Love is Always Write Anthology Volume 9

some young kid suck him in just to spit him out when he was done playing with him.
    "Get the fuck out of my face," Gabe said through clenched teeth, never breaking eye contact with Lucas. He'd be damned if this nurse would make a fool of him.
    Lucas's upper lip curved up, as if in a challenge. He tried to swallow around the lump in his throat, but his mouth was dry as the desert. The gleam in Lucas's pale, green eyes held a promise, but Gabe wasn't quite sure what that promise was, and he wasn't certain he wanted to ever find out.
    Just then the door swooshed open and the doctor sauntered into the room. "Detective Edgerton, let's take a look at that side of yours, shall we?"
    The doctor sent him down for X-rays. No broken bones or concussion. Just a bruised head and shoulder and a couple cracked ribs. Nothing major, but the doctor wanted to keep him overnight, just as a precaution.
    He hadn't seen Lucas since he passed him off to radiology and he hoped the nurse had gone home for the evening. The attraction he felt for the man was driving him insane. He couldn't explain it, but he loved the way Lucas talked back to him, unwilling to take his shit. When he snapped at him, Lucas snapped right back, as if he were the larger, stronger of the two. A part of him had wanted to roll to his back and show his belly like some damn dog. No one ever talked back to him, ever. He was built like a linebacker, so people more often than not feared him, but not Lucas. Lucas had a dominant streak a mile wide, and Gabe was a little curious what the man would make him do if given the opportunity.
    But that would be wrong. Gabe couldn't allow himself to get involved with anyone. He'd learned long ago that no one ever stayed around and he'd no reason to believe Lucas would be any different.
    Rolling over to his side, Gabe tucked a pillow under his chin, hugging it close. Remembering the past always made him feel lost and alone. The wounds still seemed so fresh that he felt the ache as if it happened yesterday.
    Before moving to Kansas City, he'd lived in Austin, Texas. He liked it there. It's where he'd grown up. It was home. But all that changed when he was fifteen. His father, who'd been his hero, came home early from work one day and broke the news he was in love with another woman. He said he couldn't pretend that he was happy anymore and he left Gabe and his mother, never looking back.
    His mother pretended to be okay for his sake, but he could hear her late at night, crying herself to sleep. At that moment, he knew it was time to grow up. He became the man around the house his mother needed. And they lived a good life. She worked two jobs to put him through college and supported his decision to join the academy. He remembered how happy she'd been when he graduated. He'd never forget the pride he saw in her eyes.
    One year later, she succumbed to breast cancer. He'd taken time off from work to care for her in the last remaining months of her life. The disease took her fast. It didn't seem fair for him to lose the only person he had in the world. The day she died, he truly knew what it meant to be alone. It was hard for him to trust people and, with her gone; he'd lost his only confidant.
    After her passing, he went back to work. He had to start all over and was considered the rookie cop again around the station. But his work ethic and determination caught the eye of an older more experienced detective, Colby Lawson. He always looked up to the man. When Colby spoke, people listened, and Gabe wasn't immune to his allure.
    Colby took him under his wing to show him the ropes, in preparation for one day becoming a detective himself. The long lunches and late nights turned into more when Colby kissed him for the first time. He always thought he might be gay, but it was confirmed when he felt the firm press of Colby's lips against his own. The slight stubble on Colby's jaw rubbing alongside his cheek awakened a part of his soul he didn't know existed. He'd fallen hard for the older man. There wasn't anything he wouldn't do for Colby.
    They'd been dating for a little over three years when they moved in together. Their lives seemed perfect. They seldom fought and, when they did, it always ended in hot, passionate make-up sex. They were good together—or so he thought.
    They were getting ready to celebrate their eight year anniversary when Colby dropped his bombshell. It was like a bad case of dèjá vu. Colby came home from work and said he'd