by Sam Burns
Owen curled up his nose in disgust. “Ew. No one would believe you’re Keegan, Mickey.”
Keegan and Mickey shared a glance, before Keegan leaned in and whispered loudly, “I think that was meant as a compliment for you.”
Mickey laughed out loud at that. “Well hell, if that’s true, I know you two are too stressed out for anybody’s good. Get your stuff, O. I’ll take you home. Or to get lunch, or whatever.”
A few minutes later, Keegan was alone in the waiting room, only Owen’s e-reader for company. He flipped from one book to the next, trying to find something that could make him forget that his father was nearby but unreachable.
He thought back to smoking with Drew and shuddered. His father didn’t smoke anything and never had. Keegan was pretty sure he never would again, either.
CHAPTER TEN
Jon to the Rescue
Jon knew the second he walked into Wilde’s for their date that something was wrong. There was a stranger at the hostess stand, a guy who looked stressed and uncomfortable.
“Welcome to Wilde’s,” he said, his smile faltering at the sight of Jon. “Um, aren’t you Keegan’s boyfriend?”
As casually as possible, Jon leaned against the counter, nodding at the guy. “That’s me. Everything okay here?”
If anything, Jon’s blasé attitude seemed to make him even more nervous. “Um, you’re not supposed to be meeting him tonight, are you? ‘Cause I think maybe he forgot. I’m sure he’s been—”
“Jon!” Brigit’s voice cut across the room from where she stood at the bar. She set down the tray she’d been carrying and motioned him over.
He inclined his head to the counter guy, who seemed relieved to be rid of him, and walked over to meet her. “Something wrong?”
She scowled, but the expression didn’t seem to be directed at him. “Just a sec, I’ll finish with these drinks and then I can take you back to Key’s office where we can talk.”
Looking pointedly to one side, she gave a false smile to a man sitting at the bar—strike that—to Phil, who was sitting at the bar. He flashed her an equally fake smile, and raised his glass to Jon.
Jon nodded his understanding to her, and went over to take a seat next to Phil.
Within seconds, the bartender was setting a glass of water in front of him. “Sir,” he said, inclining his head before going back to pouring alcohol for his customers.
“Apparently, you have quite the fan club around these parts,” Phil said. “Must be nice.”
Jon shrugged, and took a drink of his water. He wasn’t sure if that were true, or if they just disliked Phil more than they disliked him, and wanted to make a point to the intruder. He suspected that most of the restaurant’s employees held whatever opinion Brigit did, like she was some sort of staff mother.
“Not like Keegan to date the law,” Phil mused, pretending that the words weren’t pointed at Jon. “He must be under a lot of stress.”
Jon smirked at the man’s transparency. “What, because he’s dating me? Or is that why he’s dating me?” He turned to look Phil in the eye. “Look, I get it. He’s great. Smart, funny, good looking—everything a guy wants. But even if I weren’t in the picture, he’s not going to take you back. No offense, but he’s not the same person he was when you knew him.”
“Smart? Keegan?” Phil scoffed. “Sounds like a different person, alright. And you forgot rich. Stupid, crazy, filthy rich.”
Jon looked at the other man, mouth falling open. “Seriously? Are you a walking stereotype?”
Phil eyed Jon in a way that made him feel like he’d missed something obvious. “I don’t need his money. But I hear federal agents don’t make all that much.”
“You got me,” Jon told him, hand to heart. “I’m all about the money. One sugar daddy to the next, that’s me.”
Brigit, who had come up behind him, dropped her tray on the bar and let out a giggle. “Sure. And Keegan is always collecting pretty boys and buying them shiny things.”
Jon looked at her, then cocked his head in Phil’s direction, raising his eyebrows.
“Okay, he might have been like that before I met him.” She looked past Jon to Phil and scrunched up her nose as though he were an offensive piece of modern art. “Way before I met him.”
“You wanted to talk to me?” Jon asked.
She nodded, turning toward Keegan’s office and waving for him to follow. She closed and locked the door once he’d followed her in, then she leaned against it, and dropped her head back. Brigit looked exhausted in the brightly lit office, and her eyes were sad when she opened them.
