CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Asher looked up when the balcony door opened, prepared to beg, bargain, or threaten to get Cameron to leave. It wasn’t Cameron, though.
“What the hell are you doing here?”
“That’s a fine hello. Want to try again?”
As much as he wanted to give Luke the cold shoulder, this involved him as much as it did Asher. “Hello, Luke. Won’t you please sit?”
Nodding, Luke made his way over to the loveseat and plopped down beside him. “See? That wasn’t so hard, was it?”
“Kyle Anders paid me a visit today.”
“I know. What did he want? I’m assuming it wasn’t a friendly visit.”
“Money.” Asher snorted. “Sixteen million dollars, or he tells the whole world about me.”
Dropping his head back on the loveseat, Luke whistled low. “That’s a lot of money. Are you going to pay it?”
Asher sighed. If he knew the answer to that, he wouldn’t be sitting by himself hosting the worlds saddest pity party. Cameron had asked if he should expect guests for it. Apparently, he’d taken it upon himself to send out the invites .
“I’m guessing Cameron called you,” he said in lieu of an answer.
“He did.” Luke grinned from ear to ear. “I like him. I think you should keep him.”
Yeah, Asher liked him, too. Maybe more than liked him, which was the whole damn problem. “I told him to leave.”
“Aww, that’s cute that you thought he would listen.
” Grabbing the blanket, Luke spread it over them both and curled into Asher’s side.
“That hunky friend of his, Nico, is here, too.” Leaning his head against Asher’s shoulder, he sighed dramatically.
“The things I would let that man do to me.” Then he batted his lashes.
“Would you like me to tell you? I promise, it’s quite indecent. ”
A chuckle slipped out before Asher could stop it. Tilting his head to the side, he rested his cheek against the top of Luke’s head and closed his eyes. “You shouldn’t be here, but I’m glad you are.”
“Shut up. We’re in this together.” Luke wiggled around and elbowed him in the ribs. “I still can’t believe you didn’t tell me about the café. That was three weeks ago, Ash!”
Asher hadn’t intended to tell anyone. So much time had passed between their first meeting and Kyle showing up at his house, he had started to think he’d imagined the incident. Three weeks. What the hell had Kyle been up to for three whole weeks ?
“I’m sorry.” Despite Luke’s protests, the only reason he’d become involved in the first place was because he’d tried to help Asher when no one else would. Dragging him deeper into the mess seemed like a lousy way to repay him. “You really should stay out of this.”
“Okay, let’s think about this,” Luke said as if Asher hadn’t spoken. “Realistically, what can he do if you don’t pay him the money?”
As crazy as it sounded, he had a feeling Kyle was back for no other reason than to make him pay for getting out and having a life, and not necessarily with money. “I think the better question is what can’t he do to me?”
“Calm down, Patty Panic. Think. Work it out. What. Can. He. Do?”
“I could lose my contract with my publisher.”
“So, then you self-publish.” Luke shrugged. “Next.”
“He could destroy my reputation.”
“You’re an eccentric recluse and kind of a slut on the down low. Well,” he added with an undignified snort, “not so down low after that blog. So, really, what reputation?”
Asher chuckled. “Touché.” He’d covered his career, his reputation, his money. He didn’t have any family, none that he spoke to anyway. “He could hurt you.”
Again, Luke snorted. “He could try. I’m not afraid of him, Ash.”
Dropping his head back on the loveseat, Asher stared up at the darkening sky. “Cameron. ”
“He’s really important to you, huh?”
“Yeah, he really is.” It both terrified and thrilled him. “He’s different.”
“Then tell him,” Luke said.
“You make it sound so easy.”
“If you care about him, it shouldn’t be hard. He’s not going to leave, cupcake. That man is not the leaving type.” Taking Asher’s hand between both of his own, Luke squeezed gently. “Tell him, Ash. Tell him and trust him enough to stick around afterwards.”
Luke had always had a way of putting everything into perspective. “What would I do without you?”
“Die alone with nineteen cats.”
Asher tightened his hold on Luke’s hand, then released him. “Any tips on how to start?”
“Yeah.” Lounging back against the cushions, Luke smirked at him. “Say you’re sorry.”
~
“If he told you to leave, why are you still here?”
Cameron resisted the urge to roll his eyes. “Because he didn’t mean it. Obviously. Keep up, Nico.”
His best friend raised his hands up in a conciliatory gesture. “Okay, okay. He’s brooding. I get it.”
“I’m not even sure I get it.” He wanted to help, but there wasn’t much he could do until Asher let him. Besides, not knowing the entire story left him floundering for what to do next. “Hopefully, he’ll talk to Luke.”
“That guy is extra.”
