Page 6 of A Little Campfire Blues (Pride Camp 2025 #10)

Chapter Six

Roman

The reunion was eight years in the making; only now that it was happening, I could only stand there and hope that it went well.

Ezzy’s eyes were wide. Axis’s eyes were wider, then he strode forward, closing the difference between them to stand right in front of Ezzy.

“I…” Axis stammered, shook his head, licked his lips, and sucked in a deep breath. “I’m so fuckin’ sorry. Fuck. I should never have left the way I did, especially not after what I said to you. That wasn’t fair. To either of you.”

He looked my way when he said that part, even though he’d apologized to me years before, in the first text he’d sent.

“If you were so sorry, why are you only saying it now?” Ezzy blurted, gaze darting from him to me and back again.

“Figured you wouldn’t want to hear it,” Axis admitted.

This time, when Ezzy’s gaze darted to me, I could see understanding dawning in their eyes.

“You set this up,” Ezzy said, eyes narrowing. “He didn’t know I was going to be here any more than I expected to walk in here and see him.”

“Pretty much.”

Blinking, Ezzy took a moment to process it all, then their lips split into a grin as they turned back towards Axis, who stood there nibbling on his lower lip.

“Thank you,” Ezzy said before hurling themself at Axis, who staggered, an oof escaping him as Ezzy crashed against his chest.

It was the best possible outcome and everything I’d wished for when I’d got them both to agree to come. Axis held Ezzy tight, then one of them sniffled while the other let out a low moan, their sobs starting almost simultaneously as they held on to each other.

“You never deserved what I said,” Axis stammered, voice shaky as I wrapped my arms around them both and held them tight.

“I took my frustrations out on you that night, and it was so unfair and such a shitty thing to do that I’ve never been able to forgive myself for it.

Please forgive me. It was a dick thing to do.

You were just being you. I had no right to tell you that you should try to be different. ”

“It doesn’t have to be today, but will you at least tell me why you said it?” Ezzy asked, their voice muffled against his chest.

“Yeah,” Axis murmured, voice choked with emotion. “I owe you that and so much more.”

“Your apology is more than enough right now,” Ezzy stammered. “All I’ve wanted for years was to see you again and know that you were okay.”

“I’m good. A lot has changed; the band broke up, but I’m good doing my own shit. I didn’t like myself very much by the end and wasn’t a big fan of Duce and Rory either.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. It needed to happen. Things had spiraled so far out of control that was the only possible outcome.”

“Still sorry. I know how much your music meant to you.”

“It still does, but I learned some real hard lessons about the things that truly mattered in the process.”

“Then I’m glad it wasn’t a bad thing for you, though I know it couldn’t have been easy.”

“Nothing about being away from the two of you has been easy,” Axis admitted as we slowly drew apart.

Cool air hit my cheeks, and I realized I was crying right along with them. None of us stepped back too far, and when I looked down, I noticed that Axis and Ezzy had entwined their fingers together and were still holding on to one another.

“It hasn’t been easy for me either,” Ezzy said. “I’ve missed you guys so much that I’ve only been home a handful of times since I left.”

“I’ve never gone back,” Axis admitted. “Couldn’t, especially after the band broke up. I didn’t need my old man trying to push me into enrolling at the community college or joining him and my brother in that soulless ass repo company.”

Ezzy’s eyes went wide again. “I thought Aiden went pro after college?”

“He did,” Axis explained. “Lasted barely two seasons before he blew out his knee and herniated a few disks in his back. Never got his speed back, so they cut him. He used the money he made to buy into the company and help Dad expand. They’re up to six trucks and a twelve-man crew, plus the folks in the office. ”

“Damn.”

“Yeah,” Axis murmured. “Like I said, a lot had changed. Where have you been all this time?”

“Vale,” Ezzy explained. “I ended up getting my master’s and an associate professor position in the theater department, which helped me get the theater director’s position I just took back home. I’ll be teaching at the university too, in their theater arts department.”

