CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Growing up in a small town no one had ever heard of wasn’t as charming as people made it out to be in the movies.
For starters, Mission Grove boasted a population just north of four thousand, and every single one of those people made it a point to know everyone else’s business.
A few years back, there had been a minor disagreement between the all-star quarterback’s rusted Chevy pickup and old man McElroy’s cattle guard.
The cattle guard had won, and by the time the tow truck had arrived, everyone in town had known about it.
So, when conversation stopped and all heads turned as Cameron stepped through the doors of the Grasshopper Junction Café that Friday morning, it didn’t surprise him in the least. Weddings, deaths, and breakups comprised the hottest gossip in Mission Grove, but indecent trysts ranked a close fourth.
Asher’s flashy Lexus had been parked in his driveway for more than twelve hours, so naturally, the entire town had heard by now.
“Smile,” he whispered to Asher out of the side of his mouth. “Just keep walking and don’t make eye contact.”
Ignoring the curious glances and open stares, he skirted the edge of the diner, leading Asher by the hand to his favorite booth in the back.
The wooden frame had been chipped and dinged over the years, and the green vinyl that covered the cushioned seat had faded and cracked, showing the yellow stuffing beneath.
Still, the slight indent in the center of the bench seat cradled his ass perfectly as he dropped into it and motioned for Asher to take the seat across from him.
“People aren’t going to chase us out of here with torches and pitchforks, right?”
Cameron snorted as he grabbed the laminated menu from behind the napkin dispenser and slid it across the chipped tabletop. “No, nothing like that. It’s been a while since they’ve seen me with anyone. They’re just curious.”
Growing up gay in No-One-Cares-Where, Texas had been brutal in the beginning.
Then, right around his junior year of high school, things had started to change.
All because Mayor Linwood’s son had announced—after a few too many beers during the annual Fall Festival—that he really liked cock.
Oh, it had been scandalous, and Mrs. Linwood had nearly fainted.
Change hadn’t happened all at once, but eventually, the good townsfolk of Mission Grove had strolled right into the twenty-first century.
Sure, a few of the old timers still held to their stubborn misconceptions, but for the most part, the town had been given no choice but to move ahead with the times .
It also didn’t hurt that they resided a mere twenty-minute drive from Dallas, and not everyone who worked in the city wanted to live there.
With new blood moving into the town, the ball had really started rolling.
Now, no less than six gay men and one lesbian couple resided within town limits, and honestly, no one seemed to give a shit anymore.
“Hi, Mr. Stone.” A perky blonde with bright blue eyes and freckles across her button nose bounced up beside their table. “What can I get you this morning?”
“Morning, Kimmy.” Kimmy Picklesimer looked just like her momma, and she packed a whole lot of personality into a tiny little package. “Coffee and my usual.”
Her smile widened, showing off her perfectly straight teeth. “You got it.” Angling toward Asher, she looked him up and down with a curious gleam in her eyes. “You, sir?”
“Kimmy, this is Asher Dare.”
“Nice to meet you, Mr. Dare.”
Asher blinked, his smile slow in coming. “Nice to meet you, Kimmy.” He glanced at the menu with a shake of his head. “I’ll just have what he’s having.”
“Good choice.” She tucked her green ticket pad into the pocket of her apron and turned back to Cameron, right hand raised. “Same to you, Mr. Stone. Good choice. He’s hot.”
Cameron gave her raised hand a high-five and winked. “He is, isn’t he? ”
His smile turned into a low chuckle when, for once, it was Asher who blushed all the way down his neck.
There was something to be said for being on his own turf.
Surrounded by familiar settings and friendly faces, he felt like his feet were firmly on solid ground for once.
Relaxed and confident, he found it easy to flirt and tease, and Asher’s responses only made him want to do it more.
“I’ll be right back with your coffee,” Kimmy said around her giggles before bouncing away from the table.
“Who are you?” Asher asked. “Where is my mild-mannered computer nerd?”
Cameron laughed again. “Homefield advantage?”
