Page 72 of Flirt
For the next hour, he concentrated only on the movement of his hands and the occasional instruction from Nico. When the buzzer sounded, he dropped his tools on the table and flexed his fingers to ease some of the cramping.
“That was close.”
Cameron looked over at Nico and sighed. “I’m sorry. My head was all over the place.”
“We got it finished.” With a shrug, Nico dropped into one of the hard, aluminum chairs. “You want to talk about it?”
Cameron began cleaning up their workstation while he tried to gather his thoughts. If anyone would understand, it would be Nico, but he felt foolish now that most of his anger had faded. The nice thing about emotions—they didn’t always have to be rational.
“I was jealous.”
Nico nodded. “Of Linda, and you had every right to be pissed.”
Trash bag in one hand and pumpkin guts in the other, Cameron stared at his best friend. “What?”
“She knows you two are together. Hell, everyone saw that kiss when we first got here. Throwing herself at Asher like that was disrespectful to you both.”
“It was just flirting,” Cameron mumbled, but a little part of him couldn’t help feeling validated.
Leaning back in the chair, Nico stretched his legs out in front of him, crossing them at the ankles. He made no move to help clean up their mess, but considering he’d done the lion’s share of the work, Cameron didn’t argue.
“She invited him to coffeeanddinner. Then, she asked him back to her place after this.”
Cameron gritted his teeth and breathed in through his nose. “When was this?”
“Asher told me about it when you went to take a leak.”
“Asher told you?”
“Yeah, he wanted to know how pissed you’d be if he told her to fuck off instead of letting her down gently.”
Something warm and buoyant swelled inside Cameron. “What did you tell him?”
“She’s nice enough,” Nico answered with a frustrated sigh. “She’s lonely, and I get that. I told him to avoid being a dick if he could help it.”
Knowing Asher hadn’t wanted or encouraged Linda’s affections, it was a lot easier for him to be charitable now. “You’re right. She’s not a bad person, just lonely.”
He’d known Linda Picklesimer his entire life, and he didn’t believe she’d ever hurt anyone purposely. Losing her husband had changed her in ways he couldn’t imagine, and he figured she was still learning who she was without him. Still, that didn’t mean he had to like her pawing at his boyfriend.
“Okay, everyone,” Asher called, “lights out in five minutes.”
Cameron grabbed the flameless candle provided by the judges and flipped the switch on the bottom to illuminate it. After placing it inside the pumpkin, he stepped back and grinned. “What do you think?”
Tilting his head back, Nico looked up at him with a cocky smirk. “In the bag.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
There was a lotto celebrate in the Stone family that evening. Mr. Stone had taken second prize in the chili cook-off. Mrs. Stone had won a pair of theater tickets at a raffle benefiting the local animal shelter, and Natalie had negotiated to have a booth at the next year’s festival.
Cameron and Nico remained the undefeated, pumpkin-carving champions for their rendition of a killer clown, complete with curly hair made from spiraled rinds.
“I still can’t believe you didn’t vote for us.”
Stretched out on his side on a plaid blanket in the park, Asher propped himself up on his elbow and grinned. The clouds had blown away, but the night remained cool, perfect for cuddling under the stars. It seemed most of the town had turned out for the fireworks show, and the anticipation as they waited for the sun to disappear below the horizon was thick in the air.
“Sorry, Cam, but I really liked that drunk pumpkin.”
Cameron and Nico had outshined everyone in the competition, but Asher hadn’t wanted anyone to accuse him of favoritism. The drunk, vomiting pumpkin had been kind of cool, though. Creative.
