“I need to go home,” he told Beau absently. Without thinking about it, Ethan let Beau lead him down the front steps and toward his truck.
“I’ll drive,” Ethan said when Beau tried to steer him toward his truck. “I’ll be fine to get to the house.”
Beau nodded, but Ethan made a beeline for his truck immediately, not waiting for Beau to do or say anything more.
If he was lucky, maybe he’d manage to reason with himself before he got there. Because if not, he was about to do something he’d never done before.
And he wasn’t sure what Beau was going to say when he told him that he loved him.
Standing in Sawyer’s front yard, Beau watched Ethan’s taillights fade in the darkness. He had been sitting outside in his truck for the last twenty minutes, waiting for Ethan to come back out.
After he dropped Ethan off at his house, Beau had known instantly that he was up to something when he let Beau leave with a simple kiss and nothing more. Ethan had been mentally off in another world at that point, he was sure.
You didn’t have to be a genius to know that the conversation that they witnessed that afternoon had drawn numerous questions. Beau knew Ethan wanted to ask Sawyer some, but more importantly, he knew Ethan intended to call Sawyer out. Curtis’ knowledge of the events from back then was a dead giveaway that someone had talked. According to the story Ethan had told him, the only person who would’ve had anything to tell was Sawyer. Well, Greyson would’ve known, but Beau couldn’t see him saying something. That’s not the way Greyson seemed to work.
With no desire to go home and worry, Beau had driven to the Walker Demolition shop and parked. Giving him some time, he had waited before driving to Sawyer’s place not far from Ethan’s. Just as he suspected, Ethan’s truck was parked behind Sawyer’s expensive car in the driveway.
For whatever reason, Beau had forced himself out of the truck and to the door when he would’ve preferred to sit outside and wait longer, give Ethan and Sawyer time to chat. He hadn’t. Something had spurred him to go to the door. Based on the way Ethan looked when he flung the door open, Beau knew what had pulled him. It was that emotional connection he had with the man and he had somehow known that Ethan was hurting.
Turning back toward Sawyer’s house, Beau moved up onto the porch when he saw Sawyer standing there. Sawyer gave him a curt nod as he leaned slightly forward, hands resting on the door jamb above his head as he stared back at Beau.
“You got him?” Sawyer asked directly.
“Yeah, I do.”
“I take it you know what happened?”
“He told me.”
Sawyer stared at him intently for a moment, and Beau knew he had something else to add, so he waited.
“He needs to talk to someone. A professional who can help him deal with what happened to Gavin.”
Beau’s eyebrow shot up toward his hairline. He wasn’t sure why Sawyer was telling him this.
“He’s scared, Beau. And it kills me that I don’t know how to help him. But I told him as much. It may never heal him fully, but he needs to talk to someone.”
Beau nodded his head in agreement. It was logical, something Beau had thought a time or two. Convincing Ethan to seek professional help probably wasn’t going to be easy, but he knew if Sawyer had managed to conquer the subject with Ethan, he should too.
“Thank you,” Beau found himself saying.
“For what?”
For saving his life. For being the reason Ethan was there today. Beau didn’t speak the words out loud, he simply said, “Just… thank you.” Beau didn’t elaborate more before he turned and headed back down the steps.
Within minutes, he was parked in Ethan’s driveway and not long after, he was taking the front two steps in one single stride. He didn’t knock on the door before letting himself in.
He found Ethan standing on the back porch, staring out at the pool and he didn’t pause until he was standing there with him. No words were spoken as he moved up behind him and wrapped him in the circle of his arms.
Beau rested his forehead against the back of Ethan’s head, holding him while Ethan shook in his arms. He wasn’t crying, but Beau knew the emotion he had bottled up all these years was trying to escape. He was a pressure cooker, ready to blow its lid from everything that continued to build.
Ethan’s hands came up and latched tightly onto Beau’s arms where they rested against Ethan’s chest. For long minutes they just stood there, the chilly winds skirting around them, the night sky darkening even more as time moved forward. Beau was fine with this for now. He knew Ethan was processing everything that was happening, and he didn’t want to rush him. Despite Ethan’s ability to keep things locked inside, Beau knew Ethan had begun to open up. It was slow going, but the forward momentum was there. Beau would just have to ride it out.