Chapter Nineteen
Cam and Cortarrived at the hangar to find it mostly deserted. Unlike the day before, there were no planes arriving or departing, and the crew mostly seemed to have the dayoff.
Two men in blue coveralls stood chatting to one another, eating their lunch. Cort didn’t recognize either of them, but they spotted Cort and Cam right away. One of them, an elderly man with dark eyes and a gap-toothed smile approachedthem.
“Can I help you gentlemen?” he asked, wiping his hands on arag.
Cort hesitated for half a second. He didn’t want to call attention to Damon for any reason, he simply needed to have a look around and allow Damon to approachhim.
Cam wrapped both hands around Cort’s forearm and leaned against him heavily, giving the mechanic a wide smile. “Oh, perhaps youcanhelp us. We just want to have a quick look around. See, Kenny promised me a plane for my birthday - I’m going to be twenty-seven in October,” he confided in a stage whisper. “And I really think it’s time toupgrade, you know? But I need to see which kind is the prettiest so that Kenny knows what to buy!” He added a bright laugh at the end which was so completely unlike Cam, Cort fought the urge to turn andstare.
The mechanic blinked. He looked at Cort with wide eyes, and Cort shrugged. “If it’s what he wants,” Cort agreed with a shake of his head. “Gotta keep my boyhappy.”
“Uh.” The mechanic’s eyes widened as he looked from Cort to Cam. “Well, I guess it’d be alright then,” he agreed grudgingly. “Long as you don’t touch anything or try goinginside.”
“Wouldn’tdreamof it!” Cam said, making an exaggerated cross over his heart with his indexfinger.
The mechanic nodded, then turned away shaking his head. “All these crazy rich folks wanna hide out in their planes, ain’t my business,” he muttered tohimself.
Cam smiled brilliantly at Cort, who rolled his eyes. “Pick out your plane, darling. Did you want something diamond-encrusted?”
Cam laughed. “Oh,Kenny, that’s sooo last season,” he drawled, laughing even harder when Cort reached over to smack him on theass.
“Don’t call meKenny,brat.”
“Don’t call me a brat,Kenny,” Cam retorted, smiling as he maneuvered away from Cort’sreach.
God, the way Cam smiled, all blue eyes and warmth, the way he’d claimed Cort in front of his brother and his friend, the way he gave Cort chance after freakin’chance…
Cort loved him. How could he not? And he felt like the world’s biggest chicken-shit for not telling him so this morning, for taking the out Cam had given him. He’d known since yesterday afternoon this was more than a passing thing. It waseverything. Or it could be, if Cort letit.
He held out his hand for Cam, who grabbed it, letting Cort reel him in closer. “Cam,” hesaid.
“Cort.”
Behind one of the planes off to the side, someone else spoke up.“Cort.”
Cort blinked, then glancedaround.
Holyshit.
“Damon?” he demanded, walking towards his brother’s voice. Cam’s hand squeezed his tightly, whether with nerves or as an offer of support, he wasn’tcertain.
Then Damon stepped out from behind the plane and Cortfroze.
If not for his hair - long and distinctively gray - and the familiar lines of his face, Cort would not have recognized his brother. He was tall and broad-shouldered, as always, but he walked with a distinct limp now, his right leg dragging somewhat behind him, his forearms crisscrossed by shiny pink scars. His hair was bedraggled and greasy, and his normally clean-shaven jaw sported a scraggly salt-and-pepper beard which aged him far more than his hair ever had. But it was his eyes which truly halted Cort in his tracks. The expressive hazel was now hard and cold, devoid of all the humor and warmth Cort used to seethere.
“Cort,” Damon said, making no move to step closer. His shocked gaze moved to Cam, who had halted just behind Cort’s right shoulder, and then back to Cort. “What the fuck is he doinghere?”
“He brought me here,” Cort said simply, still drinking in the sight of his brother. “Damon, where have you been? Whathappened?”
Damon eyed Cort’s right hand, which was still wrapped around Cam’s. He balanced his weight on his left leg and folded his arms across his chest. “I’ll explain later. We don’t have much time. Get rid of him,” he said, nodding atCam.
Cam tensed, and Cort gripped his fingers more tightly. He shook his head at his brother. “No. Listen, Damon, I have so much to tellyou.”
“Jesus, Cort. This isn’t a game!” Damon scowled, glaring at Cam, and then towards the other side of the hangar, where the mechanics were laughing while they sipped their coffee. “Did you not understand all the messages I sent you? You used to be a lot smarter thanthat.”
Cort blinked in surprise. This wasn’t the happy reunion Cort had imagined. Damon had never spoken like this to him before. What the hell had happened to his brother? There was a hard edge to his own voice when he replied, “I understood, Damon. That’s why I’m here. But you were wrong about some things,too.”
