“She needs you, not me. She needs someone strong enough to help her through this. I’m not that man.”

“Don’t do this. Don’t turn your back on her, goddammit!”

“I have to,” James said, defeated.

“You’re a bastard, you know that?” Elijah barked.

“I know,” James answered, not an ounce of anger in his voice. “I know.”

There was no doubt that James had fallen in love with Beth the same way that Elijah had. But according to Beth, she had never loved James that way which was why she’d asked him to go before the worst of it had ever hit, before Beth was nothing more than a shell of her former self.

Elijah wasn’t sure that was the case, not even now, but he knew Beth. She’d been trying to protect him and James. When she’d first found out about the cancer, it had been advanced. Far more advanced than they had expected. For the two years before she died, Beth had insisted that she live life to its fullest.

With Elijah. And only him.

James had fallen apart at the news that Beth had been sick and shortly after their argument, he had disappeared from their lives. When Beth died, Elijah had tried to find him, needing his best friend to lean on; someone who could understand the brutal loss that he was consumed by. But to no avail.

His heart hurt just from the memories.

His beautiful Beth.

She’d been the love of his life. No woman would ever be able to take her place. No woman would ever reach that part of him that had been reserved solely for her.

That didn’t mean that Samantha hadn’t touched another part of him. One that was looking for her, hoping for what she could offer him and it had nothing to do with sex and everything to do with that other part of him that needed to be needed.

Elijah’s phone rang, pulling him from his thoughts. He pushed out of the chair, and headed for the kitchen where he’d left his phone.

Fully expecting it to be some major emergency that required him to get his ass into the office, Elijah snatched the phone up, hit the talk button without even looking at the screen.

“Hello,” he greeted formally.

“Hey, man. How’s it going?”

Logan. Not work.

“Good,” Elijah said, hoping he didn’t sound like he was lying.

“Hey, I know it’s Friday and you’re probably at work, but I wanted to see if you could get away early. We’ll go out and catch a ball game tonight? I have box seats and they’re just going to go to waste if we don’t use them. My brother and his husband are going with.”

Elijah had turned down Logan’s previous invitation to play golf because he’d had to leave town, but this time there wasn’t anything that would get in his way. He definitely had enough vacation time to afford to take a few hours off on a Friday. Hell, he ought to take the whole day. His mind was that messed up.

As much as he wanted to sit in the dark and wallow in his own self-pity, he knew it wasn’t the best way to pass the time.

“Yeah,” he found himself saying. “That’d be great.”

“I’ll stop by and pick you up around five. Game starts at seven. Then we’ll head over to Luke’s and pick them up on the way.”

“I’ll be here.”

The call ended and Elijah stood in the middle of his living room.

A ball game.

With Logan.

It felt almost like deja vu. Something he would’ve done with James all those years ago. Not only had they shared Beth, but he and James had been close. And now he had another chance at the friendship that had been stolen from him because James had been… scared.

* * *

By seven o’clock, Elijah, Logan, Luke and Cole were at Globe Life Park in Arlington watching the Texas Rangers take on the Boston Red Sox.

The game had started out slow, but the beer was cold, the crowd was enjoying themselves and Elijah had finally relaxed. Luke and Cole had been bickering about something, keeping all of them laughing since the moment they got into the car.

But it was relatively quiet at the moment because Luke and Cole had headed off to get more beer rather than wait for someone to deliver it to them. It smelled like a setup, but Elijah didn’t say anything.

“Tell me about James,” Logan suggested, glancing over at him. The man was leaning forward, his elbows resting on his knees as he watched the game.

Yep, definitely a setup.

Elijah contemplated what he should tell Logan briefly. During the drive to get Luke and Cole, they had talked but mostly about work, about Elijah’s trips, and how often he was out of town or out of the country. As it turned out, they both travelled, although Logan didn’t leave town nearly as often, and when he did, it was usually for a day or two at most. Elijah had reluctantly informed Logan that he was generally gone for at least fifteen out of every thirty.

