A chill filled his chest as he remembered his father repeating those exact words to Camden.God, I’m even quoting him in my head.
Refusing to let his father dampen his amusement, Camden refocused on Evelyn, leaning into her slightly, gracing her with a smile of his own. “We make it work. When it’s important, when he’s important, you make it work.”
Camden made the mistake of raising his gaze from the smiling woman’s face in search of her son’s. Sure, this entire conversation was a charade. But the tight pull in his stomach when his gaze connected with the steady, intentional stare Elijah returned was as real as the breath caught in Camden’s chest.
Maybe you really shouldn’t poke the bear.
“ELIJAH,come help me haul the rest of your mama’s junk in from the car.”
“Junk?” Evelyn countered. “Most of that is food you’re gonna shove in your mouth, Walter. You ought to be grateful I made a grocery run before we left. You know this child don’t keep no food in the house.”
Elijah locked his gaze on Camden’s captivating blue eyes. Sure, he heard his mother and father bickering somewhere in the distance, but his focus couldn’t spare his parents even a glimmer of attention.
Camden was smiling and laughing with Elijah’s mother right at his side, and all Elijah could focus on was how perfect this all would be if it were real. If things had turned out differently in the past, they may well have shared a weekend like this with Elijah’s family.
“Elijah.” His father’s baritone interrupted the living daydream Elijah was enthralled by. “You coming?”
Elijah took one more glance at Camden and broke free of the connection only the two of them seemed to be aware of in the room. When he stepped outside into the cool air, it was a pleasant relief. Be it anger, frustration, or desire, Camden had the ability to make Elijah’s blood boil. A fact Elijah had to get control over if he was going to keep Camden safe.
When Elijah met his father at the back of the SUV, his father turned to him and asked, “What the fuck was that about?”
“Camden is—”
“Elijah, we both know Camden isn’t your man. What exactly did we interrupt?”
He was about to answer his father when a question popped into his head. “Wait, what makes you think he isn’t mine?”
“Because you brought him home.”
Elijah wasn’t exactly certain what his father’s statement meant. He may not have settled down over the years, but he hadn’t lived like a hermit either. He’d enjoyed a healthy run of men in his bed over the years. What the hell was his father getting at?
“I don’t follow.”
Walter Stephenson crossed his arms over his chest and widened his stance. “Elijah, you bring men to that apartment in Brooklyn like it has a revolving door. In tonight, gone tomorrow.”
“True,” he agreed even though his father’s words still puzzled him. “So, why is it so strange I’ve brought Camden here?”
“Because the apartment in Brooklyn is where you sleep.” Walter pointed his finger back toward Elijah’s house. “But that house is your home, Elijah. And if a man was serious enough for you to let into your home, there’s no way your mother and I would find out about him like this.”
He swallowed, thrown off his game by his father’s observation. Elijah didn’t dispute his father’s words. He knew without thinking, or even trying to calculate, that the only people who’d entered his home were service people and his family. No friends, no acquaintances, and certainly no dates.
“So, tell me”—the rumble of his father’s voice in his ear made Elijah twitch slightly—“why is the executive ADA cozying up to my wife in your kitchen?”
Elijah took a deep breath and gently chewed on the inside of his bottom lip. He had a choice here. He could continue to push this ridiculous notion of him and Camden being a couple, or he could come clean. There were consequences to both paths.
Lying had never been Elijah’s strong suit. When you were told it didn’t matter what anyone else thought, that as long as you weren’t hurting anyone else, your life was your own to live as you pleased, lying didn’t seem all that necessary a skill to have.
His parents raised Elijah to live out loud, to embrace and walk in his truth. His parents had given him that gift. As a black, gay little boy growing up in the ’hood in East New York, Brooklyn, his life could’ve played out differently than it had. But because Elijah never believed he had to apologize for belonging to any of those demographics, he moved through the world with a sense of authority that told him he didn’t have to lie about who and what he was and where he came from.
One would think that after fourteen years on the force, and a large portion of that time being spent in undercover work, would make Elijah the greatest liar there was. But what most didn’t understand about undercover police work was that the best cover was built from the truth.
Elijah straightened his shoulders and looked his father in the eye before speaking. This was the man who not only taught Elijah about truth and justice but exemplified those characteristics in practice. If he wanted the truth, Elijah would give it to him.
“Pops, you guys stumbled in on a case I’m working.” Elijah could see the confusion settling in his father’s eyes, but before he could speak, Elijah pushed forward with his explanation. “I know I was supposed to be sitting behind a desk when I did return to work. But the powers that be demanded I take on one last case in the field. I’ve got to protect Camden from a cult group that’s trying to kill him before he makes it to trial next week.”
Elijah’s father leaned against the vehicle and took in a deep breath. After digesting Elijah’s explanation, Walter stood up and focused on Elijah again.
“So, you brought him to your house, Elijah? How does that make sense?”
