Chapter 19
“Are you for real, rook?” Aidan looked over at Cam like he was losing it, and Cam didn’t feel like he was.
Okay—maybe he was, a little bit. He was beginning to be more comfortable with Aidan and more confident when it came to the starting quarterback.
But it had still been a tiny bit terrifying to walk over to him in the locker room, as he finished getting changed after practice, and ask the question.
If he hadn’t had a whole plan in his mind, he might have chickened out.
If the plan hadn’t been for Dawson, Cam totally would’ve chickened out.
“Well, yeah, I’m for real.” Cam squirmed, shifting his weight from one foot to the other.
“Dawson just asked me for more recs, and now here you are, asking too. You gonna take someone out that isn’t Daws, rook?”
“No,” Cam squawked. Why would he? Dawson was the only guy he wanted.
Aidan spread his hands. “Then why don’t you ask him for the list I already gave him?”
Embarrassment crawled up Cam’s spine. When he’d envisioned having this conversation, he’d thought Aidan would shoot him at best, one, and at worst, two, knowing looks, and then rattle off the name of some perfect date-night restaurant and that would be the end of it.
But instead, Aidan was staring at him like that and asking questions that were obviously designed so Cam would confess his entire plan. He’d told himself it wasn’t awkward half a dozen times, but he hadn’t managed to be convincing enough, yet.
“It’s . . .it’s a surprise,” Cam admitted in a low voice.
Aidan’s eyebrows rose. “A surprise date. Huh. Well, that’s adorable.”
“Bro,” Levi said, from Aidan’s other side, “put him out of his misery. Can’t you see how he’s squirming?”
“You’re no fun,” Aidan said, elbowing Levi.
Levi just cackled. “I’m the most fun.”
For a second, Aidan got lost staring into his boyfriend’s eyes, and then Levi murmured something under his breath to him, and his attention suddenly snapped back to Cam.
“You wanna take Daws out, yeah?”
Cam nodded, because if he didn’t, he was going to launch into a big long explanation, which would be embarrassing, along with half a dozen caveats. He’d already had to endure Nate’s warning; he didn’t want Aidan to add his two cents, too.
Aidan had already done his share, when he’d apparently warned Dawson before anything had ever happened between them.
“That’s cute,” Levi declared.
“Levi,” Aidan warned, but he was grinning over at his boyfriend.
“What? It is cute.”
“He’s just been practicing so hard,” Cam said.
He hadn’t even needed Dawson to tell him that he was buckling down and focusing on football this week.
Cam had been working hard too, but nobody had been working as hard as Dawson.
He’d done the ladder twice, and he might have even done it a third time, but Marty had stopped him, telling Daws they didn’t need him to wear him and his leg out.
Any time Dawson had when he wasn’t at practice, he was looking for another lawyer with Alex’s help and then also having several long conversations with the prosecutor as they worked together on the official response to the deal Ackerman’s lawyer had sent over.
“Yeah, he’s been real dedicated this week,” Aidan agreed.
They’d managed to snatch a few moments together. Shared meals over the kitchen counter as Dawson scrolled through emails from Alex about the different lawyers he’d talked to. One night he’d sweet-talked Dawson into another bath and joined him.
And they had, without fail, no matter how busy Dawson was, spent every night in the same bed. Sometimes it was Cam’s, sometimes it was Dawson’s, but it genuinely felt, at least to Cam, that it didn’t matter whose it was, as long as they were in it together.
“You should absolutely reward all that dedication with a hot date,” Levi said slyly.
“That’s the plan,” Cam said, trying not to flush bright red.
“So, where should he take Daws?” Levi said, looking over at Aidan, who just shrugged.
“Oh come on, you’re always taking me to cute places,” Levi teased.
“What about that cute bistro down by the water? In the Distillery District? That place was adorable. Super romantic.” He turned to Cam.
“I’ll text you the address. Order a nice bottle of wine.
There’s candlelight. And you can walk around the little stores after, and there’s even these outdoor firepits.
Order some hot chocolate. Cuddle up with him. ” Levi’s expression turned smug.
“I don’t know why you’re even asking me,” Aidan said, flashing his boyfriend a smile. “Levi’s got you all covered.”
“Next time, I’ll just ask him where you’ve taken him recently,” Cam said dryly.
“Ahhhh, the rookie’s got jokes!” Levi crowed. “I fucking love it.”
“Especially when they’re at my expense,” Aidan said.
“Exactly.” Levi leaned in and pressed a brief kiss to Aidan’s temple. “Finish getting dressed, I’m starved.”
