Dissonance (27 page)

Charles ignored his response. “Where’s Jamie?” he demanded.

“Somewhere safe.” Of course, Jamie would be safer if Charles hadn’t made bail so quickly, but maybe Galen could make sure Charles stayed longer the next time.

“Fucking fag. You’re the one who encouraged him, aren’t you?”

“This isn’t about Jamie’s being gay, though, is it, Mr. Thompson?” Galen kept his tone even, controlled. “You’re jealous of him. Of his talent. It’s easier to deal with your own bullshit if you drag everyone around you down with you. Your wife, your step—”

“Don’t
fucking
mess with me!” Charles punched Galen again, this time in the eye, then pushed him up against the wall. One of the photographs on a nearby table crashed to the floor, breaking the glass.

“Leave him the hell alone!” Cam grabbed the man by the shoulder and pulled him off Galen.

“Cam, get back!” Galen shouted. “I’ve got this under control.”
Shit.
He’d handled this badly. The last thing he wanted was Cam in the middle of this fight. Cam had probably never fought in his life.

“Oh.” Charles grabbed Cam by the wrist and twisted his arm behind his back. “I see you have company. Another piece of shit.”

Cam winced and tried to extricate himself from the man’s grasp, but to no avail. Galen doubted Charles could break Cam’s arm, but he didn’t want to risk it.

“Let him go, Charles,” Galen warned. Charles ignored him. Galen caught Cam’s eye and gave him a reassuring smile. Cam stared at Galen as if he’d lost his mind. This
so
wasn’t going the way Galen had intended. He should have realized Cam would try to help.

Charles laughed and pulled Cam’s arm farther back. Galen gritted his teeth. He’d hoped to get Charles away from Cam, but that clearly wasn’t going to happen. Time to do something.

Galen darted behind Charles, wrapped his arm around Charles’s neck, squeezed. “Let him go, Charles. This is between the two of us.”

Charles gasped and released Cam, who stepped forward in shock.

“Stay back, Cam. I can handle him,” Galen said, hoping his voice conveyed the strength he wanted Cam to hear.

Cam didn’t move away, but he also didn’t move closer. He rubbed his arm and looked up at Galen.

“You okay?” Galen asked.

“Fine,” Cam said, looking shell-shocked.

“I’m going to ask you to leave now, Mr. Thompson,” Galen said. “Do you think you can do that?”

Charles nodded as he struggled against Galen’s grip.

“Okay.” Galen released Charles, who staggered a foot or so toward the door, then dropped to the floor and grabbed one of the glass shards from the picture frame. Cam was too close—far closer than Galen.

Galen didn’t hesitate: he stepped between Cam and Charles. He grabbed the shard, ignoring the sting as it sliced into his palm, then kicked Charles in the face. Charles fell backward. The glass skittered across the floor and splintered into smaller pieces.

Cam stared at the unconscious Charles, then back at Galen again. His eyes widened in what Galen guessed was recognition, his lips parting. “You… you…. You
let
him attack you?”

“Yep.”

“And during all of that, you let me think he’d beat you and tear you to pieces?”

“That wasn’t exactly my intention.” Galen rubbed his jaw absentmindedly. His eye had already begun to swell.

Cam narrowed his eyes. “You knew if he hit you a few times, they’d lock him up.”

“That’s the plan.”

“You’re a bloody idiot, you know?” Cam said.

Galen smiled. He’d expected Cam would be angry. He hadn’t expected he’d care. “Sometimes,” he said. “In this case, I think particularly so.”

Cam crossed his arms over his chest and frowned back at him.

“But I fucked up. I didn’t think it through. Now you’re a witness to this. I’m sorry.” He
hadn’t
thought it through. He’d done what he’d told himself he wouldn’t do anymore: he’d acted without thinking first. He’d acted out of emotion.

“
That’s
what you’re worried about?” Cam said with a laugh. “Me? You really
are
an idiot. What about your job?”

Galen shrugged. That was nothing new. He’d been lucky this far, but he always knew there’d come a day when he’d have to face the proverbial music, that what he did for students would eventually become an issue. “They’ll figure out who you are, Cam.”

