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would jeopardize everything they had slowly been building over
the past week?
Shane looked over at him, barely able to meet his eyes,
and Vic swallowed against the sudden tightness in his throat
as they locked eyes.
“Vic?” Owen ventured uncertainly.
Vic stared at Shane for several moments longer, not quite
believing how much such a small amount of words could hurt
him, and finally Shane could take it no longer and he looked
down at the sand guiltily. Vic tore his eyes away and looked at
Owen like he’d been caught with his hand in the cookie jar.
Owen was staring at him disbelievingly, his mouth slightly
open and his brow furrowed. “Is that… is that true?” he asked
in confusion. “I thought….” He looked back at Shane and
shook his head.
Vic looked back at Shane, who had yet to raise his head,
and he licked his lips nervously before nodding to Owen almost
imperceptibly and whispering, “Yeah. Sort of.”
Owen took a few tentative steps toward him, hugging
himself tightly against the cool breeze as he struggled through
the sand. “Why didn’t…? I never knew, Vic,” he said in a
horrified whisper. “I never would have carried on the way we
did if….”
Vic turned fully to look at the man then. At one time he
had ached for Owen to know this, ached for him to have the
opportunity to reciprocate those feelings. He had ached to hear
these things from Owen and know that all that time Owen had
just not known how much he meant to Vic. This was exactly
what he’d wanted to hear. A week ago it would have made his
life complete, made him a happy man.
But now he knew there were better things for him in life.
119 Unrequited | Abigail Roux
“How could you have known?” he asked Owen with a sad
smile. “I never told you. I should have.”
“Why didn’t you?” Owen asked as he came to stand just in
front of Vic.
Vic looked down at the moonlit sand and bit his lip.
“If I had known I never would have…. I’ve treated you
horribly, Vic, for you to have loved me. If I had known…,” he
repeated helplessly. He trailed off as he looked at Vic, his blue
eyes full of such regret that Vic felt ashamed to have caused it.
“I would have tried to love you back, you know,” Owen said
finally. “Anyone could love you so easily…. I would have tried if
I’d known it was part of the deal.”
“Would have?” Vic asked curiously, feeling strangely
unemotional at hearing these words he had wanted to for so
long.
“It’s too late now,” Owen said softly, his tone just as
certain as if he had told Vic the sun was hot.
Vic furrowed his brow in confusion. “Go after him, Vic,”
Owen urged quietly. Vic’s head whipped around to find that
Shane was nowhere in sight. He looked back at Owen in shock.
someone special slip through your fingers just because you’re
too blind to see it. He loves you. Even I can see that,” he said
with a wry smile, and he accentuated it with a gentle shove.
“Go after him, before he pulls a Vic and finds someone better,”
Owen finished with a small laugh.
Vic stared at the younger man with his mouth hanging
open and his eyes wide with surprise. Owen was right. If he let
Shane walk away now, the other man would never believe that
he had been anything but a second choice, a backup when
Owen had failed to say the words Vic wanted to hear.
120 Unrequited | Abigail Roux
He turned to scan the house and beach and then looked
back at Owen urgently.
Owen pointed over Vic’s shoulder, down the dark beach
where Vic could just barely see the light material of Shane’s
shirt moving slowly away from them. He looked back at Owen
once more, not having the words or even the emotions to
express what he was feeling. He had loved the other man for so
long, it seemed, but had he really been in love with him? Vic
couldn’t possibly be sure now. What he was sure of, though,
was that he wanted Shane. He wanted him more than air.
Owen gave him one last smile of encouragement and Vic
ran his fingertips along the side of Owen’s face.
“Thank you,” he whispered with difficulty.
Owen nodded and made a little shooing motion with his
fingers, and Vic turned and broke into a run down the beach.
He slowed when he finally came close to where Shane was
now standing. It had been a long, hard run in the soft sand,
and Vic was more out of breath than he had thought he’d be.
Shane was standing in the surf, staring out over the water
and looking at the gorgeous reflection of the moon on the
fretful sea with his hands stuffed deep in the pockets of his
shorts. His short-sleeved shirt was unbuttoned and flapping
lightly in the gentle night breeze.
Vic found himself a little speechless. The other man was
stunning, and Vic wanted nothing more than to be able to call
him his own for the rest of his days. Shane heard him
approach and turned to look at him in shock.
“He’s an even bigger fool than I thought,” Shane said
bitterly as Vic came up to stand beside him. “If he doesn’t want
you for the rest of his life, he’s a fucking idiot.”
“He does,” Vic said with difficulty. “He does want me.”
