CHAPTER FOUR
“You didn’t see the look on his face,” Cameron said, trying for a neutral tone and failing. “It was like someone punched him in the gut.”
“So, you thought you’d just throw yourself into the middle of it?”
Cameron held his hand up, halting Nico’s interrogation. They’d arrived back at his place half an hour ago, and the questions had come hot and fast from the minute they’d stepped through the door. Nico’s disapproval hung between them, tension thick in the air, but Cameron stood his ground.
“I didn’t decide anything.” His rising frustration with Nico’s attitude was quickly approaching its boiling point. “I just acted. You would have done the same.”
“He’s a big boy, Cam. He can take care of himself.”
Under different circumstances, he might have agreed, but he couldn’t get those cold, vacant eyes out of his mind. It was like something inside of Asher had died when he’d heard Kyle call his name.
“What does it even matter? I doubt I’ll ever see him again.” He shouldn’t feel as disappointed by that as he did. It shouldn’t hurt.
“If you ask me— ”
“I didn’t.”
Nico smirked. “If you ask me, you dodged a bullet. That guy clearly comes with a lot of baggage.”
“That’s not very fair. Everyone has a past.”
“Yes, but not everyone has a past that includes and abusive ex-boyfriend.”
With the hostile way Kyle had invaded their space, Cameron had assumed the guy was an ex. The term “abusive” hadn’t really crossed his mind, but in hindsight, he should have seen it right away. No one looked borderline catatonic over a mere breakup, no matter how nasty it had been.
Thinking back to the café, Cameron examined Asher’s body language in a different light.
The clenched hands. The shallow breaths.
His racing pulse that throbbed in his neck.
He’d been…scared. If he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, he wouldn’t have thought it possible for a man like Asher Dare to be afraid of anyone.
Remembering the way he had practically sprinted out of the café afterwards, though, only deepened his suspicions.
“Oh, no. I know that look.”
Seated on his living room sofa, Cameron lifted his head and frowned. “What look?”
“That look like you have to save the whole damn world. News flash, Cam. Not everyone wants or needs to be saved. ”
“I don’t think that.” He didn’t want to save Asher. Hell, he didn’t even know if Asher needed saving. Maybe he’d just been caught off guard by Kyle’s sudden appearance. “I barely even know him.”
Truer words had never been spoken. He’d engaged in exactly two conversations with the guy, and he wouldn’t consider either of them particularly deep.
Asher dodged personal questions, and he’d shifted uncomfortably in his seat when Cameron had spoken of his own family.
Then, there had been that thing Kyle had said about Asher not being interested in relationships.
“He doesn’t date.”
Cameron didn’t want to date him, though. Did he?
Flopping back against the cushions, he scrubbed both hands over his face and groaned.
He really needed to stop thinking about the guy.
For fuck sakes, he didn’t even know if Asher was his real name or a pseudonym.
He’d had more meaningful conversations with people in the check-out line at the supermarket.
He definitely didn’t waste his time on superficial pretty boys out to prove something.
“I can’t stop thinking about him,” he admitted miserably.
The cushion next to him dipped, and a strong hand landed on his knee. “At first, I thought you were just a little star-struck because you’re such a big fan.” For the first time since they’d left the club, Nico didn’t sound judgmental or accusatory. “Now, I think maybe you just want to fix him.”
Dropping his hands, Cameron glared at his best friend. “He’s not broken.”
Nico just grinned. “Isn’t he, though?”
God, he hated it when Nico used his reasonable voice.
Any argument he offered now would sound childish and defensive in comparison.
The very worst thing was that a small part of him knew Nico spoke the truth.
He’d always been a sucker for the broken ones, always thinking he could put them back together, mend them, and make them whole.
He’d had his heart broken enough times to know it never turned out well for him.
“I think you just need to get laid.”
Cameron rolled his eyes so hard it hurt. “That’s your answer for everything.”
“Hey, if it works, why change it?”
“Not everyone thinks with their dick, Nico.”
“I assure you, when my dick is involved, there is no thinking.”
Cameron threw his hands up and huffed. “That’s the problem!”
“Most people would disagree. It’s okay to turn your brain off sometimes and just feel something good.”
“I know that.”
Nico arched one inky eyebrow at him. “When’s the last time you got laid? ”
Seven months and twenty-two days, but who was counting? “Drop it, Nico.”
“Look, I know your whole thirty-day rule, but how’s that working out for you? Maybe you need to try something different.”
“Jesus Christ,” he groaned, shoving at the man’s shoulder. “Just shut up.”
“So, I know this guy…”
“Go away.” He’d let Nico set him up once, and it had been such a disaster he’d sworn never to repeat the mistake. “Get out.” He jabbed his index finger toward the front door. “Go torment someone else.”
“Come on,” Nico prodded. “He’s a really nice guy.”
“Kiss of death.”
Nico laughed, undeterred. “Okay, he’s not the hottest guy ever, but since when are you so shallow?”
