Night by Night

by Tymber Dalton

  Of course the fuckers in Cameron’s family fought Hank every step of the goddamned way.

  Thank god Lois made a will after JJ was born, like I asked her to.

  Losing their parents not long after moving to Pennsylvania following his graduation from high school had been tough on the siblings but it’d also provided a valuable lesson in planning ahead.

  Which was why, when Cameron murdered Hank’s sister, at least Hank had been able to immediately take full custody of his niece and keep her out of the hands of the fucker’s family. Because Lois had a will and had put a power of attorney into place, and even before Hank’s niece’s birth, Lois had a permanent restraining order against Cameron for severely beating her while she was pregnant.

  Wish you were here, Sis.

  It wasn’t fair. They’d planned to move back here together when Jaylene was only two. Then Cameron’s stupid parents filed an injunction against it, and they’d had to fight it. Hank had tried to tell Lois to end all contact with them before that point, but like their parents, she’d had a soft, kind heart and had wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt, at least. To not paint them with their son’s crimes.

  To try to work things out with them.

  They battled them for a year over that before the judge finally dismissed the case a few months after JJ had turned three. Cameron had only served eight months in jail for attacking Lois. Fortunately, the judge had issued the permanent restraining order against him for JJ, too, because of the mountain of evidence against Cameron that he hadn’t wanted JJ in the first place.

  Screenshots live forever.

  Hank and Lois had been saving up money to move when, a couple of months after the last court case had been resolved, came that horrible afternoon he received a frantic call at work from Lois’ friend, Marla. Marla and her husband Barry had gone with Lois and JJ to a planned visitation with Cameron’s parents, meeting at a McDonald’s not far from the apartment Hank shared with Lois.

  Cameron had shown up and shot Lois. Thankfully, Lois had thought fast when he showed up. She’d handed JJ off to Marla and Barry, who’d taken her inside. After everything happened, they had kept her out of the hands of Cameron’s parents until Hank could race there from work.

  Cameron’s parents had initially been arrested, too, until their attorney got charges against them dropped when Cameron finally confessed to everything.

  Still, Cameron claimed mental anguish and tried to use an insanity defense, which stalled the fucking case for months.

  And then down to one household income, and trying to be a single dad to JJ, Hank had still been stuck in Pennsylvania.

  Now the fucker was doing life without parole—finally—and thankfully that had been a point in Hank’s favor when he filed to have Cameron’s parental rights terminated for good so he could legally adopt JJ.

  Fuck those assholes.

  With a full protective order finally in place against Cameron’s entire family, Hank’s attorney told him he was under no obligation to tell them where he’d moved, or give them any kind of contact with JJ.

  The first thing Hank had done was move to a new apartment in Pittsburgh, getting a smaller one that cost him far less a month. Albeit it was an old and crappy building, and wasn’t in the best neighborhood.

  But it’d been within his budget. Once he’d made friends with everyone in their building and told them the basics, they’d all been very protective of him and JJ.

  Meanwhile, in the two years following Lois’ murder, he’d saved every penny he could. Between that and what minuscule savings he had left after paying all the legal expenses from the custody battle and adoption, he’d swung this move.

  Barely.

  This house was an older three-two, not large at all. Except it felt huge and empty with what little furniture they had. They didn’t have a lot to start with, because he’d drastically downsized when they’d moved to the smaller apartment. Before they moved this time, he sold everything he could for extra money and to save space. He’d towed a large, completely full U-Haul trailer behind his pick-up truck to move everything they had left. He’d turn that in tomorrow morning on his way to his new job, which he also had thanks to Bryce helping point him to leads.

  “Are we living here for good, Daddy?” JJ asked.

  He’d never get over that. Every time she called him that it still hit him squarely in the feels, even though she’d pretty much called him that ever since she could talk.

  Hell, he’d been there at her birth, had been there throughout her entire life. To her, he was her father, even before he’d legally adopted her. Didn’t matter that biologically he was her uncle. She’d never seen Cameron in person until the day he murdered Lois. Hank had also been honest with JJ that a bad man was her bio father, so he gave himself a promotion from uncle to her dad.

  He gently tugged on a pigtail. “Yeah, sweetie. We’re here for good. At least for a few years. If I can save up money to buy us a house of our own we might move, but that’ll take me a while.”

  “Can we still have my birthday on the beach?”

  He smiled. “Yes, sweetheart. You and I are absolutely going to celebrate your birthday on the beach.”

  “Yes!” She rolled onto her back on the couch and flailed her arms and legs in the air in celebration, making him laugh.

  That reminded him—he needed to contact some old friends from high school and see if he couldn’t get at least a few people to show up. She wouldn’t care that she didn’t know them, but it would help make it feel more like a celebration.

  She’d be turning six in two weeks and she’d never seen the ocean. Before their life fell apart, he and Lois both had been building up this very moment for her. They’d wanted to move back to Florida and raise her here.

  Thirty-two and starting his life over as a single parent wasn’t a situation he’d ever expected to find himself in. Lois had been two years older than him. She’d been going to college when she first met Cameron and the fucker swept her off her feet.

