Page 44 of The Easy Way
Just like that, all his doubts evaporated, any thoughts of maintaining his distance flew out the window. He could no more leave Cam like this than he could fly to the island under his own power - it was simply beyond hiscapability.
“Why didn’t you—?” he began, but then stopped. He was pretty sure he knew why Cam wouldn’t have mentioned this. Cort had forced his hand.Jesus.
“I’m not ashamed of it,” Cam said defiantly, looking at something over Cort’s shoulder. “It’s my shit, and I own it, okay? It’snormal.”
Cort frowned. “Of course it’s normal. I… I didn’t think.” More like he was trying so hardnotto think about Cam, he’d missed theobvious.
“It doesn’t make me weak, either,” Cam continued in the same voice, and Cort realized Cam wasn’t arguing withhim, but with his own doubts. Ormaybe…
“Was that something your ex said, too?” Cort demanded, and Cam’s eyes methis.
Yeah, that’s what he’dthought.
“Okay, come on,” Cort said, quickly unbuckling Cam’s seatbelt. Cam gave a terrified squeak of protest, but Cort had already picked him up and deposited him in the middle seat of the sofa, quickly locating the seatbelt, fastening it around Cam’s waist, and taking the empty seat besidehim.
As the plane picked up speed, taxiing down the runway, Cort fastened his own belt. Then he twisted toward Cam and pulled the man against him so Cam’s face was buried in his chest while his arms wrapped around Cam’s shoulders. Cam gave a shudder that might have been fear or relief, or a little of both. The man needed something to focus on, something to make him feel safe. Cort reached a hand into his pocket and grabbed his lucky quarter. He took Cam’s hand and pressed the coin into hispalm.
“What’s this?” Camasked.
“It’s my good luck charm,” Cort told him, running a hand over Cam’s hair. “Saved my ass a hundred times ormore.”
“Really?” Cam’s voice was disbelieving, as though he thought Cort was bullshittinghim.
“Really,” Cort confirmed. He took a deep breath. “When I was a kid, I was bitten by a dog.” He hesitated before adding, “It was my stepfather’s dog. A big-ass German Shepherd. I still have a little scar.” He shifted his hand and moved a finger up to trace the edge of his lip. “Anyway, uh, I had this crazy fear of dogs after that. All of them, big or small, so at first they tried to place me in homes where they didn’t have animals, but they can’t always manage it, youknow?”
Cort blew out a breath. He’d never spoken this shit aloud to anyone before in his life, and he was pretty sure he sounded like an idiot. Cam didn’t move or say anything, but Cort could tell he was listening, couldfeelCam was focused onhim,not on the plane bouncing down the tarmac. “I was placed with the Dempseys when I was ten, and they hadthreedogs. Vicious, yappy little things. They were sweet to Craig and Rhonda, but assholes to me and Damon. They’d growl and bark and—” He cleared his throat. “Damon didn’t care, because he was older - taller, bigger. But I was this tiny, scrawny, littlekid.”
“Not possible,” Cam mumbled, making Cortlaugh.
“Well, I didn’t just pop out this size, badass,” he joked. “But yeah, I was runty even for my age. I hadn’t gotten into football or any kind of sports at that point. Craig Dempsey, he was aman’s mankind of guy. He didn’t tolerate weakness, or having a gay kid like Damon or a bisexual kid like me living in his house, either, but that’s a different story coming way later. He, ah, felt like it was his duty to make me stronger by facing my fear, so he made me feed the dogs by myself everynight.”
Cam pulled back to look at him, his eyes wide andangryin a way that warmed Cort’s chest. “What did youdo?”
Cort shrugged. “The first time? I cried! I mean, my choices were to take my chances with the dogs or take my chances with Craig. And if Damon had tried to interfere, Craig would get pissed athiminstead. So, Damon gave me this quarter. Told me it was magic and it would protectme.”
Cam smiled, just a little. “And you believedit?”
“God, no. Even then I knew there was no such thing.” He swallowed. “But, here’s the thing. Damon gave it to me because he wanted me to be brave, right? Because, for whatever reason, he loved me and wanted me to be okay. And so, whenever I have it with me, I remember I’m not, you know,alone. That’s the magic, Ithink.”
The plane picked up speed, and Cam’s hand clenched around the quarter. He buried his face in Cort’s chest again with a smallmoan.
“You know, air travel is really safe most of the time,” Cort said, stroking his hand down Cam’s back. “Way safer than cars andtrains.”
“I know,” Cam said, the sound muffled by Cort’s shirt. “And the number of aircraft accidents goes down all the time. I’ve looked itup.”
“Just think about how much more dangerous other forms of transportation are, and how people have lived to tell the tale,” Cort said, as they barreled down the runway. He felt the weightless jerk in his stomach that told him the plane was now airborne, and he began to talk faster. “Like, ah, have you ever seen how people strap those helicopter blades to their lawn chairs andstuff?”
Cam stiffened in Cort’s hold. “What?”
“Seriously. I saw it on TV. One guy even took a hot air balloon mechanism and attached it to one of those plastic rain barrels people use in their gardens. You know the kind Imean?”
Cam nodded, pulling away again to look at Cort in confusion, maybe wondering what the hell Cort was rambling onabout.
It was a damn good question, and one Cort didn’t have an answer to. His main goal here was distraction, and he’d quickly learned nothing distracted Cam as effectively as Cort being ridiculous. Cort pulled Cam’s head back against his chest, and dug his fingers into the incredibly tight muscles at the base of Cam’sneck.
Cam let out a whimper - a sound so like the one he’d made last Friday, Cort felt his dick begin to swell, as though the fucking thing had a direct connection to Cam’s vocal cords.Focus, Cortland. Cam isfrightened.
“Right, so, the only problem was, he had no idea how to steer it. The dude launches himself up - I swear to God, wearing nothing but his underwear and swim goggles. He goes so high, he gets fucking hypothermia. He passes out, and when he comes to, he’s miles andmilesaway from his house, where he started the adventure. Like, in the nextstate. They had to send out people to rescuehim.”
