Second Chances in New Port Stephen - Chapter 96

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Second Chances in New Port Stephen - Chapter 96

Eli pulled away, clearing his throat. “So. You like your late Christmas present?”
“An effort was made,” Nick acknowledged as he surveyed the towel and the speaker and the
cooler. “The whole ‘just like old times’ theme is… charming.”
“Charming! You’re charmed?” Eli slid his hands up Nick’s chest.
“Thoroughly. You don’t expect me to have sex with you on the beach, though, right?”
“Dear god, no. Couple of guys like us, pushing forty? Hard on the joints.” Eli smiled with a flash
of teeth. “And I can’t imagine lube and sand are a good combination.”
“Oh, you brought lube, huh?” Nick wrapped his arms around Eli’s waist and pulled him closer.
He could hear the faint strains of “One Headlight” coming from the speaker. “That’s pretty
optimistic of you.”
“I figured we should have plenty of options available when we get back to your place.” They
swayed together. Like they were dancing the way they had at the Anvil, except this time it
wasn’t a gag. Eli snugged his face into the side of Nick’s neck. “Besides,” he said into his skin,
“who knows how long we have. Might as well enjoy it while it lasts.”
Nick made a confused hum in his throat. “I’m off work for the rest of the night, and Zoe is over
at Laurie’s, so we definitely have time.”
Eli laughed at that. “No, I mean—you know what I mean.” He pulled back, grinning, to look Nick
in the eye. “It is what it is. You’re still figuring things out; I might be moving to LA; we don’t
know how much time we have on the clock, but we know it’s ticking.”
A cold spear of ice went through Nick. He stepped back, feeling the wind pick up, freezing now
that he was paying attention. “What do you mean, I’m still—? LA?” There was too much to dig
through, and Nick didn’t know where to start.

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Eli looked at him like he was waiting for a punchline. “Yeah, I might move out there. Or back to
New York. Who knows? But that’s cool. I am cool with whatever.” He patted his palms against
Nick’s chest like he was playing the bongos. Like this was too amusing. “We are adults doing
adult things for a limited amount of… adult time.”
Nick let go of Eli and took a big step back. “Okay, to be clear, then: this is not a long-term thing,
the two of us.” He kept his voice even, or tried to. If it wavered, it could be blamed on the night
breeze.
Eli licked his lips. It was hard to make out every twitch of his facial expression in the moonlight,
but Nick could see the broad strokes. He was still smiling. “Right. No, yeah. Exactly. We both
know that.”
Nick took another step back. Then another. If he hadn’t known it before, at least he knew it
now. This was nothing serious for Eli; it couldn’t be. That was fine. But Nick didn’t have to go
along with it. He didn’t have to pretend it didn’t mean what it meant to him.
“Nick?” Eli’s mouth fell out of his grin. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah. I’m great,” Nick said, sarcasm bordering on a snarl. “I’m going to go home. Go to bed
early. You get home safe.” He turned and marched through the sand toward the stairs, ignoring
the way Eli called after him.
“I thought you were charmed! Thoroughly!”