“Not a chance, but thank you for your concern. You have enough patients to worry about. Have a nice day.” Kyle closed the reception door firmly and leaned on the outside wall of the hospital.

After such minimal injuries, he was not going to let them fuss over him any longer—especially since he’d barely been able to afford the copay from this minimal treatment alone. Hanging around long enough for the cops to interview him had been about all he wanted to do.

He’d come out of this relatively well. The smoke inhalation, oxygen deprivation, something something he hadn’t paid attention to, had made him pass out. He just had a couple scrapes and a cough that might linger.

Denver had experienced blunt force trauma. Whoever had started the fire had… according to him… fucking knocked him out. Left him to die. He hadn’t said more than that. He was too angry to speak about it.

Kyle didn’t want to think about it. Denver was alive. He was going to be in the hospital overnight to make sure his lungs hadn’t been scorched. But Kyle was free to go.

At least Denver was awake, thank God, and he was as furious and talkative as a man wearing a ridiculous plastic mask of oxygen could be. Kyle hadn’t been able to get many words in edgewise, or understand many of Denver’s.

Thank God Evie pulled up right on time. Hiding out from the nurses in Denver’s room had been his backup plan, but now that he thought about it, not a smart one.

“Oh, my hero,” Kyle groaned and dropped into the passenger seat of her bright green Prius.

Evie just about attacked him, unbuckling to dive over the center of the seat at him and hug him tightly. “You… bloody idiot.”

“Is that Kevin-friendly swearing these days?” Kyle teased, but he hugged tightly and rubbed her back.

“He can deal with a few new vocabulary words. Did you already pay up and walk out? You didn’t rip your IV out or anything, did you?” Evie pulled back and eyed him suspiciously.

Kyle laughed and shook his head, showing the backs of his hands. “None needed. Just a little smoke inhalation, a few bumps and bruises from fainting.”

“Jesus, you fainted? Inside? Did the sexy firemen have to come rescue you?”

“Sadly, but also luckily, they did not,” Kyle confirmed, his lips twitching into a smile. “I love that your priorities are aligned with mine.” He held up his hand for a high-five and Evie rolled her eyes at him but slapped their palms together.

Their back-and-forth was almost enough to make him forget about everything on his mind.

Kevin, mainly. Christ, that had been a scare. If he hadn’t been paying attention, or if he’d been in the wrong place at the wrong time, he might never have made it home from work.

Evie sensed his shift in mood and leaned in again for another hug.

Kyle looked away, over her shoulder, trying to will the swimming tears in his eyes away. He was fine. He was going to be completely fine.

And he was fine on his own.

Only now he wasn’t so sure about that. In fact, as he thought about it more, he realized that was the opposite of fine.

Kyle cleared his throat when the hug had gone on a little too long and nudged her shoulder. “Get out of the fire lane, loser. Unless you wanna stay here.”

“Hoping for a second chance with them?” Evie teased, patting his shoulder as she straightened up and buckled up again.

Kyle laughed. “You know it, baby.”

“God, are you okay, though?” Evie asked more seriously as she pulled away from the curb. “That must have been terrifying.”

“It… it was,” Kyle admitted softly, leaning back into the familiar passenger seat and closing his eyes for a second. “Makes you think about things. Family.” Kevin, of course, but… Nic had come to mind, too.

Facing the very fragility of life had shaken him more deeply than he wanted to admit. The wrong place at the wrong moment and boom, that was it. No second chances, no do-overs.

No take-backsies, River would say.

Kyle rubbed his hand down his face. It was more than the fire that had him scared. He wanted to sweep Kevin into his arms and hold him all night, but that wasn’t the only ache in his chest. His own stance against relationships had left him here, without anyone to wrap his arms around him and tell him it would be okay.

Evie, River, Denver, or many of his other friends would hug him, sure, but… it wasn’t the same. It scared him shitless, but he wanted more.

And Nic was the first guy that came to mind—the only guy that came to mind—when he thought about who it could be.

I’ll call him tomorrow.

Kyle drew a breath and opened his eyes again to glance at Evie. “Don’t drop me at home. Can we see Kevin?”

“Of course, hon,” Evie murmured, squeezing his knee. Then she looked sheepish for a moment. “Um, I hope it’s not the wrong time, but… Nic’s staying with him. I couldn’t find anyone else, and…”

A smile spread across Kyle’s face, but he also couldn’t breathe.

Oh, my God. This could be it.

That was serendipity, wasn’t it? Or was it flat-out fear? They felt like the same thing: tottering on his toes on the edge of the same chasm of possibility that lay between him and his expectations.

“Okay,” Kyle said simply, because he couldn’t think what else to say.

Yeah, it was more than okay that Kevin was with Kyle. He had mentioned off-hand to Evie that he’d trust Nic around Kevin. Of course Evie would have remembered that.

“I thought you wouldn’t mind.” Evie’s voice was a lilting, gentle tease. God, how much had he talked about Nic without even realizing it?

Kyle’s cheeks were hot, and he didn’t answer. He couldn’t, until he knew how Nic felt about being kissed and left in the parking lot.

They had a lot to talk about, and a lot to make up, and Kyle had no idea what to say to Nic or how he’d say it.

As it turned out, it didn’t matter. They were at Evie’s house within what felt like seconds, and the moment the front door was open, Kevin came barreling into him at top speed, shouting, “Daddy, Daddy, Daddy!”

Kyle laughed and bent over to scoop his son into his arms. He barely had time to say hello to Nic before he was swept away by Kevin’s enthusiasm, his own spirits lifting.

“Fly!”

Kyle made Kevin fly, holding him under the arms and spinning him around the living room while Kevin lifted his hands.

“It’s late for even big boys,” Kyle told him after one flight. “We’re going to fly to your room.”

And then he was going to hug Kevin like he’d never hugged him before, and tuck him into bed. His little boy, whom, for a minute, he thought he’d never see again.

“To my room!” Kevin giggled.

“Yes, sir,” Kyle beamed, wiping his eyes on his shoulder as he turned Kevin to face the hall and trotted off toward his son’s room. “And I shan’t spare the horses.”