**
Part 4
**
For a moment, there was complete silence. Nobody moved or
said a word. Finally,
Brad inched toward the edge of the rock and looked down, his
heart in his mouth.
Ryan had landed on his left side, and he wasn't moving.
"Ryan?" Colin called loudly. There was no
answer. He turned to Brad and Greg.
"Stay put," he commanded. "I'm going back
down."
"I'm going with you," Brad said firmly. "If
he's hurt, you're not going to be able to
get him up here alone."
"All right," Colin replied. "Let's go,
then. Just be careful."
It was harder going down than coming up, but they both made it
safely to the bottom.
Colin made it first and was at Ryan's side in a flash. Brad
arrived a step behind and
crouched down beside the Canadian. He was tremendously
relieved to see Ryan's
chest rising and falling--a sure indication of life.
"Ryan?" Colin said loudly, his voice tight with worry
and tension. He reached out
and gently tapped Ryan's cheek, which was damp from water that
had washed up
from the river.
The tall man groaned as his eyelids fluttered open. He rolled
onto his back and then
fixed an uncomprehending gaze on Colin's face.
"What...? Col...? What the hell...
happened?" Blood oozed out of a gash on his
temple. His clothes were soaked.
Colin sat back, visibly relieved. "You fell off the
rock. Are you okay? Anything
broken?"
"Uh, no, don't think so," Ryan answered, but his voice
sounded funny--thick and
phlegmy. His face was paper white as he struggled to a
sitting position. "Oh, Jesus,"
he groaned. His hands went immediately his left side.
"What is it?" Brad asked, concerned.
Ryan, whose face was a mask of pain, said: "My ribs."
He started coughing just then,
doubling over with the force. "Holy Christ," he
whispered when the fit had finally
passed.
Apparently, Colin noticed the same thing Brad had. "Ryan,
lift up your shirt a second,"
he said, in a tone that brooked no refusal.
With only a little hesitation, Ryan did as told. Brad
nearly gasped when he saw the
mass of bruises that decorated the left side of Ryan's thin
chest. Blood ran out of
several gashes. Brad watched Colin's expression change from
concern to suspicion
and finally to anger. "Some of these bruises aren't
new," the Canadian accused. "Are
they?"
Ryan shook his head. "I landed on the seat funny in
the wreck," he answered slowly,
voice still a little furry. "Just got a few
bruises." He paused for effect. "There was
nothing broken. It was just sore."
"Why didn't you say anything?" Colin asked quietly. It
was the kind of quiet one usually
associated with the calm before the storm. "It would
have been nice to know."
"We had to get moving," Ryan replied with an almost
flippant shrug. "Besides,
*nothing* was broken. I'm a little stiff, but that's
nothing new. I'm fine. What could
you have done about it if you *had* known?"
Some of the anger drained from Colin's shoulders. "All
right, you've got a point," he
conceded, pushing to his feet. His knees both popped, an
oddly loud sound in the
silence of the forest. "But you should have said
something. This looks bad."
"It looks a lot worse now than it did before," Ryan
said. He got to his feet with a
little effort, but had grab onto Colin's shoulder for
balance. The other hand stole up
to his temple, and he shook his head dizzily. "God, I
knew I didn't want to do that," he
muttered. "Must've hit my head harder than I
thought." After a moment, he nodded.
"That's better. All right. Let's get
going. I'm sure Greg's going nuts up there."
Brad managed a relieved smile. "Going nuts? You
mean he used to be sane?"
"I can hear you, you know," Greg's voice floated down.
"Glad to know you're still
alive, Ryan."
"Makes two of us," Ryan called up. "You
ready?" he asked Colin and Brad.
For a moment, all Brad could do was stand and stare at the rock
as a wave of
unreality washed over him. Did Ryan really just fall off
the rock? Or was that some
kind of dream? He shook his head briskly in an attempt to
clear the cobwebs and
then nodded. "Let's go. You first."
"Yeah," Colin agreed. "We'll stand at the
bottom and catch you if you fall again."
Ryan stuck out his tongue and turned to face the wall
again. Moving slowly and
stiffly, he made his way ponderously up. This time, he made
it without any apparent
trouble. Brad followed, and Colin came right behind.
Ten minutes later, the four
exhausted friends sat together on top of the rock and stared out
at the landscape
below.
Brad ran a trembling hand through his hair and tried not to
wince. After climbing up
and down so many times, his back and neck were miserable.
All he really wanted
was a hot bath, a hot meal, and a warm bed to crawl into.
One look at his
disheveled companions was enough to convince him that he wasn't
alone in those
desires.
"How bad off are you?" Greg asked Ryan quietly,
shattering the crystalline silence.
"Honestly."
"I think I might have cracked a rib," was the equally
soft answer. "They're pretty
bruised, but I'm okay. I'll make it."
"Are you sure?" Colin pressed.
Ryan turned and favored his old friend with a gentle smile.
"I'm sure."
The Canadian returned the smile and then reached into his back
pocket for a
handkerchief. He reached out and wiped some of the blood
off the side of Ryan's
face. It didn't help much--Ryan's whole face was pretty
dirty; so was everyone
else's--but Ryan's smile widened just the same. "I'm
glad you're all right," Colin
finally murmured, drawing back. "I was worried.
It scared me when I thought you
might be-" he broke off abruptly and turned away.
"I'm okay, Col," Ryan said. He dropped one hand
on Colin's shoulder and gave it
a brief squeeze. "Thank you, but don't worry."
"I always worry about you," Colin said, giving Ryan his
best long-suffering look.
"And you wonder why my hair has fallen out."
"You said it, not me," Ryan returned pleasantly, his
smile never wavering.
Brad looked away, almost nauseated by the sweetness of the
moment. One could
almost become diabetic around those when they were like
this. He happened to
glance in Greg's direction and saw his old friend roll his eyes.
"This is giving me cavities," Greg muttered. He
got to his feet and went to the other
side of the rock. After a moment, he turned back to Ryan and
Colin, who were still
grinning at each other. "Guys, I hate to interrupt,
but my arm is killing me, and we
need to get going."
Ryan snapped his eyes away from Colin's and glanced guiltily up
at Greg. "Uh,
yeah," he said quietly. "Sure." He climbed
laboriously to a standing position and
reached down to help Colin up. They didn't drop hands
immediately, and for a
moment, it seemed as if all they could see was each other.
"A-hem!" Brad said loudly. "Guys."
