Page 44 of The Fault Next Door

Ryder took the last bite of the sandwich and then pushed back from the table. "I can't deny the attraction I feel toward you."

Nolan took a sip of tea and then nodded. Ryder waited for him to say something, but Nolan held silent.

“Holding you in my arms as we sleep feels so good, better than I thought it would. But it’s more than that. I think about you all the time. I shouldn’t think about you this much, and I have to stop myself from telling people about what you said or did. I don’t want to lose you.”

“I don’t want to lose you,” Nolan said.

"How are we going to make it work here in Texas? I know these people." They might not outright shoot at them on the street, but they could firebomb their houses, kill their livestock, and make their lives hell.

“I know it’s scary right now. I’ve lived as an out man for almost a decade. It can be hard, but I think people will be much more accepting here than either of us expect.”

Ryder blew out a breath. "Maybe for you at the clinic, but at the lumberyard…" He might lose his job or worse, be beaten up. Fear held him, and he didn't know how to let it go.

“Hey,” Nolan took his hand and squeezed. “You’re a good worker, right?”

He nodded. He always put forth a good effort at work. “Yeah, I think so.”

"People like good workers. If you're smart and work hard, the company won't put up with crap tossed your way."

Ryder sighed. “I hope you’re right.”

Nolan leaned in and kissed Ryder on the side of his head, making his heart squeeze. Ryder didn't want to end this just because some idiot hated gays. He couldn't believe it, but he needed Nolan in his life. They were tied together in a very strange way, but their being together felt right. One reason he'd been so upset when he'd learned that it had been Nolan's husband driving the truck that had killed Amy was because he didn't want to lose Nolan. This man had changed so much for him. Maybe not changed, more like Nolan being in his life had made so much come alive. He felt like he could have a future with Nolan, which was more than he'd felt since he'd lost Amy.

No question he would face opposition, but he could deal with it. When he'd been younger, he'd had to deal with his father's fists, then his parents not liking Amy, and them being angry that they'd moved to Atlanta. This, he could deal with. The last thing he wanted was his future to be determined by someone else. He and Nolan might not last, but they would give it a chance.

Chapter 32

Nolan couldn't believehow good of a weekend he and Ryder had after things had almost ended between them. They'd grown closer probably because of the strife they'd faced together. Sure, they had a lot to work through, but they weren't letting their past destroy their future.

Ryder still felt odd that Andrew had been driving the vehicle that had lost the tire, causing the wreck that Amy had died in, but Nolan saw that Ryder had come a long way since that Saturday morning when his mom showed up and threw a fit. At least now Ryder didn't blame Andrew. After reading more articles, he realized it really was just a terrible, awful event.

Nolan had half-expected Ryder's parents to show up at some point, but no one disturbed them. They worked in the barn for a few hours, then spent the next few hours wrapped in each other's arms. If asked, he would say they'd gone from sex to making love. The time they spent together felt deeper.

When he walked into work on Monday morning, two of the women who worked in the office seemed to stare more than usual. He guessed rumors were really swirling now. He couldn’thelp the things people said, but he wasn’t going to give them more to talk about.

Nolan did his job as usual and ignored the whispers. They were about an hour from closing when someone brought in a child who’d been riding his bike about a block away from the clinic and had weaved into traffic. Luckily, the car that hit him hadn’t been going that fast.

His injuries weren’t terrible, but they needed to get the bleeding stopped before he was transported to a larger hospital. The mom, who’d been watching as her child rode his bike, made a face when she saw he was working on her child.

“I don’t want him touching my child!” the woman yelled.

Nolan's stomach tightened as the woman yelled something more. He was about to walk away, but then Dr. Moore looked up and hit the woman with a hard stare.

"If you don't want gay people working on your son, then you might as well start planning his funeral. More than half the doctors and nurses I know are gay, bi, or lesbian."

The woman sputtered as one of the medical technicians led her from the room. Dr. Moore didn't miss a beat as he went back to working on the child. No one said anything to the doctor about what he'd said. The child was stabilized and then transported to the hospital.

Nolan was in the back room, getting ready to leave, when Dr. Moore stepped in. Nolan turned to the doctor, ready to thank him, when Moore held up his hand.

“Don’t you dare thank me. That woman shouldn’t have said what she did. I don’t know how she found out you’re gay, but Wade is in town now, and I’m not hiding who I am.”

A smile crept over his lips. “Good. Maybe that’s what this town needs.”

Lila stepped in and chuckled. “I don’t have a partner right now, but maybe I need to start dating.”

Dr. Moore raised his eyebrows. “Oh, I didn’t know you were part of the community.”

“Lesbian until the day I die,” Lila said.

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