Firefly Lane (Briar County 1)

Holden shrugged. “I have the time. I’d need to get some more details to see what they want, but it might be something we can work out.”

“I think it’s good for you—doing stuff like that,” Vince said.

“Oh, do you now?” Holden countered.

Roe’s gaze flicked back and forth between them. When he looked at Vince again, the man smiled at him. Shit. He really seemed like a good guy, who had Holden’s best interests at heart, and Roe had jacked off thinking about his boyfriend. He felt like a massive dick.

“Dad! Let’s play football,” Wyatt said when he and Sean came back over. Sean carried the ball in his hand. This would be the first time Sean had played with them.

“Want to, Uncle Holden?” Sean asked.

Roe glanced at Holden just in time to see pure fucking joy flash in his eyes. “Yeah, kid. Of course.”

Roe loved seeing that—the two of them bond and how much it clearly meant to both of them.

Holden stood. “Wanna play?” he asked Vince.

“I’d love to,” Vince replied.

“The teams won’t be even,” Sean said.

Roe looked at Lindsey and Marilee.

Marilee held up her hands. “Not me.”

Lindsey laughed. “I’ll play.”

So it was Roe, Lindsey, and Wyatt against Holden, Vince, and Sean.

Holden ruffled Sean’s hair, playing around with him as they jogged over to an open area in the grass, away from the house. Something about Sean was different then, but Roe couldn’t put his finger on what it was.

They set up where the goals were and started the game. They didn’t play tackle football at home, but rather their own form of tag. Lindsey made the first touchdown and jumped up in the air and cheered. She’d always been competitive as hell and loved to win.

They were at it for a good forty-five minutes, the score tied, when Roe had the ball and was running for their makeshift end zone. Holden was the only one close to him. Roe zigzagged, trying to get away from him, but they were too close. Somehow, their feet tangled up, and the two of them went down together.

Roe rolled onto his back, laughing, hearing the same deep, vibrating sound coming from Holden. “That didn’t go quite as I planned,” Roe said.

“Oh, so you weren’t set on taking us both out?”

“Hey, I wasn’t in that alone. I’m pretty sure we’re at fifty-fifty fault with that accident.”

“Stop. With. The. Bad. Jokes. I. Can’t. Take. It. Any. More,” Holden teased.

Roe sat up and flipped him off, and Holden chuckled again and swatted his hand playfully.

When Roe looked over and saw Vince, guilt ran hot and heavy through him. They weren’t doing anything wrong. They were friends, joking around with each other, but that didn’t stop his shame.

“We should, um…check on the food. It’s probably ready.” Roe stood. Holden frowned as if he could sense something was up, but pushed to his feet too.

“I don’t wanna play anymore,” Wyatt said a little tersely as he approached them, clearly not having heard what Roe just said.

“We’re done, buddy. Let’s go check the food. I bet it’s tender enough to melt in your mouth.” He wrapped an arm around his son and walked toward the house, trying to ignore the loneliness that had recently taken up residence in his bones. Or hell, maybe it had always been there, but he hadn’t noticed it until Holden.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Holden

“Sean doesn’t like me,” Vince said as they were driving back to the hotel. They’d eaten, chatted some more, played with Zeus, had dessert, and then the two families had gone their separate ways—Lindsey, Wyatt, and Roe back to his house, and Vince and Holden to the cabin with Marilee and Sean before heading to their hotel.

“No, it’s not that. Don’t take it personally. He took a bit to warm up to me too. He’s careful around new people.” Holden figured it was to protect himself from getting hurt. He didn’t want to put himself out there for fear of rejection. Holden had been the same way at Sean’s age.

“Yeah, could be. I also wonder if…maybe he feels like I’m going to take you away from him?” Vince asked when they pulled up at the hotel.

“What? Why? I’m not going anywhere.” But he would be eventually. He was going back to Atlanta. “Well, I’m going home, but I’ll be back. I’m not going to bail on him. I would never do that.”

“I know that. You know that. Marilee knows that. But do you really think Sean knows that? You weren’t in his life until now. You can tell him it wasn’t your fault until you’re blue in the face, but he’s a kid. All he knows is you weren’t there. Now his dad isn’t here. When you leave, to him, what matters is you’re not here.”

“Shit.” Holden dropped his head back against the seat. Vince was right. Why in the hell hadn’t he seen that? “You’re good at this.”