Coming Home (BoyxBoy)

The Boy Next Door

Nate's POV

Fuck, the second I heard the raspy voice on the other end, I was transported in time. I made peace with never seeing Noah again so I healed the way I could.

I never got to explain anything or beg him to stay. All of a sudden doing what felt right by kissing him had flung Noah across the country. I thought, hoped, that he would forgive me in a few months but when two years came and went, I gave up.

I let Noah leave after he ate because I no longer knew what to say. I told Noah that Kally was one of the kids from the shelter that was built shortly after he left. I told him I had taken her under my wing and in many ways was like a father to her.

Why I felt like I owed him an explanation was beyond me. So what, I'd let someone else in on my past. I needed someone to help me get passed Noah. The funny thing is, I still didn't see the understanding in his blue eyes. Noah still didn't get it.

He just nodded and we moved on to the stupid topics catching up usually entailed. Then he was gone.

The worst part about watching Noah walk over to his mother's place, was the fact that he'd be there tomorrow. I had no idea for how long he'd still be apart of my life but for now he was literally a few minutes away from me. If I wanted to smell his unique scent of cinnamon and cocoa butter, all I had to do was go next door. How many times had I wished for that?

"Fuck," I slammed a glass against the kitchen counter. It shattered sending slivers of glass everywhere. I laughed, this demented sound tearing free from my vocal chords into the room.

Noah also didn't know what I was involved in. No idea how deeply woven our lives had become. I stared at the glass wishing there was an easy way of putting together what Noah had unknowingly shattered by coming back to Addington.

I looked at the clock and realized it was only 4pm. I had a shift that began at 10pm at the bar and it was likely going to extend past closing to make sure Mark hadn't fucked up the books while I was gone.

I decided to take a nap until then. Maybe that would jumpstart my motivation to fix everything, but fuck if I wasn't going to procrastinate first.
~

When the bar was given to me by my old man it easily became my favorite place in Addington. There was booze, music and people that passed through. On top of that I got to flirt a lot. The bar was also like a child I never had to worry about. For Addington the bar was the towns best bet for a good time. It was also right off the highway. My dad always said that all you had to do was make sure the money that should be in the registers was there and that employees got paid.

I got into my truck and turned the engine over for the first time in a week since Mark had stopped starting it. The vehicle roared to life in a familiar way and I pulled out the driveway onto the road.

The ten minute drive to the bar was filled with thoughts about my visit to jail. I hadn't quite found out the information I needed to about Benjamin Greenland. Hopefully the jumpdrive Kally left would help.

I parked and jumped out of my truck ready to meet with Mark before the night time rush. Mark was a gray haired alpha male. He looked like the perfect combination of aged wisdom that was still hot enough to pull a girl into his bed every night.

When I lost my dad, he was what the universe gave back to me.

"We need to talk," Mark appeared by the truck and he was wound so tight his hands wouldn't stop flipping his coin.

"Okay, let's do this in the back office," I walked with Mark around the bar to the back. There was a door to the office that I used when I didn't want people knowing I'd come in yet.