Unbreakable Stories

by Jocelynn Drake

  “It makes the most sense. Ian and I will hand over all our trail supplies and return to camp while you continue on. We’ll load up Rowe’s truck with some basics at our campsite. I’ll drive Rowe’s truck back to where we parked at the trailhead and Ian will follow me with the SUV. We’ll leave you the truck at the same parking spot so you can get supplies if you need them while you’re searching. We’ll hold down base camp until you come back.”

  “Well, then,” Snow said, wrapping his arm around Jude’s shoulders. “It sounds like we’ve got a plan.”

  Jude stared at the man beside him, his heart already starting to feel lighter. Ian had a damn good point. If anyone had a shot of finding and helping this lost, little boy, it had to be these men. “You ready to do some real hiking?”

  Snow winked at him. “Bring it.”

  Chapter 5

  Snow stopped in the middle of the path, sat on a large tree root, and prayed for rain. Not that he believed anybody or anything was listening out there, but the heat was overwhelming and he was willing to try just about anything to cool off.

  Three hours before, they’d redistributed their hiking supplies, leaving Lucas and Ian with one full bottle of water while the search party took both their water and snacks. They stuck together until they reached the point where Sheltowee Trace Trail met up with Rough Trail. Rowe and Andrei had conferred over a map, coming up with a few ideas of where the kid might possibly end up.

  But after hours of walking in the unrelenting heat, Snow was struggling to keep going. He watched as Rowe followed some trail through the underbrush that only he could see while Jude picked along the main trail. The paramedic gave no sign his energy was dwindling despite the fact that he was covered in sweat. He was determined to find the child.

  “Running out of steam, Doc?”

  And then there was Andrei. Lucas’s boyfriend had taken great joy in needling Snow at every turn, and as much as he was reluctant to admit it, he was enjoying dishing it back out to the man. It at least helped to keep his mind off the fucking heat.

  “Should we have sent you back to the camp?” Andrei continued.

  “I’m fine,” Snow said, smiling broadly. His eye caught on how Andrei stood with all his weight on his right leg at the side of the trail and flexed his left knee. “How’s that knee you keep rubbing? It giving you any problems there, Rocky?”

  Andrei said something in Romanian that Snow couldn’t dream of catching before flipping him off. He just snickered. “I’m sorry,” Snow said innocently. “I didn’t quite catch that. Could you repeat it?”

  “I said, you can lick my sweaty taint,” Andrei replied.

  Snow shook his head. “I think I’ll leave that to Lucas. I’m sure he gets off on it.”

  Andrei walked over to where Snow sat and leaned his shoulder against the tree trunk. “Nah, but did you know that I can get Lucas to scream my name by nibbling on the soft fleshy part of his instep while I’m fucking him?”

  “Ahhh! What the fuck?” Snow jumped to his feet and paced away from Andrei as the man cackled relentlessly until he fell to the ground and into the bushes. He couldn’t even close his eyes to push away the image that rose up from Andrei’s words. He loved Lucas like a brother and they’d shared more than enough details of their sexual exploits, but there was something about hearing the intimate details of how Lucas lost his mind when he was with Andrei that just gave him the willies.

  “You know,” Andrei started, still gasping for air. “All I need to do now is just touch that spot with my thumb and he—”

  “Oh God! Stop! Just stop! You win!”

  “What the fuck are you two doing?” Rowe demanded as he appeared from around a tree, returning to the trail.

  “Nothing,” Snow and Andrei replied in unison, sending them both snickering.

  “No.” Rowe pointed at Andrei and then Snow. “No. You are not allowed to be like this asshole. Pick someone else to be like. Be like Ian. Everyone likes Ian.”

  “Hey!” Snow called as Rowe turned and continued down the trail they had been following, indicating that their break was over. “Jude likes me.”

  Rowe lifted his hand into the air and flipped him off. “Jude needs help.”

  Snow shook his head, watching the retreating back of his friend. So maybe he’d had that same thought a couple of times when it came to Jude’s love. Certainly no sane man would love him. On a good day, his brain and emotional state were like a basket of wet cats, but Jude’s love was unwavering.

