Page 40 of Never Give Up

BRIAN

“You know what we should get?”

I look up at Jake’s words and shove those destructive and honest thoughts away.

Jake walks in, wearing a pair of tan cargo shorts and a black shirt that says, ‘Cops do it better’ in bright-blue letters.

The man’s looks, with his black hair and green eyes, have set more than one lady on a path to ogle him in his uniform by making complaints on days he works just to have him respond. It’s sort of hilarious, until the reports need to be written at the end of the night, and he’s stuck at his desk until an hour after he should have been at home and asleep.

“What?” I push myself up from the couch and join my friend.

“Pizza. Just call it a day after, relax, and maybe see if the guys want to come over?” With a smile on his face, Jake is insinuating that the project will go a lot quicker with every person who comes to help.

“That’ll save me from cooking. You want to stay at the house?” I smile, expecting an immediate reaction, and when I don’t get one, I grow curious.

Jake quickly glances away, takes a deep breath, then stares directly at me. “Look, man, I need to say something and have it be okay between us after I say it, and then yeah, I’ll stay at the house tonight. Those boys need Uncle Jake time.”

Worry lurches inside, but I don’t let it show as I say, “Go ahead. You’re my best friend.”

Jake doesn’t respond immediately and with that growing wait, my nerves edge up to breaking point. What the hell is it? Some sort of bad news?

“Just say it, man.”

On a rush, the words tumble out. “I don’t think you deserve Maya if you can’t man up.”

I swallow the sudden hot lump in my throat, unsure who those words hurt more, Jake or me. And with it, the burn of anger.

“That’s shitty, Jake. Good thing you’re not a shrink. So get your shit and let’s go. This tree house isn’t going to build itself.”

I stalk toward the door and stop. “But for the record, if I make a move and don’t stand a chance with her, she will tell me. We both know she can gut someone with words if she wants to.” I laugh a little at that, knowing Maya is vicious when she needs to be. “But I know you care about her. So do I. And I would rather stab myself with a rusty spoon than hurt her.”

Just as quickly that anger subsides.

I won’t hurt her. And I’m not about to barrel in like a bull. But leaving her alone, letting her build walls she doesn’t need, is something I can’t do.

Maybe I’m not good enough—hell, I’m probably not—but we had a closeness I almost walked away from, and I just can’t do that again.

“Never, Jake.”

He’s looking at me with a smile on his face. One that completely goes against the conversation we just started. “Good. That’s the man I know. You moping around being a little bitch about your feelings is driving me crazy.”

“Because I care, I’m not crossing lines. I’ve been trying to process. To figure shit out. Got it?”

“Yeah, yeah. You’re being a pussy. Overthinking. Assuming that you know what her feelings are. What she needs.”

He walks out, and the oxygen leaves my chest in a whoosh.

I did it again.

Fucking idiot.

Jake comes back with a backpack that he had obviously already packed. Clearly, it hasn’t taken much encouragement from me to get him to come over.

With a smile on my face, I say, “Let’s get out of here.”

A lightness came over me as I follow the other man out of the apartment. By the time we get back to my house, all the deputies and even the lieutenants who aren’t on shift have agreed to come help get the tree house set up. After all, Jake has told them that I’m buying the beer and pizza.

A few hundred dollars in supplies and even more on pizza and beer later, we have everything done and are sitting around enjoying our drinks and marveling at the successful job we did of putting everything together.

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