Cam smiled. He glanced down at the broken glass on the floor and Charles sprawled across the rug. “So they will,” he said. He walked over, took Galen’s right hand, and turned it over. The cut was deeper than Galen had realized. “Krazy Glue?” Cam asked, the edges of his mouth turning upward ever so slightly.

“You’re getting good at this.”

Cam shook his head. “You’re still a bloody idiot, you know.”

Galen just smiled.

W
HEN
THE
police took Charles away in a squad car, he was still shouting curses at Galen. The two uniformed officers who’d stayed behind to take statements from Cam and Galen left at 5:00 a.m. After that, Galen and Cam cleaned up the front entrance.

“Yoga and karate?” Cam smiled and shook his head as he swept the rest of the glass shards from the wood floor.

“I got beaten up a bunch in middle school. My mom thought I should learn to defend myself. I don’t use it much, but I’ve never forgotten it either.” Galen dumped the contents of the dustpan into the garbage, then took the broom from Cam and proceeded to sweep the area Cam had just finished. He didn’t add that he’d been bullied in middle school and that some days, he’d pretended he was sick just to avoid having to go to class.

“Not up to par?” Cam said with a raised eyebrow.

“I’m a little—” Galen hesitated. “—picky.”

“You could say that.”

Galen hoped Cam would drop the topic. He was too tired and he didn’t want to talk about it.

“You’re obsessively neat.”

“And you’re blunt,” Galen countered with a measured smile. Generalized anxiety disorder.
That was what the doctors had called it. But what difference did it make if someone gave it a name? He knew what he was. Cleaning helped him relax. With each shard of glass he found, the tightness in his chest faded.

“Order is a false construct,”
his therapist had once told him.
“Someday you’ll see that you don’t need to put everything in its place. You’ll just let it go. Just
be
.”

“Does anything ever bother you?” Cam asked. “Even with that bastard, you were calm.”

“Other than having a messy house?” Galen shrugged. He wouldn’t tell Cam that his outward calm was just an act. He supposed Cam would see through the bullshit eventually, when he wasn’t as focused on his own issues. By then, it wouldn’t matter anymore because Cam would have moved on. Which was exactly the way it should be. “What are you going to do now?” he asked, knowing full well Cam would know he’d deliberately changed the topic.

“You mean now that they know where to find me?”

“Yes.” Galen saw Cam struggling to maintain his composure. He rested the broom against the wall and put his arm around Cam, who leaned against him. “I’m sorry,” he said as he stroked Cam’s hair.

“Don’t be. I’m bloody well done with sorry. Time to be a man. Get my shit in order. Turn myself in and hope that the truth is good enough.” Cam laughed, but Galen couldn’t miss the fear in his eyes.

“And then?”

“And then…? I have no bloody clue.”

Galen leaned in and kissed Cam. “You’ll be fine. And I’ll be there with you, if you’d like.”

“Really? You’d do that for me?”

“Yep. Not that I’m a lawyer, but I can give you moral support.” Cam would need it. It would take the FBI time to sort through the electronic records and confirm what Cam suspected: that his uncle had been the one to set up the wire transfers and make it look as though Cam had done it himself.

“Thanks.” Cam sighed against Galen’s neck, then pulled away. “Time to make a few calls, then.” He grinned at Galen and added, “Since you’re not a lawyer.”

B
Y
THE
time Cam had finished his calls, Galen had fallen asleep. For a few minutes, Cam watched the slow rise and fall of Galen’s bare chest. The past week—since he’d told Galen the truth—had been nice. Better than nice—it had been lovely. He’d almost forgotten about Duncan. The dreams had lingered since he’d remembered, but they were now less frequent. He knew sleeping with Galen at his side had been the cause. Next to Galen, he felt safe, warm. And if his life weren’t in such a total shambles at the moment, Cam might even have felt loved. But now wasn’t the time for more than comfort, especially since Galen had made it clear he wasn’t in it for the long-term. Still, Cam wouldn’t pass up the opportunity—the last one, perhaps—to feel Galen’s body beneath his.