Without a word, Colin dropped Ryan's hand and turned to head down
the other
side of the slope, moving carefully. It wasn't quite as
steep as the other side, but it
looked just as ugly. Small clods of dirt and bits of rocks
tumbled in his wake. "This
is just as bad," he warned about halfway down. He
ended up sliding most of the
rest of the way down, but landed with a flourish on the bank.
"Go ahead, Brad," Ryan said quietly.
Brad nodded and began the trek down to the bottom. Like Colin, he
started sliding
about halfway down, but slowly enough that he never lost his
footing. Still, he ended
up scraping the palms of his hands pretty well. With a
grimace, he rinsed off his hands
in the river and then turned to watch.
Greg went next with Ryan right on his heels. As it turned
out, Greg didn't need any
help. He made it down just fine, although his face was ashy
pale and his eyes were
bright with pain. "Jesus," he ground between
clenched teeth. "I want to get out of
here."
"Yeah, me too," Brad agreed as Ryan joined them.
Something that had been nagging
at the back of his mind all day suddenly came up to the
surface. "Hey guys," he said
tentatively, "did any of you happen to hear a plane go over
today?"
Immediately, the other three men shook their heads.
"No," Colin said, forehead
creased with a frown. "None at all."
"I've been listening," Greg said. "I haven't
heard a thing." There was a tense pause.
It was almost as if they were waiting for somebody to ask the
question that was on
all of their minds: 'Do you think they'll find us?' Or
maybe the real question was: 'Do
you think they've sent anybody out yet?' Greg cleared his
throat. "If they'd found
the wreck, we would have heard a plane, don't you think?"
"They know we're down by now," Brad said.
"Maybe they just don't know where
to look." He found himself wondering just who
"they" were. Some mythical knights
on white horses? It occurred to him that they--the four of
them--were the best
chance for their own survival.
"We can't sit around waiting," Colin said with a sigh.
He shoved his hands into his
pockets and shivered a bit. The temperature had dropped
rapidly in the past twenty
minutes, a clear sign that night would follow soon.
"Let's go."
That decided all of them.
**
They plunged onward, following the course of the river.
Each of the four men walked
apart from the four others, heads down, all lost in
thought. This time, Brad didn't care.
He was getting cold, his back felt worse than ever. The
worst part wasn't the pain--it
was the stiffness. It felt like his body was encased in bag
of cement and it took a lot
of effort just to make a small movement.
The shadows lengthened and deepened as night began to fall.
Colin, who'd been
leading since they'd come off the rock, drifted back.
"How are you holding up, Brad?"
"Not so good," Brad admitted. "My back is
killing me. I'm so stiff I can barely move."
"Welcome to my world," Ryan called over his shoulder,
although he sounded
genuinely sympathetic. "Try having to go on stage like
that."
Brad shook his head. "That's okay." He
glanced over at Colin, who was regarding
the uneven terrain between his feet. "Are we going to
stop soon?"
The Canadian kicked a rock before nodding. "Now,"
he said, sounding strangely
morose. "While we can still see."
"Something wrong?" Greg asked quietly from Brad's other
side, where he'd
mysteriously appeared. His cheeks were flushed and his face
was sweaty.
"I'm just disappointed that we didn't hear a plane
today," Colin admitted after a
moment. "I thought we'd walk for a few hours, hear a
rescue plane, and be done.
Instead, it's been almost a full day and we're still
walking. We haven't heard a thing."
His hands clenched into fists against his dirty blue jeans.
"It's frustrating."
Greg pushed his glasses up on his nose with his good hand and
nodded. "No kidding."
With a grimace, he adjusted the sling around his neck.
"Especially considering none
of us are exactly in great shape right now."
"Well, at least we can still think," Brad pointed out.
"That's something. All of us are
still able to walk." As he said that last, his foot came
down funny and sent a twinge
snarling through his back. "For now, anyway," he
gritted.
A few minutes later, they came to a relatively clear spot, just
up the bank. There
were rocks around two sides, which formed a small barrier against
the wind. Ryan
had already dropped his pack and had begun the search for
firewood. Silently, the
others set down their things and aided in the quest.
As with last night's campground, there was plenty of wood.
Not long before the last
of the daylight seeped out of the sky, a good blaze was
roaring. A good thing, too.
It felt at least twenty degrees colder than it had a few hours
ago. The first stars began
to dot the sky.
Brad huddled close to the fire and ate a little food from his
pack. There wasn't much,
and it didn't really do anything but make him hungrier, but it
was better than nothing.
He saw the others doing the same, although Greg and Ryan both
just picked at theirs.
How far had they gotten today? They'd walked from
midmorning to dusk. Maybe
nine hours. They'd gone at a good clip for most of the day,
but had slowed toward
the evening and as the terrain got a little difficult.
Twenty miles, maybe. At that pace,
he guessed they could figure on another day and a half.
Less if they were rescued.
Nobody seemed much in the mood for conversation, and that was
just fine. The
crackling of the fire and Ryan's occasional coughing bouts were
the only noises. After
a while, Brad rolled onto his side, curled up as much as he
could, and fell almost
immediately asleep.
**
It was still dark when Brad jerked awake from another
nightmare. He sat up slowly,
raising a trembling hand to his sweat-damp temple. A light
breeze stirred, and he
shivered. When his heart rate was more-or-less normal
again, he glanced around.
Greg was sound asleep, but neither Ryan nor Colin were anywhere
in sight.
He opened his mouth to call for them, but closed it without
making a sound. There
was no sense in waking Greg, and besides that, if the two were
off together, then they
were probably okay. Also, there were more important things
to think of right now--
like the fact that he was going to pee his pants if he didn't get
up.
It took some effort to stand, and he had to bite his lower lip to
keep from making noise.
This did not bode well for the morning. If he could barely
stand up now, how in the hell
did he expect to walk another thirty miles? Despair began
to gnaw at his stomach. Or
maybe it was hunger. He sighed and walked a short distance
away from the makeshift
camp.
Less than two minutes later, he made his way back. Instead of
going directly back to
bed, he took a short detour and headed for a small outcropping of
rocks off to one side.
When he arrived, he leaned over the top and looked down.
Sure enough, Ryan and
Colin were there.
They were kissing.
With a small smile, Brad turned and went right back to bed.
'I knew it,' he thought, as
he drifted off toward sleep again and left the night for lovers.
**
Partly because of his late night voyeurism, Brad was the last one
up the next morning.
