CHAPTER ONE

"Motherfucker!" Noah Jameson slammed his hands down on the steering wheel of his piece-of-shit car. This wasn't the first time she'd given him trouble. Hell, he'd put a good amount of money into her before he left, and now she was giving him crap again.

Which should be a sign he should give her up. But she also happened to be a '69 Mustang, and there wasn't a chance he was throwing in the towel. Noah should have known he'd have car trouble. It went right along with everything else going on in his life. Seemed he couldn't trust much of anything to be dependable—even his damn car.

Noah picked up his cell phone, w hich of course, wasn't charged. Not that he had anyone to call in Blackcreek, anyway. He hadn't been here since he was thirteen years old. Hell, he wasn't even sure what he was doing here now. All he knew was he'd needed to get away, and Blackcreek, Colorado, was the first place he'd thought about. Probably the only place he'd ever considered home—but then, that could have been more because of a person and not a place.

Hell, maybe this car business was a sign that what he was doing didn't make any sense. Noah didn't run. He'd been forced to do enough of that as a kid , but then…this was different. He wasn't trying to escape his own wrongdoings. He was looking for something he left behind—that feeling of home. A feeling he hadn't experienced since leaving seventeen years before.

Cursing again, Noah got out of the car, shoved his dead cell phone into the pocket of his worn jeans , and locked her up. He let his feet start to carry him into the town, he'd spur-of-the-moment, decided to come back to.

Without a job.

Or a place to stay.

And now , with a fucked-up car.

Not that he thought he would have much trouble. He was good with money and had some saved. Plus, what his father had left him when he passed. Fin ding a building to open a shop he could fill with his furniture, hopefully, wouldn't be hard, either. Maybe, this time he could actually buy something. Have the kind of roots he hadn't known growing up, or the years he'd spent in the army.

Thinking about t he army, made him think of David; somewhere he definitely didn't want his thoughts going. He'd become his dad. The one who didn't know how to fall for the right person. That's all he'd thought about when David screwed around on him.

How the hell did I become my dad?

At least with Noah, when he ran, he did it alone. Didn't drag his cheating lover along, the way his dad had with his mom.

Christ. Being cheated on had done a number on him. He didn't usually let the past run him so much. But then, he'd given a lot to David , too. More than any other man he'd been with. For David, he'd gone back into the closet at twenty-nine years old. He'd spent enough time there while in the service, and had sworn he'd never go back.

As he walked toward town, Noah took in the scenery. It always felt like a middle-of-nowhere town , and in a lot of ways it was, but others it wasn't. It was only an hour and a half from Denver, but felt secluded, tucked away in the mountains and trees. Enough of a distance to keep the slow pace Noah loved, but close enough to give him options.

It didn't take long for him to walk the last couple miles into Blackcreek.

Noah stood by the sign welcoming him to the city. Hell, the place looked exactly like it did seventeen years ago. He looked at Main Street, lined with old -school businesses. It was a blast from the past—all the wood stores and old, hand-painted signs.

What the fuck was he doing back here?

He wanted to turn around, and keep going forward at the same time.

W alking past a pharmacy and an ice cream shop, Noah kept on. If he remembered correctly, there was a gas station and a shoe-box hotel, not too far up the street. A little after that, there was a mechanic. He had his first kiss with the daughter of the guy who used to own it. He hadn't known what the hell he was doing. Luckily, Mary hadn't either.

Yeah, he changed a bit since he'd been here. There'd only been a few kisses with girls after that, and he'd slept with a couple too , but none of them did much more for him than the first. It had never been women he had wanted.

Noah stood at the corner of Main and Berry Road, trying to decide where he wanted to go first—the mechanic or the hotel (assuming both were still there). Knowing the answer to that would probably help him decide if he needed to secure a room, or get someone back for his car first.

Distracted, Noah took a step down off the curb. When he did, he saw a truck coming from the corner of his eye . Before he could move, the truck hit him. Pain blasted through him, knocking him on his ass.

Christ.

Noah grabbed his chest, like that would somehow take the ache away. Just what he didn't fucking need. Pain pierced him again as Noah tried, but failed, to get up. He'd kill whoever was behind the wheel of the truck. Forget that he hadn't been paying attention when he'd crossed the street, and that the driver obviously only rolled into him. He'd been through enough in the past few weeks, that there was no way he was taking the blame for this one.

***

"Motherfucker!" Cooper Bradshaw jumped out of his truck, panic flooding his veins. He'd fucking hit someone. Yeah, he'd been going slow—hopefully too slow to cause any real damage—but that didn't make him feel any better. Any time a one-and-a-half ton truck ran into something else, or in this case, someone else, you could pretty much bet on who the winner would be.