“I like him,” Cameron defended. “Don’t be a dick.” Nico shrugged, but didn’t argue, so he figured he’d won that round. “Hey, what ever happened with that James guy?”
“Oh, that’s over. He wasn’t really my type anyway.”
Cameron took a long pull from his beer bottle—beer he’d asked Nico to bring—staring at his friend through narrowed eyes. “Uh huh.” Nico had always been a terrible liar, and he wasn’t doing a bang-up job of it now. “Who is he?”
“What? Who?”
“James was a nice guy, unlike his idiot friend, and he was your type and then some. So, I’ll ask again. Who is he? Or is it a she?”
“There isn’t anyone else.”
“Nico…”
“I’m serious.” Lounging back in his chair at the dining table with his legs splayed out in front of him, he raked his fingers through his hair and sighed. “It doesn’t matter, okay? It’s not going to go anywhere.” He finished off the rest of his beer in one swallow. “Why am I here anyway?”
“Moral support?” Plus, he’d wanted backup—big, muscular, intimidating backup—in case Kyle decided to pay Asher another visit .
“He’s ready,” Luke announced, strolling into the dining room with a sassy sway to his hips. “Be gentle with him, love. He’s more fragile than he looks.”
Nodding once, Cameron grabbed two slices of pepperoni pizza from one of the boxes and tossed them onto an extra plate. In his free hand, he slid the necks of two beers between his fingers, then started for the staircase.
“Nico, behave,” he yelled over his shoulder. “Oh, and call Natalie for me, would you?”
“Me behave?” Nico answered back. “What about him?”
“Oh, I’m always nice,” Luke practically sang. “Would you like to see?”
Laughing to himself and praying Nico wouldn’t murder Asher’s only friend, Cameron took the stairs two at a time and wound his way through the corridors to the library. All the lights were still burning, and the room was still empty, but he didn’t worry this time.
Going directly to the balcony doors, he slipped outside and plopped down beside Asher on the loveseat. Without a word, he set the plate of pizza on Asher’s lap and handed him one of the beers.
“Thanks,” Asher mumbled before cramming half the first slice into his mouth. “Fuck, that’s good.”
Cameron watched him eat, still silent, instinctively knowing that Asher needed to be the one to make the first move .
“I’m sorry,” Asher blurted once he’d finished off both slices of pizza. “This isn’t a mistake.”
Taking the empty plate and the half-full beer bottle, Cameron moved them to the wicker coffee table so he could grasp both of Asher’s hands. “I know, and it’s okay. It’s going to take a lot more than that to scare me away.”
Asher winced, but he didn’t stop squeezing Cameron’s hands. “I still shouldn’t have said those things. I don’t want you to go.”
Cameron’s stomach fluttered, and his pulse tripped into a gallop. “I think you might like me a little, Mr. Dare.”
Again, Asher flinched. “You know I do.” He stared down at their joined hands and sighed. “I guess I owe you an explanation.”
Leaning into him, Cameron touched his mouth to Asher’s, just a barely-there brush of their lips. “You don’t owe me anything, Asher, not even an explanation. If you want to talk, though, I want to listen.”
~
Asher swallowed past the lump in his throat as he lost himself in the icy blue of Cameron’s eyes. As a writer, he was supposed to have the right words, the pretty, poetic ones. Yet, somehow, it was Cameron who always knew exactly what to say.
I am so completely gone for this guy .
Which only made what he had to say that much harder. Luke had told him to trust that Cameron would stick around, even after he learned the ugly truth about Asher’s past. Whether he believed that or not, the decision had been made for him.
“I don’t even know how to start,” he admitted.
“Why don’t you tell me how you met Kyle?” Cameron suggested.
To do that, he had to go back even further. “I grew up in this small town in West Virginia with ultra-conservative parents. Long story short, they caught me kissing a boy when I was fourteen. My mom cried, my dad beat my ass, then they kicked me out.”
Cameron didn’t apologize for something he couldn’t control. He didn’t offer platitudes or empty condolences. He just nodded.
“We weren’t close, even before that,” Asher continued. “They had me because that was what was expected of them, but I always knew I was just in the way. I was afraid because I didn’t know where to go or really how to take care of myself at that age, but it didn’t hurt. I don’t miss them.”
He didn’t. It had been years since he’d even thought about his parents.
“Was it a good kiss?”
Asher grinned. Cameron always surprised him. “No. It was my first, and it was sloppy and clumsy. ”
Humming in the back of his throat, Cameron arched into him and pressed their lips together, lingering for a few seconds. “Don’t worry. You got better.”
Asher barked out a surprised laugh, then claimed Cameron’s mouth again. Partly for comfort, but mostly because he just liked kissing him. “What about your first kiss?”