“Wait, so you’re going home too?”

“Got everything packed in my trailer outside, not that I had much with how small my old apartment was, so it worked out beautifully.”

“That’s awesome.”

“Yeah, I am pretty thrilled about it myself,” Ezzy admitted. “Just hope I can finish the scripts I’ve been struggling to polish with all the new responsibilities I’ve taken on.”

“You will,” Axis said, giving Ezzy’s hand a little squeeze before finally letting go. “You were always able to accomplish everything you set out to.”

“Not everything,” Ezzy admitted. “But those are stories for another time.”

“We should bring your stuff in,” I suggested, feeling pretty damned proud of myself for the way this had all turned out. “Neither of us has chosen a room yet, so all three are free.”

“Is there one with a view of the lake?” Ezzy asked.

“Yup, that one,” I replied, pointing it out to him.

“Then if no one minds, I’ll take that one,” Ezzy said. “Looking out at the moon’s reflection on the surface is sure to be inspiring.”

“Works for me,” Roman said. “Axis said he didn’t want the one with the tub, so I’ll take that one. It’s across from the living room, where I’ll probably spend a chunk of the night playing video games anyway.”

“Same,” Axis replied. “I saw you brought the Xbox; I brought the PS4.”

“Sweet, then we’re all set,” I said, heading for the door with Axis and Ezzy behind me.

“Everything for camp is in the back seat,” Ezzy said as they headed around to the other side while I opened the door closest to me. “Hope there’s room in the freezer. I kinda stocked up on orange creamsicle pops, in case it got hotter than the forecast projected.”

“Doubt the forecast had anything to do with it,” I chuckled. “You were always a fiend for those things.”

“Like you were much better,” Ezzy grumbled.

“Fair, though the root beer ones were pretty amazing too, while they were still around, anyway.”

“Man, those were fire,” Axis said as he slung a backpack over his shoulder and reached in to grab a cooler, grunting with the effort of lifting it.

“Damn, you really did stock up, didn’t you,” he said as he headed inside with it.

“Yeah, but that cooler doesn’t have the freezer pops in it; it’s loaded with soda,” they said, giggling a little as they watched Axis head inside.

Alone, they paused to stare up at me right before they gave me the biggest hug I’d gotten since Mama had laid eyes on me after my accident.

“I can’t believe you did this,” they said.

“I had to. You were both so convinced that the other wouldn’t want to speak to you that I had to do something to try and get us back on the same page before another eight years slipped past.”

“I don’t think I could have handled another year, let alone eight.”

“Figured that,” I admitted. “Didn’t think Axis could have handled another year either. It’s really been eating at him.”

“Yeah, its been eating at me too, worse and worse with every year that went by,” Ezzy said.

“I just hope we get the chance to really talk while we’re here.

I wish you’d told me about his band, and don’t tell me you didn’t know.

If you’ve been talking to me through chat and messenger all this time, I know you’ve been talking to him. ”

“I have. But he hasn’t said much more about it than what he did inside.”

“Guess we’ve all been keeping secrets.”

“Well, maybe we can stop now,” I offered. “Was always easiest to talk when the three of us were together. Digital conversations have never been the same, even back when we’d be texting one another after midnight and then getting fussed at in the morning for sleeping through our alarms.”

“Oh my goddess, do you remember the four-day weekend we spent camping up at LaPine State Park, when we decided to stay the extra night instead of heading home on Monday the way we’d planned?”

“I do,” I admitted, shooting them a pointed look.

“Someone came up with a brilliant idea about how we would set our alarms for four, break down the tent, grab showers, and drive home with plenty of time to get to homeroom. Only we managed to sleep through three alarms going off. Still don’t know how the fuck we managed that one. ”

“We all sleep like the dead, that’s how,” Axis said as he headed around to finish grabbing the stuff behind the passenger’s seat. “Mr. Leroux was not thrilled when I slunk into history class with pine needles still in my hair.”

“In all fairness, I did warn you about that branch,” Ezzy said, giggling.

