“I know how that feels,” Logan said and this time it was his turn to glance out over the ballpark. “If it weren’t for the fact I see Sam every day at the office, I’d spend a lot less time there.”
Right then, Luke and Cole returned, handing off two beers, one to Elijah, the other to Logan, before they dropped into their seats behind Logan.
For a few minutes no one spoke, aside from making a comment about the game. At least until Luke decided to throw out the question of the hour.
~~*~~
“So, what are your intentions with my boy here?”
Boy? Logan fought the urge to laugh at his brother, but he did roll his eyes. He’d fully expected Luke to put in his two cents, to give Elijah a tough time. That’s what Luke did. He didn’t want to open up about himself, but he didn’t have any qualms about calling others to the carpet.
Elijah glanced behind Logan at Luke, a smile on his face.
“If you’re asking if I plan to marry him, sorry to let you down, but that’s not on my agenda.”
“What is on your agenda?” Luke asked, his voice lowered, his tone serious.
Elijah glanced at Logan and he merely shrugged. If Elijah wanted to blow Luke off, he couldn’t blame the guy. What they did wasn’t any of Luke’s business.
“I was planning to sit here with my beer, enjoy the game. What’s on your agenda?” Elijah retorted, still keeping a measure of humor in his eyes although Logan felt his tension.
“Are you serious about this?” Luke asked bluntly.
“This? Is that how you see it?” Elijah said, lowering his voice a notch. “Why don’t you call it what it is? A relationship. Something more than friendship, maybe? And if by ‘this’ you’re referring to Samantha, at least have the decency to address her as a person.”
“This,” Luke repeated. “This relationship. I take it you’re not interested in my brother, because unlike me, he doesn’t swing both ways.”
Elijah’s brows furrowed slightly as he stared back at Luke over his shoulder. “I don’t swing both ways either. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.”
Logan was pretty sure he heard Luke sigh in relief, probably glad to hear Elijah didn’t have a problem with his relationship with Cole.
It had taken a lot to get Luke to come to terms with the fact that he loved Sierra and Cole. Not only did he have a problem with the ‘and’ part of that statement, he had a major issue with the fact that he was attracted to Cole. But, they’d finally come around and life had looked up for his brother. For that, Logan was grateful.
But in the same sense, Logan wasn’t looking for the same thing Luke had found. He could absolutely see himself becoming friends with Elijah. Hell, they already were. Not only did Logan look forward to seeing Elijah with Sam, he also looked forward to seeing Elijah period. Strange that.
There might not be a sexual connection between him and Elijah, but Logan had the overwhelming urge to shield Elijah. To help him through this. The man was clearly still hurting, keeping himself locked away and Logan could relate. He hadn’t lost Sam, and he prayed he never had to go through that, but Logan had lost his parents. He’d been young and the pain of their death still echoed inside of him.
That sort of loss would never go away.
But it did eventually get easier to breathe. And Logan knew that when Elijah was around Sam, he was breathing a little easier.
“Lay off, man,” Logan finally told Luke. “We’ve got it covered. But I promise, when we need relationship advice, you’ll be the first person we come to.”
That made Cole laugh uncontrollably which eased the tension. Luke turned his feigned wrath on his lover, and that got the two of them squabbling again.
Yep, overall, life was good.
Chapter Fourteen
Elijah was wandering the house the following morning, still exhausted from the night before. He’d slept in later than usual, but that hadn’t helped all that much even though, for the first time in a long time, Elijah hadn’t dreamed. About anything.
At least not that he could remember.
He and Logan had a good time at the game, even stopped off to have wings for dinner after they dropped Luke and Cole back at their house. By the time that was all said and done, Logan had dropped him off close to one in the morning.
It had been a long time since Elijah had been out with friends like that. Usually it was business associates, and with those relationships, he always ensured to keep them at a distance. Not to mention, most people he worked with tiptoed around the subjects they believed would send Elijah into an emotional tailspin.
Not Logan. He was up front, curious, and he didn’t have a problem asking the difficult questions. At one point, they’d even talked about Logan’s parents. Apparently, they died in a car accident – killed by a drunk driver when he and Luke were eight. To an eight year old, his life had been irrevocably damaged. According to Logan, his grandfather had stepped in and raised them.