  Turning his attention back to Andrei, he found the younger man closely watching Rowe, his arms folded over his chest. He looked…worried.

  “He’s better, right?” The words softly tumbled out of his mouth before he could stop himself.

  Andrei opened his mouth but nothing came out before he closed it again, his arms tensing as if he were inwardly debating what to actually say. Snow was torn between wanting to shake the man, demand more information, and respecting him for wanting to protect Rowe’s privacy. Of all of them, Andrei was the one who saw Rowe the most. If Snow was lucky, he might see Rowe in person once every other week due to work. He didn’t trust phone conversations. The man was fucking sneaky and was too damn good at hiding shit.

  “He seems a little better. Cracking some jokes.”

  Andrei nodded and started walking. Rowe was a few yards away now and Jude was ahead of him, calling the little boy’s name. “He has good days and he has bad days.”

  “Gee, thanks. Can you be just a little more helpful?”

  Rolling his eyes at Snow, Andrei moved a little to his left so that Snow could walk beside him on the narrow path. “He’s in the office more now. He didn’t come in much during the winter. Maybe once a week. Now, he’s there at least three days a week. He’s talking to people a little more, cracking a few more jokes. He seems less distracted now and talking a little more about expanding. It’s all good.”

  “But…”

  Andrei shrugged and looked away from Snow. “He’s not the man he was. May never be.”

  He knew that, but it didn’t stop the words from hurting. Mel and Rowe had been perfect together, seemingly two halves of that same whole and all those other silly, hokey clichés that he’d never believed until he saw Rowe and Mel together. Snow didn’t know how Rowe kept going day after day without his other half, but he did and Snow had a feeling it had a lot to do with the man walking beside him.

  “Thanks,” Snow murmured.

  “For what?”

  “For watching out for Rowe and Lucas.”

  “Rowe’s my best friend. Has been for a few years now. I’d do anything for him. And Lucas…” Andrei’s voice drifted off and he gave a little shrug. He finally lifted his eyes to meet Snow’s despite his cheeks growing red with embarrassment. Yeah, Andrei didn’t need to say. He was as completely in love with Lucas as Lucas was in love with him.

  “I’m glad.”

  “I’m glad you found Jude.” Andrei paused and carefully took the lead as the path narrowed further, winding down and around an outcropping of rocks. “Lucas told me some stuff. From your past. Not a lot. Just some.”

  “I told him he could.”

  Andrei gave a jerky nod. “I just…you deserve to be happy and I’m glad you’ve got Jude and Lucas.”

  “Thanks.”

  “And me.”

  Snow stopped walking. He’d never expected to hear those two words come from Andrei. They’d gotten off to an awkward start when he’d started dating his best friend and they’d never talked much.

  Andrei stopped walking as well and turned back toward Snow, one corner of his mouth going up. “I mean, I get that I’m not your first choice and that there’s sort of this waiting list to be your friend. But, you know, if you ever need something, you can call me.”

  “You’ve gotta stop. I’m beginning to believe that Lucas doesn’t deserve you.”

  Andrei snorted and turned to continue down the path. “He doesn’t. He’s just lucky the sex is really fu
cking good.”

  Snow shook his head.

  “Hey!” Jude shouted ahead of them. “I think I hear something.”

  Snow followed close on the heels of Rowe and Andrei as they ran down the trail toward where Jude was standing under a tall rock overhang. They had been walking along with a high wall of seemingly solid rock on their left while the right side of the path dropped off in a collection of dense trees and bushes. Far below they could hear the faint trickle of water. Rowe had led them off Rough Trail some time ago, picking up what he called a hidden trail, but Snow had yet to hear what even the local name of the trail was. Not the most comforting idea that possibly only Rowe knew where the fuck they were, but the former Army Ranger had managed to pick out little hints that a small child had been through the area not long ago. They followed him, hoping for the best.

