Test Drive (Crossroads Book 3) (3 page)

Oh fuck. Damn it all to hell.

Justin tried to hide his shock. He looked at Drew again, studied him—the scruff on his face, that jaw and those fucking lips—of course it was really who he thought it was. Still, he said the first lie that popped into his head. “Shit. That’s not him. Hair’s not right and I’d remember that mouth anywhere.” Which was true. It was the first thing he’d noticed.

Wasn’t this just perfect? He’d come here to get to know his family, and out of all the men in Virginia, he’d somehow ended up jacking off with his sister’s husband’s brother, who was obviously in the closet.

The brother of the year award definitely wasn’t going to him.

Landon eyed him, skepticism in his eyes. Before he could say anything, Rod stepped back up and wrapped his arms around Landon.

“What did I miss?”

***

Drew felt uncomfortable, just stepping through the door. He knew the invitation only came from Shanen and not Jacob. His brother had never been interested in spending time with him. They’d never been close, even when they were younger. They were too different, and Jacob had never hesitated to point out the fact that Drew never did what was expected of him, and Drew didn’t get why that was a bad thing.

And then there was Iris. Their parents were friends and she’d been around most of their lives. At some point, she and Jacob had started dating. It had been a surprise to Drew. With their families being so close, it seemed awkward. Plus, Iris and Jacob couldn’t have been more different. She was a lot wilder than his brother. Shit went downhill from there. She’d just made a rocky relationship a fucking landmine, though he couldn’t completely blame her.

But hey, Shanen tried, and she was a nice lady. She’d recently had a big upheaval in her family and the least he could do was try and be supportive.

“Thanks so much for coming, Andrew!” Shanen wrapped her arms around him, and Drew immediately tensed up, while cursing himself for it at the same time. He patted her on the back and then pulled away, trying to be friendly but also not upset his crazy brother, either.

“Thanks for having me.”

“I’m not sure if you should be thanking me for that. I’m kind of a mess here.” She chuckled humorlessly, just as his brother walked up.

Drew nodded at him. “Hey.”

“Hello.” Jacob wrapped an arm around Shanen and kissed her head. Jesus, the guy was an idiot, trying to mark his territory the way he did. He might as well raise his leg and piss on her, though Shanen would kick his ass for that one. She was a strong woman. He liked that about her. She’d probably lose her mind if she knew some of the things that had gone down between him and Jacob.

“How are things going at the gym?” Shanen asked just as Drew let his eyes roam around the room. He didn’t know anyone here other than Shanen and Jacob. He’d met Shanen’s brother, his partner Rod, and her mom, but he couldn’t say he knew them well. His own parents would be here any second and that would just make things worse.

That’s when Drew saw him. The dark-haired guy from the club stood in the corner, his eyes firmly trained on him, and he sure as hell didn’t look happy. “Oh shit,” escaped his mouth.

“What?” Shanen asked.

He looked at her then back at the guy again—Justin, he thought his name had been.

Justin stood next to Shanen’s brother, Landon. Looking a whole lot like…

No…it couldn’t be.

“What are you looking at?” Jacob asked, with an edge to his voice that he always had when speaking to Drew.

“Nothing.” He shook his head, hoping he didn’t look as spooked as he felt. He had to be imagining the resemblance he thought he saw. If not, he was fucked. “I thought I saw someone I know, but it’s not him.”

Shanen nodded. “That’s Justin standing with Rod and Landon. He’s the brother we just found out about.”

Fuck.
Fuck.
This couldn’t be happening. He’d jerked off with his brother’s wife’s brother, who she just found out existed. Even thinking about the relation was a confusing mess. Oh, and his own brother already hated him. All he needed was to give Jacob another reason to be pissed.

“How’s that going, by the way?” His voice cracked, and he hoped no one noticed. Shanen had asked him about the gym he owned. He should have answered that question. Why had he chosen to ask about Justin? Justin the sexy man he’d wanted to fuck—or at least blow, before he lost his shit and bailed.