Aidan looked over at Cam, who was still standing there. “You good now, rook?”
“Yeah,” Cam said, noticing that Levi had already texted the address.
“If they don’t want to give you a table on short notice,” Aidan said, smirking, “just drop my name again, okay?”
“I—” Cam hesitated.
“No, seriously,” Aidan said, clapping Cam on the shoulder. “Daws deserves a good night out. He’s been going through it, and you know what? You’re a good guy, to let him.”
Cam wondered now if this was the talk. The one he’d been hoping to avoid from Aidan.
“Yeah,” he agreed. “It’s not hard to be patient.” It was sometimes, but only because there was so much that he wanted and often it felt like Dawson wanted it too, just as much, and yet he was the only one stopping them from having it.
Cam got it, but that didn’t mean it was easy.
Aidan smiled, a slow bloom across his face. “You’re good for him,” was all he said, though. No lecture, no warning, no threats whatsoever.
That made it so easy to smile back. “Trying anyway,” Cam said.
“Doing better than that,” Aidan said. “I know him, so I know how stubborn and infuriating he can be. Plus, I know how heavy his baggage can be.” He stood and patted Cam on the shoulder. “He’s gonna come around.”
And Cam was pretty sure too but it felt good to hear Aidan say that.
“Thanks,” Cam said, smiling back.
Before he showered and changed, he called the restaurant.
He didn’t want to drop Aidan’s name—though it turned out that he didn’t need to.
Turned out the person who answered the phone was a big Thunder fan, big enough that they actually knew who Cam was, which didn’t happen all that often, and he was able to fit them in last minute with a prime time and promised that the table would be one of their best.
By the time he did shower, fingers slipping a little nervously on the buttons of his shirt, Dawson showed up, looking tired but pleased.
“You finally done?” Cam asked him as Dawson stripped out of his sweaty practice jersey.
“Yeah, think so.”
“Good, ’cause we’ve got an hour for you to get ready and to get to the restaurant,” Cam said.
“Restaurant?” Dawson blinked at him, surprised. “That why you asked me what I had planned for tonight?”
Dawson had told him that he was looking forward to heating up something from their meal service—which they apparently shared, now—and a pair of lazy handjobs.
But Cam had figured they could do a little better than that.
Dawson deserved more than that. He was always going out of his way to plan things for them to do.
Dawson wouldn’t have called them dates, but they were dates, in every single way that mattered.
And someday, when Dawson wasn’t so caught up in his own baggage, he’d see that, and until that point, Cam was willing to be patient, just like he’d told Aidan.
“Yeah,” Cam said, smiling. “You good with that? Or are you too tired?”
Dawson grinned, his smile unexpectedly bright. “To hang out with you? Nah. Never.”
“Good,” Cam said. He’d been pretty sure, but he’d known there was always a chance he’d be calling the restaurant back and moving their reservation to next week, when things in Dawson’s life were a little less crazy.
“I’m gonna go—” Dawson waved towards the showers. “Good thing I brought decent clothes today and not just sweatpants.”
But Cam had been thinking ahead, even this morning. “Remember when I told you I liked your ass in those jeans?”
Dawson smirked. “Oh, so that’s what that was. You’ve got layers to you, rook.”
“I like to think so. You like to think so.” It was so easy to smirk right back. Dawson made it easy, everything between them feeling so right and so simple. Which was why, more than anything, Cam knew that they would make it through this. That on the other side, it was going to be him and Dawson.
“Yeah, I do,” Dawson said. “Don’t go anywhere, okay?”
Cam knew what Dawson meant. Stick around so we can head out to dinner together. Which . . .obviously. But as Dawson disappeared into the showers, Cam thought that maybe Dawson meant something more, too. Meant, also, Stick around because I think we could be pretty fucking amazing together.
Well, he didn’t have to ask Cam twice.
Cam wasn’t going anywhere.
If Cam was putting a mental list together of everything that Aidan Flynn was good at, he was going to have to add planning dates to the list.
Because if Aidan had taken Levi here, then he’d hit the ball right out of the park.
The food was delicious, the atmosphere soft and sweet and undeniably romantic, the wine the waitress had recommended perfect. Maybe it wasn’t entirely Cam—even if he’d been smart enough to ask for a recommendation—but he was going to take the victory lap.
Especially when Dawson’s face was soft in the candlelight, lips red from the wine, his fond gaze never leaving Cam’s face as he finished up filling out the check.
“That was . . .” Dawson sighed happily.