Chapter 13 #2
Nic lifted a brow, and Cam wanted to reach out and smooth it down. He settled for smoothing Nic’s tie instead. “Her sister went missing too. Runaway, for certain in that case, but she knows what it feels like. She wants others to have a better ending than hers.”
“You were a good fit for her team, then. But you left.”
Cam’s eyes clashed with searching, cautious blue ones. “I had my reasons.” Being near his best friend to start, a job promotion for second, no more Boston winters for third. A certain AUSA for all the rest.
Nic let it go for now. “You think the US Attorney might object?”
“He’s new since the admin change, so I don’t have any leverage there.”
“I’ll take care of it.”
That easy, and the calm washed over Cam again. Nic made him want to break all the rules, but at the same time, he made navigating so many of them easier. “Fuck, it’s good having you here.”
“Thank you for letting me help.” Hand drifting from his back over his ass, Nic drew him in for another kiss, like he couldn’t get enough.
Cam could commiserate, getting so lost in those lips and mouth that he barely registered the knock on the door. Or was that the second one? “That’s Quinn. He’s giving me, us I guess, a ride to the hospital.”
Caution and questions clouded Nic’s eyes once more. “I can stay here, look things over, then meet you at the station as planned if that’s easier.”
Cam shook his head. “No, it’s easier when you’re with me. Always.” He dropped a parting kiss on Nic’s lips, then straightened his hair and clothes before opening the door.
“Don’t tell me you got a girl in here?” Quinn said, waggling his brows and charging in.
Apparently he hadn’t done a good enough job with the hair and clothes.
His brother drew up short, however, when he saw Nic by the table.
Nic had done a better job setting himself to rights, looking his usual polished self, though Cam noticed his shoulders a tick higher than usual.
“You must be Quinn,” he said, hand extended.
“Assistant US Attorney Nic Price. I work with Cam in San Francisco.”
Quinn shook his hand. “You’re here to help with the case?”
“Just got in. Cam was catching me up. He’s been up all night working.” Nic gestured at the wrapper-filled coffee mugs, the mess now working in Cam’s favor.
“Well, that explains things,” his brother said, seemingly satisfied.
Except it didn’t explain things in the least, and by the look Nic was giving him, his brilliant mind was putting things together. Cam had a lot of explaining to do.
The car ride to the hospital was cordial enough, making getting-to-know-you small talk with Quinn.
Nic asked about the fishing business. Quinn asked how long he’d been a lawyer, and once he found out Nic had been a SEAL, all the usual questions.
When Quinn asked if he had any tattoos and Nic answered “A few,” Cam, in the passenger seat, quickly diverted his gaze out the window and slapped a hand over his mouth, muffling laughter.
It was the only break in Cam’s otherwise tense, uneasy posture. Nic had seen him like this once before, the night before he’d gone undercover with Becca’s crew, anxious and worried that he would overstep the line from present cover to past reality.
This was not the relaxed, confident, could-talk-to-a-tree investigator and friend Nic knew.
He couldn’t easily write it off as family tension either.
Yes, their mother’s condition and digging into Erin’s disappearance were causing a strain, but the family was still close.
Angry maybe, awkward not. Nic couldn’t help wondering if the tension had to do with something else.
Like Cam not really wanting him here in Boston.
And did that have anything to do with Quinn’s comment when he’d arrived or with Cam’s reaction to it?
Nic had covered for him, out of habit more than anything, but to say he was confused right now was an understatement.
Back in San Francisco, Cam had been the one wanting to move in together, to take things public. Nic had conceded on the moving-in part. Not necessarily by choice, at first, but after missing Cam this week and after his talk with Mary, he was reconsidering.
Except had Cam now changed his mind about making their relationship public?
Because there wasn’t going to be one, kisses notwithstanding?
Because he was going to move back here? It would be safer for him out of Nic’s orbit, but Nic’s chest ached at the prospect and disappointment left a funny taste in his mouth.
All of which paled in comparison to the life-and-death matters they had to deal with here and now. Squelching down his disappointment, Nic buttoned his coat as they approached the waiting room full of people he recognized from the pictures on Cam’s desk.
Cam wanted to go over some questions with his mom, and he wanted Nic there for that in case he saw some connections Cam had missed.
But the family was gathered for an update on Edith’s condition first. Nic offered to wait in the cafeteria until they were done, but Cam, for all his awkward silence, shot that suggestion down like a dart.
The pleading in his dark eyes was all Nic needed to see.
Though seeing a room full of dark furrowed brows over eyes glaring at him, the only other person besides Cam dressed in a suit, Nic thought maybe he should have trusted his gut and waited downstairs.
His gut soured further when Cam, putting extra distance between them, introduced him formally.
“Everyone, this is Dominic Price. He’s a federal prosecutor I work with in San Francisco. ”
Bobby greeted him first, his blue eyes kind as he shook Nic’s hand, thanked him for coming, and for having Cam’s back last spring.