It didn’t take a word for Jon to understand. He motioned for her to take one of the chairs, and sat in the opposite one. “His father has gotten worse. Why didn’t he just call me?”
“His phone died, he’s stuck at the hospital, and he didn’t have your number memorized. He asked me to call you. I was supposed to look it up, since he wrote it down somewhere.” She waved an arm at Keegan’s desk, which was a lot messier than the last time Jon had seen it. “I don’t want to bother him with it, but it’s hard to get all this stuff done without him.” It looked like tears were forming in her eyes as she looked across the desk at the backed-up paperwork. She turned back to look at him. “It’s ridiculous, I know he works all the time, but I thought it would be easy to handle a few days without him.”
Jon reached into his left pocket for his spare handkerchief and handed it to her, then he pulled his phone out of his other pocket and hit the number at the top of his “Favorites” list.
“Yeah?” Miles answered on the second ring, sounding bored.
“You’re supposed to be a genius, right?” he asked, but he didn’t wait for the response. “Think you could figure out some business bookkeeping? Payroll, that kind of thing?”
“Sure, what program are they using?” Miles answered, as though small-business software were something he spent a lot of time working with.
“How would I know?” he asked. “Get down to Wilde’s. Keegan’s dad is sick, so he’s been MIA. They need help yesterday.”
“On my way,” Miles answered, and hung up without so much as a goodbye.
Brigit was staring at him, a little shocked. “You’ve only known us, like, a week.”
“And you need help. If Miles isn’t here, he’s going to sit around watching horrible television instead of coming and impressing the pretty girl he has a crush on.” She blushed and looked down at her lap. Jon leaned in toward her. “I know Keegan wouldn’t want you to feel like you don’t have backup.”
She nodded and sighed. “We’ve been trying to hire someone, but it’s not easy to find the right person. Plus, we’ve only been looking for a few days, since Key decided he wanted more time off for dati—” Her eyes went wide as she cut herself off, biting her lip and looking like she’d said too much.
Jon knew he was smiling, but he didn’t know what to say. Keegan had decided to hire someone so they could spend more time together? Jon only wished he could do the same, and cut back on his fifty-hour work weeks. He shook his head. He had to focus on the present. “Miles is going to come help. He’s good with numbers. I’m sure he’ll be able to do something useful.”
“We really lucked out with you, Agent Hottie,” she said, smiling at him and dabbing her eyes with his handkerchief. He didn’t think she needed it, since the tears had never materialized, but it seemed to make her happy.
“So, you’re good?” She nodded. “Okay, now we worry about Keegan. He’s still at the hospital?” he asked. She nodded again, and he stood up. “Can you get me food to take to him?”
She stood as well, and thrust his handkerchief back out to him. “I’ll get right on it.” She paused, seeming to consider something. “Would you take something for his brother too? And maybe Mickey?”
“I have no idea who that is, but sure,” he answered automatically.
Her smile returned to its usual radiance, despite the exhaustion still creeping in around the edges
. “You stay here so you don’t have to deal with the creepy-stalker ex. I’ll be back with food in a little while. No, wait, you can go pull your car around the back, and we’ll bring the food out to you. Good?”
He nodded, pulling his keys out of his pocket. “I’ll be around back, then. It’s the blue hybrid.”
She laughed. “Of course it is.”
He mock glared at her, and she winked back as she sauntered off to the kitchen. Jon didn’t look for Phil at the bar on his way out.
He figured he could be forgiven for checking to make sure he wasn’t being followed on his way to his car, though.
#
Brigit gave him the name of the hospital, and his phone’s GPS led him there without issue. She had also given him directions on how to get to the right place in the hospital, so the hardest part was toting the bags of food through the place, up the elevator and down a long series of hallways, with every person he passed giving his cargo a covetous look.
The waiting room was a horrible place. Jon wondered if they painted it gray to try to sap the life out of the visitors.
He saw Keegan right away, slumped in a plastic chair that was too small for his frame. It seemed like he’d been sitting in it for a long time. Jon’s back ached just looking at him.
