Nash, page 1
NASH
HONORABLY DISCHARGED
BOOK 4
NORA PHOENIX
E.M. LINDSEY
Nash by Nora Phoenix and E.M. Lindsey
Copyright © 2026 Nora Phoenix and E.M. Lindsey
Cover Model: Marcel V.
Photographer: Golden Czermak/FuriousFotog
Cover Design: Ozark Witch Cover Design
Edited and Proofread By: Abbie Nicole
Beta Readers: Abbie, Becky, Denise, Julie, Kris, Monica, and Vicki
All rights reserved. No part of this story may be used, reproduced, or transmitted in any form by any means without the written permission of the copyright holder, except in case of brief quotations and embodied within critical reviews and articles.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The use of any real company and/or product names is for literary effect only. All other trademarks and copyrights are the property of their respective owners.
This book contains sexually explicit material which is suitable only for mature readers.
CONTENTS
A Quick Request…
Connect with Nora Phoenix
Connect with E.M. Lindsey
Trigger Warnings
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Epilogue
Books by Nora Phoenix
Books by E.M. Lindsey
More About Nora Phoenix
More About E.M. Lindsey
A QUICK REQUEST…
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NASH
After my brothers in arms have all moved out, I’m suffering from a kind of empty nest syndrome. The only one left is Forest, Creek’s little brother.
Except he’s not that little. He’s seriously hot and sassy, and the way I dream about him is anything but brotherly.
But he’s too young for me, too innocent. Too…perfect. He doesn’t need a man with my kind of baggage.
When he gets sick, I’m there for him, even when he allows no one else in.
I will do anything to take care of him…and that includes marrying him so he’ll have health insurance.
But when fake becomes real, I don’t know what to do. Forest may need me, but how do I explain to him that I need him just as much?
Nash is the fourth book in the Honorably Discharged Series, which can be read as standalones but are much more fun if read in order.
TRIGGER WARNINGS
This book features a main character with minor PTSD struggles due to the realities of having been in active combat. Another main character struggles with a neurological disorder that causes mobility and speech struggles, as well as seizures. There are also secondary characters with a traumatic brain injury, amputation, and hearing loss due to an accidental explosion during a military training exercise.
CHAPTER ONE
NASH
“That’s the last of it.”
Tameron stacked the box he’d just taped shut on top of the previous two and put down the tape dispenser. His room was empty now, save those three boxes, and the sight made my chest so tight I could barely breathe.
I swallowed, determined to keep that stupid smile on my face as I looked at Tameron and signed at the same time. “Perfect.”
Tameron’s eyes softened, as if he saw through my façade. “Nash, I’m s—”
“Don’t be sorry. You’re moving in with Dayton, ready to start the next phase of your life. That’s cause for celebration.”
I wasn’t lying. As soon as I had picked up on the sparks between Dayton—I’d met him in my job as an EMT, and he and I had become close friends—and Tameron, I’d been rooting for them. They were perfect for each other, Dayton bringing out sides of Tameron’s character that I’d never seen before. Tameron was happy. Truly, deeply happy, which was a state I never thought he’d achieve.
He put his hand on my shoulder, in itself proof of how much Dayton had changed him. Tameron was, to put it mildly, not the touchy-feely type. “It’s okay to be sad.”
Case in point.
“I know, but I’m fine.”
Those eyes narrowed. “You’re not fine.”
Dammit, had Dayton said something? As happy as I was for the two of them, it did suck that I had sort of lost a friend…and a housemate. A brother. Because that was what Tameron, Bean, and Creek felt like. Little brothers. Brothers I’d shared a home with for two years, and who were now leaving the nest, Tameron being the last of them.
And my friendship with Dayton would never be the same again either. Of course we were still friends, but we’d both been single and had been able to spend a lot of time together, and now he had Tameron. I didn’t begrudge Dayton his happiness either because god knew the man was head-over-heels for Tameron, but it did leave me feeling a little sorry for myself at times.
Not that I would ever tell him that. Or Tameron. They had enough on their plates and didn’t need to worry about me.
I crossed my arms. “What makes you think I’m not fine?”
Tameron rolled his eyes. “I know you. You’re not fine. You’re sad and hurting, but also determined to put on a brave face so we won’t feel guilty. You can cut the crap, Top, because we do feel guilty. All of us do.”
Top. He’d called me by the old nickname the guys had given me back in the Army, when I’d been a first sergeant and their NCO. And yes, the double entendre of that name, what with me being gay, hadn’t escaped our attention. It had made for a plethora of jokes and been a cause for laughter, which had been more than a little welcome in the often bleak reality of what we did. “Yes, I’m sad, but that doesn’t mean I’m not fine. I’m always fine.”
