[Cam:]God.
[Cam:]Did you not get enough of my sass to finish the job thisafternoon?
[Cort:]Oh, no, I had plenty. And for round two, I remembered us on Friday night. Want tohear?
[Cam:]Ugh. No. I justate.
[Cort:]You may not understand how honest answers work here,badass.
[Cort:]But I’m gonna go out on a limb and trustyou.
[Cam:]What’s thatlike?
[Cort:]Enough snark. I will even be the bigger person and let you gofirst.
Fine. Clearly Cam was as susceptible to dares as he had been at seventeen.Whatever. If Cort was the water he had to break against, then so beit.
[Cam:]Awesome. I will win this game rightnow.
[Cam:]Tell me about yourchildhood.
[Cort:]That doesn’t count. Not aquestion.
Cam smirked and felt the rush of victory. He hadn’t expected Cort toanswer.
Maybe he’d hoped, but he hadn’texpected.
He could totally handlethis.
[Cam:]OMG, I can taste victory already. FINE. You said you watched Baywatch in one of the places you stayed growing up. Why were you staying someplace other than yourhome?
[Cort:]I was a foster kid. I didn’t have a permanent placement until I was10.
Oh-kay. So that was new. Cam frowned at his phone. A foster kid. Cam remembered him mentioning his brother, saying his parents were something Cort wouldn’t discuss. How bad had it been forhim?
His heart squeezed in sympathy, even as he rolled his eyes athimself.
That doesn’t excuse his behavior. It doesn’t. I would have helped him without the blackmail. I trusted him and he should have trusted me,too.
Except, maybe for a pair of idiots who hated trusting people, this was the only way itcouldhave gonedown.
He took too long to reply, and then Cort was writingagain.
[Cort:]Stunned you, huh? That’s okay. My turn. Do you like pineapple on yourpizza?
[Cam:]No. And you’re an idiot because we already discussed this onFriday.
[Cort:]I remember. Just an honesty check, Seaver. Yourturn.
[Cam:]Rolling my eyes so hard rightnow.
Cam licked his lips. He wanted to know so many things Cort wouldn’t volunteer, likeWhat were youreallythinking Friday?andWhere the hell do you see this going?andWhy are we doing this?But he knew Cort probably didn’t have any better answers to those questions than Cam, so he went with the more straightforwardquestion.
[Cam:]What’s your brotherlike?
Now it was Cort’s turn to take an unnaturally long pause, so long Cam debated withdrawing the question, maybe giving him an easy, food-related out. But Cam really wanted to know the answer, suddenly. He wanted Cort to share, and Cort had been the one to start this in the first place,so…
[Cam:]Oh, forfeitingalready?
