Wood (A True Lover's Story #2) - A.E. Via Page 0,51

he’d walked out of those prison gates.

Wood flipped the blue, plastic sobriety chip over in his palm. He ran his thumb along the engraved words “To thine own self be true” and squeezed his eyes closed. He’d been so close to that nine-month chip. Brody had already been talking about it… now he’d blown it. He’d told himself when he got out that the required AA program he had to do would be a piece of cake because he wasn’t an alcoholic. Wood glanced around him. He was the damn epitome of one, and now he’d literally sunk as low as he could go. He was at rock bottom. He’d heard addicts talk about it at meetings, but he’d never fully got it, until now. Wood held his closed fist over the flames in the metal bin.

“Wood, don’t,” he heard Trent say from so close behind him.

Wood dropped the chip in the fire. He had no need for it, and he sure as hell didn’t deserve it. “I’ll be in in a minute.” He breathed heavily, the goddamn misery refusing to stay away.

“I’ll just wait here with you.” It felt like Trent was squatting behind him, and Wood felt those sturdy hands return… and he wanted them off him. He didn’t deserve this touch either. Trent’s teeth chattered close to his ear, and he wanted to turn toward that warm skin and hot breath, but he refused. He wouldn’t mess up Trent’s life too. He was a good guy, and he deserved better.

“Please go… I just need a minute,” Wood begged. He couldn’t let this happen in front of Trent, no way. “Go.”

“All right. I’ll wait right here in the kitchen,” Trent promised, then got up, taking his heat with him.

Wood was beginning to wonder if he’d ever get to feel a man’s welcomed touch again. Feel his strength and warmth like he had just now. He shook his head, then immediately regretted it. He wouldn’t if he had to be honest first. Good men didn’t sleep with murderers.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Trent

Trent woke with a hard jerk, as if someone had poked him in the ribs with a stick. Shit. He sat up and reached his hand around to work a kink in his lower back. Groaning from the discomfort, he glanced around, wondering how the hell he’d fallen asleep at the dining room table. It was still dark outside, but his internal clock told him it wasn’t long until daybreak. Damn, I must have been exhaust—

Trent didn’t finish his thought before he tore out of his chair and ran down the hall to Wood’s bedroom as last night’s events slammed into him. “Wood!” he yelled when he stumbled into an empty bedroom. “Fuck!” Trent hauled ass through the trailer and shouldered out the back door, knocking the screen off its hinges as he did. He didn’t know what the sound was that belted from his mouth when he saw Wood lying facedown in the dirt because he’d never made it before.

“No, no, no, no,” Trent gritted out as he hurried over and gathered Wood’s big body up in his arm and tried to move him. It felt as if he was attempting to lift a Volkswagen. “What the fuck have you done? Wood! Wake up!” Trent’s breathing stuttered at the first feel of Wood’s ice-cold cheek, and the look of his pale, chapped lips. “Come on, damnit. Don’t you even fuckin’ think about it.”

Trent tried with all his might to get Wood up, and he only managed to scoot him a few feet. He slapped Wood repeatedly on his cheek, trying to rouse him, feeling he wasn’t strong enough to carry him. He scrubbed his arms up and down Wood’s chest and arms to give him some friction. “Wake up, wake up. Or I swear I will call the police right now, parole or not, if you don’t fuckin’ wake up. You hear me?” Trent threatened.

Wood eventually groaned and his thick body began to tremor fiercely, and Trent breathed a slight sigh of relief, regardless that it sounded as if Wood was nothing but a massive ball of agony. He doubled his efforts trying to wake him, calling his name louder. Whatever it took, he’d do it. Wood’s body began to convulse as he heaved violently, and Trent went from scared to petrified. He got behind Wood and forced him up on his knees with his arms wrapped around him as if he was about to administer the Heimlich. Trent shoved