20. Lucas #2
“TMI! TMI!” Alex covered his eyes and backed away from us towards the other bedrooms, banging his suitcase into the wall as he stumbled around.
“I think you’re all hat and no cattle, Cam Cam.”
I took a step towards Colton. “To be fair, Colton, I am pretty loud.”
“Alright, you two, put your pistols away.” O walked over, pretending to separate us.
“Have all the sex y’all want. Just don’t keep us awake. How about that?” Colton asked.
“Can do,” I said.
No promises.
Fuck. And I just came in my jock.
“Luke. Luke?! I think you broke him, Cam,” O said.
“I’m here. I’m here. Just-”
“Fantasizing?” Colton suggested.
I nodded.
“Oh brother! Let’s see what rooms are left, Orion.”
Well, I didn’t think the guys could actually hear us, since their bedrooms were on the other side of the living room and the dining room. It wasn’t impossible, but I’m sure the front desk would get complaints from our other neighbors before the guys.
“This place is sick!” O returned to the living room. Cam and I were lounging on the couch.
“Have you seen the hot tub yet?” I asked.
O practically tripped over the table. “There’s a hot tub?” he asked, running out onto the balcony. He came back in a few seconds later, screaming, “Colton! Alex! There’s a hot tub!”
They both came running out of their rooms to check it out.
My phone vibrated.
Dad: You’re an adult. We can't stop you from messing up your life. You’re on your own.
“Well, I guess that’s that,” I said to Cam, showing him the text.
He lay his head on my shoulder.
I’m sorry.
“Thanks. It was what I expected, but it still sucks. It doesn’t say if they’re coming or not. I should call Shane.”
Part of me was relieved that they weren’t going to fight with me about Cam, and part of me was angry that they didn’t care enough to fight.
They didn't care at all. But it had always been that way.
I never felt very familial with them. Pulling out my phone to dial, I noticed a weird icon in the corner.
I flicked the menu down and clicked on it.
‘No signal.’
“Well, that was fast. They cut my phone already.”
Cam squeezed my arm.
“Fuck.”
You should talk to Shane and Coach.
“Yeah, I know. You guys know what room number Coach is in?” I called out.
None of them knew. Perfect.
Knock knock knock.
Well, at least we weren’t about to have sex.
I got up to answer the door. It was Ford with a luggage cart overflowing with bags.
“Hey Luke,” Ford said, dragging the cart with him.
“Hey guys, a little help in the kitchen!”
Cam followed us, and the other three met us in the kitchen.
The doors to the balcony split the kitchen in half.
Alex, Colton and I busied ourselves by unpacking the bags on the island in the middle.
Cam and O grabbed the stuff from there. I knew Cam was a neat freak, so I let him put things away in the cupboards.
I put O on fridge duty. I put the items that were specifically for Cam, like the humidifier and cough medicine, on the table.
In about five minutes, mostly everything was put away. Colton was already eating a banana. I shook my head, trying to get the image of his hand on Cam’s dick out of head.
Did they jack each other off, or just themselves?
I knew jealousy wasn’t a good look for me, but I couldn’t help it.
“Hey Ford, thanks for getting all this stuff for us,” I said.
“No problem, Luke. I’m sorry you guys had to change your sleeping arrangements.”
He seemed to realize who he was talking to and got embarrassed. “Uh, I meant that...the fire...not you and Cam.”
“I knew what you meant. What room number are you guys in? Do you know Shane and Noah’s room too?”
“Sure thing, Luke.”
Noah left to go check on Cam, giving me and Shane some privacy and time to go over my situation.
“What’s your biggest priority?” Shane asked. “Right now.”
“Well, they just shut my phone off, so…that?”
“Okay, well, that’s easy. I’ll talk to Noah, but we have a family plan. It was cheaper than staying separate. We could probably just add you to that.”
“You’d do that?”
“It’s not that much work, Luke. I think I just have to let them know about the switch and then we can send them your info. The hotel, the village, and the O2 are wifi equipped, so you can use that for now.”
“Okay, that sounds easy. Next would be money. I’m sure my credit card doesn’t work anymore.”
“To be frank, how much do you have?”
“Maybe twenty thousand?”
“Okay, wow. That’s not bad. Plus, you’ll get twenty-five thousand from the US Olympic Committee for your gold medal, and there’s the team silver too. And you have a chance at more medals. That’ll work for a bit.”
“I forgot about that.”
“Do you need me to look at your deal with Andrew Christian?”
“Yeah, I can send you the contact info for the guy there. It would be great if you could explain the situation to him.”
“I’ll also talk to Woodward. I’m positive he’ll have some good ideas, and he knows a lot of people. He’s more in the gymnastics world than I’ve been.”
I couldn’t help but feel guilty about that. Other than dating Noah, I didn’t know what he’d been up to since Brisbane. He must’ve seen my expression.
“I already told you, Luke, it wasn’t your fault. I’ve been fine. It was nice to escape the tumultuous life of coaching an Olympic hopeful.” He smiled at me, looking to see if I appreciated his sarcasm.
“Especially one with special parents?”
“Speaking of, I spent some time with mine, got pretty serious with Noah - we live together now - helped him with Cam a little and got a job as a gym teacher.”
“A teacher, huh? Bigs or littles?”
“High school, so bigs.” He went with my informality. “They don’t have a gymnastics program, but I coach the wrestling team. Erika’s little brother, Austin, was actually on it until he graduated.”
“Oh.” I hadn’t known that. “He was good, wasn’t he?”
“I’ll say. Three consecutive state titles and a full ride to Duke.”
“Damn. I didn’t know that.” I guess things worked out for him.
“Yeah, I’ve heard he’s here with a new coach to watch the games. He might have a shot at the Olympics in San Francisco, but he’ll need to learn a different wrestling style first.”
I wondered if Cam was still close enough with Erika to stay up-to-date on Austin. I knew she got engaged last year from her Instagram announcement.
“So, anything else we need to discuss?”
“It might be too early to think about, but I’m assuming I won’t be welcome at my parent’s apartment, and I doubt they’d want me squatting in their other homes. So I’m not sure where I’m living now…”
“Jesus, Luke. You really think they’d take it that far?”
“I think so. I don’t know. Probably?”
“Well, again…I can talk to Noah, and if needed, Woodward. But we’ll come up with something.”
“To be honest, I want to be wherever Cam is, but I haven’t talked to him about it. We just got back together this morning and I don’t want to push him too fast. He says he forgives me, but I want to make sure before we take things further.”
“That’s probably wise, but Cam’s a big boy. He can take care of himself.”
Definitely big.
“Thanks, Shane. Let me know if you need anything from me, especially with the phone. I really appreciate your help. I hope it won’t be an issue with Noah.”
“It shouldn’t be, Luke. Try not to worry. We’ll figure it all out.”
Colton and Alex had joined forces to make a dinner of chicken and pasta for all of us, and despite being in an amazing hotel suite, we were all dead tired from the drama of the past twenty-four hours. Cam and I said good night to the guys and headed to our room.
Ford had done more than bring us the humidifier.
He had already set it up, and it was running.
I’d have to remember to thank him tomorrow.
I had the bag of stuff he bought for Cam, and the pamphlet from the doctor.
Cam gave it to me earlier per my request, so I could study it.
I knew he was taking it seriously, but I was going to do everything I could to help Cam fully recover.