Page 134 of Men of Fort Dale: The Complete Series

They were miles from civilization, a thought he was more than used to after his years on Team Maelstrom. Yet in the snowy northern region of Nebraska, surrounded by four walls and the warmth of a fire, he didn’t get the same wariness he had while standing watching the desert.

“Evenin’, son,” William said gently.

“Ain’t mornin’ until you wake up again,” William said.

“Not used to seein’ you alone,” William commented.

“Maria abducted Nick, apparently wanted to play catch up,” Nick explained.

William nodded. “Sounds about right. You wouldn’t know it now, but she followed that boy everywhere when they were younger. No one would’ve been surprised if it bothered him, but he was always patient with her, even when she started repeatin’ everything he had to say.”

Matt could see it. “That sounds like him.”

William took one of the seats closest to the small fire. “That boy has always been all sorts of patient, even as a baby. Never seen a little boy so willin’ to wait his turn or take so much time thinkin’ about things.”

“Patience of a saint,” Matt agreed.

William grinned. “Yeah, I bet you boys know all about that, workin’ with him for so long.”

Matt turned back to face the window, nodding. “Always the last one to lose his temper and always kept his cool. Never did understand how he did it, especially...well, more than a few times, actually.”

“Thought about it myself. I think some people are just wired that way, though he didn’t get it from me or his mama. Both of us hotheaded. Not him, though. Even as a boy, when he’d get upset or worried, he didn’t show it. He’d just?—”

“Get real quiet,” Matt finished.

He’d seen it more times than he could count.

Yet, of all the times he’d seen it, after Clint’s death had been the worst. Nick had almost completely shut down, barely speaking and hardly sleeping.

They had all been hurting back then, a part of them ripped away, leaving a ragged, bleeding hole.

Nick had reacted the only way he’d known how, locking himself down, even as it had torn pieces of him away.

Matt still didn’t know what finally pulled the man from his dangerous fugue, and if it really was Aidan, then he had even more reason to be thankful for the man’s presence in their lives.

“Always thought he had a lot to give a person,” William continued pensively.

Matt nodded. “He gives a lot.”

If you gave him time and didn’t force him to be anything but what he wanted.

Nick was an understanding man and, as they’d already said, patient.

But that didn’t mean he was pushed easily and wouldn’t be bullied.

Anyone looking to change or force him to do something was bashing their face against a brick wall.

It was something Matt had always appreciated about his best friend.

“Yeah, I imagine you boys have seen plenty. And it’s important, havin’ brothers like that, havin’ a team you can count on. Had me a few of those back in the day, and they count for somethin’. They count for a lot. Still…” William trailed off, and Matt saw the older man’s eyes go distant.

“Still?” Matt prompted.

William sighed, sounding almost wistful. “My life wouldn’t have been the same without Kimberly. That woman...well, having someone at your side for life is nice. Your friends, even your brothers, they’re for life, but they ain’t...it’s not the same.”

Matt smiled knowingly. “You want him to find a nice wife and settle down.”

“Or husband, I don’t really give a damn,” William said gruffly.

Matt wasn’t Nick. He didn’t have the same control, which was precisely why he wasn’t good at hiding the surprise on his face. It must have shown in his expression enough for William to catch its reflection in the window, earning Matt a crooked grin that was all too familiar.

“What? Surprised this old fart don’t care about somethin’ like that? Or that I know about my son?”

Matt turned to stare at William, now too surprised even to try to hold it back.

Nick had never told his family anything about his love life, save for a couple of times a girl had looked like she might last. Nick had told Matt a long time ago that he saw no point in mentioning his occasional dip into same-sex territory, as none of them had any long-term potential.

According to Nick, it would’ve been the same as openly talking about his sex life, which was not a conversation he wanted to have with his parents.

William chuckled, taking a deep drink. “Oh, I know, Kim knows too. Hell, the boy might be quiet, but that don’t mean he’s all that good at hiding things if ya know where to look.

They say parents always know that sort of thing.

I kinda think that’s bullshit. But with Nick, I always wondered, but after Mitch, well?—”

Well, this was getting more and more interesting.

“Mitch?” Matt asked with a raised brow.

