Quiet and imaginative, Derek O'Reilly spends a lot of time watching a movie in his head. His fiancé Nathan wonders why Derek hasn't taken any interest in their wedding planning, and Aunt Fran -- his spiritual guru -- would like to know when her guilt-tripping nephew became a kept boy. When she drops Derek's childhood journal on his lap, he's forced to remember the name he's been trying to forget since he was twelve years old. Nicolai Lund. Nick was Derek's neighbor ... and first love. Weeks before Derek's engagement party, a chance meeting with Nick catapults Derek into the past. But Nick isn't that seventeen-year-old rebel anymore. He's a man hardened by invisible scars. A man struggling with grief. As Derek reads through his childhood diary, he realizes what Nick was to him, still is today, and yet might be ... NOTE: This edition has been expanded and substantially edited.

Split

Jake stood by me desk, smoking a cigarette. “What are you listening to?”


I still had my earphones plugged into my ears, though the iPod had long ago run out of power.


Jake scowled and smiled. “You realize me and you are the only losers still working at this hour?”


I liked it when people who’d never spoken more than two words to me called me a loser.


“Susan says you drive a Ducati. That right?”


A red Monster 1100cc with Desmodromic L-Twin engine.


Jake looked me up and down. “You must have sold a kidney to pay for the insurance on that little Euro death trap.”


I never saw the invoice. Just signed the form. It had been a birthday present from Nathan.


“O’Reilly, let’s go for a drink.” Jake didn’t wait for my reply. He simply grabbed his jacket off the rack and punched the code in. “Coming?”


I turned my computer off and tossed the noodles in the bin.


Chapter 31