121 Unrequited | Abigail Roux
Shane looked at him sideways briefly and then returned
his eyes to the water, swallowing hard and smiling sadly. “Then
what are you doing here, huh?” he asked, putting on a brave
front but not fooling Vic for a second. “I gave you privacy,
right? Go take what you’ve earned, Vic.”
“I don’t want him,” Vic whispered, holding his breath as he
waited for Shane’s reaction. Shane turned to look at him
slowly.
“I thought you loved him,” he said carefully, his voice
“So did I,” Vic said with a quick nod. Shane frowned and
Vic looked at him intently. “I was wrong, though,” he
continued.
Shane shook his head and opened his mouth, frowning
further in confusion and trying to formulate words.
“I don’t understand,” he finally said in a lost voice that
made Vic want to hold him close and never let go. “For years
you’ve mooned over him, and now that he’s willing you’re
changing your mind?”
“Yes,” Vic said immediately, a little shocked at how sure he
felt about it. He looked over his shoulder back down the beach,
saw Owen standing there unmoving where he’d left him, and
regardless of the feelings he had harbored for so long, Vic knew
that right here with Shane was where he was supposed to be.
“A few kisses,” he murmured as he peered through the
darkness.
“What?” Shane asked in confusion from behind
him.
“You said a few kisses would change my mind,” Vic told
him as he turned back around. “You were right. I kissed you,
and you kissed me back,” he said, taking a deep breath. He
licked his lips nervously. “If I were to love you, Shane,” Vic
122 Unrequited | Abigail Roux
ventured tentatively, his heart pounding and his breath
impossible to catch as he looked into the washed-out green of
Shane’s eyes in the moonlight, “would you love me back?”
Shane stared at him, unmoving and not even breathing as
he stood there. Vic held his breath as well, waiting for an
answer.
Shane looked down slowly, his hand reaching out as he
did so to tug at Vic’s limp fingers. Vic’s eyes followed the
movement, watching in confusion as Shane twined his fingers
with his and pulled Vic’s hand until Vic was forced to take a
little step forward.
“I’d be a fool myself not to,” Shane whispered as soon as
their faces were just inches apart.
Vic caught his breath, barely able to believe what Shane
had just said, and then his lips twitched and spread into a
slow, delighted grin. Shane held his hand tenderly, much the
same way he had held it in his sleep before, and with a shy
smile he closed the distance between them and kissed Vic
gently, the chaste kiss soon turning into a more demanding
one as Vic pulled Shane’s body to his.
They held each other close, overbalancing in their zeal to
celebrate and toppling to the wet sand.
They snickered happily as they heard an impressive wolf
whistle emanate from down the beach, their mouths unwilling
to part even as they grinned and giggled and listened to
another of Owen’s teasing whistles.
“How’s he see us, from all the way over there?” Shane
murmured between hungry kisses.
“Your shirt glows,” Vic said succinctly as he wrapped his
arms around Shane’s body and vowed never to let go again.
“Now stop talking.”
123 Unrequited | Abigail Roux
“Do you always nag this much?” Shane murmured in
between slow, languid kisses.
“It’s not nagging. It’s ordering. You’ll find out soon enough
who’s boss here, Your Honor,” Vic said cheekily as Shane
enveloped him in strong arms and kissed him hard to shut him
up.
“I’m sure,” Shane murmured into his mouth. “If we drown
out here, it’s your fault,” he added as the waves lapped at their
feet.
Vic grinned in the moonlight, looking up at Shane with a
wicked glint in his eye. This felt right, as Vic had known it
would. Vic could definitely do this for the rest of his life.
Don’t miss these other titles by Abigail Roux
http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com
Abigail Roux was born and raised in North Carolina. A past
volleyball star who specializes in pratfalls and sarcasm, she
currently spends her time coaching middle school volleyball
and softball and dreading the day when her little girl hits that
age. Abigail has a loving husband, a baby girl they call Boomer,
four cats, three dogs, a crazyass extended family, and a cast of
thousands in her head.
Visit her blog at http://abigail-roux.livejournal.com/.
Unrequited ©Copyright Abigail Roux, 2009
Published by
Dreamspinner Press
4760 Preston Road
Suite 244-149
Frisco, TX 75034
http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the
authors’ imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
Cover Design by Mara McKennen
This book is licensed to the original purchaser only. Duplication or distribution via any means is illegal and a violation of International Copyright Law, subject to criminal prosecution and upon
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Released in the United States of America
September 2009
eBook Edition
eBook ISBN: 978-1-61581-051-2
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