  Jude paced back and forth, calling for Mikey and then pausing, listening. Snow strained to hear anything besides birdsongs, the rustle of leaves, and the splash of water, but there was nothing. Snow glanced over at Rowe who shook his head. They’d been hiking for hours, exhausted from the constant changes in elevations and navigating the sometimes-treacherous trails. Snow knew he’d never convince Jude to pack it in for the day—hell, he didn’t want to give up on looking for the little boy—but they needed to rest before one of them got seriously hurt.

  Walking over to his lover, he reached out to grab Jude’s shoulder when he finally heard it. So soft. It was almost animal-like, but not. The sound echoed slightly as if it were bouncing off the stone.

  “Mikey? Mikey Bonner?” Jude called again, hope lifting his voice a little higher.

  “Help!”

  This time the young voice was clear enough for them to get a bead on it. In a narrow opening between two massive boulders and half-hidden under a thick nest of twisted roots from a tree growing on the rocks above them, they spotted the child.

  Jude rushed to the opening and knelt down. “Mikey, my name is Jude Torres. I’m a paramedic. Are you okay?”

  “I want my mom!”

  Jude breathed a small sigh and rested his head against the stone. Snow felt like his legs were going to give out underneath him so he just let himself drop to the dirt near Jude. They’d found the little boy. He looked over at Rowe who was already holding his phone up in the air, trying to get a signal.

  “Anything?”

  “Not even one bar,” Rowe growled.

  Andrei was shaking his head as he shoved his phone back in his pocket. “There was a break in the trees about a quarter mile back that would allow me to head up. I’m going to go back and see if I can get high enough to call the Ranger and Lucas. You try to get him out of there, but stay here until I get back.” And then Andrei was jogging down the path, moving with more speed and energy than Snow thought he had left in him.

  “Mikey, I know you want your mom. A ranger told me that you got lost. Your mom is very worried about you. If you come out of there, I will take you to your mom.”

  “But you’re a stranger. I’m not supposed to go anywhere with strangers.”

  Jude chuckled softly. “That’s very smart. You shouldn’t go places with a stranger. Did your mom teach you that?”

  Snow watched in awe as Jude sat on the hard-packed dirt, leaning against the boulders as he talked with Mikey through the slim opening. He passed him a bottle of water and a granola bar only after Jude showed him that it was safe by taking a small bite himself. It was a slow process, but after nearly an hour Mikey finally crawled out of the small little cave and straight into Jude’s waiting arms.

  They were both dirty, sweaty, and exhausted, but Jude held the frightened little boy as if he were the most precious thing in the world. It was one of the most beautiful things Snow had ever witnessed, and in that same breath, the most terrifying.

  Jude was born to be a father.

  He was patient, nurturing, warm, and compassionate—all things that Snow couldn’t manage on his best day. Any child that was lucky enough to have Jude as a father was pretty much guaranteed to have an awesome childhood and an amazing life.

  What could Snow offer any child? All he knew was his own disastrous upbringing. He didn’t know how to relate to a child, talk to a child, comfort a child. He couldn’t even manage his own life without help from Jude or Lucas or Rowe. He…couldn’t. He could never be a father.

  Where did that leave Jude?

  It wasn’t fair to him. It was horrible to think Jude would never have that when children made him happy. If they stayed together, Jude would miss out on having a family.

  But could Snow give up the man who meant everything to him?

  Chapter 6

  Hours later, the long day of hiking and swimming caught up with Jude and he half-dozed in Rowe’s hammock while the others got dinner ready. Rowe had shoved him into the thing, saying he deserved a nap after carrying the little boy so far. The sweet kid had been too traumatized to move to anyone else after he’d given in and trusted Jude, so he’d carted him all the way back down the trail.

  Mikey had never said how he’d gotten so far away from his camp, but he guessed the boy had become lost and kept walking. By the time they’d reached the boy’s family, he’d been passed out against Jude. Poor thing hadn’t even awakened when his crying mother snatched him and hugged him close.

