, though, had been when Brody called to take a rain cheque on coming over. He’d said something had come up at home and he had to stay in.

Lark had wanted to help. He wanted to go around to Brody’s house right away to see what they could do. And, okay, he wanted to know what was going on with the other man. But Zak had been his usual, firm, patient self and made him stay put and wait for Brody to open up to them in his own sweet time.

Damn obstinate, principled man.

And now this. Lark looked back down at the single sheet of paper. So innocuous looking in its crisp, white, unmarked envelope. Lark felt like screwing it up and hurling it across the room as far away from
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv
erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html

himself as possible.

“Hey, Lark! What’s happening?”

Lark jumped a little when Brody stepped into the office to join him, but quickly recovered.

“Nothing.” Folding the paper, Lark carefully placed it back into its envelope before tucking it away into his back pocket.

“Is everything all right?” Brody’s asked, his brow creasing into a worried frown.

Shit. Time for a distraction. Brody didn’t need to know or worry about what was in the letter.

“Sure. Have you seen Zak?” Lark asked casually.

Brody started to look distinctly uncomfortable. “No. Why?”

Bingo.

Lark shrugged. “Zak mentioned you stopped in the other day when I wasn’t here. I just wondered if you’d caught up with him today, too.”

“Oh! Fuck,” was all Brody could manage to say.

Lark chuckled and smiled wickedly. “Yeah, well, he told me about that too.” When the blood drained from Brody’s face, Lark felt like an asshole. He hadn’t meant to upset, just distract. He stepped forward and pulled Brody into a hug. “Hey, it’s okay. It’s fine. Really. I’m not mad or anything. You okay?”

Brody could only nod, and Lark ran his hands up and down his strong, lean back, and settled his head against Brody’s chest. It was a comforting hug, meant for Brody’s sake, but Lark found himself taking an equal measure of solace in it. It was just what he needed right now. Lark nuzzled into the soft material of Brody’s shirt and squeezed a little.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean for you to think I was upset about it. I’m fine with you and Zak having time together,” Lark said.

“You sure? I’m sorry about cancelling last night. I…” The worried sound creeping in around the edges of Brody’s voice had Lark tightening his arms around the other man and wanting to kick his own ass for putting it there.

“I’m sure,” Lark reiterated firmly, “And it’s fine about last night. Did everything work out at home?”

“Yeah, everything’s fine again.”

Lark gave Brody plenty of time to add more, but after a while it was obvious the man wasn’t going to offer anything voluntarily. Lark tried to rein in his frustration and changed the subject, deciding to take a leaf from Zak’s book and not push.

“Actually, I wanted to say thanks. Zak told me what you said, about…about the two of us being together. It means a lot to us that you’re not disgusted. That you don’t leap to judging us.”

“I could never think badly of either of you.”

“Who says I’m not bad!” Lark fired back in mock outrage, trying to lighten the mood.

“I think you’re gorgeous.” The bright blush that flared into Brody’s cheeks was absolutely adorable and Lark leaned up and kissed one hot, red cheek simply because he couldn’t help himself.

Snuggling back in to enjoy a few more moments cuddling before they had to get to work, Lark brought his head down to rest against Brody’s chest and listened to the steady drum of the heart beneath his ear.

“You really don’t mind?” Brody asked unexpectedly.

“What?”

“That Zak and I…you know.”

Lark leant back and looked up in Brody’s still tight, worried expression. That just wouldn’t do. He took Brody’s lips in a searing, passionate kiss and lost himself in sharing his breath with Brody. In stroking over his tongue and exploring the warm, wet cavern of his mouth. He forgot about vegetable prep, about the letter, about whatever secrets Brody was keeping. Everything. The only thing that existed was Brody, held in the tight circle of his arms, and their open, hungry mouths.

Brody relaxed into the kiss and moaned mournfully when Lark pulled away for them to catch a breath.

As they stared into each other’s lust-clouded eyes, Lark ran his hand over Brody’s face, pushing back the slightly overlong bangs of his fringe.

“Does that answer your question?” Lark whispered against Brody’s lips.