“Don’t know about him, eh? Yeah, guess you wouldn’t. Stopped seein’ much of him a few months before Nick left for the service, didn’t hear his name again either. Asked after him once, Nick got that look on his face, you know the one.”

Matt did, though he rarely saw it. Even at rest, Nick’s face was boyish and peaceful.

In those rare moments when someone managed to piss Nick off or pressed the wrong button, however, the reverse was true.

It could be such a subtle thing, like black clouds creeping from behind on a sunny beach, the ones you missed because you were too busy soaking up the sun.

But when they were there, the pleasant beach trip suddenly took on an air of warning and foreboding, a storm waiting to happen and crash upon the shore.

William saw his expression and nodded. “Mitch and him, they were close, real close. Guess it’s to be expected when ya don’t have too many boys around when you’re growin’ up, but they were...well. Close, like I said.”

“And you think there was something more?” Matt asked, realizing he still hadn’t outright admitted he knew about Nick’s bisexuality.

William chuckled, taking another drink. “Think? No, I thought it before but kinda stopped thinkin’ and switched to knowin’ when I caught ‘em kissin’ behind the barn one day. Takes the guesswork right out of it.”

Matt could only stare, at a loss for words.

He’d known about Nick’s high school girlfriend, Sara, who he’d dated from the beginning of their junior year until halfway through their senior year.

She’d been his first, and while Nick had a melancholy, almost wistful smile when he talked about her, he had talked about her.

Mitch, however, was a name Matt had never heard.

Why had Nick never mentioned someone who had once been his best friend and...something more? It wasn’t as if Matt hadn’t known Nick wasn’t completely straight, albeit he’d never heard of any serious guys. Why had Nick left out a guy who had obviously meant more to him than just a fling?

And why did the thought annoy him so much? It wasn’t as if Nick wasn’t entitled to his private memories or secrets.

William didn’t seem to notice his emotional whiplash and continued. “You ask me, I think they were gettin’ kinda serious. Thought it after I found ‘em but never said nothin’. Figured Nick would tell us when he was ready. But?—”

“He left,” Matt said.

William nodded. “That he did. And with the way things went down, I’m thinkin’ Mitch wasn’t too happy about what Nick was doin’.

You ask me Mitch is the one who said goodbye, but I can’t know for sure.

My son’s heart was broken, even if he didn’t want to admit it, guess it don’t matter if he broke it himself or if someone else did. ”

Matt frowned, thinking the difference between the two was large.

It was one thing for Nick to have ended things, doing what he thought was right for whatever reason.

It was something else entirely if some guy, some asshole , decided Nick wasn’t worth the wait, worth the struggle, and decided to walk away and break Nick’s heart in the process.

It was the sort of difference that meant Matt could either not mind the existence of someone like Mitch or want to hunt him down. Not for the first time, when seeing a piece of Nick’s love life, Matt wondered how anyone could be with Nick and ever want to leave him behind.

“Not very smart,” Matt finally muttered, wondering at himself and his anger at a teenager who was a full-grown man with his own life now.

“And who in their right mind ever expects smart decisions from teenagers?” William asked with a raised brow.

Well, there was logic to that Matt wouldn’t try to deny.

“Truth be told, I ain’t seen my son have eyes for someone like he did Mitch,” William said, taking another drink. He stared into the distance, lips pursing. “Naw, that ain’t true, now is it?”

If Nick had been crazy in love with someone in the past ten years, that would be an even greater revelation than his apparent love for someone Matt had never heard of.

“Naw. Tell the truth and shame the Devil, like my dad liked to say. Mitch might’ve been his first trip into love’s territory, but he wasn’t the one that counted...counts? Hell, I don’t know,” William muttered.

Matt frowned at him. “Sir, is this the part where I’m supposed to ask what the hell you’re talking about?”

William looked up at him, and damned if the man wasn’t grinning wickedly. “Why yes, Matthew, that’s exactly what you’re supposed to do. I’m a drunk old man, worried about his eldest son, and havin’ a talk that I shouldn’t be havin’, so indulge me.”

The reaffirmation that this was probably not a conversation Nick would have liked them to have had Matt hesitating before continuing.

They were already too deep to worry about whether Nick would be happy, as they were probably already in unhappy territory.

It was the fact that William felt the need to bring it up that made Matt wary, wondering what the hell the older man was getting ready to say.