Page 102 of Why Cheese?
“You mean jealous husbands,” Roq says.
Cam’s words tighten as he tries to speak over him. “—where I had no choice but to hide in a cave clogged by weeds and saplings.”
“Roq’s cave,” I cry out like I’m solving a murder mystery. “Wait. Jealous husbands?”
“A good fifty head, most armed with pitchforks and chef’s knives.”
Cam coughs. “Could we focus, please? I am now in this strange cave. I don’t know what to expect. Perhaps a mother wolf will nurse me back to health. Or, most likely, tear my face off. Imagine my surprise when I stumble through a tight squeeze upon a madman fussing over hundreds of wheels of cheese.”
“I’m not mad.”
“My good man, if you could grow a beard, it would have been to your ankles and full of rats nibbling on bits of cheese.”
Roq sneers at the idea, but he doesn’t exactly argue against that image.
“And you met? You must have both realized that you were cursed.”
“Au contraire. He took one glance at me and proceeded to hold me at knifepoint. The man was slightly less trustworthy back then. A pinch.” Cam gives a little crinkle to his nose while miming said pinch, then he gazes back at Roq. “He did not ask my name, or where I came from, or even if I would like a drink. You always were an atrocious host. We spent that long, meandering night with him looming over me, and I with a blade to my throat.”
“I took you for a thief. Which I was right about,” Roq says.
“Only for gold, For.” Cam leans closer with a grin. “And hearts.”
“But dawn was coming,” I say. “You both had to know that—”
“That our precarious situation would become insurmountable with the sun’s light?” Cam says. “Yes, we both knew, which is why neither of us said a word.”
“Don’t give away your weakness to the enemy,” Roq says.
“Did the sheep teach you that?” Cam taunts.
“It’s bloody common sense,” Roq says, then his eyes go wide and he slaps a hand over his mouth.
Cam smiles and points at him. “We spent the hours in dying lantern light eyeing each other up. Waiting, and waiting, and… Poof. Next thing I know, I’m on the floor, naked with another naked man. A situation not beyond the norm for me, but the knife lay between us.”
“And then you realized you’re both cheese men.”
“We lunged for the knife,” Roq says.
“I got it first,” Cam crows. “You think he smolders in rage now, you should see him when he’s stripped and without his precious high ground. I swear he could set me on fire with his eyes alone.”
“So then you talked and told each other—”
“We spent a week like that,” Roq growls.
“Oh for goodness sake.”
“Seven days—me with the knife, then you.” Cam paces closer to Roq. “Both of us naked, heaving, nibbling on crumbs of cheese, and drinking rather palatable wine.” He drops his hand to Roq’s chest and starts to trace the straining pec.
“I made it myself,” Roq says.
“Hmm.” Cam’s voice drops to a tumbling gravel as he lifts his gaze to Roq’s. “Shame you gave it up.”
They look like they’re about to kiss. No, they look like they’re going to tear each other’s clothes off, then fuck at knifepoint. Was that what ended their stalemate?
I open my mouth, but all that escapes is a low wheeze. Cam digs his fingers into Roq’s shirt. The passion in the air and hunger of his tightening muscles nukes my brain.I shouldn’t watch this. But god do I want to.
No, no, it’s private. It’s their thing. I shouldn’t…