“Yeah. Pretty much.” Brody leant down and licked at the seam of Lark’s lips again.

As their lips joined together in another long, drugging kiss, Brody reached down and rubbed his hand across the front of Lark’s pants, massaging the hard length of his cock through the layers of material.

Lark groaned and thrust forward helplessly. Jerking his head away, he sucked in a deep lungful of air to try to calm himself down.

“Oh, man! We have to stop, or I’m going to come in my pants!” Lark gasped, but he couldn’t bring himself to actually make Brody stop.

“You live right upstairs. You could always go change.” Brody sounded just as eager to continue.

“But the others will be here any moment to start prep.”

“I don’t want to stop,” Brody pleaded, still rubbing a little, but slowing the movement down in deference to Lark’s point.

Looking up, Lark saw Brody’s eyes heavy with lust and his thin, dark pink lips parted invitingly. Brody obviously wasn’t thinking straight and it was almost more temptation than Lark could resist. Almost. But he didn’t want Brody to get mixed up in the ugly possibilities of the kitchen right now. And if they were caught like this, he would be.

Stepping back, Lark put some much-needed distance between them. The longing, passionate look gradually faded from Brody’s face to be replaced with confusion. But Lark hardened his heart just a little.

The ugliness Gus had started the other night wasn’t over yet. No one knew it better than Lark. And Brody…well Brody just didn’t understand. Not completely. It wouldn’t be fair to expose him to it all before he knew what he was getting into.

To be honest, Lark wasn’t entirely sure about Brody either. He did know he didn’t want the younger man getting hurt if it started getting out of hand, which it had every potential of doing. But Brody was still largely a mystery to them. He didn’t really know much about the man at all.

Lark stared at Brody for a minute.

“You never even asked if it was true,” Lark pointed out, wondering why Brody hadn’t broached the subject of Gus’s allegations.

But Brody simply shrugged and looked completely uninterested.

“Doesn’t it bother you?”

After seeming to consider the idea carefully for a moment, Brody shook his head. “No. Not really. I mean there are a lot of terrible things happening in the world. The way you and Zak are together isn’t one on them. That’s beautiful. I just wish…” Brody looked away, and no matter how hard Lark willed him to continue, he didn’t.

“You know, Zak and I—”

Brody sealed Lark’s lips by gently placing a finger over them. “You don’t need to explain anything, Lark. It doesn’t matter. Really. I don’t care.”

Slowly, Lark began to nod. He didn’t really want to get into it at the moment, either. Brody’s easy acceptance of them either way was a balm to his soul, especially now, with everything so tense with their co-workers in the kitchen.

“You going to be able to come over tonight?” Lark asked instead.

“Um…yeah…sure…for a bit anyway.”

“Good.” Lark straightened his clothes, repositioning his cock as it began to settle back down, albeit reluctantly. “You know, this week’s day off was such a complete write-off I’m thinking of doing something special next Monday. Getting right away from the place and having some fun. You want to come with us?”

Lark saw the hesitation, a tension that stiffened Brody’s shoulders.

“I…can I think about it? I’m just not sure I can make it this coming Monday.”

There was definitely something holding Brody back. Something significant, if Lark was any judge, and it was slowly driving him up the wall to see it and know that Brody wasn’t telling them something important.

Lark let it go for now, but there was going to be a time in the not so distant future, when no matter what
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv
erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html

Zak said, or how much Brody tried to avoid telling them, that Lark wouldn’t let him get away with being evasive. For now he let the matter go.

“Sure.” Lark shrugged like it wasn’t a big deal, but it was becoming one. One that needed to be put to rest. There were just a few more important things that needed to be sorted out first. But after that, he was going to do some serious digging, and he wouldn’t rest until he had the answers.

Chapter Nine

Zak was trying to read a novel.

Lark stretched out his legs along the length of the couch and pushed his feet under Zak’s ass, burrowing his cold toes beneath and snuggling back into the cushions with a contented sigh.

“Ever get the feeling you’re being used?” Zak grumbled as he flicked another page over without looking up.