Keith, who Nic recognized from his bearing, remained standing apart in the far corner of the lounge. “Why are you bringing more people into this?” he asked Cam. “Jamie wasn’t enough?”
“Nic’s the reason your leave got extended. Show some respect.”
Keith strode forward, arms over his chest. “My CO said it was a SEAL captain that got my leave extended, not a fucking suit.”
From his conversations with Cam, Nic had expected Keith’s attitude.
He even expected the bite in his words, having dealt with more than a few hotheaded enlisteds.
So he’d come prepared with his zippered case of ribbons and medals, and he’d clipped in two of the most distinctive pins, rank insignia Keith would recognize, as cuff links before they’d left the hotel.
Making sure his cuff was showing, he held out a hand to Keith. “Retired Captain Dominic Price, SEAL Team 3 and Navy JAG Corps.”
Bobby whistled low, and Keith’s startled blue eyes grew wide.
The sergeant snapped to attention with his next breath, as a well-trained Marine would do. “Apologies, Captain.” Keith shook his hand. “This is a sensitive subject for our family. I’m not at my best.”
“I’m aware of that, Sergeant,” Nic replied. “Cam’s also a friend. I know this is a difficult time for all of you. You’re doing better than most under the circumstances.”
“Who’s this?” came an even thicker Southie voice behind them.
Nic turned, spying the man who could only be Cam’s father standing in the doorway, two trays of coffees in hand.
Bobby relieved him of the coffees, passing them around, while Cam introduced Nic to his father, who greeted him warmly, expressing his gratitude for getting Keith’s leave extended.
“You’re friends with Cam in San Francisco?
” Nic nodded, and Ken slapped his back. “Be a good wingman and help my son find a wife who can get him to sleep.”
Beside him, Cam jerked, and Nic flailed for a response, at a rare loss for words.
A wife.
Not a wife or husband. And back in the hotel room, Quinn had asked if there was a girl in there. Not a girl or guy.
Was Cam not—
Before Nic could finish his thought, a doctor appeared in the doorway.
“How’s Mom?” Quinn asked.
“Why don’t we all have a seat?” the doctor said.
“That don’t sound too good, Doc,” Ken said as the family scattered around the room, claiming chairs and sofas.
If Nic had his way, he’d sit on the arm of the chair Cam had fallen into, but if his suspicion was right, that would be the last thing Cam wanted.
So he took up a spot on the wall near him.
Apart from the family but close enough Cam would know he was there for him and without causing him more distress.
“She’s holding her own,” the doctor said.
“With this many of us,” Quinn said, “she’s had a lot of practice.”
Laughter broke the tension, but then the mood nose-dived again with the doctor’s next words. “That’s good. She’s gonna need all her strength as we go on. We have to clean out some arteries, but I need to remind you of the possible complications, including an increased risk of embolism and stroke.”
Cam sucked in a breath, and Nic took a step forward, the instinct to go to him automatic. Until Cam stiffened, his rigid posture as clear a stay back sign as any. The comfort wasn’t welcome. Not here at least.
Because Cam wasn’t out as bisexual to his family.
The rest of the doctor’s words faded as Nic fell back against the wall and turned that revelation over in his head, a sandstorm brewing in his stomach and mouth and itching under his skin.
Christ, the last thing Nic wanted to hide at this point in life was his sexuality.
There’d been no going back after he’d made public that fact at eighteen.
It had driven his every step forward. It was who he was, Garrett had helped him realize that.
Serving during Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, he’d had to be careful, to take his extracurricular activities off base, but Nic had never pretended to be what he wasn’t.
Embracing his sexuality was as much a promise to himself as a tribute to that first love and an atonement for what had been lost because of it. To be free and to love who he wanted.
If he and Cam kept building something, he wouldn’t want to hide that either.
While Nic had been reticent last spring to make their relationship public—to protect Cam from Vaughn, to avoid awkwardness with their friends, to avoid issues at work—those were all temporary hurdles that could be cleared.
And they had nothing to do with him being gay or Cam being bisexual.
Cam was too good a man for Nic not to want to live and love him openly.
This, however, was a much different, much higher hurdle.
It wasn’t a hurdle he could boost Cam over either.
Coming out to his family was a decision Nic had made for himself.
Granted, his hand had been forced, but he’d said the words, he’d made the final call.
He wouldn’t—couldn’t—make that call for Cam, especially not in a situation that was already fraught with tension.
And especially when he didn’t know enough about the Byrne family dynamics to know whether Cam’s coming out would be accepted.
Sure, they’d accepted Jamie, but he wasn’t their son or brother.
Nic recalled his interview with Becca yesterday, how she’d described her family turning against her.
Like Nic’s father had turned on him. He didn’t think that would be the case with Cam’s family, but he didn’t know.
Only Cam did and he’d chosen not to say anything about the two of them being more than colleagues and friends.
Which was what Nic would have to be. And only that. Far short of what he really wanted with Cam.