“Jesus fuck, Nash, you’re killing me here.” Tameron unexpectedly pulled me into a tight hug, which was so rare that I froze for a moment before hugging him back. And when he held on and didn’t let go, I had no choice but to continue holding him, fighting to keep all those pesky emotions at bay.
When he finally let go, his eyes were a tad moist. “Thank you for everything.” When I opened my mouth to say he didn’t need to thank me, he cut me off with a hand gesture. “Yes, I do need to thank you. If not for you, then for me. I wouldn’t be where I am today without you, and that needs to be said.”
I guessed he wasn’t gonna let this one go, so I pasted on another smile. “You’re welcome.”
The platitude was damn near rotting my teeth with its sugary sweetness, but whatever.
“Maybe you’ll have time for yourself now,” he said. “Get your dick sucked by some cute twink.”
I quirked an eyebrow. “What makes you think that’s my type?”
Tameron snorted. “The lies we tell ourselves…”
What the hell was that supposed to mean? I’d had my fair share of hookups, but I’d never done them here where the boys could see. Not that I was in any way ashamed of who I was and what I did, but a man deserved some modicum of privacy, right? God knew I wouldn’t hear the end of it if they ever saw a guy leave my bedroom. “I have no idea what you mean.”
Tameron studied me for a moment more, then shrugged. “Yeah, I guess not.”
He grunted as he lifted the three boxes, but I knew better than to offer help. He wouldn’t accept it anyway, and the offer would only piss him off. I walked with him as he made his way to the front door, looking over his shoulder one last time as if he were saying goodbye to the house. “Do you need the key back?” he asked.
“Keep it. This will always be a home for you.”
I meant that. Not that I had any doubt about his relationship with Dayton, as those two were the real thing, but still. Everyone needed a safe space sometimes.
“Thank you.”
He looked as if he wanted to say something more, and I mentally braced myself. As much as I hated to see him leave, I needed him to get on with it because I wasn’t sure how much longer I’d be able to control my emot
But then he sighed. “See ya, Nash.”
“Take care, Tameron…and say hi to Dayton from me, okay?”
I watched him as he carried the boxes to his car, loaded it, and after shooting me a last look, drove off.
That was it. The end of an era. All three had found their way and were on their own now. The baby birds had flown the nest.
Fuck, I’d never expected it to hurt this much. I’d always thought parents should feel happy when their kids left, celebrating the freedom they’d acquired, but I now knew that wasn’t the case at all. I didn’t want my freedom. I wanted my brothers back. Not really, obviously, but still. Letting go was so much harder than I had counted on.
With a sigh, I closed the front door. At least the nest wasn’t entirely empty. Forest, Creek’s little brother, had moved into Creek’s old room a few weeks prior. He’d moved to the Bay Area from Texas and was now teaching history at Bayview Community College. With the housing situation being what it was and the absolute insane prices people had to pay—two thousand dollars for a one-bedroom studio the size of a closet? Get the fuck outta here—offering him to move in had been an easy decision. It wasn’t like I needed four bedrooms to myself.
I hadn’t seen as much of Forest as I had expected. When I’d first met him, he’d been a bubbly, vibrant kid—no, he wasn’t that young, obviously, but I preferred to think of him as a kid since that prevented me from thinking about him in other ways—but he was now more reserved.
I hoped he was doing okay. Maybe now that Tameron had moved out, I would have more time to spend with Forest. That was a definite silver lining, right? I’d better focus on those before I truly turned into a bitter old man. The good Lord knew I was only steps away from that.
A door upstairs opened, and as if he knew I’d been thinking about him, Forest came walking down the stairs. As usual, I had a hard time dragging my eyes off him. Probably four inches shorter than me and with a slender build, he was gorgeous in every way. Soft creamy skin, a smattering of freckles, pretty brown curls, and pouty lips that just begged to be kissed made for one hell of a package.
He was almost at the bottom when he tripped, stumbling. My arm shot out, and I caught him reflexively, putting him down on his feet. “Careful there.”
Big moss-green eyes looked up at me. “Sorry. I was… I don’t know what happened. I guess I tripped over my own feet.”
He frowned, though, as if he didn’t quite believe it himself.
“It happens, but you’d better not do it on the stairs. Even a fall from the last two steps could end up with you getting hurt. We had a lady last week who managed to break her ankle by stepping off a ladder wrong.”