As h e raced to the guy on the ground, he hoped whoever he was, wasn't hurt too badly.

"Oh shit," he cursed, looking down. He had short, dark hair , his eyes squinted closed. He was tall and…familiar… A smile spread across Cooper's face. "Noah? Noah Jameson? Wow. Long time no see. How ya been?"

Noah cocked a brow at him , and Coop realized that probably wasn't the best thing to say when you mowed down your best friend from childhood.

"Run over," Noah replied.

Cooper jerked himself out of the past to take care of what needed to be done. "Sorry, man. Where does it hurt?" He knelt down, still in shock that he not only hit someone, but that it was his old friend.

"Still don't know how to watch where you're going, I see." Noah smiled , and some of the tension eased out of Cooper's shoulders. Holy shit. Noah Jameson was sitting in front of him.

"Still blaming other people for your crap, I see. You're the one who walked out onto the street without looking, just like you tried to go for that ball I'd already called." They'd been ten when Noah moved next door. Coop was outside playing football with some friends, and Noah pushed his way right into the game by going for the same catch Coop had. They'd collided in mid-air, fell on their asses, and then were best friends for the next three years.

He'd stolen his first dirty magazine with the man on the road right now. Snuck downstairs at night to watch his first porno with him. Talked about girls with him. Spied on girls with him. Yeah, they'd been young, but they'd been a team.

"You still didn't have to run me down, ya bastard." Noah flinched, as he tried to get up. Coop cursed.

"Maybe we should call an ambulance. What hurts?"

Noah shook his head. "Hell no. My ribs are sore. I don't need an ambulance. I need a bed and about ten Ibuprofen."

When Noah tried to get up again, Cooper h eld onto his arm to help him. Once he was on his feet, Noah leaned against the truck. "Jesus," Coop shook his head. "I can't believe you're back, let alone, that I ran your ass over. I'd say let's catch up, but I'd feel better if we got you to the hospital first."

Noah winced again and grabbed his side. "I'm sure my ribs are just bruised, so they won't be able to do much."

He was probably right, but Coop wasn't willing to take chances. "You got a car?" He asked, trying to show his friend he wasn't taking no for an answer.

"Broken down on the side of the road."

Coop knew it made him an asshole, but he laughed. It wasn't every day your car broke down, and you got hit by one. "Bad day?"

Noah shook his head, but grinned, reminding Cooper exactly, of the boy he used to know. "You don't even know the half of it."

Cooper reached for him. "Let me help you in the truck. I'll drive you over to get checked out, and then we'll head out for your car."

He watched as Noah took a deep breath and winced. He had a feeling if it hadn't been for that wince, his old friend would try to say no about the hospital.

When he tried to help Noah, his old friend shook him off. Cooper wasn't surprised. He'd been like that when they were young too. Hell, he was like that himself. No reason he couldn't get to the truck by himself.

Once Noah was in, Coop did close the door for him before jogging around to the driver side. A car went around them before Cooper pulled away. Noah's eyes were closed as he leaned against the seat. Worry lit a fire inside him. "You doing okay over there?"

"Do you always stress so much? You didn't used to fret like a woman," Noah didn't look at him as he spoke. Cooper tried not to laugh. He remembered Noah used to get pissy when he was hurt.

"You didn't used to complain so much either." Cooper laughed and shook his head. "So how are ya? Where you been all these years?"

Noah grunted in reply , and Coop felt like an ass for asking. He knew what it had been like for Noah. How many schools he'd been to and cities he'd lived in before coming to Blackcreek. Noah used to tell him that he'd do anything to stay here. Anytime they got in trouble for causing hell in town, Noah always worried it would make things bad between his parents again, and make him have to leave. Not that they'd done anything too bad.

He also knew that on Friday his friend had been there , and by Sunday, when Cooper got home from a trip with his aunt, Noah had been gone. There's no way he could have known he was leaving, if Coop hadn't. They'd sworn to leave together if it ever came to that. Not that he didn't know that those were silly promises kids made—but Cooper knew Noah would have rather done anything, than move from Blackcreek.

They were quiet for the thirty-minute driv e to the hospital. Cooper sat in the waiting room with his feet up on another chair, while Noah went back to see the ER doctor. He tried to ignore the unease in his stomach. He didn't see how any real damage could be done but you never knew with stuff like that.

"Cooper Bradshaw. What did I do to deserve a visit from you today?" A woman sat beside him. Coop looked over and smiled at Adrianna. She was an ER nurse who he'd gone out with a few times. He took in her pouty lips. Her red hair, and full breasts.

