Chapter 23
Chapter Twenty-Three
Andi
“You two are so cute together,” Rafe whispered loudly as he opened the door to let Cam and me inside. “It's about time too. I've been shipping both of you since, I don't know, it feels like forever.” He waved his hand vaguely and closed the door behind us.
I turned my face to speak over my shoulder to Cam. “I think he means a week or two.”
“Don't make me kick you out,” Rafe said. He rolled his eyes playfully and gestured towards the media room at the back of his and Jacoby's apartment.
“He wouldn't dare,” I said to Cam.
“I would dare,” Rafe retorted. “But we've been looking forward to your company, right Jacoby? ”
“Absolutely.” Jacoby rolled past us in his wheelchair and stopped in his favorite spot near the front of the room. On his lap, he had two big bowls of popcorn. One of which he handed to me and the other to Rafe. To Cam, he offered his hand. “Nice to meet you. Rafe's told me you're a decent guy.”
Cam shook his hand and smiled. “I like to think I'm decent.”
“What Jacoby means is we both watch out for Andi,” Rafe said. “If we didn't think you were good enough for her, we wouldn't have invited you here tonight.” He placed his bowl of popcorn down and grabbed a few bottles of beer out of the fridge at the side of the room.
“It's good to know people have her back.” Cam accepted a beer and slid into a seat. “If I wasn't good enough for her, I wouldn't have come.”
Rafe snorted.
Jacoby grinned. “I appreciate a man who has confidence in himself,” the dark-haired man said. “It's one of the things I like the most about Rafe. He knows who he is and he doesn't give a shit what anyone else thinks.”
“Hell yeah, I don't,” Rafe held up his beer to toast us. “The day you open the window and let your last fuck fly free, is the best day ever.”
Maybe I should try to open a few more windows. I had too many fucks still living in captivity. It was time I let them go, to be the wild fucks they were always meant to be. The worst thing humans ever did was try to domesticate the fuck. Poor things deserved to be out there, living their best lives. Not hanging around our necks like a dead weight.
“I know I promised a Star Trek marathon,” Rafe said, “So I can educate you Philistines. But Jacoby and I got to talking and we decided on something else.”
“Let me guess, we're going to binge watch Buying Beverly Hills?” I guessed.
“Nooo.” Rafe drew out the word. “Although, I'd happily call the boss ‘Daddy’ any time.” He fanned himself.
“He is a snack,” Jacoby agreed. “But we decided on a binge watch of the Lord of the Rings movies.”
I glanced over at Cam, curious about his reaction.
He glanced back at me. The look in his brown eyes made my pulse race like crazy. “Works for me. As long as Andi is good with that?”
“I'm definitely good with it,” I agreed. “I like all things nerdy.”
He nodded and draped an arm over the back of the couch, behind my shoulders. “Me too. Especially if I get to do it with you.” He leaned in to kiss my cheek.
“Swoon!” Rafe said happily. “You're both just too fucking adorable.” He nudged Jacoby with his elbow. “Aren't they just?”
“Almost as adorable as us,” Jacoby agreed. “That happens to be a very high yardstick, by the way. Given Rafe and I are cuter than a basket of kittens.”
“I'm not sure if anything is cuter than a basket of kittens, but you're very cute,” I replied.
Should it have felt strange to sit here with Cam, Rafe and Jacoby? Xander never came to our binge nights. He always made himself busy instead. Or had a convenient headache.
Being here with Cam felt natural, like we'd done it a million times before. Rafe and Jacoby were excellent judges of character, and if they liked him, maybe I could start to surrender to the feelings that were getting more and more difficult to fight.
Rafe picked up the remote and started the first movie.
I settled back against my seat and into Cam's side. He smelled of soap, and shampoo, and a subtle cologne that had my clit sniffing the air. If he was food, I would have gobbled him up in a couple of bites.
Instead, I dug into the bowl of popcorn, topped with butter and salt, and snacked on that.
“This feels good,” he whispered in my ear. “I like being here with you. With my…girlfriend?”
The last word was spoken so softly I wasn't sure if I heard it at all. Girlfriend? Was that what I was? I liked the sound of it.
My heart fluttering, I said, “It's nice to be here with my boyfriend.”
When we first met, he seemed to hate my guts at first sight. I would never, in my wildest dreams, have imagined we'd be here like this. But now we sat snuggled together, sharing popcorn and a movie. With no one but our friends to see or scrutinize. No phones to catch us kissing, no big screens to share it with the world.
Just a quiet, intimate moment in front of what had to be the biggest television in existence.
Rafe and Jacoby never did anything by halves.
“Boyfriend,” Cam whispered. “I like the way that sounds.” He kissed my temple.