Asher considered him for a few seconds, his mouth curving into a crooked grin. “Touché.” Turning his head, he stared through the window. “So, where is this Fall Festival taking place.”
Kimmy came back with their coffees, and Cameron thanked her before waving his hand around in an all-encompassing motion.
“Kind of everywhere.” He lifted his mug to his lips, wincing when the liquid scalded his tongue.
“There are vendors set up at the Boardwalk down by the lake. Rides and a hay maze in the park. Games and contests at the elementary school.” Pausing, he sipped his coffee around a grin.
“A haunted asylum at the old courthouse.”
Asher didn’t flinch, but his expression turned challenging. Leaning his elbows on the table, he rubbed is hands together and arched both eyebrows. “Where do we start?”
~
“When you said there were games, I was thinking like a ring toss or a dunk tank.” Asher finished removing his socks, tucked them into his shoes and set them on the bench beside him. “This isn’t exactly what I had in mind.”
“There is a ring toss and a dunk tank.” Placing his own shoes and socks beside Asher’s, Cameron rolled up the legs of his jeans to just below his knees. “This is way more fun. Plus, I really want a year of free cupcakes from Half-Baked.”
Cameron had taken him to the bakery just after lunch—after they’d visited the vendors at the Boardwalk and talked to what felt like a couple of thousand people. The cupcakes had been divine, but Asher didn’t mind paying for them.
“How about I just buy you a gift card every month for a year?”
“Nope.” Grinning from ear to ear, Cameron tucked his T-shirt into his jeans and rolled his neck. Clearly, he’d done this before. “It wouldn’t be the same.”
Copying him, Asher rolled up his jeans and tucked in his T-shirt as well. “This is going to be humiliating.”
“That’s kind of the point, but it’s also fun. ”
“Debatable,” he muttered.
At the edge of the park, someone had sectioned off an area roughly half the size of a football field.
Then the fire department had hosed it down until all that remained was thick mud and a few puddles of standing water.
Despite it being late in October, the temperatures still hovered in the mid-eighties, so at least he wouldn’t freeze to death while making an ass out of himself.
“Cheer up,” a familiar voice called. “Unless you’re afraid of getting your ass kicked by a girl?”
Dressed in a pair of jean shorts with more holes than fabric and paired with a dark blue tank top, Natalie skipped right up to him and threw her arms around his waist. Her long, golden curls had been pulled back into a neat bun at her crown, and just like Cameron, she smiled as if her birthday had come twice that year.
They were both fucking crazy.
“Hey, Nat. How’s it going?”
“Awesome. I can’t wait to win.”
“Not happening,” Cameron interjected. “Those cupcakes are mine.”
“In your dreams, big brother. We both know I’m faster.”
“And prettier,” Asher added, just to add fuel to the fire.
It worked. Natalie beamed and hugged him again. Cameron glared as he punched him in the shoulder .
“You’re supposed to be on my side.” His grin turned completely evil. “You do remember what today is, right?”
Like he could forget. “You’re absolutely right. You’re way prettier than she is.”
“Asher!”
He pretended to wince when Natalie smacked him in the chest. “Sorry, but you’re not the one who will be sucking my dick tonight.”
“Asher!” both siblings yelled in unison.
Holding his hands up in surrender, he returned his attention to the mud pit, his laughter dying in his throat. “So, I just have to catch a pig?”
“You don’t even have to do that,” Cameron explained, coming up to his side and winding an arm around his waist. “You just have to grab the flag attached to its collar. Plus, there will be two pigs, so double your chances. Easy.”
“Yeah, uh, maybe I’ll just watch.”
“Afraid you’ll mess up your hair?” Striding up to them, Nico clapped him on the back hard enough to make him stumble forward a step. “Come on, pretty boy, don’t be such a wuss.”
Wearing a pair of camouflaged cargo shorts and nothing else except a lot of ink, he pulled his long, black strands away from his face and secured them at his nape with an elastic band.
How so many people could be this damn excited about chasing a pig through the mud for the chance to win some cupcakes, Asher would never know .