He rolled onto his back with a groan and wished that he would
just die. His back
howled in sick agony when he tried to sit up, and his eyes didn't
want to focus properly.
"Fuck," he muttered.
"You alive over there?" an exhausted-sounding Greg
asked.
"Yeah," Brad answered, finally making it to a sitting
position. He rubbed his eyes
vigorously until his vision came into focus. "I am
*so* tired."
Greg had dark circles under his eyes. It was the only trace
of color on his face. "Me
too," he agreed, voice subdued. In short, he looked
about as bad as Brad felt. "I
don't know if I can do this," he confessed.
"I don't think I can, either," Brad sighed, and then
glanced around. "Where are Ryan
and Colin?"
"Ryan lost the map," Greg answered. "He
thinks it was when he fell yesterday, but he
and Colin are checking around just in case."
"Oh," Brad said. It reminded him of what he'd
seen last night, but all of a sudden, those
memories seemed surreal. He might have dreamed them.
"I saw them kissing last night."
"Did you?" Greg didn't sound surprised.
Brad nodded and stretched out carefully. It sent twinges
firing up his back, but some
of the tension eased out of his muscles. "I had to
pee, and I saw them when I got back.
They were over behind that rock." He steeled himself
and then pushed to his feet.
Standing, he found, was actually easier than sitting. Maybe
it wouldn't be so bad.
Greg looked up and shrugged before standing himself. He had to
catch Brad's shoulder
for balance for a moment. "There."
"Oh, good, you're both up," a new voice said. It
was Colin, leading a very chagrinned-
looking Ryan. "We should probably be going. Time
and tide wait for no man."
"Spare me the two-bit clichés," Greg said sourly.
"Did you find the map?"
Ryan straightened and shook his head. "No. I'm
pretty sure I lost it when I fell."
"Damn," Brad cursed. "So now what?"
"The town was on the river," Greg said. "I
remember that. All we have to do just
keep following it and we'll get there." He spoke
firmly enough, but Brad couldn't help
noticing the ghostly pallor of his complexion. Greg's good
hand trembled minutely at
his side. "How far'd we get yesterday?"
"Twenty miles," Brad answered. "Easy."
"How are you guys holding up?" Colin asked. Like
all the rest of them, he looked
totally exhausted. Shadows took residence under his eyes, and
stubble covered his
chin.
Greg took a deep breath. "I'm not sure how far I'm
going to be able to make it today.
This," he held up his arm a little, "is killing
me. I'll try, though."
"I'll be okay," Brad murmured. "What about
you two?" He didn't like the hectic flush
in Ryan's cheeks, the droop in the tall man's shoulders, or the
raspy sound of his
breathing. "Are you going to make it?"
"We're all right," Colin answered for both of them.
"You guys ready?"
"Yeah," Greg said. "Let's go."
**
Part 5
**
The mood was considerably lighter that morning, mostly because
Colin and Ryan were
in such good spirits. After his back loosened up a bit,
Brad found himself smiling and
chuckling along. Even Greg seemed more relaxed once they
were underway. It was
probably because of the daylight, Brad thought.
Sometime around midmorning, Colin tripped over a rock and landed
on his face in a
mud puddle. He picked himself up and assured everyone that
he was, in fact, just fine.
While Brad and Greg were both rolling with laughter, Ryan
wandered over to the river
to help Colin get cleaned off. The tall man gingerly
stooped down and, with an
unmistakably mischievous twinkle in his eye, he reached into the
water and threw a
handful into Colin's face.
The Canadian spluttered and immediately retaliated. Soon, a
noisy water fight had
broken out. It ended quite abruptly when Colin shoved Ryan
headlong into the river.
By this time, Brad was sitting down, clutching his aching stomach
and howling with
laughter. Greg was shaking his head and chuckling,
muttering something about
immature little boys all the while.
Coughing, spluttering, and soaking wet, Ryan slogged out of the
river. Brad frowned
when he realized he could hear Ryan breathing from all the way
back on the bank.
Ryan moved slowly up the slope until he stood in front of Colin,
who was still smiling
a little. "Bastard. That water is
freezing," Brad heard Ryan say. Then Ryan reached
out lightning quick and grabbed the front of Colin's shirt.
"Oh, now it's Colin's turn," Greg said jovially.
Instead of tossing Colin into the water, however, Ryan simply
pulled the shorter man
into a bear hug and then began thoroughly kissing his face.
Brad turned away,
embarrassed, as their kiss became more serious. He glanced
at Greg and saw that
Greg had also looked away.
"If this gets any sweeter I'm gonna ralph," Brad
muttered.
"Disgusting, isn't it?" Greg commented quietly.
"I mean, we're lost in the middle of a
forest, and they're acting like we're in a private hotel
room. *After* having survived
a plane crash, no less. Some things never change."
Brad frowned and inclined his head. "What do you mean
by that?"
"Oh, what, you're surprised? Surely you
know-" Greg stopped abruptly and shook
his head. "I thought everybody knew."
"Knew what?"
"We're lovers, Brad," Colin said as he and Ryan
approached. They were holding
hands, and Ryan was smiling gently. "We have been for
almost two years."
Ryan's smile became a smirk. "Where have you
been? Greg's known for at least a
year. And I didn't think we'd been *that*
discreet." He reached out his free hand and
helped Brad up as Colin did the same for Greg. "Come
on."
"Thanks," Brad murmured. He smiled and shook his
head as he began to follow the
others through the trees. "I should have known,"
he said.
"Well," Colin said, glancing over his shoulder,
"we don't really care if you know, but
we're trying to keep it as quiet as possible. The last
thing either of us needs is more
people digging into our private lives." He smiled up
at Ryan before turning to look
ahead of him.
A hundred questions passed through Brad's head as the surprise
began to fade, but he
decided not to ask any of them. Let the boys have their
privacy. It wasn't like it was
that big a deal, anyway. He toed a pinecone and stretched
out a little. His back
popped and a little more of the stiffness oozed away.
The more he thought about Ryan and Colin being lovers, the more
one particular
question kept nagging at him. Finally, he gave up and just
decided to ask it. "Hey,
guys, your wives know about this, don't they?"
"Of course," Ryan answered quietly. "It's
taken a little while, but they're okay with it
now. They understand."
"It's not like Ryan and I are together that much,
anyway," Colin shrugged. "Just the
few weeks I'm down during the taping season, and on the rare
occasions we're able to
get away for a few days."
