Page 9 of Everything Changes

“I’m not” was Jase’s surprising answer.

“Then why—”

“Listen, Carey. I’m open-minded when it comes to who I’m attracted to. I met that guy at a party last week, you know, the one I went to with Linda?”

Carey nodded. Linda was a girl Jase saw off and on, and Carey knew they slept together occasionally, just fuck-buddy type stuff.

“We got to talking, and there was something there, you know? A spark? He actually is gay, and he wanted to take me dancing. So we went to a bar that he knew of, the one you saw us at. Damn, I can’t believe—a fucking close call, man.”

“No shit. And I’m not gonna report anything, dude. I’d never do that. I just wanted to tell you to be more careful next time.”

“Noted,” Jase said. “And thanks, Carey.” He stood up and laced his fingers behind his head, pacing restlessly back and forth, working off the adrenaline of the scare.

Carey couldn’t help but trace his eyes over Jase’s body. “So you and that guy—”

“Fucked?” Jase’s voice was full of laughter. “Well, he fucked me. I would have returned the favor, but we both passed out.”

“Jesus,” Carey breathed, his face beet red. “How does that even work? Oh God, forget I asked that. I don’t wanna know.”

Jase waggled his eyebrows, the tension in the room fully dissipated. “It works very well. Want me to show you?”

“No!” Carey put his palms out, backing up. “No thanks. I’ll just—leave that here.” He fled back to his girlfriend to the sound of Jase’s delighted laughter.

CAREY WAS jolted out of his reverie as Jase tossed his phone on the table and plopped down in his seat, taking a huge slug of orange juice. Just then their server appeared with plates piled high with steaming pancakes slathered with butter and hot maple syrup.

The girls who had been flirting with Jase walked by on the sidewalk yet again, their eyes widening and their giggles intensifying when they caught sight of Carey, and Carey could hear their whispers clearly. “Oh my God, they’re both so hot.”

Jase rolled his eyes discreetly at Carey, and Carey covered his laugh behind his hand. “Your fan club,” he murmured, and it wasn’t too much longer before the girls finally drifted away, giggling about “eye candy.”

“You dating anyone right now, Carey?” Jase asked, wiping his lips on a napkin. Carey swallowed his bite of pancake, shaking his head.

“Nah, too busy,” he replied. “I was dating someone a few months ago and she broke up with me, said I didn’t have enough time for her.” He shrugged. “It was true. I didn’t. She didn’t like it, so she left.”

Jase nodded understandingly, and Carey, suddenly curious, asked, “How about you? That guy at the club last night said you and he were getting serious.”

Jase choked on a mouthful of juice, and Carey waited while he coughed it out, his face red and his eyes watering.

“Jayden?” he gasped. “Oh fuck, no. He’s a—well, this makes me sound like a douche, but he’s a convenient and willing mouth. He makes it available, and I’m not gonna turn it down.”

Carey had a sudden vision of Jase, his graceful hands buried in thick blond hair, moving his hips as he drove himself down the groupie’s “convenient” throat. Carey already knew how Jase looked and sounded when he came, mouth slack with pleasure and husky moans ringing in Carey’s ears—

Face flushing, Carey shoved that long-buried memory away and shifted uncomfortably in his chair, hoping like hell the cloth napkin draped over his lap hid how tight his board shorts had suddenly gotten. Where the fuck had that thought come from? Carey had suppressed that memory so deep he’d almost convinced himself it had never happened—

Jase stood, and as he pulled his wallet out of the pocket of his own shorts, the swimsuit dipped low on his hips with the motion, outlining a tanned slice of muscled belly. Carey felt his mouth dry up at the sight. Jesus Christ, what was going on with him all of a sudden?

Jase tucked several bills into the folder the check was in, and Carey stood up, willing his traitorous body into submission. I must really need to get laid, he thought with a tinge of hysteria, following Jase through the gate and out onto the sidewalk, heading toward where Jase’s Jeep was parked at the curb. How long has it been?

Jase had put the top down on the Jeep earlier, and Carey let the cool breeze waft over his heated face as they drove. He calmed down, and in just a few short minutes, they pulled up to the curb alongside Jase’s favorite slice of Coronado Beach. It was well away from the crowds outside the popular Hotel del Coronado, and the curb parking meant the walk to the sand was shorter.

As Jase started unloading beach gear and carrying it across the glittering sand, Carey took off his prosthetic leg, laying it carefully along the narrow backseat of the Jeep and covering it with an old blanket he found crumpled on the floor. Jase appeared next to him and silently handed him his crutches, and Carey swung himself carefully down from the passenger seat, following Jase in the direction of the beach chairs he had set up.

Crutching one’s way across soft sand was not Carey’s idea of a good time, and by the time he reached the chairs, he was sweaty and out of sorts. Jase didn’t say anything or offer any help, and Carey was grateful, knowing he wouldn’t have been able to keep himself from snapping at him if he had. People always thought they had to “help,” not realizing most of the time they were more of a hindrance than anything else. As a medical professional as well as Carey’s friend, Jase was well aware of that, and Carey was able to catch his breath in peace as Jase busied himself setting their cooler and Carey’s leg bag within reach.

“Gonna go get in that game, if that’s okay,” Jase said, nodding toward a rousing game of beach volleyball that was going on nearby. “Shout if you need me.”

Carey nodded back, and Jase winked at him before stripping his T-shirt off and loping toward the group of volleyball players. They seemed to know him, and several of them high-fived Jase in welcome. Soon the game was back in full swing, and shouts of competition and grunts of exertion reached Carey’s ears. He shook his head, firmly casting off the feeling of self-pity that crept over him at times like this, times when he was sitting on the sidelines like the fucking cripple he was, unable to forget how just a few short years ago he was as able-bodied as the rest of them.

As if Jase was aware of his thoughts, Carey saw him cast a few surreptitious glances in his direction, unable to hide the concern on his face.