EPILOGUE

"Go talk to him." Cooper nodded his head toward Wes who stood alone, in a corner on the other side of the house.

"Thank you." Noah lead forward and pressed his lips to Cooper's, so fucking glad that he could do that whenever he wanted. It didn't matter that they were standing in a room full of people. Some of them were assholes about it, especially a few of the guys at Coop's firehouse, but they were dealing with it—together.

Noah ran a finger over the sling that held Cooper's arm, still sick to his stomach every time he saw it. He could have lost him. Lost his best friend. Lost his light. It had only been a couple weeks, but it was still all he thought about.

"I'll be back." Noah made his way through the crowded house. It was Wes's sister Lydia's house, which was bigger than the one Wes would now be living in alone with little Jessie.

"How ya doing, man?" Noah leaned against the wall behind him. Wes's eyes were sad, lost, but during the funeral or here at the service, Noah had yet to see the man shed a tear.

"Okay."

"No, you're not."

Wes shrugged. "She's gone , regardless."

Noah put an arm around his friend. "We're here if you want to talk. If you need help with Jessie, or anything. Not that I know the first thing about kids."

Humorlessly, Wes chuckled. "You and me both… I don't know if I'm going to do it for sure, Noah. I know that makes me a prick but what the hell do I know about raising a little girl? I'm a single, gay man who likes my space. I don't want to screw her up…Lydia and I talked. We're going to take it slowly. We both want what's best for Jessie."

Noah's heart squeezed for the other man. "You'll do the right thing." And somehow , he didn't doubt that. There was something about Wes that Noah connected with on a friendship level, and he was glad to have met him.

"I hope so. I really fucking do."

Noah looked across the room at Cooper, who stood with Braden beside him. Noah smiled. "I doubt we'd be the only ones there if you needed anything."

A quick glance at Wes told him he was looking at Cooper and Braden too. "I don't know why the hell he won't leave me alone. We fucked once. End of story. The bastard hasn't stopped calling me , since he found me when Cooper was in the hospital."

No matter what he said, Noah doubted very much he wanted Braden to leave him alone. "Can't hurt to have another friend." If he was being honest, the whole thing surprised him just as much. From everything Cooper said, Braden like quantity. He was always going out and looking for a good time. Until he'd met Wes, at least. As far as Cooper knew, the man hadn't gone home with a woman or a man, since Wes.

"I have too much going on to deal with anything else."

Noah shrugged. "Maybe it'll help. Maybe it's what you need."

Wes shook his head. "I'm not talking about this. How are things with you guys?"

Noah filled him in a little bit. They'd seen Autumn once since Cooper left the hospital. She was trying, even though she still struggled to understand what was going on with Noah and Cooper. Noah figured no one had to understand it. They were in love and that's all that mattered.

Vernon, stubborn as always , hadn't come around. In some ways, Noah was okay with that. He wasn't sure how it would be to look the man in the eyes, knowing that he, along with Noah's own mother, had hurt all of them so much. But then…he didn't want Cooper hurt, either. Regardless, Vernon was his uncle and Noah would put his anger aside, for Coop.

Wes nodded in all the right places, as Noah continued to talk to him, but he knew Wes wasn't into the conversation. He kept his head down, deep in thought and every time his eyes rose, they landed on Braden.

When Coop left Braden 's side, as Braden walked away, Wes's gaze followed him the whole time. It wasn't a second after Cooper made it to Noah, wrapping and arm around him, that Wes disappeared.

"He okay?" Cooper asked.

"I don't know. I hope so." He nuzzled his face into Cooper's neck. Sometimes people come quietly into your life. Not Coop. Twice, he'd collided into Noah's world. Years separated them—whole other lives, but they'd found their way back to each other. Found a way to leave everything except each other in the past. Noah pulled Cooper close, and held him, thankful to have him in his arms, now and always.

The End