"We're happy with it, though," Ryan added, although
somewhat dubiously. It was
almost as if he were asking a question instead of making a
statement.
"As happy as we can be," Colin said, tone leaving
little doubt that he was anything but.
Apparently Brad hadn't been the only one who picked up on the
heaviness in Colin's
voice. "Gee, and you sure sound like it," Greg
said sarcastically. More gently, he
continued, "You don't think we know how miserable you
are?"
Ryan and Colin exchanged a quick glance, but said nothing beyond
that. Neither
seemed particularly inclined to answer the question. Instead,
Colin dropped Ryan's
hand and drifted back a little, while Ryan stepped up his
pace. His long legs easily
carried him ahead of the pack, although he moved very stiffly.
Once both were out of earshot, Brad turned to Greg, who was
regarding Ryan
thoughtfully. "What the hell was that all about?"
Greg shook his head and rolled his eyes. "Oh, they
just don't want to admit that they'd
rather be with each other than with their wives. Now that
you know, it's going to drive
you nuts. Watch--they won't talk to each other for a couple
of hours, and then they'll
make up."
Brad frowned. "Why?"
"I have no idea why they do that." Greg smiled a
little and inclined his head. "Are you
telling me that you really, honestly, and truly did not
know?"
"Yes. I had my suspicions, but that was all.
It's hard to tell when they're joking around
and when they're not."
"Yeah."
Conversation lagged again. Most of the good cheer that had
marked the past few
hours was gone. In its place was a slightly tense and
contemplative silence. Brad didn't
bother leaving Greg's side, but didn't try making
conversation. There wasn't much to
say, in any event. He contended himself with keeping one
foot in front of the other, and
trying to ignore the gnawing hunger in his stomach.
The terrain was a lot less hazardous than it had been the day
before, so they were able
to go at a relatively good clip. There was still relatively
little in the way of undergrowth,
which was another blessing. Here and there, a few plants
grew, but never anything they
couldn't walk around. It was actually the sort of place
Brad had
always pictured when he thought about going camping.
`Maybe we'll find some people around here,' he thought as he
kicked the same
pinecone he'd been kicking for the past hour. It didn't do
much for his back, but it was
sure a lot more entertaining than listening to what his
companions weren't saying. Hell,
it was more entertaining than anything they *could* say.
By midday, the temperature had warmed enough to be quite
comfortable. The sky
was clear and cloudless. When he looked up, Brad noticed
that the edges of the sky
were a paler shade of blue than the zenith--almost as if the blue
from the edges pooled
together in the center to make a blue so deep it approached
sapphire. It was lovely,
and it was something he'd never seen before.
He heard movement on his right, and glanced around to see that
Colin had pulled even
with him. The Canadian offered no comment other than a
quick smile before doubling
his pace and moving ahead. Ryan wasn't all that far in
front, so it didn't take long for
Colin to catch up. He reached up and touched Ryan's
shoulder. Ryan glanced down
and smiled abstractedly as he wrapped an arm around Colin's
shoulder.
"And all was right with the world," Greg remarked.
Brad shook his head. "That's what they're always
like?" It was actually kind of sweet
to watch the two of them, now that he knew it wasn't all an
act. They really were that
comfortable with each other.
"Yeah. Sickening, isn't it? Nobody should be
that happy." Greg was smiling, though,
in a very approving way.
Brad grinned. "Really. So.how did you find out
about them?"
Greg sighed, good humor fading. "Drew told me. I
guess Ryan told him. So now
everybody who needs to know does. Not that any of us really
do need to know." He
smoothed down the front of his dirty black jacket with his good
hand and adjusted the
sling with a pained grimace. "Shit," he
muttered. "God, I want to home."
"Still haven't heard a plane," Brad said, allowing a
little of his frustration to seep into his
voice. "You'd think by now..." he shrugged
helplessly.
"Unless they assume we're just a ball of wreckage,"
Greg said grimly. "Which is very
possible."
"Yeah, but doesn't the plane have an emergency beacon or
something? I thought the
pilot said it did." Brad watched Ryan and Colin drift
back toward them. "This sucks."
Colin nodded and said, "Yeah, but what can we do?
We're doing the best we can."
"You know," Greg said thoughtfully, "I thought I
overheard the pilot saying something
about-" His foot came down funny on a rock, and he
would have fallen if Colin hadn't
reached out quickly and caught him. "Thanks," he
said though clenched teeth. The
unhealthy pallor had returned to his face, and sweat beaded in
his hairline. "Anyway,
I think the pilot said something about this forest being a place
where we dropped off
radar because the trees are so dense."
"That makes sense," Ryan rumbled. He turned away
and coughed violently into his fist.
To Brad's ears, those coughs sounded like they were being ripped
right from Ryan's
chest. When the tall man looked back, his eyes were glazed
with pain and fever. He
grabbed his left side and closed his eyes.
"Jesus."
"You don't look so good," Colin said worriedly.
"Do you want to take a break for a
minute?"
Ryan shook his head and ran a trembling hand through his
sweat-damp hair. "No," he
answered. "If we stopped now, I wouldn't want to get
up again. I'll be okay." He
made a rumbling noise deep in his chest and then turned to
spit. "Let's just go," he said
quietly.
Onward they marched.
**
As Brad talked to Greg during the next little stretch of their
walk, he couldn't help
wondering what it would be like to kiss another man. It was
mostly thinking about
Colin and Ryan, who were a few paces ahead, that had got him to
wondering, although
he would freely admit that he'd always been curious. There
was something to be said
about the uncertainty--the element of danger involved.
When Greg staggered again a short while later, this time over a
root, Brad caught him.
It wasn't really necessary--Greg was in no danger of falling--but
Brad grabbed onto his
waist and steadied him. Greg half-turned so that he was
facing Brad, and that was
when Brad made his move.
`So this is what it's like to be gay,' he thought crazily, as he
pressed his lips firmly over
Greg's. He felt Greg's entire body stiffen against him, but
it relaxed after a second and
the shorter man made no further move to pull away. Instead,
he circled his good arm
around Brad's neck and returned the kiss. Brad brought a
hand up to Greg's stubble-
roughened cheek, marveling at the texture of the flesh under his
fingertips.
It lasted mere moments, but the moments were indelibly etched in
Brad's memory. He
couldn't suppress the shy little smile that played on the corners
of his lips as he pulled
away. "I'm sorry," he murmured.
"Just couldn't help yourself, huh?" Greg asked without
irony. "What the hell was that
for?" His gaze was intense and penetrating.
