Page 82 of Burden of Proof

“Yeah.”

He didn’t sound believable, but I needed to take him at his word. “Dinner, then?”

“Another drink.” Finn hooked his arm through the crook of mine and walked me back out to the dining room with a pit stop at the bar so he could get another Manhattan.

When we arrived back at the table, Marshall had already done the honors, and Finn looked positively giddy at the promise of two fresh drinks waiting for him.

“Did you know Hunter made partner?” he said, raising one of the glasses for a toast. It was just like him to deflect, and since Smith and Marshall didn’t know about Finn’s couple, I decided not to call him out on it.

“He mentioned it,” Smith said, clinking his glass against mine.

“When did this happen?” Marshall asked.

“Earlier in the week. I was waiting to tell everyone tonight.”

“Ifound out earlier in the week,” Finn said, and I rolled my eyes at him. Every drink and every jab, he turned more into his usual self, but I couldn’t shake the feeling it was a mask and not reality.

“Congratulations, Hunter,” Marshall said, adding his glass to the mix. “I know you’ve worked really hard for this.”

I nodded, tucking my chin toward my chest.

He wasn’t wrong. I had worked very hard for a very long time to land this accomplishment. Even though I’d known it was coming for a while, the reality of it was still a little hazy. I was half-drunk on being in love with Lincoln and the change in rank at the firm was like a cherry on top. Delicious, but somehow absolutely unimportant when the rest of the dessert was considered.

And to me, Lincoln was the rest of the dessert.

“Partner at the office and a boyfriend at home,” Finn said, cocking his head to the side. “I’m glad to see you finally coming into your own a little.”

Across the table, Smith made a sound I couldn’t quite make sense of, and Marshall threw him a worried look.

“It’s definitely all very surreal,” I conceded with a shrug. Finn was the one who enjoyed being the center of attention, not me. “But I’m fortunate. And I’m glad I get to share it with the three of you.”

“We should have a proper celebration,” Marshall suggested. “Invite Andrew up maybe, Lincoln and Silas.”

“I never imagined you’d willingly invite Andrew anywhere,” Finn teased.

Smith let out an unimpressed breath, taking a drink of his wine and swishing it around his mouth before he swallowed. It was as much of a reply as Finn was going to get.

“We’re going to have something next weekend,” I told all three of them. “Work sponsored.”

“Free drinks,” Finn said.

“It’s Saturday, I think. I’ll let you know.”

I saw the email come in earlier in the afternoon, but I’d been too distracted by my never-ending interest in Lincoln to pay too much attention to it. Was it really too soon to ask him to move in?

“Silas has been settling in with Cory,” Marshall offered, launching into a conversation about some innovative design techniques Silas was trying to get into a proposal he was working on with his new boss. A lot of the terms were lost on me, as always, but Smith nodded along, and Finn pretended to care.

We made it through dinner relatively unscathed, and Marshall was the first to call it a night. The four of us said our goodbyes in the parking lot, and I tried to not be jealous Marshall was going home tomyboyfriend, and I was going home alone.

“Why don’t the two of you come over?” I asked, though it was less of a question and more of a statement.

With one brother on either side of me, they both nodded their agreement. We didn’t bother saying goodbye because we were reunited twenty minutes later. Finn kicked off his shoes in my entryway and Smith followed suit, the two of them collapsing into the middle of my couch and making themselves at home. I went into the bedroom to change into something more comfortable than wool slacks, then detoured to the kitchen for drinks before joining them in the living room.

With a jokingly violent shake of my hips, I made room on the couch between the two of them, shoving a bottle of wine into Finn’s hands and two glasses into Smith’s. I had the third in mine, and Finn didn’t need any instruction to know what to do. He poured all three of us a healthy dose of wine, reaching behind him to set the bottle down on the sideboard.

“What do you want to watch?” I asked, giving him his wine and taking mine from Smith.

“I honestly don’t care,” Finn said. “I would be perfectly happy to sit here and listen to you talk about Lincoln for the rest of the night. Remind me that love isn’t miserable.”