A younger man was stretched out on the adjacent chairs, head on Keegan’s thigh. He didn’t seem to be asleep, just tired and listless. He and Keegan had the same dark-brown curls, but where Keegan’s hair was longer and professionally styled, the younger guy’s was shorter and deliberately messy. He glanced up at Jon as he entered, and any doubt that he was Keegan’s brother disappeared when he saw his blue eyes—their color bright enough to be noticed from all the way across the room.
“Key?” the kid said, his voice raspy, probably from disuse. Maybe from crying. Jon tried not to think about that.
Keegan looked at the kid, then followed his line of sight to Jon. He looked shocked for a second, then his face broke into a smile that made Jon think of a rainbow after a rainstorm.
He returned the smile, albeit less beautifully. “Brigit thought you guys could use a decent meal.” He held up the bags.
“Bless that girl, she’s my freakin’ favorite person in the world,” a man with dark auburn hair sitting to Keegan’s right said, looking up from whatever he was reading.
Keegan motioned to the younger man. “My baby brother, Owen.” Owen grumbled at the term “baby,” but gave Jon a tentative smile. Keegan tipped his head to his right. “And this is my old friend Mickey.”
Mickey gave Jon a knowing smile. “Keegan’s feeb, right?”
“One of Keegan’s former coworkers?” Jon asked him.
He sighed and nodded. “Yeah.”
Keegan cringed a little, smiling sheepishly at Jon. “Guess I never mentioned Mick, huh?”
Jon rolled his eyes, heading over to where they sat and setting the food down on a low table between the chairs. “You’re not required to tell me all about your friends. You’ve got to stop worrying that I’m just waiting for you to say the wrong thing so I can slap the cuffs on you.”
Mickey chuckled at that, elbowing Keegan in the ribs. “I dunno about that, secret agent man, Key might like it.”
“Ew!” Owen exclaimed. “Oh my god, I do not need to hear about my brother’s penchant for bondage. How do you even know about that?”
Jon raised a brow at Keegan, who just rolled his eyes.
“Thought you didn’t want to hear about it?” Mickey asked, smirking at Owen. “‘Cause let me tell you—” Owen held his hands up and cringed away, and Mickey cut off with a wicked smile.
Jon could see why Keegan was friends with him.
“I, for one, definitely don’t want to know any more about you and Keegan and bondage,” Jon said as he picked up the first bag and started rifling through it. “Cheeseburger?”
Owen’s hand shot up, so Jon handed it to him. He went through the rest of the food, finding another burger that he handed off to Mickey, and two steak sandwiches—one each for himself and Keegan. They ate in silence, the only noise ambient hospital sounds, and Owen’s occasional mumbled expressions of love to Keegan’s chef.
Keegan rolled his eyes. “You’ve never even met Drew, and he’s too old for you.”
“I dunno about too old,” Mickey said after swallowing a mouthful of french fries. “He’s a little flamboyant for our Owen, though, isn’t he?”
Owen shrugged. “He makes the cheesecake.”
“My point exactly,” Mickey agreed. “The rainbow cheesecake that you hide to eat because you don’t want anyone seeing you acting ‘gay.’ Like it’s a crime to act gay or something.”
The youngest Quinn looked uncomfortable at that, but then he looked up at Jon, eyes sharp. “It’s hard to be gay in the bureau, though, isn’t it? And I’ll bet being all out and proud would make it harder, right?”
Jon stretched his legs across the gap between the chairs and nudged Keegan’s foot with his own. “I’m sure it doesn’t make things easier, but you’re talking to the wrong guy. I am out and proud, and have been all along.”
“You don’t think it makes them take you less seriously?” Owen asked.
Jon sighed. “In the sense that I get different assignments than big, butch, closeted guys? Sure. I don’t think it’s intentionally homophobic, though.”
Owen snorted. “Different but equal? ‘Cause we all know how well that works.”
“I don’t think that’s their intention. I’m not a scary guy, so they don’t send me to scare people. They also don’t send me to gay bars undercover, because I’m not twinky enough.” Jon looked Owen over as chastely as he could, and smiled. “That’d be your assignment.”