  Hank had hated him on first sight, and Cameron had done his best to drive a wedge between the siblings over the years.

  At least that was one thing he’d failed at. Cameron hadn’t counted on how strong their bond was, especially in the wake of their parents’ sudden death in a car accident. And he hadn’t hit her, at first. It was years of chipping away at her, mental abuse she’d hidden from Hank, until the day she discovered she was pregnant and Cameron put her in the hospital.

  And Hank had him put in jail.

  He shook himself out of his thoughts. “Time to get your shower so we can put you to bed, pumpkin. First day of school at your new school tomorrow.”

  “Okay!” She jumped off the couch and zoomed from the room.

  With the move behind them, the full gravity of their situation slowly started sinking in. He needed to quickly reestablish a network of friends here in Sarasota. He’d be enrolling JJ in school tomorrow morning, had all that info ready, but there were only something like four weeks left in the school year here. He’d need full-time child care for her, and that was something he didn’t have lined up yet, a chore he dreaded.

  Trust didn’t come easy for him now.

  At all.

  Not just a trust issue, but a money issue, too.

  It wasn’t like he’d be dating anytime soon, either. Although his situation was far less entangled than it had been in Pittsburgh. No more worries about looking over his shoulder to see if someone from Cameron’s family was spying on him on a date so they could contact the woman behind his back and tell them lies about him.

  Crazy fuckers.

  After the second time that happened, four years ago now, he realized someone was going through his Facebook feed and getting info from there. That’d been before Lois was murdered, when they were still in the middle of the legal battle.

  So he’d locked his Facebook account down, deleted everyone from his friends list who he thought might possibly have so much as the most remote o
f connections to Cameron’s family and friends, or who were mutual friends with anyone associated with Cameron and his family, and deleted nearly all his old posts, or set them to viewable by him only. He left very few posts visible and those were set to friends only.

  Not that he’d been very active on the site to start with but he’d started posting again after JJ was born, in an attempt to stay in touch with friends in Florida.

  He also hadn’t bothered trying to date since that last time, too paranoid about being followed, or whether or not maybe someone was really who they said they were, or if maybe they were a spy for Cameron’s family.

  The handful of friends he had left on the site were mostly people he’d known in high school, like his old best friend, Maddox, and another good friend, Bryce. And a few distant relatives.

  I really need to get in touch with Maddox.

  He regretted falling out of touch with his former best friend, but life had just gotten in the way. But at least he still had a few friends here in Sarasota.

  Hence how he’d been able to get this place arranged. Bryce had reached out to him to check on him after Lois’ murder. They’d been friends in high school and Bryce had known Lois. He’d heard about her murder through one of Hank’s distant cousins, who still lived in the area.

  Bryce was an attorney, and had been a valuable resource both through the criminal trial and through navigating Pennsylvania’s family law system. He’d helped Hank find a new family law attorney up there, a friend of one of his coworkers, who’d discounted his fees. Bryce had actually prepped most of the paperwork for Hank for free, sending it to the attorney there for little more than a quick perusal and to file it. Which had saved Hank a shit-ton of money.

  Another reason returning to Sarasota was a no-brainer—Bryce had made Hank promise to call him if Cameron’s family started more shit, and that he’d rep him for free, or at least for a greatly reduced rate, if Hank insisted on paying him.

  Well, he was no mooch. He’d be working as a roofer, for now, because it was the first paying job he could get that he was qualified for that paid more than minimum wage.

  It’d be hard work, and not paying as much as he was making up there. But without a state income tax, and without having to pay union dues, and with cheaper living expenses, it’d wash out. Plus he was going to look into taking online classes. Maybe he could get his contractor’s license or something.

  For now, he could make ends meet, and it had to be enough.

  He simply had to keep putting one foot in front of the other.

  With a little girl to take care of, it wasn’t like he had any other choice.

  Chapter Two

  After the munch, Maddox sat in the restaurant’s parking lot and studied his phone. He had the Facebook app open again and scrolled through Hank’s profile.

  Damn, you’ve aged well, buddy.

  Hank hadn’t only been his best friend—he’d been Maddox’s secret crush. Maddox’s biggest regret was never telling the man how he felt.

  Then again, Hank was straight, had dated girls. Maddox had never come out as bi in high school, never dated any guys back then. That hadn’t happened until he was in college and felt more comfortable in his own skin.

  He hadn’t seen Hank since the man’s family moved out of state not long after he and Hank graduated from high school. He was nearly two years older than Hank, but they’d been in the same grade in school.

  As the start of a really baaad idea blossomed in Maddox’s brain, he struggled not to go through with it.

  I could just send him a message, right? What harm is there in that?

  Except the man was obviously a father now. Probably married or involved or something.

  Right?

  Wasn’t that the bad kind of emotional masochism to engage in? Not only bad, but fruitless and prodigiously stupid. Not that he was a masochist in the first place—he was definitely a sadist.

  Except he’d been an emotional masochist throughout junior high and high school without even realizing it had a name.

  Ironic, yes, considering he was definitely a Dom and a Top now and had a full grasp of all the dynamics and labels.

  Back then, he’d secretly pined for the guy who was his best friend, a guy he didn’t dare tell how he really felt.

