CHAPTER TWENTY #2
“Cameron!” Nico snapped his fingers twice. “Focus. What the hell are you looking at anyway?”
The competition was in full swing, and Cameron knew he should be helping Nico, but he couldn’t drag his eyes away from the judges table. More to the point, he couldn’t stop glaring at the way Linda shamelessly threw herself at his man right there in front of him.
When Asher had mentioned he thought she wanted to sleep with him, Cameron had dismissed her interest as innocent flirting.
There was nothing innocent about the way she licked her glossy lips or ran her painted talons up and down Asher’s forearm.
She laughed too much, a loud, fake laugh that grated on Cameron’s nerves.
Every time Asher spoke, she’d twirl her sandy-blonde hair around her index finger and stare up at him with big, smitten eyes
Not that Cameron blamed her. He was pretty damn smitten himself. Still, she needed to keep her fucking hands to herself if she wanted to leave with them still attached.
“Cam!” Nico shouted at him again.
“Right, right, sorry.” Uncapping the X-Acto knife, he began drawing shallow, vertical lines down the rind of the pumpkin.
His concentration lasted for only a few minutes, right up until he heard Linda laugh again. He couldn’t help it. He had to look, but damn, he wished he hadn’t.
Asher stood at the corner of the judges table talking to a group of spectators—with Linda Picklesimer pressed right up against his side.
She laughed again, holding her shoulders back to give Asher a clear view down her pink, cotton blouse to her ample cleavage.
Every time she moved, her breasts rubbed against his arm, and when she reached up to grip his bicep, Cameron squeezed his own hands into fists.
“Shit!” Distracted and pissed off, he’d forgotten about the knife he held. He remembered damn quick when the blade sliced through the pad of his thumb.
Asher was at his side instantly. “Let me see.”
“It’s fine.”
“Let me see anyway.”
“It’s just a cut, Asher. I’ll live.” He was being a dick, but the green-eyed monster was still choking him. “Go back to your table.”
Asher didn’t move other than to lean in close and drop his tone an octave. “Let. Me. See.”
Sighing, he held his hand out, wincing at the blood that dripped down the length of his thumb and smeared the heal of his palm. The cut went deeper than he’d thought, but it didn’t need stitches or anything more than a bandage.
Right on cue, Nico dropped a small, red box on the table beside them. “Wrap it up and get back to work.”
There had been enough nicks, scrapes, and even burns during previous years for them to start carrying a first aid kit.
“See?” He held up the kit to Asher with his non-bleeding hand and shook it. “This happens so often we’ve come prepared. ”
Taking the box from him, Asher removed an adhesive bandage and a couple of antiseptic wipes.
He made quick work of cleaning the cut, ignoring Cameron’s squirming when the alcohol on the wipe burned.
Once he had it wrapped up in a pre-medicated bandage, he took a step back and folded his arms across his chest.
“Are you going to be okay?”
“I’m fine,” he snapped. Asher arched a brow at him, and Cameron sighed. They both knew he wasn’t fine. “Just stay away from her.”
Asher grinned, and instead of returning to the judges table, he sauntered over to the table beside them, striking up a conversation with the two contestants there. Cameron took a deep breath and went back to his task.
“Better?” Nico asked.
Cameron nodded. He didn’t know what had gotten into him. He’d never been the jealous type, especially not over a woman. Asher was gorgeous. Naturally, people would look and flirt. That didn’t mean anything would come of it, or that Asher even welcomed the attention.
He’d calmed down enough to pull his head out of his ass, but anger and jealousy still simmered below the surface.
By Asher’s own admission, this was his first real relationship.
Maybe he was bored. Maybe he missed having a different face in his bed every weekend.
Obviously, Asher liked men, but maybe he liked women, too.
Cameron had never thought to ask. Maybe Asher enjoyed Linda rubbing all over him.
Maybe. Maybe. Maybe.
Fuck, he was making himself crazy with all the uncertainty.
“One hour left!” Linda called, her voice ringing through the gymnasium.
Gritting his teeth, Cameron shoved his doubts and questions into a deep, dark corner. He didn’t have time for a breakdown or to analyze his insane behavior. He and Nico had a contest to win.
For the next hour, he concentrated only on the movement of his hands and the occasional instruction from Nico. When the buzzer sounded, he dropped his tools on the table and flexed his fingers to ease some of the cramping.
“That was close.”
Cameron looked over at Nico and sighed. “I’m sorry. My head was all over the place.”
“We got it finished.” With a shrug, Nico dropped into one of the hard, aluminum chairs. “You want to talk about it?”
Cameron began cleaning up their workstation while he tried to gather his thoughts. If anyone would understand, it would be Nico, but he felt foolish now that most of his anger had faded. The nice thing about emotions—they didn’t always have to be rational .
“I was jealous.”
Nico nodded. “Of Linda, and you had every right to be pissed.”
Trash bag in one hand and pumpkin guts in the other, Cameron stared at his best friend. “What?”
“She knows you two are together. Hell, everyone saw that kiss when we first got here. Throwing herself at Asher like that was disrespectful to you both.”
“It was just flirting,” Cameron mumbled, but a little part of him couldn’t help feeling validated.
Leaning back in the chair, Nico stretched his legs out in front of him, crossing them at the ankles. He made no move to help clean up their mess, but considering he’d done the lion’s share of the work, Cameron didn’t argue.
“She invited him to coffee and dinner. Then, she asked him back to her place after this.”
Cameron gritted his teeth and breathed in through his nose. “When was this?”
“Asher told me about it when you went to take a leak.”
“Asher told you?”
“Yeah, he wanted to know how pissed you’d be if he told her to fuck off instead of letting her down gently.”
Something warm and buoyant swelled inside Cameron. “What did you tell him?”
“She’s nice enough,” Nico answered with a frustrated sigh. “She’s lonely, and I get that. I told him to avoid being a dick if he could help it. ”
Knowing Asher hadn’t wanted or encouraged Linda’s affections, it was a lot easier for him to be charitable now. “You’re right. She’s not a bad person, just lonely.”
He’d known Linda Picklesimer his entire life, and he didn’t believe she’d ever hurt anyone purposely. Losing her husband had changed her in ways he couldn’t imagine, and he figured she was still learning who she was without him. Still, that didn’t mean he had to like her pawing at his boyfriend.
“Okay, everyone,” Asher called, “lights out in five minutes.”
Cameron grabbed the flameless candle provided by the judges and flipped the switch on the bottom to illuminate it. After placing it inside the pumpkin, he stepped back and grinned. “What do you think?”
Tilting his head back, Nico looked up at him with a cocky smirk. “In the bag.”