"I don't know," Brad shrugged. He glanced up
ahead and saw that Ryan and Colin
had stopped and were watching them from a short distance. They
were close enough
for Brad to see the grins and blush because of them.
"I just...I was curious, I guess."
All Greg said was, "Oh." He started to turn away.
Unable to help sounding a little afraid, Brad asked, "Are
you mad?" If he knew Greg,
the acerbic comedian wouldn't be very happy about any of this.
"Mad? No. Surprised? Yes." Greg
smiled again and placed a quick kiss on Brad's
cheek, and then moved to Brad's lips for another kiss. This
was much more
comfortable, and Brad was amazed to find himself becoming
aroused. Of all the places
and in all the circumstances... "We'll talk
later," Greg promised quietly, as he moved
away. "When we don't have an audience."
"I think...that would be good," Brad choked.
Nervously, he passed a hand through his
hair and played with the zipper of his jacket. He was
terribly confused and only now
did it occur to him to wonder exactly why he'd done what he
did. It was so strange for
something like this to crop up now.
Well, he always had plenty of time to think about it. And
maybe talking about it with
Greg later would help. At least Ryan and Colin had the good
grace not to say a word
about it. They just smiled knowingly and turned to lead the
way.
**
Things were way too quiet. The four battered and weary
travelers shuffled along the
river's edge, following its bends as if they were all robots
programmed for only that
task. Brad felt numb and very stupid. He wasn't
paying attention to anything but
forcing his tired feet one more step further, not even bothering
to think about what had
happened earlier. There were odd shooting pains in his
calves, but he was simply too
exhausted to care.
Nobody had said a word for a long time as they walked nearly
in-synch. The terrain
had taken on a subtle but eminently noticeable uphill turn.
The burning in his lungs was
proof enough of that. Plus, the trees had thinned and the
undergrowth was starting to
get a lot thicker. The going was much slower, but they were
making progress.
It didn't take much for all progress to come to a halt.
Looking back on it years later, Brad knew what happened hadn't
been unavoidable.
If they'd stopped to rest for a few minutes, if they'd been
talking, or if the scenery had changed--something--then things
might have been okay. But the fact of the matter was
that it was approaching the end of the afternoon, they were
exhausted, and they just
wanted to get home. By then, everyone was just picking 'em
up and putting 'em down.
Nobody noticed the drop-off until it was too late.
Not that it was readily visible, of course. The land was
making an upward slope, and
there were a lot of trees and undergrowth blocking
visibility. What saved Brad that
day was the fact that Ryan jerked to a sudden stop as he was
besieged by a fit of
coughing that left him laboring for air. Brad and Colin
both stopped reflexively. Greg,
who'd been a step or two ahead, didn't.
Ryan sank to his knees, holding his side in pain, drawing air in
small gasps and
immediately coughing it back out. Colin knelt down beside
him. "Slow down, Ryan,"
he said, rubbing Ryan's back. "Just breathe.
Breathe."
Brad squatted down beside them, shaken and worried. Ryan
had stopped coughing,
but was breathing only in shallow, phlegmy gasps. When Brad
heard a scream that
was cut off mercilessly by a crash, he whipped around
immediately, ignoring the
whining protest of his back. Greg was nowhere to be seen.
"Greg!" he called out. "Greg, where are
you?" When there was no answer, he
scrabbled a few feet forward on his hands and knees. The
ground suddenly gave way
underneath his hands, and he would have fallen if Colin hadn't
grabbed the collar of his
shirt and hauled him back.
"Oh, shit," Brad said, peering over the edge of the
drop. It was at least fifteen feet
down to the bottom and narrow enough so that it was easy to
overlook. The bottom
was dark, but there was no doubt Greg was down there.
"Oh, God. Greg? Greg?!"
Desperately, he scanned the walls of the drop and tried to see if
there was some way
he could get down. The wall he was facing was nearly
perpendicular to the ground, as
was the wall over which he hung.
The drop--or maybe it was a cut--was about fifteen feet long and
six feet wide at its
widest point. Like the rock wall they'd climbed over a
lifetime ago, it looked like it
had no earthly business being there. It took Brad maybe
five seconds to process all
of this, and another five seconds to get moving.
He pushed Colin's hand away and raced toward the north
edge. There. It was steep,
but not impassible. Without another thought, he made his
way down into the mouth
of the abyss, and finally, he found Greg. "Oh,
God," he whispered. Greg had landed
in an awkward sprawl and now was half-sitting against the far
wall. With a trembling
hand, Brad reached out to feel for a pulse.
He closed his eyes and felt tears track down his cheeks.
"He's alive," he called over
his shoulder, voice hoarse with relief. The pulse under his
fingers was very faint, but it
was there. Greg was alive.
Moments later, Ryan and Colin arrived at the bottom and crouched
side-by-side in the
cramped quarters. "What do we do now?" Colin
asked tensely. "We can't just leave
him here. But none of us can carry him."
"It's probably not going to be a good idea to move
him," Ryan said. His breathing was
heavy and badly labored.
"You two go get help," Brad said. "I'll stay
here with him."
Colin looked like he was about to protest, but he bit his lower
lip and nodded instead.
"That's what we'd better do," he finally said.
"We can't be that far away." Over his
shoulder, the sky had begun to darken with the first strands of
nightfall.
Ryan shook his head. He'd sat back against the dirt wall
and was shivering. "I can't,"
he said thickly, between shallow gasps of air. "I'll
stay here. You two go."
Brad started to argue, but when he saw how utterly colorless
Ryan's face was, and
heard the struggle for breath, he knew that Ryan was absolutely
right. "Okay," he said,
grateful once again for common sense. There was no way Ryan
would be able to
make it the rest of the way.
Worry darkened Colin's eyes as he leaned forward to place a kiss
on Ryan's forehead.
"Hang in there," the Canadian whispered.
"We'll be back as soon as we can."
"I know," Ryan said with a terribly human smile.
"Hurry." He looked up at Brad.
"Take care of him, okay?"
"I will," Brad promised. "Take care of Greg
for me. And take care of yourself."
"I'll try."
**
Part 6
**
Colin turned on his heel and led the way out of the drop.
"Come on," he said urgently,
as he helped Brad the last few feet out. "We have to
hurry." He moved at a fast walk
away from the drop. A surge of adrenaline gave Brad the
wind to keep up.