He leaned down and claimed Galen’s lips in a slow, sweet kiss. Galen, sleepy-eyed, awoke at the touch and sighed. “I was hoping you’d wake me up when you came to bed,” he said as he pulled Cam close. “Got everything taken care of?”

“We have until four this afternoon.” Cam kissed Galen again. No tongue, just his lips sensually brushing against Cam’s. “Enough time for sleep and maybe something more.”

“Something more?” Cam loved how Galen’s eyes seemed to change color when he smiled and how the tiny lines at the corners of his mouth nearly met the dimples on his cheeks. “I’m not sure I know what that means.”

“It means this,” Cam said as he nipped at Galen’s lower lip, then feathered kisses over Galen’s neck and shoulders until Galen shivered.

“I’m still not sure I understand what you mean, Lord Sherrington.”

Cam winced.

“Sorry. You really hate the title, don’t you?” Galen asked.

“I’m not sure ‘hate’ is the correct word. ‘Dislike,’ certainly.”

“Why?” Galen pulled Cam against him and kissed him soundly on the lips.

Cam shrugged. “I’m not sure. I wonder that myself sometimes. Maybe it’s that I’ve done nothing to deserve it except being born. Or maybe it’s that people expect me to be something more than I am because of it.”

“It’s part of you,” Galen said before kissing Cam again. “Like your hair—” He kissed Cam’s hair. “—or your baby blues—” He kissed the bridge of Cam’s nose. “—or the birthmark right here.” He kissed the spot next to Cam’s nose, then hugged Cam again. “There’s nothing to live up to unless you let yourself believe you need to live up to something.”

Cam hadn’t thought of it that way. How many things did he look at differently because of Galen? Too many to count. “Thank you,” he said as he sighed against Galen’s cheek.

“For what?”

“For making me think about things. For making me realize I do a bloody good job of creating my own angst.”

Galen chuckled. “I’d never thought of you as having angst. But I know a little about what it’s like to create my own mess.”

Cam was just about to ask Galen what he meant, ask him what had driven him to want to kill himself, when Galen claimed his lips. It could wait. Maybe after he’d faced his own music and stopped running away from his problems, he’d sit down and ask Galen flat out. But for now….

“Make love to me, Galen,” Cam said as the kiss broke.
Give me something to hold on to.

G
ALEN
SWALLOWED
hard and forced himself to tamp down the emotions that welled up when he heard the unspoken need in Cam’s words. Why did Cam scare him so much? He’d been honest with Cam all along. He didn’t do long-term. And yet each time he and Cam shared their bodies, Galen felt a wave of emotion lapping at the supports holding up his fragile house, eroding the foundation.

Breathe. Relax. You want this. You want him.

He wanted to show Cam how beautiful he was. That his strength and vulnerability were things to be treasured. But first Galen needed to remind himself that when the time came, he could let Cam go.

Breathe. Relax.

Galen met Cam’s intense gaze and his fear fled as he let his body guide him. He pulled the pale blue polo over Cam’s head. He loved it when Cam wore that shirt—his eyes seemed even bluer, brighter. He kissed Cam’s neck, eliciting a soft sigh and sending a shudder through his own body.

“Cam,” he whispered as he trailed his lips over Cam’s shoulder, his reward a barely audible gasp. He worked his way back to Cam’s face and they kissed again. He lingered this time, tasting Cam, teasing his tongue, moaning.

“Does it hurt?” Cam asked after their lips parted. He gently touched Galen’s jaw. Galen saw the concern in his eyes.

“A little,” he admitted.

Cam leaned in and kissed the place he’d just touched. Galen closed his eyes—well, his left eye, since his right was still pretty swollen. He’d seen Cam’s heart weeks before. He hoped Cam would eventually come to see that heart for what it truly was: kind and loving.

“Feels so good,” Galen said.

“I’m sorry I got in the way.”

Galen opened his eyes to see Cam clench his jaw. “Got in the way? You mean with Jamie’s stepdad?”