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Max Walker
Endless Stretch of Blue by Riley Hart
Lorenzo Moretti and Damon Blackwell have never met, but they're tied together by the same tragedy. They were both therethat night. They each lost someone they loved. They've been living as shells of their former selves ever since. Running into each other and realizing their shared pasts? Pure serendipity.
Being together is a tingle at the base of Enzo's spine, a comfort that settles into Damon's bones. No one understands what they went through the night the club caught fire--until now. For the first time, they have someone to lean on, someone who knows all the right things to say and when to say nothing at all. Neither of them has been with another man before, but their shared connection grows from friendship and explodes into something more, something raw and desperate and real. Now, they're dealing not only with their pasts, but their new relationship, the one thing that calms their internal storms.
Enzo and Damon might not know much else, but with every touch, with every word, and every night spent exploring each other's bodies, they know they're in love. They keep each other going, show each other what happiness really is.
But love alone can't get them through. Damon and Enzo must decide if they really have what it takes to work through their trauma and fight for the happily ever after that's waiting just on the horizon.
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PROLOGUE
Enzo
“How are things going, fratello?” Enzo’s brother, Ricky, asked as they sat at the restaurant together having dinner. Outside of sauce every Sunday at their parents’ house, Enzo rarely saw Ricky. It had been about two months since they had one-on-one time together. To some that wouldn’t be a big deal, but it was to Ricky. He liked to keep an eye on Enzo, check in with him, as though Enzo didn’t know how to run his own life. He wasn’t perfect like Ricky, but he did okay. Yeah, he hadn’t always made the right decisions, mostly in his teen years, and yeah, he was a little wilder than his older brother, but it pissed Enzo off that Ricky felt like it was his job to keep him on track.
Because he was automatically off track since he hadn’t gone into the Marines after college the way Ricky and their dad had, and at twenty-nine he hadn’t married and had no fucking plans to settle down anytime soon.
Finally, Enzo shrugged. “Good. How are things supposed to be? I work, hang out, hook up. That’s about it. Is there supposed to be something wrong?”
Ricky chuckled. “No, but you know it’s my job as your older brother to check in with you.”
No, no, it wasn’t, but as soon as that thought hit him, he felt guilty about it. Ricky was a good brother, even if he was perfect and everyone knew it. He’d always been there for Enzo, and there wasn’t really anyone he depended on the way he did Ricky. He was close with his sister Isabella too, but it was different with Izzy, and he didn’t know why. He figured Ricky judged him more than Izzy did. He’d never been close with his sister Sophia, although they loved each other; they had nothing in common. She was close with Ricky though.
“Have you found another job yet?” he asked before taking a bite of his steak.
That right there was the whole point of this dinner, and Enzo knew it. He was a carpenter and worked for several contractors. One in particular that he often had jobs with had just moved out of the area. He found small jobs here and there on his own, but none of the other contractors he worked with had anything for him at the moment, so of course Ricky would worry.
“Nah, but it’s okay. I’m looking, and I’ve picked up some small gigs on my own. I’ll be okay.”
“I was thinking I could talk to my buddy—”
“No.” Enzo cut Ricky off before the conversation could go any further. He was a grown-ass man. He was good at what he did. He liked what he did. He didn’t need Ricky swooping in to try and save him. “I got this. I can figure it out on my own.”
“Well, Ma was thinking you might want to get into something else… something a little more stable? There’s this program where—”
“I said no,” Enzo replied, more sharply that time. Jesus, couldn’t they let him be? He didn’t want another career. What he did was good enough for him. He wasn’t a suit like Ricky was. He couldn’t imagine going into an office every day; it wasn’t his thing and never would be. What he couldn’t figure out was, why wasn’t that ever enough?
The truth was, he wasn’t sure Ricky cared that much. He didn’t know if they would be having this conversation if his mom hadn’t mentioned it, because no matter what Enzo did, it was never enough for her. He would never live up to the example Ricky set for him.
“You’re right. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything at all. You know what you’re doing, and you know where to go if you need my advice.”
“Thanks, fratello.” It wasn’t often that Enzo called him brother in Italian the way Ricky did, and the fact that he did made Ricky smile.
“You know it’s just because we love you, right?”
He believed that, believed his brother loved him. “Yeah, I know.”