After some time had passed, Colin slowed down a little. The
pale moonlight
illuminated the sweat on his forehead and face. Brad, who
was running on his last
dregs, slowed beside him. "How...how far...do you
think we are?" he asked as he was
gasping for breath.
"Don't know," Colin answered, shaking his head.
"We walked longer today. Between
twenty and twenty-five miles." His hazel eyes scanned
the horizon. "We've got to be
getting close." There was an edge of desperation in
his voice.
Brad nodded. "Tell me something," he said.
"How bad is Ryan?"
Colin sighed deeply and scratched his forehead. "I
don't know, but it's bad. He hasn't
been able to breathe very well since he fell. I think he
broke a rib, and he didn't want
to admit it. He didn't want to stop."
"Even if he did, there was nothing we could have done,"
Brad pointed out.
"I know," the shorter man snapped. "God, if
I lose him now-" he cut off abruptly and
shoved his hands deep into his pockets. His shoulders
slumped a little. Clearing his
throat, and speaking in a more subdued tone, he asked,
"What.what happened with
you and Greg today?"
Brad shrugged tiredly. "I honestly don't know,"
he said. "It was like...I got this urge
to kiss him. I just went with it." He wiped at
the tears that had rolled out of his eyes.
"The thing is...I don't know if-if I wanted anything to come
out of it. I don't think I
have feelings for him. This place is just...strange."
"Nothing is right about any of this," Colin muttered.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, look, this is a huge forest, right?
Right. Somehow, we managed to crash in
one of the few clear areas. I know we didn't all make it,
but four out of six is pretty
damn impressive. We have our bags and the survival
kit. That's a lot more than I
would have imagined. Then there's that *weird* rock and the
hole in the ground.
Ryan fell eight feet, and got up and walked away. Greg fell
even further and he's still
alive. Not to mention the fact that we haven't heard a
single plane in two days." He
paused. "And then there's you and Greg."
Brad raised an eyebrow and decided to let the last comment
go. "We'll get there," he
said with more determination than he actually felt. He
sighed and closed his mouth,
but the silence became too heavy after more than a few
seconds. "Can I ask you
something?" he asked quietly.
"Yeah," Colin murmured.
"Are...are you and Ryan really in love, or are you just
doing the wild thing?"
"Why do you want to know?"
"Curiosity, I guess," Brad shrugged. He ducked
down under a low-hanging branch.
"If you don't want to answer, you don't have to."
Colin smiled wanly and stepped over a small shrub.
"That's okay. Uh, we're not really...
doing the wild thing much anymore," he said. "We
still do every now and again, but
with Ryan's back as bad as it is, we can't. It doesn't
bother us too much. The sex is
great, don't get me wrong, but I think we're both happy just
spending time together."
"Greg said he thinks you guys should-"
"I know what Greg thinks," Colin interrupted.
"And it's not that simple."
Brad frowned and asked, "Why not?"
"Our wives for one," Colin said. "I love my
wife to death, and Ryan loves his wife, too.
They didn't want to give up on us even after we told them, and we
don't want to give
up on them. I don't love Ryan more than I love my wife, and
I don't love her more
than him. It's just the way it is." Instead of
coming out firm, Colin's words had been
spoken with what sounded like regret.
"But you're not happy, are you?" Brad pressed.
"Greg was right--you're both miserable
and you're just too stubborn to admit it." He drew in
a quick breath when he felt a very
sharp twig poke his leg. Irritated, he kicked it away. It
was going to be so wonderful to
get the hell out of this forest.
Colin didn't answer for a long time, and when he did, he sounded
tired and small
somehow. "I've been thinking about this a lot since
we've been out here," he answered.
"I'm happiest when I'm with him--when we're just...together,
and he's-he's holding me,
and we're not talking. It's like...we're the only people in
the world. And nothing
matters." The moonlight reflected off the tears on his
cheeks, but he didn't try to wipe
them away. "But I think he's happier with his
wife. That's why we don't talk about it."
Brad was a little choked up by the simple and honest sentiment.
Colin and Ryan were
both so lucky to have each other, he decided. "You
think or you know?"
"What difference does it make?" Colin returned
quietly. "Look, I don't want to talk
about this anymore."
"Okay," Brad nodded. "I didn't mean to
pry. I just didn't know." The silence returned
and this time, he didn't try to fight it. Instead, he turned his
attention to the difficult task
of watching the terrain for hazards and keeping an eye out for a
sign of civilization.
Worry and hunger gnawed on his stomach, and his back was
throbbing. He prayed
that Greg and Ryan were okay.
About thirty minutes later, Colin's head suddenly snapped
up. "Did you hear that?" he
asked urgently.
"Hear what?" Brad asked. Just as he finished
speaking, he heard it too--laughter. "Yes."
Summoning every last ounce of strength, he pushed his pace to a
shambling half-run.
He heard Colin a pace behind. They crested a hill, and saw
firelight at the river's edge
about a quarter mile ahead. "Oh, thank God," he
whispered, and ran faster.
Running was a mistake. Brad made it as far as the edge of
the campground before he
collapsed in a shaking, gasping heap. He simply had no
energy left to move. Every
part of his body ached, including his chest. It was hard to
breathe and harder to think
straight. The only thing he was aware of was the silence
around him, broken only by
occasional murmurs.
"Dude," he heard a young-sounding voice say.
"What the hell?"
Footsteps signaled Colin's approach. "We were...in a
plane crash," Colin gasped out.
He knelt down at Brad's side and pulled him to a sitting
position. Brad groaned as the
pain flared. "You alive, Brad?"
"Jesus," Brad whispered. His head swam and his
temples pounded. After a few
moments, some of the pain abated, leaving him shaking, but able
to think again. He
glanced around and saw that the campers were college-aged kids,
and most of them
looked pretty drunk. "I'm okay. Just overdid it
a little."
"You were in a plane crash?" asked the first kid who'd
spoken. He was a clean-cut
young man who seemed halfway sober.
"Two days ago," Colin affirmed.
"Where?"
The Canadian pointed in the direction from which he and Brad had
come. "Back up
that way. There's a set of lakes, and that's where our
plane went down."
The kids looked at each other. "Those lakes are, like,
forty miles away," the young
man said. "You walked all that way?"
"Yeah," Colin answered, "but there's no time for
questions. Two of our friends are
back a few miles. They're in bad shape, and we need
help. Do any of you have a
phone we could use?"
"Uh, sure." The good-looking youth turned and
looked at the others. "Andrew!" he
called. "Is your dad working tonight?"
