Damon gave a quick shake of his head. “I’m not discussing anything with himaround.”
“I’ll go,” Cam offered, but Cort shook hishead.
“That’s too bad,” Cort told his brother, when Cam tried to extricate his hand from Cort’s grasp. “He’s with me. We’retogether.”
Damon’s lip curled up in a sneer. “With a Seaver? When the fuck did thathappen?”
“Sometime between the time you disappeared without a trace and the time I flew here to help you,” Cort retorted. “If I’d had yournumber, I could’vecalled.”
“God, Cort. I thought you, of all people, would know better than to get involved with the likes of him.” He huffed out a breath and his voice became even harder. “Here’s the deal. I don’t trust him. Can I trustyou, or was this whole thing for naught?” He threw his hands in the air, encompassing the hangar, the island, and the entirety of whatever plan he’d worked out in hisstatement.
Cort hesitated, torn. His brother was behaving crazy - one hundred percent ridiculous. He’d expected Damon to listen to him, to give him the benefit of the doubt. Totrusthim for God’s sake. Combined with all the questions he still had for Damon - like where the hell he’d been, and why he hadn’t contacted Cort directly evenoncein the last year - he was working his way from merely pissed to trulyangrywith each passingsecond.
But was he really willing to walk away without helping Damon? Without finding answers to the questions hehad?
Cam cleared his throat and slipped his hand from Cort’s. “I’m going to stand over there,” Cam whispered in his ear, pointing towards the front of the hangar, far away from the mechanics. “And I’m going to pretend to pick out a plane for my birthday. You let me know if you needme.”
“Cam,” Cort said, turning to look at his man. “I don’twant…”
“He’s your brother,” Cam said. He flashed a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “I get it. No contest. You can come find me when you’re done, or whatever.” He gave Cort an awkward pat on the shoulder as he movedaway.
Shit.
Cort grabbed his hand once again. “Five minutes,” he told Cam firmly, willing him to believeit.
Cam nodded. “Sure.”
Cort could tell that he was anythingbutsure. Damn Damon, and damnhimselffor every secret he’d ever kept from Cam. How could he convince Cam he was all-in when he kept acting like he wasn’t? But then Cort glanced back at Damon, at the livid scars on his arms. Whatever had happened to his brother, he couldn’t let him walk away,either.
Cam pulled at his wrist, but Cort didn’t want to let go. “Trust me?” he asked, looking into Cam’s shining blueeyes.
Cam smiled softly, then leaned up and brushed a kiss on Cort’s cheek. “Good luck,” he said, then he walked away without looking back. Cort watched him go. When he’d ducked behind a plane and out of sight, Cort turned back to hisbrother.
Damon’s sneer was still firmly in place and he was shaking his head at Cort. “He’s playing you and you don’t even realizeit.”
“Enough!” Cort said, allowing frustration to color his voice. “I’m here, Damon, because you asked me to be. I blew up my career. I tricked the guy I love. I have done everything you asked me to do. Nowyouanswermyquestions. Where the hell have you been?” He took a step closer to his brother. “Why the hell didn’t you callme?”
“Love!” Damon’s eyes goggled and he sneered. “Oh, my God, that’s rich! Does he know? Isthat—”
“Answer. My. Questions!” Cort hissedimpatiently.
Damon clenched his jaw. “Fine. Where have I been? Well, you might have heard I was a little busy crashing a plane into a mountain. Believe it or not, I didn’t walk away unscathed.” He nodded down at his leg, his arms. “I was in a medically induced coma for a fewmonths.”
Cort rocked back on his heels. “Damon,” hemurmured.
Damon shuffled to the side and leaned back against a tall tool chest, grimacing in relief as he took the weight off his injured leg. “After I woke up, I still wasn’t in very good shape. Guy who found me brought me to the hospital, said I was in a car wreck up in the mountains. Guess they never suspected I was the guy on the news. This probably helped,” he said, stroking a hand over his beard. “At first, I had no idea what had happened. I started to piece shit together, a little at atime.”
“Did you think of calling me at any point?” Cort demanded. “Maybe letting me know you werealive?”
Damon shook his head. “I felt guilty, Cort,” he whispered, his eyes to the floor. “I had no idea what had actually happened, but I was the sole survivor of the crash. Those people, the Seavers, were nice. They were decent to me. I figured somehow I’d missed something during the safety check, or maybe I’d been too sleepy to fly. I felt so guilty, I didn’t want to live anymore.” He looked up and caught Cort’s stare. “Until I saw a news interview with John.” His facedarkened.
“Jack Peabody, you mean?” Cort asked, and Damon looked surprised. “Yeah, I just heard about him, from SebastianSeaver.”
“Sebastian? On a first-name basis, are you? You’re, what? A part of their family now?” Damon spat. “Just how deep in their pockets areyou?”
“Fuck you,” Cort said, congratulating himself for mostly keeping his temper. “Damon, he wants to find out the truth as badly as you do. I checked up on them, I followed the hints you sent me. I thought at first Cam might have been involved, but he’s not. You have to take my word onthat.”
“Here’s what I know, Cort. I wasn’t drinking with Jack, I did the safety check and everything about the plane looked normal. Jack had tohave…”