“I'd suggest you get a room, but it wouldn't be the first time people had sex in here,” Rafe said over his shoulder.
I grimaced at the back of his head. “TMI, Rafe.”
He looked back and grinned. “Just don't make a mess.”
I had no intention of fucking here, in his media room, especially not with both of them present. I did want to make love to Cam someday soon though.
I'd thought about inviting him to share a shower with me the other day at his apartment, but it wasn't the right time. Not even after the fun we had flinging flour at each other.
I'd kept my word, making a large donation to the food bank, to make up for being so wasteful. I also made a note in my calendar to give them regular donations. No one in the world should experience food insecurity. Anything I could do to help eradicate it, I'd do.
I'd already decided the charity gala my mother and I were going to organize would raise donations for various food banks up and down the east coast. I'd ensure every millionaire and billionaire I knew would contribute. It was the least all of us could do to give back to the community that made us who we were. We could do so much more, and we would, I'd make sure of that.
I nestled up against Cam to enjoy the movies and forget about the real world for a while.
“Hey, you still awake?” Cam whispered several hours and three long movies later.
“Mmmm, yeah.” I blinked a couple of times and sat up to stretch. The credits were rolling down the screen. “Why? Was I snoring?”
He chuckled. “No, you just seemed really relaxed. I wasn't sure if you were enthralled in the movie, or asleep with your eyes open.”
“Enjoying the movie while being half asleep?” I suggested.
I was definitely relaxed. I tried, but I couldn't remember a time when I felt more so. The only thing that existed for the last few hours was Middle Earth and the warmth of Cam's body beside mine.
Rafe and Jacoby were sitting with their heads together, both snoring softly.
“They really are cute,” I whispered.
“If any of the guys on the team fell asleep like that…" Cam started. A sly grin was tugging at the corners of his mouth. His eyes shone with mischief that made my heart flutter and melt a little more.
The more I got to know him, the more I realized his grumpy mask was just that, a mask. Underneath that, he was a sweet, playful, fucking gorgeous guy who I was quickly becoming very attached to.
Part of me was terrified, but the rest of me was like a flash mob, dancing and singing with joy. Also like a flash mob, I didn't know where they'd come from, but I was loving every minute of it.
I smiled. “I know where they keep their Sharpies.”
I grabbed his hand and led him out of the room and into my friend's kitchen. Like most people, they had a junk drawer they threw all sorts of random things into. Old batteries, several halves of different colored crayons, a few bottle caps, a bright pink dildo, and a sticker that declared, 'Lowball Bay, Ball capital of America.' And a couple of Sharpies.
I handed one to Cam and we crept back to the media room. Sharpie in hand, I knelt in front of Rafe and carefully drew a mustache across his upper lip. The kind that curls elaborately at the ends.
Cam was giving Jacoby a slim mustache, and a matching, triangular beard.
I pulled out my phone and took a quick photo of both of them before pushing it back into my pocket. I'd never share that with the world, but it would give us all a giggle later .
When they washed it all off and forgave us for drawing on them.
“If you're doing what I think you're doing, you're so fucked,” Rafe said without opening his eyes.
I giggled and put the top back on the Sharpie before Cam and I sneaked back out of the media room and slipped quietly out of their apartment. We closed the door behind us and ran, hand-in-hand, before either of them could come after us, throwing cold, buttered popcorn at our backs.
We laughed all the way down to the ground floor, in the elevator, and out to Cam's truck.
“Are they really going to be pissed off?” he asked. He didn't appear to be worried.
“No, but they may try to prank us back,” I said. “I advise you not to fall asleep in front of either of them. You may end up with your head shaved, or worse.”
“That wouldn't be so bad,” he said. He ran a hand over his head. “I could use a haircut.”
“It's the 'worse' I'd be worried about,” I said. “People have been known to drink with them and wake up with a strange tattoo. One time, it looked suspiciously like Rafe's face. To be fair though, that guy deserved it. He changed all of the sugar in their apartment out and replaced it with salt. If Rafe doesn't get his morning coffee, he will plot vengeance until the end of time.”
“No offense to him, but I don't want his face tattooed on me.” Cam placed his hands on my shoulders and turned me to face him. “I wouldn't mind your face tattooed on me.” After hesitating, he added, “Or your name.”
His words drove the breath right out of my lungs. They were matched by the look in his eyes. No one ever looked at me like that before. Open, honest and soft. A direct contrast to the man he was out on the ice. That man would swing a punch without thinking twice, but this man was something else.
“Cam…" I whispered.
“Andi, I'm falling in love with you,” he said.
I swallowed hard. “I'm falling in love with you too.”