Easy-going Sebastien divides his time between working as a cleaning technician, caring for his widowed father, and running off to the park for soccer practice. Coasting through his existence, he's convinced he doesn't have much going for him.<br><br>That isn’t what his best friend Jack thinks. Quick-witted and passionate, Jack is fascinated by art and history, but the greatest book or painting could never compare to how he feels when he's alone with Sebastien.<br><br>In the last five years, Seb and Jack have shared everything, sometimes even a bed. Yet though their chemistry is smoking hot, Sebastien keeps Jack at a safe distance. But when the two move in together to lower their living expenses, that distance gets smaller and smaller, until Sebastien and Jack are standing so close, they can't see what's right in front of their eyes ... the love of their life.

Auguries of Summer

“Hey, don’t.” I touched his arm. Couldn’t believe I was going to make him cry. Me? I wasn’t worth his pain. “Please don’t waste a single tear on me. Look, Jack, we don’t have to walk away from each other today. We don’t have to end it so abruptly, right?”


Jack sniffled and looked away at the mountain.


“We could be friends, couldn’t we?” I asked, knowing I didn’t even deserve an answer. But if he agreed to be friends with me, I’d keep him in my life for as long as I could.


“Why would you wanna be friends with someone you can’t even introduce to people you know? What kind of friendship is that?”


I made a decision right then and there. I could call Jack a friend and would, from this day on, introduce him as such to anyone who asked. That I could do. “If you agree to be friends with me,” I said, “I’ll never deny that we’re friends to anyone, anywhere, including my idiot team mates. And I’ll have your back, Jack. I’ll stand by you. I won’t let anybody talk shit about you.”


Chapter 50