Jesus. What were the fucking odds? Courtesy of Jacob, he’d felt pretty shitty the day of the wedding. His own brother had warned him to keep his distance from Shanen, as though he thought Drew would go after his brother’s wife. That part of Jacob’s issue with him was because of Iris but the situation with Iris hadn’t been what Jacob thought it was. Iris had kissed him, not the other way around.

On the wedding day, he’d needed to get his mind off their argument so that’s what he’d done. Go from one touchy subject to another, even though the second subject wasn’t something his family knew existed.

Apparently he did that with his long lost brother-in-law.

He was so fucking dead.

“It’s going as well as it can go, I guess. It’s hard—finding out I have a twenty-six-year-old brother I didn’t know about. And with Dad being sick, too…”

Jacob kissed her forehead and looked at her with a sincerity Drew didn’t often see from his brother. Jacob loved her. There wasn’t any doubt in his mind about that, which partially excused his asshole behavior toward Drew at the wedding. Would be a bigger pass if he wasn’t always an asshole to Drew.

“Anyway.” Shanen straightened her posture. “Come on. I’ll introduce you to the rest of my family.”

Drew’s pulse sped up, wondering how Justin would react. Would he admit that he knew—okay, maybe
knew
was a strong word—but would he admit that he’d met Drew before? He was pretty sure the guy wouldn’t say
how
because coming in someone’s hand on a dance floor wasn’t real PC, but he might say
where.

“No. That’s okay. He looks busy.”

“He’s not too busy! We’re family after all. My mom will be here soon, too.” She grabbed on to Drew’s wrist and he simultaneously wanted to scrub the word
family
out of his brain when it came to Justin, and also fight not to dig his heels into the carpet and make her drag him over like a five-year-old kid who knew he was about to get into trouble.

They weren’t family. Not really. Justin was the half-brother of his brother’s wife, but it definitely put an uncomfortable spin on things.

Drew followed Shanen to the other side of the room. Justin’s dark eyes zeroed in on him, narrowed and…he was pretty sure the guy had a vein pulsing in his forehead that was dangerously close to popping. He was going to make Shanen’s brother have a stroke. This day kept getting better and better.

The vein bulged again and he crossed his arms. Oh yeah. He was pissed. Not that Drew could blame him. He’d walked away, practically leaving the guy in the middle of a club with his dick hanging out. It hadn’t been his best moment.

He was sexy, though. Jesus, he was fucking sexy. He was about an inch taller than Drew’s six-foot frame. He had a nice body—long, lean muscles, short, dark hair, and a dimple under the left side of his mouth that definitely wasn’t there at the moment.

They stopped when they reached the trio in the corner. Or he thought there were three people standing there. Drew couldn’t take his eyes off of Justin.

“Andrew, you remember Landon and Rod.” Shanen was all happiness and sunshine while Justin looked like a fucking storm cloud.

“Hey, man. How’s it going?” Landon asked. They shook hands and then he shook Rod’s next, when Rod said, “Hi. Good to see you again.”

“Good to see you guys too.” Jesus. Did his voice just crack again? It was like he was going through puberty for the second time—though in a way, that almost made sense.

“This is my other brother, Justin,” Shanen continued. “Justin, this is Jacob’s brother, Andrew.”

“Hi. Nice to
meet
you,” Drew rushed out first, hoping that Justin got the hint and kept his mouth shut.

Justin stalled, and Drew really thought the motherfucker was going to rat him out. But then he offered a tight smile. “Hey. You too, An
drew
.”

Oh yeah. Justin wanted to kill him. He had a feeling none of them would be forgetting this party any time soon.

Justin couldn’t keep himself from looking at Drew—or Andrew. At the club, he’d introduced himself as Drew, but he noticed everyone here called him Andrew. Maybe the Drew was part of his persona when he went looking to jerk guys off in clubs before running away.

“The food is delicious, Nick. We appreciate you catering for us,” Shanen said.

“Thank you. It was no problem.” Nick smiled at her, and his partner Bryce grinned at him like Nick created the whole goddamned world with his hands, instead of making tasty finger-foods. He looked at him like he could do anything, like maybe he was everything.

Landon and Rod looked at each other the same way. It was odd to Justin, not really because he didn’t believe in love, he’d just never experienced it. Even when his parents were together, they didn’t look at each other the way the four men did.

