Cort nodded, but there was an appraising look on his face which Cam understood withoutexplanation.
“Yeah. I know what you’re gonna say. He’s notquiteas violently conservative in real life as he is on the campaign trail,” Cam said quietly, his finger tracing the rim of hisglass. “
“Huh,” Cort said, tilting the liquid back and forth in his own glass. “I don’t know whether it makes it better or worse that Senator Shaw says all that shit on TV when he doesn’t really believeit.”
Cam nodded. He wondered whether his parents would have kept ties with the Shaws if they’d lived. He very much doubted it. Emmett Shaw was a different man these days, and even though Cam still called him “Uncle,” he found it hard to talk to the man for more than a few minutes at atime.
“Anyway, he has this cabin in the mountains of Tennessee. I mean, it’s a cabin like Versailles was a summer house, you know?” He rolled his eyes and Cort snorted. “Huge contemporary monstrosity with lots of steel and glass, but it’s got a kick-ass hottub.”
Cam liked the way Cort looked at him sideways and smiled at that, as if maybe Cort was picturing him in the hot tub. He felt himself flush and wondered for a second if he should be embarrassed, but hewasn’t.
“And then?” Cortprompted.
Cam took a deep breath and got to the part of the story that had his arousal fleeing. “We were all supposed to fly out together in the evening on my parents’ plane, but at the last minute, Emmett got tickets for some benefit show that night. Libraries for under-served communities in Tennessee.” He chuckled without humor. “Everybody knew Charlotte Seaver was all about benefits for every-damn-thing, so you knowobviouslyshe had to be there.” Heswallowed.
Cort leaned into him, and Cam sucked in a breath. It was a matter of a couple of inches, but seemed to speak volumes.Control yourself,Seaver.
“It’s alright to cry, you know,” Cort saidoffhandedly.
Cam stared at him. “I don’tcry.”
Cort’s eyebrows shotup.
“Anyway,” Cam continued. “Emmett made arrangements for them to fly down earlier. Amy tagged along to do some shopping, and the rest of us were flying later. They crashed into the mountain. There were no survivors. Everyone already knows that part.AnAmerican Tragedythey called it on the news.” Cam cleared his throat, but it didn’t get rid of the lump there. “I should have been on thatplane.”
“If you’d gone, you’d have diedtoo.”
Cort’s words hit him like a slap and he looked up. The man’s eyes were hard,burning.
“Whatever happened that day, you couldn’t have prevented it. Maybenobodycould have prevented it. But if you were on that plane, you would have diedtoo.”
Cam nodded. He knew it. Mostly. Maybe he’d have been the one to notice the pilot had been drinking. Maybe he would have been the only one who wasn’t too consumed with the excitement of the engagement and the party to recognize something waswrong.
“I mean it, Cam. Grief fucks us all up. Makes us think crazy things we know aren’t logical. Don’t play those games. Nobody on that plane would have wanted it foryou.”
Cam cast his eyes to the ceiling and nodded. That much he knew for certain. His parents would have been glad he wasn’t there, that he and Bas hadlived.
“And that’s why you took over the company?” Cort askedgently.
Cam glanced at him. “The company was supposed to be Sebastian’s baby. He’s the computer genius, you know? My dad had been grooming him to take over for years. But losing Amy on top of our parents put Bas in a really bad place.” He licked his lips and confided, “He’s holed up inside his house. He tried tohack the NTSB, for God only knows what reason, and it’s like he doesn’t care if he gets thrown in jail by the FBI. I’m scared forhim.”
Cort winced and sat back in his seat, looking uncomfortable. “Damn. And you always step in to take care ofhim?”
Cam shrugged. “He’s my brother. OfcourseI do. I alwayswill. But as far as the company goes, it was time for me to take on more responsibility,anyway.”
“From what you’ve told me, that sounds like something that would have come out of your ex’s mouth,” Cort said with a wink. He motioned the bartender to refill theirglasses.
Cam snorted at how quickly Cort had figured Drew out. It probablywassomething Drew had said, if not in those exactwords.
“But now you’re all grown up, and you’re the president of Seaver Tech. That’s gotta be stressful.” The words were a tease, but the look in Cort’s eyes and the way he laid a hand on Cam’s thigh, turning him on the stool so they were facing each other fully, made heat surge through Cam’s gut. “How do you blow offsteam?”
Cam raised an eyebrow at the deliberate flirtation. Was he trying to distract Cam now that things had become tooheavy?
Did Camcare?
His dick certainlydidn’t.
“I run,” Cam said blandly, resting his elbow on the bar. “Half marathons. I log probably thirty miles aweek.”
