Chapter 21 #3
“Yeah. Hey . . .so . . .” They’d been here for a bit at least, but Dawson still felt a little guilty tugging him away from the party, especially when it was a party he’d earned. Well, they’d all earned it, but definitely Cam.
“Yeah? You wanna get out of here?”
“For sure.”
Cam deserved so much better than that. Maybe not the full romantic treatment tonight, but he could say the words—hopefully words Cam wanted to hear—and give him a really good orgasm.
“Good.” Cam smiled at him deeply enough his dimples popped. “I just gotta find—”
“Hey, kid, you looking for me?” Shane appeared then.
“Oh good, Dad, I was actually.” But then Cam hesitated again, like he was rebooting.
Shane drew him—well, both of them, actually—away from the crowded bar. “Kid,” he said seriously to Cam. “You gotta stop worrying about everyone so much.”
Cam looked surprised. That he’d been called out? That Shane had realized?
“Dawson, back me up here,” Shane said, glancing over at him.
“Yeah, seriously. I’m not going to freak out if we hang out with your dad,” Dawson promised. “He even seems pretty cool.”
Cam flushed bright red. “I didn’t . . .I wouldn’t . . .”
Shane ruffled his hair but it was Dawson who spoke up. “Yeah, you did. And it’s cute. Sweet. Real thoughtful, actually. But unnecessary.”
“Yeah, I wanna get to know your guy, kiddo,” Shane said, and it was Dawson’s turn to flush. But not with embarrassment, with pleasure.
“You’re really—it’s not a problem?” Cam gazed down at Dawson.
“Not a problem. But . . .maybe not tonight?” Dawson suggested.
“Yeah, you guys go to Dawson’s place. I’ll hang out here a bit longer, then head back to your apartment, if that’s alright?”
“Perfect,” Dawson said, reaching down and tangling his fingers with Cam’s, squeezing them. “You good, babe?”
Cam gave him a grateful look. “Yeah. Yeah. I’m really good.”
“Good.” Dawson nodded and glanced over at Shane. “I’ll see you around, yeah? Have a good night.”
Unexpectedly, Shane grinned and tugged him into a quick hug. “Yeah. For sure.”
They said the rest of their goodbyes. Dawson felt a little bad that he didn’t see Nate anywhere. He’d been hoping to spot him at some point so he could try to smooth things over, but he was nowhere to be found.
Oh, well. He’d text him tomorrow. Make sure they were cool. Maybe even apologize for pushing him too hard, though in Dawson’s humble opinion, he hadn’t.
When they finally got outside, Cam said, “Do you wanna walk home or should we grab a cab?”
It wasn’t ridiculously cold tonight, and they both had jackets, so Dawson said, “Let’s walk. We should probably talk about what happened with your dad.”
Cam groaned, but he didn’t argue, so there was that, at least.
“I meant what I said in there,” Dawson said when they were outside. “You don’t need to protect me from him. He doesn’t freak me out.”
“I . . .yeah, I was worried. Things were so new, and I didn’t want to . . .” Cam trailed off and took a deep breath. “I just didn’t want to push too hard.”
“It’s not pushing if I want to get to know him, and he wants to get to know me,” Dawson said gently. “Also, let’s be honest. How new were things, really? We were dating for months.”
Cam’s eyes went big and round and he stopped right there on the middle of the sidewalk.
But before he could say anything, Dawson continued.
“I know we talked about it a little on our last date, before your dad showed up, but I want to make it clear. We’re together.
I want to do right by you. I don’t want to impose on your time with your dad, but the last thing I want is for you to think you need to protect me from him. I don’t need to be.”
“Yeah?” Cam tipped his head down. His eyes were soft. Full of an emotion that Dawson thought he could identify. Hoped he had identified correctly. “You like me, huh?”
Here it was, the opening Dawson had been waiting for. Had been hoping for.
“Little more than like, rook,” Dawson murmured, pulling him close against him.
Cam’s mouth notched open. “Yeah? I . . .yeah, me too.”
Leaning in, Dawson brushed his mouth across Cam’s. “You want me to say it?”
“Been waiting,” Cam admitted.
“I love you,” Dawson said.
Cam grinned. Kissed him back. But not nearly as long as Dawson was hoping for. Too soon, he was breaking it off. Still smiling like Dawson was the best gift he’d ever received. “I love you, too,” he said. “So much? I didn’t even know—”
“I didn’t either,” Dawson teased.
“Didn’t think I could be happier than when I actually got drafted. Or when I found out you were signing here, with the Thunder, but . . .” Cam shrugged, his whole face lit up with love and joy.
“Turns out things get even better.”
“You wanna show me how good?” Cam suggested.
And it was so easy to lean in and kiss him again. Longer, this time. Deeper. When he finally lifted his head, they were both breathless, and Dawson didn’t hesitate this time. “Come on,” he said, “let’s go home.”
Every inch of Cam’s skin felt like it was humming and alive with desire and with love. He crawled up Dawson’s body, pressing him down into the mattress, drunk not on booze but on the way Daws was looking up at him, like he was the most gorgeous thing he’d ever seen.
The walk home and travel up to Dawson’s floor had felt endless—far too long until they got to touch each other the way they were both dying to, but now that they’d gotten here and they’d both gotten naked, he didn’t want to rush. Cam wanted to take his time.
