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“Okay…”
“It’s really not,” said Brooks and Anderson together as if they had both caught a lifeline in tandem.
“Then what the hell did you just give my boyfriend?” Dylan still wasn’t shouting. His arms were crossed in front of his chest. He stood his ground, squaring his shoulders to the two taller Gallaghers who seemed to shrink. Derek knew Dylan well enough to understand. Dylan Gallagher had to take a stand with this because he was proving to himself that he wasn’t still that little boy left holding a pickle jar. He didn’t need Derek or Felicity to defend him tonight.
Derek sighed. “It’s just a photo they found of me and Jake. They found it in his hockey bag and were giving it back to me.”
“Jake Murphy? It’s just a photo of you and Jake? Then why… oh.” Devastated understanding clouded Dylan’s face.
While the two brothers were complete boneheads, whatever they saw in their youngest brother’s expression shut them up.
“What about Jake Murphy?” Felicity asked as she entered the room. She said the name with a kind of fire Derek recognized. She must know the full story, or enough of it.
“Um—”
“Did y’all say Jake Murphy?” Cal said, coming in after getting off a phone call outside. “Such a great guy, right?”
“Uh…” Felicity’s knuckles blanched around the fork in her hand as she tried to understand why Dylan looked shattered.
Calvin was too busy cutting himself cake to notice the transformation on Dylan’s face. “Sure do miss that guy. Not just on the ice.”
“Hey, Cal…” Brooks shifted his weight.
“Um…” Anderson said.
The grating sound of Calvin’s hand digging through plastic cutlery muted their attempts at stopping the conversation. “Great guy. Life of the party. Would do anything for anyone. Thought Derek hung the moon too. Of course we didn’t realize what was really going on between you and Jake until right before… you know.” His mouth was full of cake when he turned, offering Derek a misplaced sympathetic nod. “So sorry for your loss, man.”
Derek had never watched a trainwreck in slow motion, but as Dylan’s ears went to an as-yet-unseen shade of magenta, he knew just how bad this was.
“Jake Murphy is Derek’s ex?” Felicity looked to Dylan for a confirmation he couldn’t give.
Because Derek messed up.
“Seems like it,” Dylan said in a cool, measured voice.
“Oh… uh…” Felicity said. “But I thought…”
“It’s why we knew Derek was such a great guy. Shouldn’t have brought it up tonight, but it’s just…” Calvin grinned and gathered his brothers into a group hug, converging on Dylan, who was caught in the claustrophobic middle. “We know Dad came and talked to you, but we’re all so sorry. Seeing you happy just makes us so happy.” He pulled Derek to join. “It’s all we’ve ever wanted for him.”
Felicity stood beside the cake, holding the knife as if wishing she could carve Derek into pieces with it.
Anderson ruffled Dylan’s hair, knocking his glasses askew and trying to break some of the tension. “Why do you think we asked Big D to come to the Grill-Out? We saw the way you guys looked at each other, but we’ve learned, you know? Not making the set-up mistake again.”
Derek cringed.
“But that doesn’t mean we can’t just support you guys falling in big gay love,” Brooks said.
Felicity scowled as she wrapped up the cake and took it to the kitchen. The fridge door slammed audibly. “It’s late, guys. I hate to break up the party, but I need someone to drive me back to Mom and Dad’s.” She lowered her voice and spoke directly to Dylan, but unfortunately with the group of men still locked in a weird affection scrum, they all could hear her. “Or do you want me to stay so I can help you pack tomorrow?”
Dylan’s head twitched in a negative.
“Come on, Lissy. Let the guys have their own celebration.” Anderson tugged her ponytail.
She whacked him.
Calvin brandished his phone. “Sarah’s been texting me that one of the kids is being a little shit, so I gotta go relieve her anyway. I’ll drop you on my way, Lissy.”
“Alright.” She wrapped Dylan into a fierce hug all while pointedly glaring at Derek. “I’ll be back in the morning.”