Nick and Bryce wandered off, followed by Rod and Landon. Shanen was next, making a trip around the room.

People mingled and ate, some standing, some sitting. The sitting was happening for his dad because as the day went on, it was becoming obvious to Justin that he was getting weaker and weaker.

Drew stood with his parents, his brother, Shanen, and her mom in one of the corners of the room. He was outside of the circle of people, but every once in a while, someone—mostly his mother—would say something to him and he’d reply.

He didn’t have a plate in his hand, and his arms were crossed as he leaned against the wall. There was something about the way he stood, about not only the stiffness it looked like he tried to hide, but also the distance he was from his family that made it pretty obvious that Drew felt like an outsider, in a way. Like he wasn’t quite part of the group, or didn’t know how to be.

Likely, Justin was making that up because it was the way he felt—like an outsider, an interloper in his father’s family—but then, he was pretty sure he was right. Something was different in the way Drew interacted with his family compared to the way Jacob did. Jacob rarely spoke to Drew at all.

He saw Drew reach up—at first looking like he grabbed for something, maybe a hat—before he settled on running a hand through his blond hair. His hair was styled today, the longer hair on top, spiked.

Their eyes met. Justin felt the annoyance rise up in him again, but not with the same fervor he felt earlier. He wasn’t sure if he had the right to be frustrated or not. He was annoyed because he spent quite a bit of his time irritated now, but there was something in the way Drew looked at him, in seeing him slightly distanced from his family, that made Justin see himself in the other man.

Which bordered on insane. Pretty soon he’d feel electricity from across the room. He’d go hard looking at Drew, the way people talked about in movies and books, which never happened in reality.

He did want to know Drew’s story, though, if for no other reason than to not have to think about his own. The last thing he would do was draw attention to the fact that he had met Drew before. He wouldn’t risk outing the man if he was in the closet, and he also had a feeling Shanen and Landon wouldn’t be too happy with him.

The ground they were on was too unsteady to let a near-hookup screw with their relationship.

***

Drew heard muffled voices beside him. They were speaking about a case Jacob worked on and how proud their dad was of him. Joy, Shanen’s mom, added how wonderful it felt to see your kids succeed and do what they loved.

Jacob loved the courtroom. Their father had too. There had never been a time in Drew’s life when he thought that was the life for him. He’d tried for a while, but it hadn’t fit. He was one hundred percent okay with that.

His parents had been slightly miffed at first, because that’s just what Sinclairs did. It’s what his family had always done, but they’d gotten over it. Mostly.

His family was incredibly different from Drew. He wasn’t extremely close to them because he’d rather hike, or go for a bike ride, than ever wear a suit, but he knew his parents loved him. He knew they wanted him to be happy, and that they probably struggled the same way he did with the fact that they didn’t have much to talk to Drew about. Not the way they did with Jacob. They just didn’t know how to relate to each other.

He didn’t know why his choice not to go into law irked Jacob so much, but then he figured no matter what he did, his brother wouldn’t like it. Maybe that was a typical brother thing; he didn’t know.

His eyes followed Justin as he said something softly to his father. The other man shook his head. Justin spoke again but got the same response. He could practically feel the heavy breath that pushed from Justin’s lungs at whatever he’d been denied. He shook his head and walked away, moving toward Landon, Rod, Nick, and Bryce, who stood about ten feet away from Justin’s dad.

Every once in a while, Justin’s eyes would dart his way. Drew knew he had to be wondering what in the hell was going on. He wanted to find a way to talk to him, but he was also a little too chickenshit to do so. He’d run out on the guy like a fucking idiot. It was embarrassing.

He probably should do some explaining, though, so he waited to try and find the right time to get him alone.

When he saw Justin dismiss himself and head for the hallway, Drew pushed off the wall. “I’ll be right back,” he said, interrupting a conversation that had been going on without him, and made his way through the room.

He grabbed a piece of paper and pen from the table by the door, and scribbled his phone number on it, cursing himself for not having business cards with him.

By the time he made it to the hallway, he heard water running as though Justin was washing his hands.

The second Justin opened the door, Drew said, “You’re Shanen’s brother,” as though Justin didn’t know it.