She was a woman he suddenly wanted to go out with again , very soon. They had a good deal between them. She was a busy with the hospital, had a five-year-old kid and not a lot of time. He wasn't looking for anything serious. It wasn't that Cooper was anti-relationship or anything, he just wasn't sure they were for him. More power to anyone who wanted to settle down, but he enjoyed his lifestyle too much to change it. Adrianna was okay with no strings. They got together when her daughter was with her dad, or when one of them was looking for a good time. No strings, no attachment, no emotions. Just sex.

"I was thinking the same thing about you." Coop gave her a smile. The slow, easy one that women seemed to like.

"You're such a flirt."

Cooper winked at her. "You like it."

T he doors to the emergency room slid open. "Mr. Bradshaw?" One of the nurses asked. "You're here with Mr. Jameson?"

Cooper pushed to his feet. A shuffle of footsteps sounded from behind him. "Yeah? Is everything okay?" he asked.

Cooper's palms were all sweaty and his heart slammed. Hell, he'd been out here flirting with a woman , after maiming his friend. That pretty much tossed him into asshole territory.

"He's fine. His ribs are bruised. We have him wrapped and gave him some pain medicine. He's a little loopy in here. He warned us he gets like that with pain medicine. Are you going to take him home? He can't drive."

He nodded his head. Cooper had no clue if Noah had somewhere to stay, but he'd make sure he got him where he needed to be. "Sure. What do I need to know?"

T he nurse finished giving him information, and then said she'd be right back with Noah. "Looks like you have plans. I was just getting off work, too." This time, it was Adrianna who winked at him. Cooper cursed. He definitely could use a few hours with her.

Or a night.

"Sorry. I'm the one who hit him so I feel a little obligated to make sure he's okay. Are you busy tomorrow?" But then, that wasn't all it was either. He'd want to catch up with Noah no matter if he'd hit him , or not.

"Work."

"Day after?"

"Date."

Cooper didn't flinch. They weren't committed and they both knew she wouldn't stay single forever, and he wouldn't want to settle down. "Call me if it doesn't work out."

"I'm fine. I can walk! See?" Noah's voice came from behind him.

He looked back to see Noah walking with his arms out like he was trying to prove he could walk a straight line. Coop laughed. "Jesus. You still can't handle yourself?" he teased. At twelve they'd stolen a few beers from Cooper's uncle. Halfway through one of them, Noah was toasted. Looked like pain pills affected him the same way. Smiling, he shook his head.

"Not you , too." He had a big, goofy smile on his face.

"I'll see you later," Adrianna told him.

Coop told her goodbye, and grabbed Noah's arm. He was surprised Noah let him help him to the truck.

"Where you staying?" he asked , as they were in the truck.

"No clue. Just ended up here." Noah pushed the button so the window went up and down, up and down, like he was eight years old. "Needed to get away. Packed. Ended up in Blackcreek."

Cooper looked over, trying to read the expression on his old friend's face. The fact was , he didn't know him anymore. Didn't know what the tone of his voice meant or if it meant anything. That honestly made him a little sad. He'd known everything about this man when they were kids.

"I have an extra room. You're welcome to use it."

"Don't know how long I'll be here."

"I was plan ning on renting it out."

Noah's head rolled to the side, flopping around as though he couldn' t hold it up. This look he recognized. Noah didn't believe him.

"I'm not shitting you. Just bought the house. It could use some work, but it's huge. I can put your ass to work."

"You don't know me anymore. You sure you want a stranger in your house?" Noah almost sounded sad when he said that.

"Eh. I'm sure I can still kick your ass. That's all that matters."

Noah started playing with the window again. He looked fascinated by the damn thing. Those pills must have really fucked him up. When the window got boring, Noah closed his eyes. He was almost out by the time Cooper pulled up at his house. Noah put his arm around him as Cooper helped him inside. He went straight for the guest room. His old friend was like dead weight, so trying to help him up the stairs wasn't an easy feat. Noah leaned right out of his arms, and dove into the bed, and then groaned and cursed, before clutching his side.

"Dumbass." Cooper shook his head. "Where's your car? I'll get it towed in and grab your prescription. Don't think you won't owe me, though." Cooper felt this crazy thrill of happiness. It was fun teasing Noah. It always had been.

Noah's face was in the pillow as he mumbled his answer. Somehow , Cooper managed to understand him.

Cooper walked to the door, but paused there. " Get your ass feeling better. We'll go out and meet some women," he joked.

" Nope," Noah mumbled. "I'm gay." That easily, he was passed out again. Cooper couldn't help but laugh. Jesus, the man really couldn't handle pain pills.