Owen looked like he wanted to be offended, but Keegan and Mickey burst into laughter. Still, Jon and Owen shared a look, and Jon gave him a nod. The kid had given Jon something to think about. Jon could kill a man with his bare hands. He was scary enough for any damned assignment. Maybe it was about time for him to have a conversation with Jones about it.
Owen hopped out of his seat to clear away the mess. As he did so, he looked at Keegan. “You know, you weren’t even supposed to stay tonight. You stayed last night so you could go on your date.”
“But they thought the swelling had gone down enough to do the tests they wanted,” Keegan said. “And I don’t wanna be out on a date when they get the results.” He gave Jon an apologetic look.
“I’d have canceled on you if it were my dad,” Jon said. He wanted Keegan to know that he didn’t need to ask forgiveness. “I cancelled a date when my mom was in the hospital.”
Sitting back down in his chair, Owen leaned toward Jon, elbows braced on his knees. “Was she okay?”
“Yeah.” Jon nodded, thinking back to the incident. “She had to have a biopsy. They thought she might have breast cancer.”
Owen’s face crumpled, and he looked down at the floor. Cancer. Jon frowned. Of course it was cancer. He looked over at Keegan, an apology on his lips, but Keegan smiled at him reassuringly.
“My ma died of breast cancer,” Mickey said. “It was the worst.”
“I’m sorry,” Jon told him. Two days worrying about his mother had been more than enough for Jon. He couldn’t even imagine how he would have handled it if her biopsy had come back positive.
Mickey nodded at him. “But Key was right yesterday. He said it’s gonna be okay, and it will. No matter what happens, it’ll be okay.” Despite the fact that Mickey was looking at Jon, he was pretty sure the words were intended for Owen. Poor kid looked like he was barely holding it together.
“Maybe you should take Owen home to get some sleep,” Keegan murmured to Mickey. “I can call if there’s news.” Owen opened his mouth, obviously to refuse, but Keegan put a hand on his arm. “Besides, this way, at least Jon and I can pretend we got to go on that date.”
Owen gave him an unimpressed look, but finally, he sighed and nodded. “Fine. I’m too tired to argue with you. No sex in
the waiting room, though. Don’t want you getting kicked out of the hospital.”
“Mr. Quinn?” A female voice called from one end of the room. Everyone turned to find a woman in scrubs standing there. She looked between the four of them, gaze finding and singling out Keegan after a moment. “Keegan Quinn?”
Keegan nodded, and she walked toward them.
Owen started shivering, so Mickey moved over to wrap an arm around him. “It’ll be okay, kiddo.”
“Don’t call me kiddo. I’m an adult. It’s weird.”
Looking at Jon, Keegan rolled his eyes. “Doctor,” he said, almost too loudly for the small waiting area. “You’ve got news about my dad?”
“We do,” she agreed. “The biopsy and imaging have shown that your doctor was correct—there is cancer.”
Owen gasped. Keegan just stood there, quiet, blinking at the doctor. Jon decided that if they were using the b-word, he could be supportive, so he moved in and wrapped his arm around Keegan’s waist.
That seemed to jerk Keegan out of his fugue, and he took a sharp breath. “Okay, so what happens next?”
The doctor seemed relieved at Keegan’s response. “I’m sure it doesn’t feel that way, but we’re really lucky. We found it very early, and it looks like it’s limited to a small section of one lung. We want to do a round of chemotherapy to try to shrink the tumor, and then we’ll perform a surgery to remove the affected portion of the lung.”
“You’re going to take one of his lungs out?” Owen asked, sounding horrified.
She glanced over at Owen, but directed her answer back to Keegan. “We think we’re going to have to remove about half of one lung. I’m not going to tell you it’s a good diagnosis, but as far as lung cancer goes, this one gives your father the best chance of survival.”
“He’s not awake and demanding that you let him out of here?” Keegan asked her.
She seemed taken aback. “Um, no? He’s not conscious, and according to our files, you have power of attorney to make the decisions right now.”
“Then I think you should get started as soon as you can.” Keegan didn’t look happy, but Jon didn’t think he’d ever seen him more determined. “Save his stubborn old Irish ass, please?” he asked the doctor.