Page 5 of The Boyfriend Gamble

I shrugged.

“Look, dude, just because Tanner is gay and you're gay, it doesn't mean you have to bone.”

“Cam.”

“Don’tCamme.” He shook his finger at me. “He’s a kid, Kade. A sensitive, sweet kid.”

I pressed a hand to my chest. “Do you think I don’t know that?”

“You’ll hurt him.”

“How can you possibly know that?”

“You’re not a guy who takes relationships seriously. For fifteen years, I’ve watched you go through men. Permanence is not your thing. Tanner screams monogamy and long-term.”

“Hey, I resent that comment.” I kept my voice low because most of the neighborhood appeared to be asleep.

The professional firework show at the local park had ended more than an hour ago.

“And Tanner’s twenty-fucking-eight-years old. I think he’s old enough to make his own decisions.”

“He’s a babe in the woods, Kade, and you know it. I’d be shocked if he wasn’t a virgin.”

I squinted. “You think he went to law school at Queen’s University in Kingston and didn’t get action? Isn’t the Royal Military College there? With all those buff-and-young cadets—”

Cam smacked my chest. “Tanner’s not like you. As you just so crudely pointed out. I heard Nita telling your mom that Tanner didn’t date much. And she’d know, since they’re roommates.”

Yeah. They were so close, they’d even gone to university together, heading to Ontario. She’d studied languages during undergrad and he’d studied political science. Then he’d gone to law school, and she’d gone to teacher’s college. She’d finished first, but loved him so much that she’d waited for him to finish before heading home with him. Her experience as a substitute teacher back east had landed her a good job teaching French Immersion in Mission City, and Tanner obtained a job with the crown prosecutor’s office. Still, I had to try. “They’ve been back for several years.”

“And are sharing a house, Kade. Nice try.” Cam sighed. “Look, he’s been giving you puppy dog eyes for years.”

“What?”

“You’re telling me you never noticed?”

I rolled my shoulders.

“Oh-ho, so you did notice.”

“Maybe…”

“So why tonight? After you’ve had a few? Inhibitions down?”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“So I shouldn’t remind you of the time the campus police threatened to arrest your ass for drunk-and-disorderly conduct?”

“Jesus, Cam, keep your voice down.”

He chuckled. “I wasn’t speaking that loudly.”

Still, it felt like he was. I’d tried to forget that particular incident. We’d both been in third-year science at the University of British Columbia. He’d been headed toward dental school while I was working on kinesiology and becoming a physiotherapist. I might’ve been…a little too enamoured with alcohol back in the day. “That was more than ten years ago.”

“But it had an impact on you.”

“Yeah.”

He poked my chest. “Then let this have an impact on you. Stay the fuck away from Tanner. Keep your dick in your pants around him. Go on a hookup app if you need your cock stroked. Or use your right hand. I don’t give a shit.”

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