Chapter 1
CHAPTER 1
SAM
Tucked away in the back corner of the cafe, Ace lay curled up at Sam’s feet. They’d been coming to that cafe for years now and everyone knew Ace. They also knew he was working, and Ace himself was well aware that he’d get a treat on the way out. His tail thumped against the floor when a familiar face entered the eatery.
Christian, Sam’s best friend, dusted the snow off his shoulders and out of his hair. He stopped at the counter to get a coffee and a chocolate croissant, and then he made his way over to Sam’s table.
Christian, like Sam, also had a seizure disorder and he was used to Ace’s presence. If Ace was working, Christian ignored him.
“You can say hello to him,” Sam told his friend.
“Things are going that good?” Christian slipped out of his coat and hung it on the back of his chair. “That’s great.”
“I’ve only had a couple of seizures since I started the new meds, and they were near the beginning. Now that I’ve been on them for a few months, I’ve been seizure-free. They’re putting poor Ace out of a job. Anyway, enough about me. What about you? What’s new?”
Christian smiled and sipped at his coffee. “Brandon is taking me out of town. He found this cute little rental just off a ski hill, so we’re going to have a nice quiet weekend in the mountains.”
“That sounds so good.” Sam sighed. He was painfully single. His last relationship had been more of a friends-with-benefits thing, but those benefits ended when his friend found someone he’d rather be with. Which was fine. Sam knew they weren’t soulmates or anything. But he’d been single so long his dick had a layer of dust on it.
Sam felt the weight of Christian’s gaze on him. The inquisitive narrowing of eyes, the curious tilt of Christian’s head before he asked the inevitable. “Do you have any plans?”
Sam snorted. “As if. It’s just me and Ace.”
He smiled and bit back the part about how it would probably always just be him and Ace. Whining wasn’t going to change things, and it would only put a damper on Christian’s mood.
“Are you sure I can’t set you up with someone?”
“I’m not that desperate yet.”
Christian grinned like the cat that ate the cream. “Yet. Keyword. I’ll wear you down soon enough.”
“Why? Did you have a specific someone in mind?” So Sam was curious. It never hurt to at least hear about the options. He could quite easily entertain an idea without agreeing to it.
“I could, but you’re not desperate yet.” Christian winked. “Tell me about work. Anything interesting?”
Sam worked as an editor, mostly freelance for indie authors, but there were a few smaller publishers who often reached out. “Well, I just finished this book about a vampire who falls for a runaway prince. The prince is also a merman. But that was something I read for fun.”
Work had been steady lately, almost too steady. He’d loaded himself down with work so he didn’t have time to think about dating. If he was busy working, then clearly he was too busy to think about the idea of a relationship. His single status was a self-fulfilling prophecy.
“When do you and Brandon leave for your romantic getaway?” If Sam was jealous—undeniably—but he buried it down deep so Christian would never see it. It wasn’t so much that Sam wanted a romantic getaway specifically, he just wanted someone who’d like to take him on one someday.
“This weekend.” Christian tried to look nonchalant about the timing, but this weekend was Valentine's Day. As a single person, Sam tried not to let the holiday get to him, but it got harder every year to see all the loved-up couples around him. Even the ads were focused on love because capitalism could monetize anything and had long ago learned how to leverage human emotions to make huge amounts of cash. Love was big business.
“You’re going to have the best time.” Sam didn’t have to force his smile. His happiness for his best friend was genuine and couldn’t be hampered by any amount of petty jealousy on his part. Christian had been through a lot to get where he was. Where Sam’s parents had encouraged his independence, Christian’s mom had been a well-meaning helicopter parent. It had made Christian feel suffocated to the point that he moved out before he started college into a room Brandon had for rent. Though there was a significant age gap between them, the two of them were clearly made for each other. And even years later, they were just as happy as they were when they first got together.
“You should at least let me give you his number,” Christian said, calling attention to the fact that Sam clearly hadn’t been paying attention to the conversation.
