Free Hero of Mine by Codi Gary

sucked to lose them.
    â€œYo, Best, mind if we join you?” a woman asked behind Tyler. He turned around and found Megan Bryce, one of the newest Alpha Dog trainers, standing with Slater Vincent. Slater had been assigned to Alpha Dog right before Bryce and was a silent dude, hardly the social type with anyone except Bryce.
    Tyler couldn’t blame the man. Bryce’s thick brown hair, clear blue eyes, and compact body were definitely attractive.
    Damn, Tyler was going to have to add another type of woman to avoid: the coworker. Because every fiber of his being was tempted to flirt with her.
    â€œNo, you’re both welcome, but you get the next round,” Tyler said.
    Tyler’s phone started buzzing in his pocket, and when he pulled it out to check the screen, an unknown number flashed at him. He was tempted not to answer it, but he found himself sliding his thumb across the green phone icon.
    â€œHello?” Damn, it was hard to hear in the loud bar. “Hang on a second; I’m having trouble hearing you.” Pushing his way up the stairs through the throng of bodies, he finally made it outside onto the planked walkway. “Sorry, who is this?”
    â€œIs this Tyler Best?” a woman asked.
    Tyler started to get antsy, wondering if this was a former lover calling with bad news. “Yeah, that’s me.”
    â€œMr. Best, this is Fiona McCarthy at Mercy San Juan. I’m calling about Henry Coleson. He has you listed as his next of kin, is that right?”
    Ah, no.
    â€œYes, that’s correct.”
    â€œI am very sorry to call like this, but Henry passed away forty-five minutes ago,” she said.
    â€œWhat do I need to do?” he asked.
    â€œWell, his instructions include being cremated, and he left detailed instructions for you, as well as a private letter. If it’s a bad time, you can come by and pick up everything tomorrow, and we can release him to the crematorium then—”
    â€œI’ll come now,” Tyler said.
    â€œOh, all right. Well, I’ll have everything waiting for you.”
    â€œI appreciate that. Thanks.”
    Tyler hung up the phone and swiftly sent a text to Kline, letting him know where he’d gone. Tyler hadn’t talked about Henry to anyone but Blake. Not because he didn’t trust his other friends, but because . . . Hell, he just hadn’t.
    Damn, he couldn’t believe he was gone. He’d been preparing for this moment since the first day he met Henry, but he hadn’t actually ever pictured how he’d react. For someone he hadn’t even known a year ago, Henry had touched something inside him.
    But when Henry had told him he had nobody, Tyler hadn’t realized what he’d actually meant. That Tyler was the only person in the world he could release his body to. A guy he had only known six months.
    How fucking sad was that?
    T YLER STOOD AT the top of the scenic overlook on Highway 50 several days later, looking out over the view. The blue of Lake Tahoe was almost crystalline in the early morning sunlight, the rays twinkling off the surface from a distance.
    Tyler held the urn that held Henry Coleson’s ashes and a bottle of whiskey in the other. Henry’s letter was stuffed into his back pocket, but the instructions were burned into Tyler’s brain.
    No one was traveling this early on a Friday, so Tyler dumped the container of ashes over the side of the mountain, watching them float down like a gray cloud into the fog below. Setting the container by his feet, he opened up the bottle of Jack Daniel’s and held the bottle up.
    â€œHenry, if you’re looking down right now, I want you to know that I could get arrested for this.”
    He could practically hear the wheezy chuckle on the wind. Just shut the fuck up and get it done, you pussy.
    Tyler took a swig, letting the liquor light a fire down his throat and blamed it for the tears in his eyes. After pouring some over the