He’d only ever get to have first time, in love and together forever sex once. It was always so good with Dawson, and had been from the very first time, but Cam was ambitious and he wasn’t willing to settle for just very good.
“God, I want you,” Cam murmured, leaning in and brushing his mouth against Dawson’s, who just groaned beneath him. “Want you so bad.”
“Think I want you more,” Dawson echoed breathlessly. “You’re so—”
He gasped as Cam ground down on his cock, hard and leaking underneath him. Cam wanted to sink down on it. Grind endlessly until neither of them could take it anymore. Until they fell right off the edge together. As close as two people had ever been.
“You like that?”
“I fucking love that,” Dawson said. His head was tilted back on the pillow, pleasure already creasing his face. “Fucking love you.”
If Cam had thought Dawson taking his time to express his feelings meant that he wasn’t going to be willing to express them very often, it turned out he was very, very wrong.
Dawson had already told him half a dozen times on their way to their apartment building, and once he’d gotten naked, Cam had already heard it twice.
Every single utterance made him grin and the last two had made him giggle.
“Wish we could just . . .” Cam trailed off.
He ground down again. Already imagining how Dawson’s cock would feel deep inside him.
But Dawson was big enough and he still had to walk tomorrow.
Well, maybe not tomorrow, but in two days, and he’d already taken enough flack for Dawson fucking him so good he could barely jog properly.
“I got you,” Dawson murmured, leaning over and snagging the lube from the drawer next to the bed. “Come on, baby. Let me touch you.”
Cam didn’t need Dawson to ask twice. He shuffled closer, lifting his body in invitation. Groaning as Dawson cupped his ass and then slid a finger between his cheeks.
“Like that?” Dawson murmured.
“More,” Cam begged. Pleasure was fizzing along his spine and he was already so hard his cock ached.
Dawson must have had the same thoughts as Cam though, because he didn’t rush. Fingered Cam open slowly and deliberately, waiting until he was begging for the next finger before he finally gave it to him.
“I’m so ready,” Cam pleaded. “Want you now.”
“Patience,” Dawson countered, but his voice was rough and his other hand was clamped hard around Cam’s hip, fingers digging into his flesh. Probably leaving bruises.
God, Cam hoped he was leaving bruises. He wanted to look in the mirror tomorrow and trace the evidence of this night, of Dawson’s love, imprinted on his body.
“I know you want me.”
“Baby, I’m dying for you,” Dawson ground out. He sank three fingers in and twisted them, making Cam groan hard.
“You can baby me all you want tomorrow. But tonight? Tonight, I need you.”
Dawson dug his teeth into his bottom lip and then dragged Cam down, kissing him hard and insistent, his tongue fucking into his mouth as his fingers fucked into his body.
When he finally let him up, Cam let out a happy, relieved sigh as Dawson slipped his fingers out and slicked up his cock.
“Come on, rook,” Dawson whispered.
Cam didn’t need any more encouragement. He circled his fingers around the base of Dawson’s dick and then took it in one long, breathless slide.
It felt so fucking good. But it wasn’t just the ecstasy lighting him up, but the awe and relief and utter joy in Dawson’s expression as he gazed at him.
Bracing a hand on Dawson’s chest, Cam wiggled even deeper and they both groaned in tandem. Dawson’s hands clamped around his hips again, and he didn’t begin to thrust but instead just grind deeper still.
Cam gasped.
“Feels good, huh?”
“Feels amazing.” Cam squeezed his eyes shut, because for a second, it was almost too much to take—Dawson looking at him like that, like he wasn’t just a person but he was a miracle, like he was Dawson’s everything—but then he opened them again, because how could he miss it, either?
Maybe it would feel like this again. Maybe it would feel even better.
Maybe in a year or five years or ten, they’d still be in love. They’d still be wild for each other. But Cam thought they both understood now that this feeling couldn’t be taken for granted.
He was going to grab and hold on to every moment with every bit of strength and determination he had. Even if that scared Dawson away. Even that was too much for him.
But the way Dawson groaned his name—and what he’d told Cam in Vault tonight—told him that he’d worried about that too much.
He could have this. Could have him.
“I’m so lucky,” Cam panted as he rose and sank down. Swiveled his hips.
Dawson was full of breathless, incredulous laughter. “Are you kidding? I’m the lucky one. The luckiest. I never thought—but now here you are, and God, you are perfect.”
Cam wasn’t perfect. Not by a long shot, but on one point he could agree as he fucked down onto Dawson’s cock harder, feeling his orgasm growing closer and closer. From the red flush on Dawson’s cheeks and the way his hips kept stuttering it seemed that Dawson was, too.
But even if Cam wasn’t perfect, there was one way Dawson was right.
“No, but I’m perfect for you,” Cam murmured, leaning in and kissing him. Dawson’s hips thrust harder and faster, and a second later, Cam was coming hard, burying his face into his neck.
He felt rather than saw Dawson’s orgasm, loving the way he shuddered beneath him.
It made total sense to just stay collapsed onto Dawson’s body. Especially with the way Dawson kept stroking his back and murmuring words about how wonderful and gorgeous and flawless he was. How good he felt. How Dawson never wanted to let him go.
Cam pressed a kiss to his neck. Nuzzling in closer. “Well,” he said right back, “I’m not letting you go first.”
“Okay, rook,” Dawson said, his chuckle a rumble that Cam felt throughout his whole chest.