“What is it about him that makes you think he’ll be a good match for me?” Sam sipped at his coffee, which had gone cold, but he didn’t care. “Do you have reasons beyond we’re both single and you think he’s cute?”
Christian’s cheeks turned a rosy pink color. “Well, he’s very nice. One of those guys who has, like, golden retriever energy. Everyone likes him.”
“You can relax. I won’t tell Brandon about your little crush.”
“It’s not a crush!” Christian protested a little too hard, but Sam wasn’t going to make fun of him anymore. Christian was hopelessly devoted to Brandon. The couple was actually kind of sickening to be around.
Sam swallowed his jealousy. He knew that if he changed nothing, nothing would change. And that knowledge was equal parts terrifying and comforting. But in the end, terror won out. The worst thing that could happen was that nothing would come of it. Or maybe they’d meet and they wouldn’t hit it off. Worse things had happened.
“Fine, you can give me his number.”
Looking suddenly smug, Christian reached for Sam’s phone and unlocked it with the passcode. Christian and Sam didn’t have secrets from each other. Even basic ones like phone passcodes. He watched as Christian opened up his contact list and added a new one.
Christian was partway through putting the number in when his phone chimed with the sound Christian had assigned to Brandon. “Ah, shit. Brandon said he was going to text me when he was outside. We’re going grocery shopping.”
Christian smiled like it was the greatest kind of date in the world. To them, it probably was. The pair were always cooking together. How lovely of them to find romance in the mundane, Sam thought as Christian closed the notebook and shoved the phone back over to him.
“Don’t have too much fun.” Sam suffered through a quick hug, and then Christian was out the door, his half-eaten chocolate croissant left behind. Sam tugged it across the table and tore off a chunk.
Part of him wished that he’d gotten more information about the mysterious stranger out of Christian. Something beyond Christian’s obvious crush and the fact the guy had golden retriever energy, whatever that meant.
A quick search on the internet revealed that people with golden retriever energy were just happy, eager-to-please kind of people. Friendly and beloved by most, sort of like the dog breed was.
It wasn’t like Sam was going to call him anyway. Or text. He didn’t even know if this guy knew about him. And the idea of just springing himself on a random stranger via text message was too weird for Sam to seriously consider.
Yet somehow Sam found himself staring at the number before he put his phone away. Afterwards, Sam finished Christian’s croissant, then neatly stacked the dishes at the edge of the table to be collected. He bundled his scarf around his neck and pulled his coat back on before waving to the barista and heading out into the snow with Ace happily trotting along beside him.
“At least I have you.” Sam tried not to let that thought depress him. Ace clearly enjoyed the snow as they walked home.
Sam’s seizure disorder meant that he’d never be able to drive. He often took Ubers or public transit, but most of the time he preferred to walk. Keeping the rest of his body in decent shape had always been important to him.
Sam was still a few blocks from home when Ace made the alert. He suddenly walked in front of Sam, blocking his path. At first, Sam thought he was just being silly, not wanting to go home because it was snowing and they were at the park. Then, when Ace nudged his hand, fear stabbed Sam in the guts.
They’d made it to the park—his apartment was on the other side—but there was no way he could make it all the way there. And there was no way he could make it back down the street to where there were more people.
Sam fumbled for his phone. He knew time was running out so he fired off a text to Christian, begging him to come help him. He gave Christian his location, and told him a seizure was coming and that he couldn’t make it home. The smarter thing would have been to call 911, but in the moment, Sam wasn’t smart. He was terrified as Ace signaled for Sam to get down.
Sam lowered himself down into a crouch, which didn’t please Ace. Sam was supposed to get as low as possible and be clear of any objects that might hurt him. But, right now, the greatest threat to Sam was the snow.
In the snow was a terrible place for this to happen. Sam could be out for minutes, or longer, and getting himself sorted afterward would be difficult. With the last of his remaining brain cells, the ones that weren’t running around in circles in his head and shouting about how the sky was falling, Sam managed to dial 911.