He tossed me my phone and then picked it up when I couldn’t hold and unlock it one handed. I read the message from Bryce three times and it still didn’t make sense. It said he was in town and wanted to get together today. I wondered why he hadn’t told me he was coming back to Wisconsin. I tried to figure out how to blow him off because there was no way I wanted him to see me this way.

“I could give you the same speech about that one,” Jason said as he nodded toward my phone. “But for some reason, I don’t think I need to worry as much about him.”

“Jason, you can think I’m some sort of manwhore if it’ll make you feel better, but I haven’t done anything with either of them.” I clenched my jaw and took a few breaths to try and calm down. “Bryce and I have seen each other exactly once, the night you and Cam made up. Since then, we’ve been talking but there’s nothing going on there. And Eric, well he’s my roommate. I can’t exactly ignore him.”

“As long as you remember that both of those guys are like brothers to me. You hurt either of them and the payback will be swift and unpleasant.” I’d be pissed if I hadn’t given him the same warning, almost verbatim, when he and Cam started fooling around.

“Got it. Now, if you’re done would you please go and see when they’ll let me eat something?” I didn’t give two shits if I sounded whiny. If I didn’t get something in my stomach soon, the petulance would turn to anger and then no one would want to deal with me.

Jason laughed as he hoisted himself out of the chair which was too small for his large frame. “Yeah, I’ll see if I can scrounge up something. I think the doctors just wanted to make sure you weren’t going to puke when the water hit your stomach.”

“Thank you.” I was grateful to see him leave, not only because I was ravenous, but also because I just wanted to be alone. Just a few minutes without anyone asking what hurt, how I felt, if they could do anything for me, and on and on.

Chapter 4

When I took the job with Pot of Gold, I thought it’d be a great way to actually do some good in life. I’d been jaded by my time in the Army, but I think that’s why I was so hell-bent on making a difference. I’d seen horrible acts fueled by hate and bigotry, but knew my CO wouldn’t believe me if I confessed my assumptions to him. So, I kept my mouth shut and my inaction led to the death of one of my best friends. That was something I’d live with until the day I died, but it also led me to vow to help keep someone else from being too much of a coward to say anything.

I sure as hell hadn’t counted on sitting down with my morning coffee to analyze every line of the proposed budget, trying to figure out where we could cut dollars in order to save the entire Milwaukee chapter from closing down. If something didn’t change, I doubted we’d be able to keep the doors open for another year, and that wasn’t an option in my mind. That’s why I hadn’t given it a second thought when the founder asked me if I’d be willing to pack up and temporarily move to Wisconsin.

It seemed as if everything was finally beginning to look up for me. When I was in Milwaukee a few weeks ago, I’d met Drew, one of my friend Jason’s teammates, who also happened to be the long-time best friend of Jason’s boyfriend, Cam. The two of us hit it off and he didn’t once look at me as though I’d grown a third eye when I rambled on about the need for places like Pot of Gold through most of dinner. In fact, he seemed almost as eager to help as I’d been in the early days, even if that was impractical most of the year since he was a big shot baseball player.

The two of us had parted ways that night with what seemed to be empty promises to meet up the next time I was in town. Empty only because I hadn’t thought I’d be back so soon and it was unlikely someone like Drew would be sitting around waiting on someone like me to show up at his door. We’d shared text messages back and forth over the past few weeks, but those had dwindled to almost nothing as the Mavericks made their way into the playoffs for the first time in however long. I wasn’t upset about it since I knew from Jason how much time and focus it took to stay at the top of his game during the season.

With the Mavericks’ battle for the pennant officially over for the year, I picked up my phone, hoping that Drew would want to get together at some point. It might not be today or tomorrow since I’m sure he still had plenty of work to do before the team sent everyone home for the winter, but sometime. As much as I’d been dying to talk to him, I decided that it’d be less intrusive if I sent a text. That way, if he wasn’t as anxious to see me as I was him, I wouldn’t be waking him on the first morning he could sleep in. He was probably out last night with his teammates and nursing one hell of a hangover. After tapping out a message to let him know I was back in town and interested in seeing him, I tried to focus on the spreadsheets strewn across the table in front of me. Less than a minute later, my phone rang. The voice on the other end of the line wasn’t one I expected to hear since it was Drew’s number on my caller ID.

“Bryce, it’s Jason,” my friend responded after I said hello.

“Hey, why do you have Drew’s phone?” I’d never felt the need for niceties with Jason. He was a no-bullshit kind of guy, which was good because my mother often scolded me telling me I was born without any social graces. When Jason didn’t immediately respond, I began to think it was a huge mistake to try and reconnect with Drew. “Did I lose you?”

The silence on the other end of the line dragged on long enough I almost hung up. When Jason answered me, I began to notice just how tired he sounded. “Yeah, sorry. I had to ask one of the nurses a question.”

That put all of my senses on high alert. My stomach churned at the thought of something being wrong. I flipped the channel to the sports network to see if there was any mention of Drew getting hurt during last night’s game. The highlights of the game droned on, but no mention of anyone being injured. “What’s going on, Jason?”

“Look, I’m only telling you this because you’re my friend,” Jason said warily. “No one’s caught wind of it yet, and we’d like to keep it that way for as long as possible.”

So much for not trying to sugar coat shit. “Spit it out, already,” I grumbled.

“Drew was attacked last night on his way to the bar.” I swallowed hard against the light breakfast threatening to make a return trip up my throat. I replayed Jason’s words over and over, but nothing made sense.

“How in the hell did that happen?” I asked. I always thought that was a ridiculous question, but it was the only thing that came to mind.

“Not sure yet. The cops spent some time questioning him early this morning, but he couldn’t give them much to go on,” Jason told me. Nervous energy filled my body and I needed to do something. I stood and walked over to the sliding door which led out to a small balcony. When I opened the door, I was hit with a blast of cold air but it didn’t matter. Nothing mattered except finding out what was going on with Drew. “From the little bit I heard and the extent of his injuries, I think it’s pretty safe to assume that whoever did it knows Drew’s gay.”

Suddenly, I was doubting whether or not my presence in Milwaukee was going to be welcomed. I’d known too many guys in Drew’s position who turned their backs on anyone and everyone they were close to before the attack. Then again, that could be a good thing in our case since we hadn’t really gotten a chance to spend much quality time together during the one night we’d had dinner before.

“I’m coming up there,” I informed him. I was already on my way to the bedroom to grab something other than the old pair of shorts I’d thrown on when I woke up. I couldn’t sit around doing nothing. I could tell by the thick drawl in Jason’s words that he hadn’t slept at all last night and he needed someone to take care of him. I couldn’t blame Cam for not stepping up to the plate since he and Drew were best friends. Hell, he was probably in even worse shape than Jason. “I could bring breakfast for you and Cam.”