He sank to the ground as he cradled his injured hand and howled.
It wasn’t fair!
Sam had been the youngest on the team. He’d been so full of life. Always making plans and dragging Jude along for the ride. Sam shouldn’t have been killed that day. No one should have.
Yet, ten years later Jude was bawling his eyes out, missing the person that he thought he’d be spending the rest of his life with.
He couldn’t be around his old friends, his teammates, because they reminded him of Sam. He’d not only lost his lover that day. His boy. Jude had lost everything. He knew deep down that if he picked up the phone and called Law, Brody, Angelo, or Josh that they would answer.
Jude just couldn’t take that step.
Even if he needed his friends more in that moment than he had around the time of Sam’s death. Jude had known what to do for Sam. He had instructions. There was no playbook for dealing with his intriguing neighbor.
It didn’t help that Liam appeared to be the opposite of Sam in every way.
Once Liam started to talk about writing and books, he’d rambled on for nearly an hour. He asked Jude questions and even when Jude would respond with a grunt or shrug, Liam had never lost that smile or his excitement. Sam had been a moody boy. If Sam didn’t have Jude’s entire focus, the entire time Sam would throw a tantrum.
Sam had been messy and chaotic while Liam was calm and easygoing.
The two were so different, leaving Jude wondering how, if Sam was the love of his life, why he felt so strongly after such few interactions with Liam.
Jude didn’t know what the hell to do.
He had to ignore the attraction, right?
Jude was just lonely.
There were a million other things that Jude could do instead of thinking about his neighbor.
This would pass.
Had to pass.
Everything would be fine. If Jude just ignored Liam, with his lopsided smile, bright blue eyes, then Jude could go back to his solitary existence. It was simple enough.
With that plan in mind, Jude dragged himself off the garage floor. He headed to the kitchen to start dinner.
Liam had offered to cook for Jude in thanks for helping put the furniture together but of course he declined. Jude couldn’t have dinner with Liam. That…he couldn’t do that.
He pulled out the chicken he had in the fridge before grabbing a skillet and placing it on the burner. Jude got the chicken grilling and was heading to grab veggies to chop when he heard it.
Liam.
They both had their windows open, so it was easy enough to hear his neighbor. That was what had gotten Jude in trouble to begin with. Jude had been rinsing out the glass from his protein drink when he’d heard Liam muttering and sighing.
Now it appeared that Liam was on the phone. At least that was what Jude figured from the one-sided conversation.
“I’m telling you, Nicky! He is the hottest guy I ever laid eyes on and that includes when we went to Pride in Rio.”
Jude smirked to himself. He wasn’t surprised that Liam was attracted to him. Not with the way the boy watched him. Even trying to flirt with Jude a time or two.
“I’m not exaggerating! He swims like ten million miles every morning and it shows!”
Liam was definitely exaggerating. Ten million miles? Jude set up the cutting board next to the veggies he’d pulled out before grabbing a knife.
“And those shorts he wore. Every time he bent over, I wanted to take a bite out of his ass. I could spend hours worshipping him.”
Jude had to glance down to even remember what he wore. It wasn’t like he dressed up. He’d thrown on an old pair of shorts after his shower that morning.
