Page 74 of The Leaving Kind
A smirk twisted Jorge’s mouth. “You.”
“You can talk out loud to me. If you need to.”
Jorge lifted his chin. “Same.”
Cam gnawed on his lower lip, bit a little too hard, and soothed the sting against the lip of his beer bottle. Then he put the bottle down. It hadn’t occurred to him until he’d made the offer, but Cam wanted to talk. Jorge probably wasn’t the right person to listen. Not to what he had to say at this moment.
Maybe Nick?
Cam tugged his phone out of a pocket and turned the warm rectangle over in his hand. He did need to talk, but not about war. Not right now.
You know who you need to call.
“Help yourself to another burger if you want. I’m gonna—” Cam nodded toward the backyard. “I need to make a call.”
He ducked outside and crossed the patio. Wove around the fruit trees he’d planted eighteen months ago. Their leaves were green with summer, and three of them had little apples going. Cam smiled at the fruit. Behind the fenced veggie patches, the lawn sloped down to a line of trees that ran along the creek. Cam stopped there and woke his phone. He’d had Victor’s number stored in his contacts for a while, but had yet to use it because ... Because.
He hit Dial.
“Hello?”
“You having my number means you can call me, and I don’t know why that feels like such a big deal, but it does.”
Quiet. Then, “I understand.”
“Do you? Or are you just saying that?”
“Cam ... I like you, okay? Not because we had a great time on Friday night, but because you’re a decent person. The day we met, you jumped out of your truck to help me, even though we were strangers. Then you kept coming back because that’s who you are.”
And because with his lithe body, blue-gray eyes, and colorful clothing, Victor was, inexplicably, stuck fast in Cam’s mind.
“I’m not going to apologize for wanting to stay in touch with a decent human being,” Victor continued. “Plus, there was Friday night.”
And Saturday morning.
“Can I stop by tomorrow to pick up Honey’s toy?”
“I’ll be home all day.”
“I could ... You want me to bring food?”
“Are you inviting yourself over for dinner and dessert?”
A grin edged across Cam’s mouth. “That’s what friends do, isn’t it? Eat. Share something afterward.”
“I don’t sleep with all my friends. Just so you’re aware. Could get rather messy.”
Cam laughed. “Good to know.” The creek burbled in front of him and the scent of the water wafted up on the evening breeze. “I don’t sleep with all my friends, either.”
He had no idea why he’d said that, or why it seemed important. What he even meant.
On the other end of the phone, Vic exhaled quietly. “Good to know.”
“You win. Dear God ... Stop, I can’t. You win!”
Victor flopped onto his back, pulling his over-sensitized-but-still-hard dick away from Cam’s hand and covered his groin protectively. Cam grinned evilly at Vic’s cage of fingers before rolling backward. Victor panted and sought unsexy thoughts.
Beside him, Cam sighed in satisfaction. “When do I get to claim my prize?”