One of the young men shuffled forward. "I think
so," he said, speech slurry. "Want
me to call him?"
"Please, and hurry." Turning back to Brad and
Colin, he said, "Name's Ray."
Brad managed a weary smile. "I'm Brad, and this is
Colin. How far away is the
closest town?"
"About fifteen miles down the river," Ray answered,
sitting down on a log. He had
short blond hair and very bright gray eyes. Behind him, the
others began to mill
around. Some started laughing and drinking again.
"It'll be a while before anyone
gets here. Do you guys need something to eat?"
"Yes," Brad answered, trying hard not to sound
desperate. "Thank you."
"Sure. Hang on a second." Ray stood up and
wandered away.
"Fifteen miles," Colin muttered, sounding acutely
disappointed. "We would have had
to walk for at least another half day." He shook his
head. "I thought we'd gotten
further than that. It felt like we were walking
forever."
Brad nodded. "But we made it."
Just then, one of the girls approached. She was carrying
two plates with a couple of
hamburgers on them. Before handing them over, she looked
closely at Brad and then
at Colin. She smiled slowly. "My God, it is
you. I knew it. You guys are from that
show--`Whose Line is it Anyway?' right?"
"Mm-hmm," Colin mumbled around a mouthful of
food. Swallowing, he added, "Yes,
we are, but please don't spread that around, okay?"
The young woman nodded. "Oh, I don't think anyone else
here watches it besides me
and Ray, but okay. What are you guys doing out here? Where
are the rest of you?
Where were you going? Why didn't you just call out on your
cell phones?" She sat
down on the log Ray had occupied. "I'm Michelle, by
the way."
"Hi," Brad murmured. He counted to ten and chose
to ignore her questions. The most
important thing he had to do right now was to eat and to
rest. It was over. Help was
on the way, and the ordeal was over.
Colin didn't seem very inclined to talk either, but he smiled
just the same. "Nice to
meet you," he said and then closed his eyes.
"God, I hope they're okay," he murmured
in Brad's direction.
"Me too," Brad sighed, stretching out gingerly.
He sighed and shut his eyes, immensely
grateful when he heard the girl get up and walk away.
They didn't get to rest long. No more than fifteen minutes
later, a county sheriff's
vehicle pulled into the lot, followed by a couple of ambulances
and a Search and
Rescue van. "Boy, they brought the cavalry,"
Colin remarked wearily. He got to his
feet and reached down to help Brad up. Together, they
walked toward the cavalcade.
One of the Search and Rescue people made it to them first.
He was a slender, bleary-
eyed man with a thin moustache and graying hair.
"Please tell me you're from the plane
that went down the other night," he said. His nametag
said Phillips.
"I think that's us," Brad answered.
"Guys, where did your plane go down?"
"There's a lake about forty miles up the river," Colin
said quietly. He frowned. "We
never heard anybody looking for us."
"The lakes?" Phillips asked incredulously.
"We thought you were on the other side of
the mountain. That's where we've been looking. We
even found pieces of the fuselage
over there. No wonder you didn't hear the plane. It
never went near you. It was a
hundred miles north of you."
Brad scowled. "And nobody thought to check the
river?"
"It was a mistake," Phillips said hastily.
"The plane's emergency beacon never went off,
and it was like trying to find a needle in a haystack. Was
there anyone left on the
plane?"
"Two people," Brad answered. "Drew and
the-"
"This is all well and good," Colin interrupted,
"but two of our friends are alive and back
a few miles, and the longer we stand around talking, the more
likely they are to die.
Can we please get going?"
"Don't you want to stay and get checked out first?" one
of the deputies asked.
"There's no time," Brad said.
"Where are they?" Phillips asked.
"Sitting at the bottom of a fifteen-foot drop," Colin
said.
The Search and Rescue man nodded. "I know where that
is. It's about five miles back.
We're going to have bring the helicopter in--there's no
road." He turned and ran back
to his van and got on the radio. After he finished, he
walked back to Colin and Brad.
"You're going to have to ride back in the ambulance.
There won't be room for you in
the helicopter. I'm sorry."
As if that were their cue, a pair of paramedics led Brad and
Colin into the ambulance,
where they began treating the more superficial injuries.
Brad didn't have the strength to
argue, and did as he was told. Before long, the ambulance
was rolling for the hospital.
Once they got to the hospital, they gave him a shot of something
that stopped the pain
in his back. It was nice. He fell right to sleep.
**
When he woke up, he noticed that there was someone in the room
with him. Colin sat
calmly in the chair, his gaze focused intently out the
window. His right arm was in a
sling, and there were a few small white bandages on his
face. He was clean-shaven and
wearing clean clothing. As if he could sense Brad's eyes on
his face, Colin looked
around, and smiled when he saw that Brad was awake.
"Hey."
"Hi," Brad said. His tongue felt thick and
sluggish and didn't seem to want to move
properly.
Colin stood and walked to the side of the bed. "How
are you feeling?"
"Thirsty." When Colin handed him a cup, he drank
it all and then dropped back down
to the pillow. "Thanks." Before speaking
again, he took inventory of himself. He felt
okay. The drugs hadn't completely left his system, so the
pain was very distant. "How
long have I been out?"
"Couple days," Colin shrugged. "You really
messed up your back. The doctor told me
that you had a couple of cracked vertebrae, slipped discs, and
some ligament damage
in your neck. He said you'd be okay once the swelling went
down, but you won't be
able to move much for a while. He was amazed when I told
him you'd walked forty
miles."
"How about you?"
"Bumps and bruises. I dislocated my shoulder, but it
should heal fine."
"Greg? Is he here, too?"
Colin nodded. "Yeah. He was awake when the
rescue team found him, and he's
recovering." He looked away and dropped his gaze to
the floor, as if there were
something he didn't want to say.
"What is it?"
"Well, he...when he fell, he damaged his spinal cord.
He still can't move or feel his legs,
and the doctors think there's a strong chance he won't walk
again. But," he added
quickly, "they also think that it might be because of the
swelling. He could recover
once that goes down."
"Jesus," Brad said. He raised a hand to his
eyes. An IV had been attached to the back
and tubing ran up to a bag that held clear fluid.
"Poor Greg. How's he holding up?"
"He's taking it as well as he can," Colin
answered. "He's been pretty sedated for the
past couple days, just like you. I've been in and out
checking up on you both." He sat
down on the edge of the bed, and Brad noticed that he still
looked exhausted.
