The Trailhead Saloon, a gay country bar near Los Angeles, is home to loud music, shirtless bartenders, and endlessly affectionate banter. It’s also where two strangers think they must be enemies, decide they could become friends, and do their best to ignore how much either of them wants an unfathomable happily ever after.

Beau Davenport has been a regular at Trailhead for far too long, his bartender ex-husband one of a few bad excuses to stay, and he’s surprised the night he finds one more reason to stick around. Adrian Ortega is new to California, and it’s not his decision to show up at the bar in the first place. Once he’s there, though, sipping his Jack & ginger and watching Beau dance, he isn’t in a hurry to leave.

But both Beau and Adrian have wounds—some poorly healed and others freshly made—and after weeks of never speaking to each other, the night Beau finally introduces himself is the same night everything goes wrong. “I think I hate you,” Adrian tells him, and Beau doesn’t have it in him to disagree. The two make things worse between them before they consider trying anything better, and then they quietly work through years of guilt and grief together when they finally realize they don’t have to do it alone. No matter how much they both want more than their tentative friendship, chasing a first kiss after ruining everything the night they met seems impossible. Maybe if they can find ways to keep spending time together—to keep touching each other—it will be enough.

***The first of the Trailhead series, this explicit MM romance features some emotionally difficult plot points/themes. Content warnings DO contain spoilers, so only read on if you're concerned about potential triggers. Adrian and Beau's story includes a minor character death (off page); discussion of mental health/depression and fatigue regarding the care of a loved one; and a conversation surrounding a character's past suicide attempt, during which the dialogue is blunt/harsh.

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