“Oh gosh, that’s awful.”
Forest’s language always made me smile. As a teacher, he’d conditioned himself never to curse, and it made him sound adorably cute. “Yeah, she was by herself and couldn’t get up, so she ended up calling 911.”
Forest looked down, and I jerked back when I realized I was still holding his wrist. “Sorry, I was…” I gestured vaguely, not even knowing what I was trying to say. Forest had that effect on me.
He cleared his throat. “No harm done. Thanks to your quick reflexes.”
“I’m glad I happened to be standing here, or you could’ve gotten hurt. Or maybe you wouldn’t have tripped. It could’ve been me who distracted you. Not on purpose, obviously, and I didn’t mean to, but—”
“You didn’t distract me.” He cut off my rambling, and thank the gods for that. I had the weird tendency to make a fool of myself around him. He made me nervous, for some reason. Or maybe I was still more shaken up about Tameron’s departure than I wanted to admit, even to myself.
“Okay. Good. That’s good.”
Oh, for the love of god, shut up.
He smiled at me. “What’s for dinner tonight?”
I blinked.
“It’s your turn to cook, right?”
Crap. It was. “Erm, loaded mashed potatoes,” I said, knowing that the day I didn’t have potatoes, bacon, sour cream, and shredded cheese of some variety in my fridge, the world was ending. “With meatballs and, erm, green beans.”
I was pretty sure I still had some ground beef in the freezer, and we usually had green beans too. If not, there would definitely be peas or carrots.
Forest laughed. “You just totally made that up.”
I smiled sheepishly. “You caught me…but does that sound good?”
He shrugged. “You haven’t made a meal yet that I didn’t like, so…”
“Well, it helps that you’re not as picky an eater as your brother.”
“As much of a complainer, you mean,” he countered as we made our way to the living room, and then he followed me to the kitchen.
A quick check showed it was five-thirty, so I might as well start making dinner. I liked eating early—one of the leftover habits from my Army career—and Forest seemed to have adapted to that habit because he always made sure to have dinner ready around six as well when it was his turn to cook.
“It’s gotten a lot better since he met Heath, I’ll tell you that.” I continued our conversation as I grabbed the potatoes from the fridge.
Forest was already filling a large pot with water.
“You don’t need to do that,” I told him.
“I figured I’d help you since we’re both here anyway.”
Cooking together. That was new. I liked it, probably more than I should, which was only more proof of how truly pathetic I was becoming. “Sure.”
I started peeling the potatoes as he defrosted the ground beef. “How was work today?”
He shrugged. “I like it. It’s a small community college, but I like that I get to build relationships with my students. And it’s very diverse.”
“You speak Spanish, right?”
He wiggled his hand. “Enough to get by, but I’m nowhere near fluent. But I can understand and make myself understood, so that’s good enough, I suppose.”
“I’m still learning. I picked up some phrases in the military since we had some Latino men, but they weren’t necessarily the most useful…or appropriate. Sure, I can proposition women in Spanish, but first of all, I don’t play for their team, and second of all, I’m pretty sure the lewd language would mean they’d beat me over the head with a baseball bat.”
Forest laughed. He had this melodious, full laugh that always made me happy, like a reward in and of itself. “You never know when it might come in handy.”
“For seducing women? Never. No offense to women because I think they’re amazing, but I’m one hundred percent gay. Well, close enough anyway.”
I’d finished peeling and cutting the potatoes and was now gathering herbs and spices for the meatballs. Italian seasoning always worked, plus lots of garlic, of course, and onion powder. Salt and pepper, obviously, and I’d also need mustard and bread crumbs. Oh, and an egg. It was my grandma’s recipe, and her meatballs had been legendary.
“Same,” Forest said. “I’ve never been attracted to women. Like you said, I love them, but not like that.”
“I tried it once,” I said. “Just to see if I really was gay. I invited this woman on a date. I was on leave and she was interested, and in my defense, I was nineteen and perpetually horny, as most boys are at that age, so I didn’t see anything wrong in test-driving my sexuality.”
“You mean test-driving her.” Forest shot me a grin as he put water on for the green beans.
“Eh, same difference.” I had no idea why I was telling him this, but whatever. Now that I had started, I might as well finish the story. “But anyway, we went on a date, and I paid for the movie tickets and for dinner at this barbecue joint, and then we headed back to my car, where she started to make out with me. She could kiss, I’ll give her that, but that was about it. Nothing about her soft curves did it for me, no matter how nice her breasts were. She left me cold…or I should say, soft.”