  Not that he thought Hank would be an asshole about it, because back then Hank didn’t give a crap if someone was gay.

  But Maddox had been worried Hank would freak out a little over him specifically had he admitted to him at the time what a huge crush he had on Hank, and it could have driven a wedge between them. So Maddox’s high school days had been consumed by him gorging on old ’80s and ’90s power ballads while he masturbated late at night or in the shower and thought about holding Hank in his arms.

  Closest they’d ever coming to making Maddox’s fantasies come true was the occasional shared masturbation session when they were alone at one house or the other and had unsupervised access to a computer they could view porn on.

  Because they’d also shared a bed countless times when they’d stayed over at each other’s houses. His parents didn’t have a guest room back then, and they’d had a crappy couch. Hank’s parents didn’t have a guest room, either, and their couch was one of those sectionals with recliners built in that you couldn’t easily stretch out on.

  It’d secretly broken Maddox’s heart when they moved but he knew Hank wasn’t ever coming back. It wasn’t like he could follow the guy. So he’d thrown himself into his college classes and trying to date.

  He’d attempted to build a bridge in his heart and get the fuck over it, drowning his sorrows in Air Supply and power rock ballads and trying to move on. He still couldn’t hear that music without at least a memory of Hank popping into his head.

  Before he could chicken out, he liked the picture of Hank and his daughter and then sent him a private message.

  Missed your face, dude. Call me.

  And before he could stop himself, he added his cell number and sent it.

  Then he set his phone facedown on the passenger seat and started his car to head home. Because otherwise he’d sit there in the parking lot all night, waiting for the little notification dot to show Hank had seen the message.

  Because it might break his heart if Hank saw it and then didn’t respond right away.

  * * * *

  It was almost eleven by the time Hank had a squeaky clean pumpkin put to bed and sound asleep, he’d grabbed his own shower, poured himself two fingers of Jack over ice, unpacked the bare-bones basics of what they’d need in the kitchen for tomorrow, and he stretched out on his bed—on the floor, because he’d sold the frame before they moved—in nothing but a pair of boxers and with his phone. Right now, they had boxes of stuff stacked in the back side of the house, in the great room area, which was supposed to be the dining room area. Pictures, keepsakes, books, and things like that.

  They could wait to be unpacked. He’d wanted his clothes, his bed, and JJ’s stuff in their rooms, so he could get her as settled as quickly as possible.

  He’d be living out of boxes and suitcases for a while, because he’d also sold his dresser.

  The pile of boxes in the great room could also wait because in one box was three urns—their parents and Lois. He didn’t even have a place to put them, because he sold their bookshelves before they moved. Wasn’t like he wanted to set them on the dining room table.

  He’d even splurged and ordered pizza tonight because he had a coupon for it, and they could eat off it for two days. It meant delaying going to the grocery store. He had oatmeal and Pop-Tarts and bananas for them for breakfast, granola bars for him for lunch. He’d brought all the non-perishables from Pennsylvania. He could make them soup and rice, they had fruit cocktail and canned tuna fish. They could get by without grocery shopping until his direct deposit hit the bank.

  He opened his phone and noticed an alert for a new Facebook message. He reluctantly tapped the app’s icon because he rarely received private m
essages. The ones he did were usually from Cameron’s parents or other family. Although since the restraining order those had stopped.

  His reluctance immediately transformed to a rush of delight when he recognized the sender’s name.

  Dox!

  His delight was immediately replaced by shame that he hadn’t stayed in touch with his best friend. Instead of replying immediately, he scrolled through Maddox’s timeline, his pictures. Apparently single, or at least he didn’t have a significant other highlighted on his profile, and living in Sarasota. It seemed like Hank remembered Maddox was living in St. Pete, at one point. Sure enough, when he scrolled far enough back in Maddox’s timeline, he saw where he had been there for a few years. But now he had a house in Sarasota.

  Dang.

  They’d been tight as teenagers, inseparable for years, all through junior high and high school. If he’d had a brother, it would’ve been Dox.

  I wish I’d kept in contact with him.

  But Maddox had gone on to college and Hank hadn’t. Hank’s parents had moved. Then his parents died, and he’d struggled with Lois to make ends meet while she finished school and started working, then came her troubles with Cameron…

  His heart twisted a little. He’d never had as good or close a friend as Maddox. It would’ve been too mushy to him back then to admit he loved the guy, but looking back on it as an adult, and having suffered the losses he had…yeah. He’d loved Dox.

  He smiled as he remembered some of the things they’d done together as teenagers. Not that they’d ever admit it to anyone else, but they’d jerked off together to porn a few times, they’d been that comfortable around each other.

  Hell, he’d never experimented with a guy, but if he ever did, it would’ve been Dox.

  After taking another sip of Jack and then setting the water glass on the floor next to his bed, he finally composed a message.

  Missed your face, too, dude. You have NO idea how much. Long story. Just saw your message, sorry, and I’m heading to bed. Got back to Sarasota this morning and spent the day unloading all our stuff into the house. Start my new job tomorrow morning. Feel free to text me tomorrow. Let’s get together this week and catch up. Sooner, the better.