A Fallen Heart Read Online Free

overbid them on the asking price of the condo, in the hopes they would move on.
    “But they had no intention of ever buying the place. The contract fell through when they neglected to come up with financing, and so we jumped on it,” Adam finished for him.
    “Do they still live here?” Rob asked.
    Adam nodded and crossed his arms. “Right below us.”
    “Well, that’s awkward,” said Caleb.
    “Maybe for them. But our first night in here, we made sure they were aware of exactly how much we enjoy being ‘sodomites.’”
    Adam chuckled and Sam blushed.
    “What a couple of fucking assholes. They had to have known they’d get caught. What a shitty situation,” Rob said.
    “It worked out for us in the end. When it came to light what had happened, the original owner of the place knocked off a couple thousand dollars to make up for what we’d gone through,” Adam said.
    “This place is perfect for us.” Sam’s eyes looked almost misty as he spoke.
    Ford felt the knot in his throat. He needed to slow down on the wine. He was getting emotional. Although Sam and Adam were the only couple together in the room, and he was by no means a third wheel, the bitterness threatened to sneak in. He pushed it back, not wanting his issues to put a damper on the night.
    “Who wants a tour?” Sam asked.
    Everyone volunteered, and when the food arrived a moment later, Adam offered to set it out while Sam showed everyone around.
    It was a very short tour. The living room, dining room, and kitchen were all one space, with the ceiling in the living room open to the second floor. There was a staircase that ran along the wall to access the second floor, which held the three bedrooms—master and en suite, along with two guest rooms—as well as Sam’s office and a bathroom with a shower large enough for three or four people to fit comfortably inside, which Caleb demonstrated when he pulled Ford and Rob into the enclosure with him.
    The place was gorgeous, all high ceilings and industrial brick walls. Large windows let in the light of the city and a peekaboo view of the water from the far right. The place oozed Adam and Sam, and as intensely jealous as Ford was, he was happy for his friends.
    Sam led the tour back to the main floor, and everyone sat down to eat at the large farmhouse-style table that shouldn’t have worked in the space but somehow did.
    The food was amazing and the company even better. They got together regularly, but usually they chose the Copper Nickel, a bar centrally located near the hospital. It wasn’t the trendiest place, but it was the gathering spot for most of the emergency personnel in the area. It was nearly always busy, weekdays as busy as weekends, which also meant it was generally loud.
    Ford wasn’t sure they’d ever gathered at someone’s home for dinner. It felt so… adult. Adam offered him another glass of wine. He was going to need to pour himself into a cab soon or he wouldn’t be vertical enough to get home. But never being one to turn down an offer of alcohol, of course he accepted.
    Everyone at the table erupted with laughter when Rob finished telling a story about a call they’d done the week before where a grown man had gotten his head stuck in between the slats of his headboard during a particularly energetic round of sex with his girlfriend.
    Ford felt good. Laughing felt amazing, and he loved his friends more than anything. It had been too long since he’d taken a night to let loose and decompress.
    Even the new guy, Nash, was holding his own with the other guys. He knew from experience that breaking into a group so tightly knit wasn’t always the easiest, yet he seemed to fit right in, as though he’d always been a part of it. The way he looked at Ford, though, made goose bumps pop up on Ford’s skin. It made him hyperaware of himself. He felt noticed , and it put him on edge more than it should have.
    When dinner was done, Ford helped clean up the kitchen. Since they’d