Page 10 of His Middle

It was also the last time I saw Oliver.

A lump formed in his throat the way it did whenever he thought about his friend. It didn’t seem possible he was truly gone. Sawyer’s thoughts drifted to a somber conversation they’d shared late one night in the hot tub. Oliver had banned Noah from joining them—which was a relief for Sawyer. He doubted he would’ve been able to concentrate on anything Oliver was saying with a half-naked Noah across from him. The whole scenario would’ve been cringeworthy.

But as they’d soaked in the tub and ruminated on the new phase Sawyer’s life was taking, his friend had become surprisingly melancholy, philosophical. The conversation had centered on the fear Oliver had about Sawyer’s dangerous trek to the Himalayas, how Everest was so unforgiving, didn’t care about how experienced or trained you were. She would kill without mercy and Oliver feared he’d never see Sawyer again.

A sob caught in his throat, and Sawyer bit down on his fist. His friend had been right. But not in the way he’d imagined.

Sawyer scrubbed his face with both palms. He had to get a grip before Noah showed up. What Noah needed right now was a steady, guiding hand. Someone to reassure him that everything would be okay, that Sawyer wouldn’t let anything bad happen to him.

Which brought up another thought, something that had been scratching under his skin since the day before. Who the hell was this Daddy Noah was involved with? Okay, so maybe Sawyer had zero information about the guy and had no right to make any judgements. After all, it wasn’t any of his business who Noah saw, and he didn’t have the right to pry.

This time, Sawyer gripped the steering wheel until his fingers hurt. Maybe he didn’t have the right, but he didn’t have to like the situation. One thing was for sure, if he found out that Noah’s mystery Daddy was misbehaving toward him in any way, he’d have no choice but to step in. Nowaywould Oliver want his son being mistreated.

Sawyer growled at the mere thought of such a thing. No way wouldhelet anyone hurt his… He smacked a hand to his forehead.

Not my boy, not my boy, not my boy...

Noah could never be his boy. He hadn’t been there for his friend, but he could honor Oliver now by keeping his promise.

Sawyer jumped at a tap on his window. He was met with Noah grinning and holding up a to-go coffee cup. Sawyer smiled back, touched by Noah’s thoughtfulness. He’d actually planned on sending out for coffee and some breakfast when Noah arrived so he could find out what he wanted, but Noah’s gesture was sweet.

As Sawyer climbed out of his truck, he mentally rebuked himself. If he were to get all gooey every time Noah did something nice for him, it wouldn’t take long before he was a real goner.

“Good morning.” Noah handed him one of the cups he held. “Caramel Macchiato with almond milk, right?”

Sawyer cleared his throat and accepted the drink. Instead of getting gooey, he was in danger of getting a woody.

“Yes. Great memory.” He took a sip. “Mmm. Perfect.”

Noah’s grin got bigger. “Awesome. I was hoping you’d like it.”

Noah took a sip of his own drink, still staring and smiling at Sawyer. An awkward silence ensued.

Sawyer coughed into his fist. “Thank you for this, I appreciate it. Actually, I was going to look up a delivery service, order some breakfast.” He gave Noah a smirk. “If I remember correctly, you have a bad habit of skipping breakfast. Are there any places around here you like?”

Noah gave him a sheepish smile. “Busted. Yeah, there’s actually a family-owned coffeeshop up on Market that makes the best omelets.”

Sawyer nodded. “Sounds like a plan. Let’s get inside, put our order in then you can show me around the club.”

Noah had already begun heading toward the side entrance, but he turned to Sawyer with a frown as they walked along.

“I don’t understand. You’ve been here a million times.”

Sawyer chuckled. “That might be a slight exaggeration. While it’s true I’m familiar with the club in general, I’ve only experienced it from the viewpoint of a patron. In addition, I’ve never explored the areas that weren’t of interest to me. I want to get the grand tour, want to see every corner, front and back, upstairs, downstairs, kitchen, bar, storage and so on.” Sawyer paused as Noah undid the padlock on the iron screen protecting the door. “Give me the whole works along with your impressions.”

Noah finished unlocking the door and they passed through. He clicked the inside lock into place then turned off the alarm then faced Sawyer while he flipped all the switches on in the light panel.

“Yeah, totally. But I’m not sure what you mean by my impressions.”

“I want to know how you feel about each area of the club. Do you think the space is being used effectively? Are there repairs or maintenance that needs to be performed? Have customers complained about anything? Whatever you want to share with me.”

Noah tilted his head and blinked a few times. “Oh. Wow. Why didn’t I ever think of that?”

Sawyer resisted the urge to put an arm around Noah’s shoulders. “Because you were tossed into the ring without any support. It all came at you at once and all you could do was frantically try and keep your head above water.” Sawyer placed a finger under Noah’s chin and encouraged him to lift his head. “You’re not alone now. We’re going to work on this together.”

Noah’s Adam’s apple bobbed up and down, and Sawyer could sense the struggle within him, how hard he was trying to hold it together. Once again, Sawyer wished he knew who this Daddy was that Noah was with and why he wasn’t instilling hope and confidence in his boy.

“Thank you, Sawyer. Like I said, you’re going to be hearing that from me a lot. Do you know I actually slept for almost six whole hours at once last night?” He rolled his eyes. “I can’t remember the last time that’s happened.”

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