Free Noah by Cara Dee Page A

but I'd been a fool to believe he wasn't still in pain. "You don't have to hide any of this for me. Remember we said no pretending?"
    He nodded jerkily, hugging me back, and I tightened my hold. It was a fucking relief. Human contact. I'd missed it beyond words. Touch gave me energy. I was a physical man, and without affection, the world was bleaker.
    "We'll get through this together, yeah?" I stroked his back, my mind trying to come up with ways that could help. Activity had always worked for me. Exercise, healthy eating, staying occupied.
    Julian shivered and nodded again. "Thank you."
    "I'm just as thankful," I murmured. "Easier finding purpose with you here, kid."
    And, goddammit, we were starting tomorrow. I was done hiding at home.

Chapter 7
    Two weeks later
    "Rise and shine, ya little fucker!" I banged on Julian's door and then proceeded to the kitchen. A bunch of fruit, some protein powder, and ginger went into the blender, and as usual, he didn't wake up from the noise. Or, rather, the kid ignored it.
    It'd been a week of this now, so I was getting used to it.
    Julian Hartley was not a morning person.
    After placing our breakfast shakes in the fridge, I went back to wake him up. I tightened the drawstrings on my sweats and scrolled down on my phone to find today's playlist.
    "Julian!" I pushed his door open and headed straight for his closet.
    "Get out," he said groggily into his pillow. "Enough of this hell."
    "Did you get any sleep?" I found a T-shirt and a pair of shorts and threw them at him.
    "Some. No nightmares."
    "That’s because you're staying active," I told him.
    Exercise couldn’t cure depression all on its own, and he'd had a handful of bad dreams these past two weeks, but it was a good start.
    "Like I have a damn choice." He sat up, eyes filled with sleep, hair messier than ever, and reluctantly pulled on the shirt. "The sun hasn't even come up, Noah."
    "Quit whining." I smirked as I attached my phone to the elastic band around my arm. "You think I'm enjoying this? I'm fucking suffering. But I know it's good for us, and as soon as it becomes a routine, we'll be moping if we don't get to run first thing in the morning."
    "I highly doubt that," he muttered and slipped into his shorts. "And stop calling it morning. I like mornings. This isn't it."
    I rolled my eyes.
    *
    As had become normal once I'd found out Julian smoked, he lit one up as soon as we came out of our building. And this morning, I wasn't having it. I grabbed it and stubbed it out.
    He scowled.
    "You said you'd been tryin' to quit," I reminded him.
    "Yeah, and then my family died."
    I didn't reply as I stuck one of the earbuds into my ear. He had a point, and I hadn't been a saint, but we had to move on, yeah? So if I could at least help him smoke less, it was good enough for now.
    "Come on." I jerked my chin, and then we were jogging down the street toward the beach. It would be an uphill battle on the way home, and I was planning to make it a race.
    Julian kept a few paces behind me, a fan of complaining, which I just thought was fun. He'd be sold soon enough.
    Once we were warmed up, I went a bit faster, enjoying the burn in my legs. I didn't know I'd missed it until this week. Getting the blood pumping, heart racing. I felt more energetic with each day that passed, and I was getting ready for more. Namely, work.
    I'd read Tennyson's script. Of fucking course, it was brilliant. He wouldn’t have decided to back an entire project for anything less.
    They were coming home today, too. They'd spent a week in Vancouver, all of them, and then Tennyson and Sophie had taken their two runts on a vacation to Hawaii. Tonight we were having dinner with them, and I was looking forward to getting Tennyson's thoughts on the script.
    It was the kind of project you went all in for, and it was supposed to take place in Paris. For authenticity, it made sense to film it there too, but that required a lot of fucking green.
    Like I'd already mentioned, this