Flames of Courage Stand alone book

CH 7 Blake's Side

And finally Blake's POV-

Sitting at my desk looking through all the evidence on Maens case combing through everything again and again trying to connect the dots is making me tired. It's been two weeks since the last letter and I'm afraid the stalker might up the anti and try something more crazy soon if I don't catch him before he gets the chance.

My partner Nathan Helms sits at his desk across from me running his hands through his curly brown hair. It one of his nervous habits that makes me smile. I'm so glad I was partnered with a nice guy around my age it makes getting along as partners easy.

He's new to the department too only working here for two years so we have a lot in common. He has really dug in and really helped me with Masen's case so I'm really great fun to him and his patience with me trying to solve this case.

I push over the photos of our evidence of Masen's case and tap on a single word on the page. "This poem saying does your mother know? It makes me want to look into Masen's past see if we can dig up his birth mother and make sure she isn't the one responsible for all this."

Nathan nods. "I agree these letters don't seem overly romantic and the thing about the baby picture I can see a birth mom who gave up her baby doing that. It's a good start as any." I nod and share all the details I know about Masen being left at the safe drop at the fire station and his dad's eventually adopting him and we start trying to work our way back with hospital records.

Three long hours later and we have two possible leads. One women still lives in town so we decide we will go see her first thing tomorrow and ask some questions. Nathan gets up and stretches and I do as well while looking at the clock and see it's already four o'clock. "I better head out I will see ya tomorrow."Nathan nods and starts cleaning up his desk while I grab my jacket on my way out.

On the drive home I listen to the radio and think about Masen. Masen has been my best friend for a long time and I would never do anything to jeopardize our friendship but not for the first time I have to give myself a pep talk on the way home. "You will not leer at Masen tonight." I say over and over until I pull into my spot at our apartment.

I take another deep breath as I get in the elevator and remember that Masen and I are just friends by my choice. I know he has had feelings for me since high school but back then I thought I was very straight and his feelings scared me.

When Jenny asked me out in high school I thought my prayers were answered I had a way not to ruin my friendship with Masen without comforting the elephant in the room. I didn't feel the same for him at the time and I didn't want to hurt him so I dated Jenny until eventually I actually fell for her.

After a while of Jenny and me dating Masen turned into a monk he didn't even look at guys or girls in front of me so I figured maybe I was just some anomaly crush he had and he really did like girls. I thought that our friendship being so close just blurred the lines for him but every girl I tried to set him up with didn't work. Finally I confronted Masen and he spit out the truth he was gay.

After that Masen tried to avoid me but I just tracked his stupid ass down and showed him nothing changed. He was and always would be my best friend regardless of his sexuality. Now though it's a different story living with Masen is whole new ball game. We sleep in the same bed he changes in front of me and all these other domestic things that make me think I'm not as straight as I always thought.

The first time Masen stripped out of his clothes to get in bed I got so hard my dick actually throbbed so bad it hurt. I had to go rush off to take a shower to take care of things before going to bed that night. It was torture to lay right next to him feeling his body heat in bed. I told myself it was a fluke, I hadn't had sex in while and that was all I chalked it up to. Now as the months have gone by I'm slowly realizing I think I'm in love with my best friend and it's just too little too late for that.