The discussion had been relatively casual, but Elijah had heard Logan’s interest and in turn, he’d been curious himself. So, he opted to go for open and honest.

“I met James in college. We started off as roommates and became good friends. After we graduated, James bought a house and I rented a room from him. I had started out at V.I. as a sales rep making little to nothing at first, but I quickly started climbing the ladder.”

“So it’s always been sales for you?”

“It has. I’m good at it, for whatever reason. V.I. had me going to trade shows, said I had charisma. I don’t know about all that but I was good with people.”

“Was?” Logan asked, grinning.

“Ok. Am. I am good with people. That’s when I met Beth. I somehow, by the grace of God, managed to catch her eye and by the time I had the nerve to ask her out that same day, she admitted she’d been hoping I would.

“Anyway, I’d known Beth for only a few months before I introduced her to James. I think James fell in love with her right away although we were all just friends. But they became close. Beth and I bought a house, I moved out of James’ but we still saw him all the time. After we were married, he’d stay at the house and the three of us hung out almost every day.”

Logan glanced over at him briefly before turning back to watch the action.

Elijah continued, “James was my best man at my wedding, he was going to be the godfather of our children, if we ever had them.”

“Did you want children?” Logan asked.

“Beth did. I was on the fence. When she got sick, it no longer mattered although she kept telling me she wished we’d had a baby so I wouldn’t be alone.”

“Would it’ve helped?” Logan sat back in his seat, crossing one ankle over the opposite knee as he regarded him.

“No,” Elijah told him point blank. “Nothing would’ve eased the pain of losing her.” Elijah watched the game for a moment, waited until the man at bat struck out three times before turning his attention back to Logan. “What about you? Did you and Sam plan to have kids?”

“No,” Logan answered quickly, a small smile. “We both know we’re not cut out for it. Hell, I had a dog – Bear, who is now my brother’s dog – and I couldn’t keep him. When work is your main priority, it’s challenging to take care of someone else.”

“You and Sam are a match then, huh? She’s just as focused as you are.”

Logan laughed roughly. “From what I’ve seen, you make the two of us look like slackers.”

Elijah laughed too, but it faded quickly. “I didn’t work this much after I met Beth. And definitely not after we were engaged. She was my life. Work was secondary.”

“I know how that feels,” Logan said and this time it was his turn to glance out over the ballpark. “If it weren’t for the fact I see Sam every day at the office, I’d spend a lot less time there.”

Right then, Luke and Cole returned, handing off two beers, one to Elijah, the other to Logan, before they dropped into their seats behind Logan.

For a few minutes no one spoke, aside from making a comment about the game. At least until Luke decided to throw out the question of the hour.

* * *

“So, what are your intentions with my boy here?”

Boy? Logan fought the urge to laugh at his brother, but he did roll his eyes. He’d fully expected Luke to put in his two cents, to give Elijah a tough time. That’s what Luke did. He didn’t want to open up about himself, but he didn’t have any qualms about calling others to the carpet.

Elijah glanced behind Logan at Luke, a smile on his face.

“If you’re asking if I plan to marry him, sorry to let you down, but that’s not on my agenda.”

“What is on your agenda?” Luke asked, his voice lowered, his tone serious.

Elijah glanced at Logan and he merely shrugged. If Elijah wanted to blow Luke off, he couldn’t blame the guy. What they did wasn’t any of Luke’s business.

“I was planning to sit here with my beer, enjoy the game. What’s on your agenda?” Elijah retorted, still keeping a measure of humor in his eyes although Logan felt his tension.

“Are you serious about this?” Luke asked bluntly.

“This? Is that how you see it?” Elijah said, lowering his voice a notch. “Why don’t you call it what it is? A relationship. Something more than friendship, maybe? And if by ‘this’ you’re referring to Samantha, at least have the decency to address her as a person.”

“This,” Luke repeated. “This relationship. I take it you’re not interested in my brother, because unlike me, he doesn’t swing both ways.”

Elijah’s brows furrowed slightly as he stared back at Luke over his shoulder. “I don’t swing both ways either. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.”