Golden Boys (Golden Boys, #1)(60)

SAL

Eight hours on a bus with only one stop is not my ideal way to travel. But it was cheap, and I could book it impulsively, so it’ll do. I feel a sense of home, of familiarity as I step off the bus. I grab my suitcase and roll it down the sidewalk. It’s dark but not silent here. Apparently a few fireworks shows or celebrations must have happened recently, because it’s impossibly busy tonight.

I pull up my phone and flinch when I think about who I’m letting down by leaving DC. How I’m going to have to admit that I wasn’t cut out for it. But now that I’m away I feel a sort of ease reach my chest, and I know I’ve made the right decision. I don’t have a ticket back yet, but once I clear my head, maybe I can try this whole internship thing out again. Or maybe I’ll just stay here.

GABRIEL

We say goodbye to Art and Tiffany at the front of the dorm. They’ve finally dropped the topic of me and Matt, and Tiffany gives me a tight hug before she leaves, and I get the feeling that she approves.

Matt and I talk into the night, watching drunken strangers stagger around and hearing residual booms from fireworks off in the distance. July nights used to remind me of summers with my friends, drive-in movies, and bonfires, but I know that now they’ll only remind me of Matt. Of our hands sticking together in the humidity, of his lips on mine.

He rests his head on my shoulder, and we watch the people go by. And I think I spot a familiar face. It’s happened before, me seeing his face in crowds of people, and each time it tugs at my heart in an awful way. But this time, as he gets closer, the recognition doesn’t fade.

It’s Sal. He’s here, in Boston.

The past crashes down on me all at once.





CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

HEATH

Tonight’s shift was brutal. We knew to expect it—people in Daytona are wild as it is; add in a national holiday and people are likely to go far out of control. Jeanie’s a force to be reckoned with, though, which she showed by throwing three people out of the arcade before we even got to midnight.

The only thing that got me through it was my midshift texts with Reese. It was such a weird dynamic: he was up early getting ready to start his day of sewing, and I was lugging kegs around this never-ending rager. We largely communicated in emojis and short texts, because I didn’t have time to do much else, but it was something.

I’ve never seen people so drunk, but before this, I guess I wasn’t around it too often, if ever. The guys and I have gone to parties, and we’ve been able to sneak a couple of six packs out to a bonfire before, but I’ve never been like that.

Maybe that’ll change tonight. Diana and I show up to the Fourth of July beach party after everyone else, but we didn’t have much of a choice—it was all-hands-on-deck at the arcade, and even Diana knew not to try to get out of it.

I go to knock on the door, and Diana laughs.

“They’re all on the beach out back. No one’s going to hear you knock.” She confidently opens the door to this bizarro mansion beach house, and with the exception of a couple making out on the sofa, she’s right that it’s basically empty here.

“You nervous?” she says coolly.

“A little, yeah. I’m not usually nervous meeting new people, but something tells me we’re going to have to drink fast to catch up.”

A case of beer cans are lined up on a table next to a cooler, like someone started to fill it up but promptly got distracted and walked away.

“Nice and warm, just like I like it,” Diana jokes as she palms a can.

She throws it to me and gets out her keys. “Let’s step back and shotgun this, then we can fill up the cooler and bring it out to them. You’ll be a hero.”

We step out back, and I scan the beach. About twenty teens are spread around in every direction, with the largest cluster around a tiny beach fire. It’s no bonfire, that’s for sure, but it’s something. Just looking at it brings me back home for a second. Even if nothing else is the same.

I’ve never shotgunned a beer, but Diana shows me the ropes—I poke a key into the side, bring the hole to my lips, crack the beer, and chug. I spill a little bit down my shirt, but otherwise I’m able to finish it pretty quickly. My stomach feels warm and gross all at the same time, and I wait for the buzz to kick in.

“All right, now that that’s done, let’s go take over for whoever was supposed to fill up the cooler.”

When we come back in, I see that sand’s been tracked all over the kitchen, and I realize just how late we are to this party. Diana says they last well into the morning, but after that shift, I’m not even sure I want to stay up.

“Thought I saw you guys,” Cole says as he enters the kitchen. His eyes are a little glassy, but compared to the couple who just rolled off the couch mid–make out, he seems a little more in control.

The buzz starts to hit me, and it churns up a different warm feeling. Cole gives me a sidearm hug and plants a quick kiss on my cheek, and I almost light on fire.

“Good party?” I ask before looking in the freezer for any more ice for the cooler. I find none, but I guess the others are too far gone to really care.

“Better now that you’re here. I was talking with Ashlee most of the night, but then, well, she found Bryce while he was restocking the beers and, well”—he gestures at the couple making out on the shag carpet—“you get it.”