The two of us hit it off and he didn’t once look at me as though I’d grown a third eye when I rambled on about the need for places like Pot of Gold through most of dinner. In fact, he seemed almost as eager to help as I’d been in the early days, even if that was impractical most of the year since he was a big shot baseball player.
The two of us had parted ways that night with what seemed to be empty promises to meet up the next time I was in town. Empty only because I hadn’t thought I’d be back so soon and it was unlikely someone like Drew would be sitting around waiting on someone like me to show up at his door.
We’d shared text messages back and forth over the past few weeks, but those had dwindled to almost nothing as the Mavericks made their way into the playoffs for the first time in however long. I wasn’t upset about it since I knew from Jason how much time and focus it took to stay at the top of his game during the season.
With the Mavericks’ battle for the pennant officially over for the year, I picked up my phone, hoping that Drew would want to get together at some point. It might not be today or tomorrow since I’m sure he still had plenty of work to do before the team sent everyone home for the winter, but sometime.
As much as I’d been dying to talk to him, I decided that it’d be less intrusive if I sent a text. That way, if he wasn’t as anxious to see me as I was him, I wouldn’t be waking him on the first morning he could sleep in. He was probably out last night with his teammates and nursing one hell of a hangover.
After tapping out a message to let him know I was back in town and interested in seeing him, I tried to focus on the spreadsheets strewn across the table in front of me. Less than a minute later, my phone rang. The voice on the other end of the line wasn’t one I expected to hear since it was Drew’s number on my caller ID.
“Bryce, it’s Jason,” my friend responded after I said hello.
“Hey, why do you have Drew’s phone?” I’d never felt the need for niceties with Jason. He was a no-bullshit kind of guy, which was good because my mother often scolded me telling me I was born without any social graces. When Jason didn’t immediately respond, I began to think it was a huge mistake to try and reconnect with Drew. “Did I lose you?”
The silence on the other end of the line dragged on long enough I almost hung up. When Jason answered me, I began to notice just how tired he sounded. “Yeah, sorry. I had to ask one of the nurses a question.”
That put all of my senses on high alert. My stomach churned at the thought of something being wrong. I flipped the channel to the sports network to see if there was any mention of Drew getting hurt during last night’s game. The highlights of the game droned on, but no mention of anyone being injured. “What’s going on, Jason?”
“Look, I’m only telling you this because you’re my friend,” Jason said warily. “No one’s caught wind of it yet, and we’d like to keep it that way for as long as possible.”
So much for not trying to sugar coat shit.
“Spit it out, already,” I grumbled.
“Drew was attacked last night on his way to the bar.” I swallowed hard against the light breakfast threatening to make a return trip up my throat. I replayed Jason’s words over and over, but nothing made sense.
“How in the hell did that happen?” I asked. I always thought that was a ridiculous question, but it was the only thing that came to mind.
“Not sure yet. The cops spent some time questioning him early this morning, but he couldn’t give them much to go on,” Jason told me.
Nervous energy filled my body and I needed to do something. I stood and walked over to the sliding door which led out to a small balcony. When I opened the door, I was hit with a blast of cold air but it didn’t matter. Nothing mattered except finding out what was going on with Drew.
“From the little bit I heard and the extent of his injuries, I think it’s pretty safe to assume that whoever did it knows Drew’s gay.” He didn’t sound any happier about that than I was. While Milwaukee was proving to be accepting of their gay ball players, a lot of people still took issue with anyone who threatened the toxic masculinity of the sport.
Suddenly, I was doubting whether or not my presence in Milwaukee was going to be welcomed by Drew. I’d known too many guys in his position who turned their backs on anyone and everyone they were close to before the attack. Then again, that could be a good thing in our case since we hadn’t really gotten a chance to spend much quality time together during the one night we’d had dinner before.
“I’m coming up there,” I informed him. I was already on my way to the bedroom to grab something other than the old pair of shorts I’d thrown on when I woke up. I couldn’t sit around doing nothing.
I could tell by the thick drawl in Jason’s words that he hadn’t slept at all last night and he needed someone to take care of him. I couldn’t blame Cam for not stepping up to the plate since he and Drew were best friends. Hell, he was probably in even worse shape than Jason. “I could bring breakfast for you and Cam.”
“I’m not hungry,” Jason protested.
“You guys need to eat,” I countered. This was something else that was familiar to me. Whether it was family members or friends of the victims, those close to the situation rarely took care of themselves.
“It’s just me,” Jason admitted.
Those three words sounded so somber I wished I was next to him so I could give him a hug. And maybe make sure he wasn’t about to dive head first into a bottle again. The last time I’d heard him sound this lost and defeated was in the months after I showed up on Jason’s doorstep to give him some of his dead boyfriend’s belongings.
We’d been deployed together and he’d given me a list of things to make sure Jason got if anything should happen to him. It was as if he’d known he wasn’t going to come back home.
Jason must have realized how his response sounded, because he quickly added, “Cam had an audition for a cooking show yesterday. He made it, but that meant he had to fly out to New York late last night. He has no clue what’s going on.”
Shit. Now Jason’s exhaustion made sense. Not only was he trying to be there for his teammate, but knowing how loyal he was, he was trying to do everything for Drew that Cam would have done if he was there. “Well, in that case, you really need someone to take care of you. Are you alone up there with him?”
“I’m fine, Bryce. Eric is on his way back up with Drew’s parents. He’d been refusing to leave, but I convinced all of them to get out of here for a while when Drew was sleeping.” The bile rose in my throat again. I didn’t know who Eric was or how he fit into the puzzle, but he and Drew had to be close if he was keeping vigil at his bedside.
This was no time for me to allow my jealousy to get the better of me. I needed to be happy for Drew if he’d found someone decent to stand by him through whatever recovery he was going to face.