Mission Grove resided less than half an hour from the busy streets of Dallas but driving into the town had been like entering a different world.
His opinion hadn’t changed once Cameron had begun showing him around and introducing him to people, but surprisingly, he didn’t hate it.
No one cared how many books he’d written or how much money he had.
Even when Cameron would proudly launch into a twenty-minute spiel about Asher’s success, people would just smile politely and nod.
Chasing livestock through the mud, though, that was another matter entirely.
“It’s going to be fine,” Cameron murmured, arching up to kiss his cheek. “You said you grew up in a small town. Didn’t you have festivals like this?”
“Not really. We had hayrides and apple pie bake-offs. Nothing like this, though.”
“Then you missed out,” Cameron assured him, kissing him on the lips this time.
“You two are disgusting.” Nico smiled when he said it, though. “You ready?”
“Ready to kick your ass.” Releasing Asher’s waist, Cameron walked forward to join Nico near the gate to the pit. “Asher, you ready?”
“Not even a little bit.” He had never seen a farm in real life. He’d never even seen a pig outside of a petting zoo—or bacon. This was going to be a disaster. “Let’s do this. ”
Taking his hand, Cameron squeezed it in encouragement. “Just remember, if you win, I get the cupcakes.”
Asher nodded his agreement. He didn’t give a damn about pigs or festivals or cupcakes. He already had everything he wanted.
~
As if the sound of the starting gun had split open the sky, the rain unleashed just as the pigs darted out of their chutes.
Cameron laughed at the miserable expression on Asher’s face.
The poor guy was so far out of his element, Cameron kind of felt sorry for him.
Not enough to let him off the hook, but still, a little.
“It’s just rain,” he called over the cheers of the crowd gathered around the makeshift arena. “Now, go win me those cupcakes.”
Paying more attention to Asher than he was to his surroundings, Cameron didn’t notice Nico sneaking up behind him until the asshole grabbed him around the hips and tackled him to the ground.
Mud squished between his fingers and rainwater soaked into his jeans as they rolled together, laughing like a couple of idiots.
“Do I look like a pig?” he demanded as he struggled to his feet .
Nico oinked at him, then took off after one of the young pigs.
Taking just a second to push his muddy hair back from his face, Cameron turned in the opposite direction to chase down the other pig.
He’d almost cornered it, too, when Natalie plowed right into him.
They bounced off each other with loud grunts, slipping and stumbling through the slick mud until they both ended up on their asses.
“What the hell?” she demanded.
“You ran into me, princess.”
“Whatever.”
Cocking her arm back, she sent a fistful of mud flying at his face. Before he could retaliate, though, she jumped to her feet and bounded off again, screaming something that sounded like a cross between a yodel and a war cry.
Asher still stood near the gate, drenched from head to toe, shaking his head at all dozen or so grown-ass adults chasing around a couple of fucking swine.
He had the strangest little smile on his lips, and a calculating look in his eyes as he tracked one of the pigs from one side of the pen to the other.
Curious enough to abandon his pursuit, Cameron knelt right there in the mud and watched. Asher took a step toward the middle of the pit, then another. He scissor-stepped a couple of feet sideways, bent his knees, took another step .
Cameron couldn’t figure out what the hell he was doing until the smaller of the two pigs came barreling through a group of people, squealing and grunting as it picked up speed.
With a final step, Asher froze, waited, then just when it looked like he’d waited too long, he pounced, diving right over his target to land face first in the mud.
Tossing his head back, Cameron laughed until tears mingled with the raindrops running down his face. Dragging himself up from the ground, he stomped through the mud until he was close enough to offer a hand.
Asher just stared at him, face completely blank.
“Come on, Ash. You were a good sport.” He moved a little closer, still offering his hand. “It’s harder than it looks, isn’t it?”
Asher nodded, reaching toward him. Instead of taking Cameron’s hand, however, he slapped a red, vinyl flag against his palm. “Not really, but you’re still sharing those cupcakes.”