Page 114 of Burden of Proof

“We want the same things,” he assured me. “I just don’t trust it.”

“Do you trust me?” I asked.

“Obviously.”

Pride swelled in the center of my chest. “Then that will have to be enough. Now get dressed and come have some coffee. You need to be back here before noon.”

Lincoln rolled his eyes at me, but followed the orders. We sat on the couch and drank coffee together, and he waited with me until Finn showed up in plaid pajama pants and an oversized USC shirt that looked like it once belonged to me. They exchanged casual pleasantries, and Lincoln left with the promise to be back on schedule.

Finn observed it all from the kitchen, pouring himself a cup of coffee before collapsing on my couch with a very unhappy sound. I topped myself off and sat down beside him, angling our bodies together and bringing one leg up onto the cushion.

“This isn’t like you,” I told him simply.

He shrugged, pulling his lips between his teeth and glancing up at the ceiling. “I know. I just…”

“Whatever it is, it’s safe here.”

“They’re getting a divorce,” he blurted. “Neil and Annette.”

“Oh.”

I wasn’t sure what else to say. I didn’t think there was much else to say. I knew people where divorce was a good thing, but Finn’s demeanor proved this specific split could not have been worse.

“Do you want to?—”

“Because of me,” he said next. “They’re getting divorced because of me.”

My brother, the one Marshall and Smith jokingly referred to as my twin, the one I was the closest with, whose emotions I mirrored the most, took one more drink of his coffee, set his mug on the table, then curled himself into a ball on my lap and for the first time in two years, cried in front of me.

CHAPTER 35

LINCOLN

Packing up my apartment was easy because I didn’t have much that mattered. I’d gone through such a massive purge after Silas moved in with Marshall, and I hadn’t even bothered to take the collapsed boxes out to the dumpster yet. There were a lot of things that would need to wait, but I grabbed all of my clothes, my pictures and books, my sex toys. My life was contained in a series of boxes that fit on my bed, and while I could have carried them all down to my car one by one, I didn’t really want to.

Sitting down in the middle of my life, I pulled out my phone and called Silas, who of course answered before it went to voicemail. He was very in love with his new life and his boyfriend, but he was still my best friend. I was the one who’d been pushing him away since he moved out, not the other way around.

“Hey,” he said, happiness echoing through the phone so contagiously I couldn’t help but smile.

“You busy?”

“Just having coffee while Marshall works a little. Why?”

“I could use a spare set of hands,” I said.

“Yeah,” Silas said without even knowing what for. I could have had a body to bury. It would have made no difference to him. The blind dedication my best friend offered me had my heart expanding painfully against my sternum. “Where are you?”

“My apartment.”

“Now?” he asked.

“Yeah, that would be good.”

“Do you want me to bring coffee?” he asked next.

“I had some already, but it wouldn’t hurt.”

“Cool. See you soon, Linc.”