“I’m not.” He was almost afraid to ask. “How not hot are we talking?”
Nico shrugged. “He’s decent. You’ll like him. He’s into computers, too.”
“What’s the catch?” With Nico, there was always a catch.
“It, uh, it’s sort of like a double date.”
Actually, that didn’t sound so bad. It certainly took a lot of pressure off him. “So, you want to fuck his friend/brother/cousin or whatever, and I’m supposed to entertain him while you charm the other guy out of his clothes.”
That cocky smirk was back, and Nico nodded a couple of times as he pushed up from the sofa. “Pretty much, yeah.”
“When?” He wouldn’t sleep with the guy on the first date, but if they hit it off, it could be just the distraction he needed to stop obsessing over Asher.
“Thursday.”
“Text me the details. I’ll be there.”
“You’re serious right now?”
Fuck, he was so going to regret this. “Yeah, I’m serious.”
~
Slouched in his favorite overstuffed, leather armchair by his library window, Asher swirled the bourbon around in his glass a couple of times before downing it in one swallow.
The previous night had been a goddamn train wreck that he’d spent all day trying to forget. Granted, he hadn’t climbed out of bed until nearly three in the afternoon, and even then, he’d immediately gone in search of something to dull the memories.
So far, the whiskey hadn’t helped .
Kyle Anders had been the last person in the world he’d expected to ever see again. He’d spent so long trying to shove that part of his life into the deepest corners of his mind, until he’d almost convinced himself it had never happened. Then, one chance encounter had brought it all rushing back.
No, it hadn’t been chance. Not for a second did he believe that coincidence had brought them together again. A quick internet search had only proved his suspicions.
Asleep, with only a sheet covering him to the waist, the picture had been first posted on a high-traffic celebrity gossip blog, then quickly picked up by every digital media source imaginable.
He didn’t know how the petite blond he’d taken to bed Friday night had learned his real name—he never used it for a hookup—but there it was, preserved forever for the world to see.
Asher Dare Gay? Exclusive Details About My One Night Stand with the Author of the Popular Marshall Kane Book Series and Movie Franchise.
The only saving grace was that the blogger, Landon Dwyer, hadn’t revealed his actual address or the club where they’d met, only “a gay club in downtown Dallas.”
For the low price of $19.99, Asher had then been able to access a detailed background check on Kyle Anders that included an impressive arrest record dating back over a decade. His latest conviction—public intoxication—had been filed in Vicksburg, Mississippi just two weeks ago .
How he’d ended up in Mississippi, Asher neither knew nor cared. The blog had been posted just before 10:00 AM, barely two hours after Landon had left his house. From there, he could only speculate, but it wasn’t unreasonable to assume Kyle hadn’t just bumped into him by accident.
He’d come looking for him. Thirteen hours would have been more than enough time for him to see the blog and make the five-hour drive from Vicksburg, especially if he was as unhinged as his arrest record indicated.
The only thing Asher didn’t know was why.
It had been more than fifteen years since he’d last seen Kyle, but physically, the man hadn’t changed much in that time.
His face was a little more angular, his hair longer and a little darker, but otherwise, he looked just the same as Asher remembered.
Fifteen years, and those hollow eyes still made his blood run cold.
It had been clear from Cameron’s reaction that he’d thought Kyle was an old flame, and Asher found himself glad for it. Better he thought Asher had dated the guy than to know the real story, because despite the adage, the truth wouldn’t set him free.
In this case, the truth was a cold, lonely prison caged by memories and locked with fear.
Cameron had definitely picked up on his distress, and he’d taken charge, cutting right through Kyle’s taunts and stripping him down to nothing.
It had been the sexiest damn thing Asher had ever seen, and if he hadn’t been stunned into paralysis, he would have dragged Cameron across the table and kissed him senseless.
He stared down at the hand resting on the arm of the chair, a smile playing across his lips.
Without hesitation, Cameron had taken his hand, threaded their fingers together, and drawn a line in the sand.
If Asher concentrated enough, he could still feel the steady weight and the warmth against his skin.
Where most guys would have run, Cameron had stood his ground, all because Asher had needed him.
Instead of thanking him or offering any type of explanation—not even a lie—Asher had been the one to run. He hated that the memories Kyle invoked could reduce him to a trembling, irrational mess, and he hated that it had happened in front of Cameron even more.
Cameron fucking Stone.
He’d never obsessed this much over a guy, and certainly not one he hadn’t so much as kissed yet.
The things he knew about Cameron could be counted on one hand, and nothing that would make him want to stick around to learn more.
Telling himself to let it go and move on didn’t change anything, though.
“I can’t stop thinking about him,” he admitted to the empty room, as if he said it out loud that would somehow make a difference.
It didn’t .
The next part of that confession was a little harder, but after another swallow of whiskey, he managed to say it, even if it only came out as a whisper. “I want to see him again.”