Page 14 of No Rhyme or Riesling

Beau eyed him studiously for a moment before he asked, “Syrah?”

John blinked. He loved all different wines, but syrah was easily his favorite. He'd never said as much to Beau, yet, somehow, the man knew. “Yes, please.”

Beau grinned. “Coming right up–”

“Daddy!” Dakota called, flying straight up to the counter.

Even from a few feet away, John saw Adam violently flinch. The boy quickly recovered and forced on a smile, continuing his conversation with Haven, but John saw the tension in Adam's jaw.

“Un moment,chéri,” Beau murmured to Dakota. “John?”

John jerked his focus away from Adam and looked back at Beau. “Huh?” He spotted the wine glass the man had pushed towards him. “Oh. Thank you.” John gave Beau a grateful nod and took a sip, moaning with relief as the wine hit his tongue.

Then he looked back at Adam, eyeing the boy over his glass. They were surrounded by daddies, and it seemed like every use of the word was suddenly louder than everything else in the room. Adam certainly seemed to hear them all.

Christ. John knew Adam wanted to be with his friends, but how could the boy subject himself to this when he knew how much it would dredge up painful memories?

John's heart clenched, feeling helpless to do anything about it.

Chapter 6

_________

ADAM

ADAM FLINCHED as the very air around him seemed filled with an endless chorus of theD-word.

Fuck. He'd known it would be like this. Beau's parties almost always were, considering how many friends of his were daddies and boys. Somehow, though, this party felt worse. Like the universe was actively turning up the volume on that word while silencing all other sounds, making it stand out even more.

Making Adam hear the memory of his own voice, screaming.

“Daddy! No! Daddy, please! Come back! You can't be dead! You can't be dead! Daddy, please!”

A touch on his arm made him jump. Adam looked up to see Haven standing close beside him, tugging on his elbow and eyeing him with concern.

“You okay?” Haven murmured.

“Yeah, fine,” Adam lied. Amongst all of Adam's friends, Haven was the only one to whom he'd told the full story of his dad's death. He hadn't had much choice after he'd woken up screaming from a nightmare, and it had taken his roommate almost an hour to get him calmed down. But then Adam had to explain that he sometimes relived that awful day in his dreams,finding himself back in that hospital waiting room, bored out of his mind, only to get smacked with the devastating news that his dad was never coming home. How he'd screamed the wordsDaddyandnoover and over, nearly losing his voice and forcing the hospital to sedate him. “I'm fine,” Adam repeated, though he wasn't sure if he was trying to convince Haven or himself.

Haven gave him a look, clearly not believing him. “You could tell everyone. Ask them to tone it down–”

“No!” Adam gasped, feeling a wave of panic rush through him. There was no way in hell he was going to make all his friends censor themselves for his sake. “I'll be fine,” he insisted.

Somewhere behind him, Adam heard someone say, “And then Daddy said–”

Adam muttered a curse under his breath and turned away, putting the crowd behind him, wishing it were as simple as that to make the word disappear.

But the move put the display of wine bottles directly in front of him.Fuck. He could easily go for a drink right about then. One drink wouldn't hurt.

Right?

He was about to call out to Beau and ask—his skin tingling with the need to bury the memories under the blissful haze of alcohol—when he heard a gasp nearby.

“Holy shit,” a familiar voice said. “Adam?”

Adam slowly turned, giving a start at the sight of the young man who stood there. It took him a moment to recognize him, having not seen him in eight years.

“Sky?” Adam gasped. He threw his arms around the boy, then jumped back and held him at arm's length, staring at him with wide eyes. “Holy fuck. You're here! How are youhere?”

---