2016 Top Ten Gay Romance

Scott:1996

“She’s so damn tiny,”Mark said.

Scott stood in the hospital room,cradling his newborn daughter in his arms.She was wrapped in a striped hospital blanket with a pink stretchy cap on her head.“Yeah,she is.The whole nine months,I thought I was prepared and now I feel like I haven’t got a clue.”

“I think every new father says that.”Mark put a hand on Scott’s shoulder.

“I want you to be her godfather.”Scott looked at his friend with infinite trust.

“Me?Some single guy without a clue?”

“Mark…there is no one else on earth I would trust the same way if something happened to me and Lynn.”

“Okay.Okay.Put my name in the blank and hope I’m never needed.”

“You’re always needed.You’re my best friend.Who else is gonna give me a ride home from the morgue at three in the morning?”Scott teased.

“I still can’t believe the brass made you guard the already dead body of some gang banger.”

“The hypothesis was that the rival gang wanted to parade him around and prove how bad ass they were.”

“What were the high muckety mucks expecting,that his killers were going to tie him to the hood of a car like a dead deer and drive around town?”

“I suggested they behead him and put it on a pike outside the morgue,all twelfth century like.”The baby in Scott’s arms made a faint protest.“I wonder if she’s hungry.Maybe I better give her back to Lynn to feed.”

“Do you think we’ll still be making bad jokes about corpses when she’s ready for college?”

“Yeah,probably.”Scott gave Mark a grin.There was no other guy he wanted to be trading horrible jokes with eighteen years from now.

Mark:1998

Hot summer days were made for car washing and beer drinking and hanging out.Scott soaped his Toyota in the driveway in front of the house,cut off denim shorts hanging low on his hips.Mark was scrubbing the hubcaps with a big nylon brush,down on one knee,sun beating down on his bare back.Neither he nor Scott saw much point in wearing more than shorts.Sudsy water dribbled down off the fender and soaked Mark’s arm. Get faster updates on nove‌lceo.com.

“Thanks but I don’t need a bath,too,”Mark said,amused.

Scott peered down at him,big wet sponge in his hand,and extended his arm,dropping the sponge on Mark’s shoulder.“Maybe you do.”The sponge bounced off and fell to the ground.

The temptation was just too great.Mark picked up the sponge and threw it at Scott’s chest.

A wicked grin curved Scott’s mouth and mischief burned in his eyes.Within five seconds,Scott was squirting him with the hose.

Mark picked up the bucket of soapy water and doused him.It turned into a wrestling match on the grass with Scott on top of Mark,trying to jam the hose down the back of his shorts.

“What are you two,twelve years old?”said Lynn as she came out of the house with Kari balanced on her hip.“Look at your daddy,he’s a wet mess.”

Scott smiled up at Lynn.“If you weren’t holding her,you’d be wet,too.”

Lynn just rolled her eyes and shook her head.

Scott slowly stood and gave Mark a hand up.

“I think you owe me a beer,”Mark said.

“Car’s not done yet.”Scott grabbed up the hose and blasted Mark with the spray,which turned into another bout of horseplay with Mark sticking the hose up the leg of Scott’s shorts.They finally quit,both drenched and sat on the grass laughing.

Mark looked longingly at his best friend.Wrestling,touching,wound around Scott,it made ideas burn in his head that shouldn’t be there.Unexpectedly,Scott met his gaze and Mark wondered if he saw something equal in Scott’s eyes.No,probably not.The guy was happily married and had a kid.It was a forbidden thought anyway.

Scott:September 11,2001

The world was in chaos.Scott’s first call had been to Lynn,making sure she was safe at her bank teller job.It wasn’t like the bank was really anywhere near the Pentagon,but Scott felt compelled to check on her.The second call was to Mark.

“Stenner,”Mark answered his cell phone,voice sounding raw and tense.

“Mark,are you okay?I know you’ve been patrolling in the Mall area.”

“It’s a fucking mad house around here,but I’m fine.”Mark coughed.“Shit,Scott,it looked like a fucking nuclear bomb had hit minus the damn mushroom cloud.It was across the river but still…”

“But you’re okay…” Find the original chapter at novelcеo.com.

“Yeah,intact anyway.”

“Janet?”Scott asked about Mark’s fiancé.

“Is safe.They’re backing up all the computers where she works in case there’s some kind of software attack.I gotta go.I’ll call you later.I promise.”Mark said and hung up.