Page 11 of Sandcastles & Sunburns (DKAG Summer Shorts #6)

Law was a big guy. Bigger than Jude even. They’d wrestled and boxed more than a few times. Even aged ten years, Law appeared like he could take anyone on. And enjoy every second of it.

“You look better than I thought.”

“And what did you expect?” Jude was almost afraid to ask.

“Truthfully, I don’t know. It’s not like you were in best shape the last time I’d seen you.”

Jude shook his head. He set the knife down to grip the counter edge. He’d been such a prick to his friend. “I’m sorry.” He said it over the phone, but the words needed to be spoken face to face.

“I want to say that it’s not necessary,” Law responded. He swallowed hard. “But I think I need to hear it. For you to look me in the eye when you do.”

Jude lifted his head. He met Law’s intense gaze. “I’m sorry,” Jude repeated.

“Ten years, man,” Law said. “Ten fucking years.”

So many lost and wasted years. Jude nodded.

Law sighed. “At least we can catch up now. Got a beer?”

“Lemonade, water, or coffee.” He wasn’t sure how old the coffee was. It had been years since Jude had drunk it himself. Part of Jude trying to better himself.

“I would kill for some of your homemade lemonade,” Law replied.

Jude turned toward the fridge.

“So, no drinking?” Law asked quietly.

Not since the first year that Jude had lost Sam. He’d woken up in his own vomit one too many times. Since Jude didn’t plan on drinking himself to death, he’d stopped. “Not for years. Clean living for me.”

Law was grinning at him as Jude returned with the pitcher of lemonade. It was nearly full since Liam wasn’t around to help Jude drink it.

“What?” Jude scowled at his friend.

“I’m just relieved.”

“I wasn’t trying to kill myself,” Jude told him. “The alcohol. I thought it helped. With the memories. To numb me.” He had felt too much. Had been too raw. Until Jude hadn’t cared about anything or anyone.

“I know,” Law replied gently.

“Sam would have hated seeing me like that.” Jude had found a ruined photo of him and Sam from one of his drunken rages. Thinking back, it still hurt Jude to remember.

“I still worried,” Law said. “Ten years of thinking the phone would ring and someone would be telling me that you drank yourself to death.”

“I couldn’t do it.” Jude filled a glass with ice before setting it in front of Law.

Law filled his glass. “I’m glad.”

“I didn’t mean for it to be like this,” Jude said sincerely. “I told myself I would answer your call eventually. Then a year turned to two then three and it just got easier not to answer.”

“You know I would have been here on your doorstep in a second if you hadn’t at least sent the text.”

“I do know that.” That was why Jude always sent the two words that he knew would hold his teammates at bay.

“I was respecting your wishes,” Law told him.

Jude nodded. Had it been the right move? He didn’t know. There was so much that Jude didn’t know. That made sense at the time but now filled him with regret.

“At least I can thank your neighbor for finally getting you to reach out,” Law said.

“You wouldn’t—” Who was he kidding. Law totally would. “Don’t talk to him.”

“Sure.”

Jude narrowed his eyes. “I mean it. I don’t need help.” Except he actually did. “I can handle this.” He hoped.

“Can I stay for dinner?” Law asked, changing the subject. That was Law not agreeing. “I haven’t had your cooking in too long.”

There would still be plenty for Liam. “Fine. But stay away from Liam.”

“Liam.” Law grinned. “Tell me more about him.”

This was better than Law insisting on meeting the boy. “He’s from Missouri. He bought the house next door. He loves the beach. His best friend already lives in town, so I think that’s probably why he picked here to settle.”

“You said he was around our age?”

“I think so. Close enough.” Sam had been younger than Jude by a decade.

“What does he do for a living?”

Jude smirked. “He writes gay romance books.”

Law stiffened. “What?”

“You heard me. He said he writes gay romance books,” Jude shared.

He thought it sounded very cool. To be able to make up stories and get them down.

To share those stories with the world? That was terrifying to Jude.

People, internet people especially, were not kind, in Jude’s experience.

They loved to bring other people down and were often ruder than necessary as they hid behind a screen name.

Sam had loved Instagram. Jude hadn’t been impressed by some of the comments he’d seen on his boy’s posts.

“Dude,” Law drawled. He’d pulled out his phone and typed furiously. Flipping the phone around, he demanded, “Is this your neighbor?”

He had to squint but there in front of him was that smile that Jude already had memorized. “Yes?”

“Your neighbor is Liam Groves?”

“Yes. How do you know who he is?” Jude challenged.

“I love his books!” Law said with pure excitement. “I follow all his social media accounts.”

That did not make Jude happy. Social media could be a tricky thing. Sam had been obsessed with having followers and all that. Jude had never seen the appeal. “You read gay romance books.”

Law snickered. “He doesn’t just write gay romance. He writes kinky gay romance.” Law clicked on a few links before passing the phone to him.

Jude read the titles. Daddy’s Blue Boy . Little Boy Peep . And on and on. All pointing very clearly to being books filled with Daddies and littles. “He wrote these?”

“He’s amazing. The age play aspect is some of the best I’ve ever read.”

“Wow.” Jude was impressed. He hadn’t known that people wrote or read those kinds of books.

“I had a boy that was obsessed with the series. I read them to him every night,” Law said. He took his phone back before placing it back on the counter.

“You have a partner?” Jude realized that even listening to the voicemails his friend had left that it wasn’t the same as being in their lives. Jude really didn’t know much about Law’s life now. Or any of the other friends.

Law shook his head. “No, we broke up about six weeks ago. He moved back to Nevada and already has a new Daddy.”

“Were you together long?”

“Almost two years,” Law shared.

“Damn, man. I’m sorry.”

Law pressed his lips together. “Thanks. I thought we were building something.”

He took a long drink of his lemonade. “Turns out I was wrong. He was only looking for a part-time Daddy. Someone to have fun with. I’m ready to settle down. I want someone that I can spend the rest of my life with. We were just at different phases in our lives.”

Jude understood that more than he could say.

His and Sam’s biggest fights had been because Sam still wanted to party and go to clubs.

Not that Sam wanted to be with other people, but that he wasn’t ready to settle down completely.

While Jude had been planning their future, what they would do later in life, Sam had been all about enjoying his life.

Not worrying about where they would end up.

That was Jude’s job. Had always been Jude’s job. “That sucks, man.”

“Yeah, well, maybe your boy can introduce me to someone more our age and in the lifestyle,” Law replied hopefully.

“I don’t have a boy,” Jude reminded him.

“Uh-huh. How long until the food is ready? I’m starving.”

Jude shoved a carrot in Law’s mouth before stomping to the back door.

Had he thought that he’d missed his friend?

Maybe Jude had spent too much time in the sun.

That could be the only reason that Jude had thought for any length of time that Law wouldn’t be the same stubborn asshole of a friend. Damn, Jude really had missed him.

Law laughed as he munched on the carrot and followed Jude out to the back deck.

It was like the last ten years hadn’t happened. That they hadn’t missed so much time together. Law was just Law. Jude’s closest friend. Fuck! Jude had missed Law. Missed all the guys.