"What's wrong, Col?" he asked gently. "Is it
Ryan?"
"He stopped breathing in the helicopter," Colin
said. "His lung got punctured. When
he fell, he broke two ribs, and from all his coughing, well, it
drove one of the broken
ends into his lung. That's why he couldn't breathe at the
end. He's got pneumonia and
he had a really high fever when he got here. It's gone down
a little, but he still hasn't
come out of it yet. The doctors say he should be
okay."
"Man," Brad said. No wonder Colin looked so
tired. "How are you holding up? This
can't be easy on you."
"It's not," Colin said. "I've had to talk to
a hundred different people about the crash,
and there have been reporters circling in and out, and frankly,
I'm ready to explode.
Fortunately, the staff has been good about keeping people out of
here. Wayne caught
the first plane out, and Dan will be here tomorrow."
"Is your wife here?"
"Yeah. Ryan's too. They told me to tell you that
they send you their love." He glanced
significantly toward the table under the window. It was
covered with bouquets of
flowers, stuffed animals, and a mountain of cards. "A
lot of people have. Most of
those are from the fans."
With that touching sentiment in hand, Brad smiled and closed his
eyes. This trip had
been such a disaster and so many bad things had happened, but
this one little gesture
from people he would probably never meet...well, it felt
good. With time, they would
all heal, and become stronger for it. And they would always
have people behind them.
That was what mattered.
`Poor Drew,' Brad thought, with a sigh. "Drew should
be here with us," he said
without opening his eyes.
"I know," Colin murmured. "They, uh, they
brought him and the pilot back. We're
having a service for him the day after tomorrow. Nobody
really wants to believe it. I
still don't understand why he had to die."
"Maybe it was just his time," Brad offered, as he
slipped toward sleep.
"I think you're right," Colin said. His voice
came from a great distance. Brad felt
himself smile as he drifted to a more restful place. He was
safe and alive. And for
the moment, content.
**
EPILOGUE:
(One month later.)
His back still ached, and he was confined to a wheelchair, but
Brad didn't mind. He
loved the attention he got because of it. People gave him
sympathetic looks as he
wheeled through the halls of the hospital and headed for the
elevator. He had places
to be and people to see.
First stop: Greg's room. Greg was still bedridden, but it
looked like he'd be able to
walk again. After three weeks, he'd started to get the
feeling back in his legs. He still
needed a few more operations, though. For all that, Greg
was always in relatively
good spirits and greeted Brad with a smile.
"Ah, my outside link."
"Howdy," Brad said, returning the smile.
"Figured you'd be lonely, so I thought I'd
say hi."
"Boy, you're a regular speed demon in that
thing." His smile became a grin. "I'm not
scheduled for surgery until next month, so I'll be getting my
chair in a week. They're
going to let me out for a while."
"That'll be great! We can race."
"I'd kick your ass."
"In your dreams, old man."
"You wish." Greg's smile disappeared, and his
statement became distant and thoughtful.
"Um, I've been meaning to talk to you about something.
You remember when we were
out there, and you kissed me, and I said we were going to
talk? We never did, you
know."
Curious as to why Greg would bring this up now, Brad
nodded. "I know. I figured
you wanted to forget about it."
Greg shook his head. "No," he said quietly.
"No, actually, I don't."
Brad's heart rate climbed rapidly. He'd had a month to try
and figure it out. He
thought he had, and was actually kind of relieved that nothing
ever came of it. This,
however, was something he hadn't counted on.
"You...don't?"
"You told me you were curious," Greg said.
"Now you've got me curious. And you
know me--when I'm curious, I have to find an answer."
"So what are you saying?"
"I think I'm trying to ask you if...well, if you're still
curious. Because if you are, I was
also thinking that once I get out of here, maybe we
could...satisfy that curiosity."
Not entirely sure he understood, Brad raised his eyebrows.
"Are you saying you want
to...?"
"Yes," Greg said plainly. "I do."
"With me?"
"With you." With a grin, Greg leaned over and
shut Brad's gaping jaw. "You're
drawing flies. So...what do you think?"
Brad thought about it and decided he needed a few minutes.
"Tell you what: I'm going
to go see Ryan and I'll come back with my answer after I get
done."
"Fair enough," Greg said.
As he wheeled away, Brad frowned and shook his head. This
made absolutely no
sense. Greg hadn't even given him the slightest indication
in the past month that this
was coming. It was kind of flattering, though. And
his curiosity had never really gone
away.
Maybe it'd be worth a try.
Ryan's room was just down the hall. The lights were off,
and he could hear a quiet
conversation going on inside. It sounded like Colin was in
there. Out of courtesy,
Brad decided to make sure they weren't talking about anything
serious before he went
in. The last thing he wanted was to interrupt a
"moment."
The words drifted out into the hall. "...and I'm
happiest when it's just you and me,"
Colin was saying, his voice thick with emotion. "Like
that first night. We didn't do
anything. You just sat there holding me, and that was
enough. That's when I love you
most."
Brad knew he should probably leave and not listen, but he
couldn't help himself.
Especially when Ryan's gravelly voice floated out, touched with a
child's simple wonder.
"Really? You...you mean that? That's when I'm
happiest, too. Just being with you.
That's all I've ever really wanted."
"I didn't know," Colin said. "I thought...I
thought you wanted her more."
"I love you more than I ever loved anyone," was the
quiet response. "And I want you
more than I've ever wanted anyone."
"So what are we going to do?"
There was a pause. "I think...I think I want to tell
her, Col. It's over."
Colin sounded like an unsure teenager. "Do...do you
want to live with me?"
Ryan chuckled softly. "Of course I do. I've been
looking for an excuse to leave Los
Angeles. This is my best chance. Unless...do you want
me to live with you?"
`Say yes!' Brad wanted to scream. "Yeah," Colin
finally said. "I do." Brad started
smiling so broadly that his mouth hurt, but dammit, this was
nice. One of those sticky
sweet moments that seemed to be Ryan and Colin's specialty.
It was this that helped
him decide what he was going to do about Greg.
He left the lovebirds alone and returned to Greg's room.
The bedridden comic raised
an eyebrow over his book. "Back so soon?"
"Yeah. Ryan and Colin are having a moment. I
think they're going to move in together."
"About time."
"Sure is." Brad paused and glanced out the window
before turning to look calmly into
Greg's dark eyes. "Oh, and Greg--I'd love to."
THE END