“Yeah, you did,” Axis admitted. “But I seriously didn’t think it was as low as you claimed.”

Eight years ago, Axis would have made a short joke, and Ezzy would have flipped him off and stuck his tongue out at him.

At that point Axis would have told them to put it to good use and I’d have been treated to the sinfully delectable view of Ezzy doing just that, at least until I decided to stop watching and get in on the action.

Now the funny thing about those short jokes had always been that Axis wasn’t much taller.

Just two inches, unless Ezzy was wearing one of the many pairs of platform boots they loved, then they’d be at least three inches taller, at which point Axis would start making sasquatch jokes, Ezzy would have flipped him off, and Axis would have replied that he could work with that if Ezzy was offering.

Either way, I won in the end because watching them always got me revved up, and once that happened, I’d have had them side by side, fucking both of them.

“Found out different, didn’t you?” Ezzy said as they headed in with three bags while I grabbed the second cooler and a box I couldn’t resist putting on top of it, since I was tall enough to see over it.

Axis followed me up the steps with a smartassed comment not to trip, which just got Ezzy giggling again.

“He’s not the one with a history of falling up stairs.”

“It was one time, one goddamn time,” Axis complained. “When are you two fuckers gonna let me live it down?”

“Never,” we replied, dissolving into laughter as we headed in.

Damn, it felt good to laugh with them again.

In the back of my head, I knew that our reunion, as amazing as it was, would eventually lead to hard topics at some point over the next two weeks, but I was content to enjoy the moment, and wait to see who brought up what, before I started worrying about what was going to happen down the line.

Of the three of us, I’d always been a bit of a worrier, but then, of the three of us, I was the only one who was an older sibling.

Ezzy was an only child, while Axis had been three years younger than his brother and unused to having anyone pay enough attention to him to notice when he was about to get into shit.

It had been ingrained in me from a young age to watch out for my siblings.

The protectiveness I’d felt for them was part of what had made me a good lifeguard, and in a way, that had contributed a lot to my decision to go into the military, specifically the Coast Guard, where I could help people who’d gotten themselves into sticky situations.

I’d loved my job and hated like hell to be told that I was medically unfit for duty after my accident, but even on appeal there had been no changing the doctors’ decision.

It had taken everything in me not to give up.

Whether they knew it or not, those chats and texts and emails with Axis and Ezzy had been a big part of what had kept me going during that time.

I’d wanted to crawl into a hole and give up on everything until Ezzy had suggested coaching, reminding me of how much I’d always loved helping the younger kids improve the fluidity of their strokes, and thus their times, when a meet rolled around.

Axis hadn’t had any suggestions for me, except to get off my ass and quit wallowing because we’d always had a rule about only one of us being allowed to be a miserable fuck at any given time, and he had miserable on lockdown at the moment.

I’d wanted to be pissed and tell him it was my turn, only he was right.

I couldn’t just sit there on the couch catching up on daytime television and feeling sorry for myself, not after all the shit I’d given him when he’d talked about selling his guitars after the band had broken up.

I could do no less than what I’d pushed him to do, and he’d known it and pushed me back, something I was eternally grateful for.

With our lives falling to pieces less than six months apart, we’d flirted with the idea of moving in together, but he’d been dead set on staying in Portland while I’d decided that if I was going to coach, then I wanted to do it back home, where I could be close to the rest of my family.

Not to mention the school had been in need.

The other reason I’d held back had been more complicated.

It hadn’t been a good time to tell him that someone else had made a similar offer, because if I had, he’d have asked who, and I hadn’t been sure of how he’d take finding out it was Ezzy.

Even with Ezzy’s decision to move back home, it was a discussion we’d never had, because choosing to live with one had felt too much like cutting the other out of something we’d always planned to do together.

It was too early to start hoping we’d still get to live that dream, but it was hard to deny my heart the thing it had wanted most since we’d made those plans so many years before, and I’d never been good at denying myself anything.

Especially when it comes to them.