  He rubbed his sore arms and opened his eyes when the tantalizing scents of grilling sausage and sautéed onions filled the air. His stomach growled. He didn’t think there was anything that smelled better. Except maybe that vulnerable and highly sensitive spot behind Snow’s ear that turned the man to mush. He glanced around, noticing that once again, Snow seemed lost in thought. He’d been quiet on the trek back to camp, and Jude had attributed it to exhaustion from their long day. But he wasn’t laughing with the others as he stood among them. He held a beer and didn’t seem to remember he had it in his hand.

  He didn’t even look after Jude stared a few moments.

  Jude frowned, something dark curling low in his gut. They’d been hyper-aware of each other for months and Snow never failed to feel Jude’s eyes on him and turn those stunning, light blue eyes his way. But it wasn’t just that. Something was bothering the doc—something more than his usual moments of random brooding. He glanced at Lucas to see him watching Snow as well, eyes narrowed. When he turned Jude’s way, one black eyebrow lifted. Jude gave him a brief nod, then climbed out of the hammock. He walked to Snow and touched his arm and Snow actually jumped.

  “Hey General,” he said under his breath. “You okay?”

  Snow nodded and lifted his beer to his lips. He didn’t meet Jude’s eyes even after he lowered the bottle.

  His fucking hand was shaking.

  Alarmed now, Jude wrapped his hand around Snow’s wrist. “Come on. Let’s talk somewhere private.”

  “Yeah, okay.” Snow nodded and set his beer down on top of a cooler. Squaring his shoulders, Snow took an obvious deep breath, like he was getting ready for a battle. “Okay, we’ll do this,” he whispered.

  Confused and alarmed, Jude led Snow into a dense stand of trees, skirting one after another until he couldn’t smell the brats and onions anymore. When he felt they were far enough away for complete privacy, he turned and wrapped both hands around Snow’s arms, then slid them up and pulled him in for a long, tight hug.

  Snow clutched him close and held on hard before he cleared his throat and took a step back. “You brought me out here for a hug?”

  “Looked like you needed one.” Jude watched something pass over Snow’s face, an expression he didn’t understand. It looked like panic. “Tell me what’s wrong.”

  Snow stared at him a long time, his throat moving as he swallowed. He kept his gray-streaked hair short but it had grown long enough lately to be sticking up all over his head from river water and sweat. Neither of them smelled terrific, but all Jude wanted to do was pull his man close again and get that look out of his eyes forever.

  “Come on, General,” he coaxed, v
oice low. “Tell me what’s going on in that complicated head of yours.”

  “You. With that boy.” He swallowed again. “You should be a father.”

  Stunned momentarily into silence, Jude could only stand there, blinking. When he finally found his voice, he knew he sounded as confused as he felt. “That’s…what…I have no idea what you’re thinking about right now. At a loss here.”

  “I’m not father material, Jude.”

  The utter regret and certainty in that statement tore through Jude with the force of a chainsaw. He felt the physical stab of pain knowing where Snow’s mind had gone. “No, fuck no, Snow. Don’t even start thinking that way.”

  “You’d be a perfect dad.”

  “No, I wouldn’t. Nobody is a perfect parent. Everyone just does the best they can, raising kids the best they know how. And I can tell you’re thinking that for some reason you’d be holding me back from what? A family?”

  Snow nodded. “Kids have never been in my life plan. I don’t relate well to them.”

  “Bullshit. It’s different when it’s your own.”

  Snow took a deep breath and closed his eyes. “That’s just it. I’m not sure if I want them.”

  “Not sure if is better than never.”

  His eyes snapped open. “But what if I never come to that place where I do want one? That’s not fair to you.”

  “Oh, it is. It’s fair, General. I want you. You are my family and I am yours.” He pointed back the way they’d come. “Those wonderful men out there are your family. We don’t have to have children for me to be happy.”

  “But you love kids.”

  “I love you. Whatever comes along in our life together is what I want and if someday, we decide we want a child or even two, yes, I’ll be happy about it. And I would love that child something fierce.” He touched Snow’s jaw, running the pads of his fingers over the stubble. “And so would you.” He lowered his hand and pressed his palm over Snow’s chest. “That heart in there is huge and has a lot more room than you think. I know nothing I say will change your mind right now, but you would make a great father, too. I know it.”