“Dad,” Cam said a little hesitantly, and then he was detaching himself from Dawson and throwing himself into the older man’s arms for a tight hug.
“Can’t believe you’re here,” Dawson overheard Cam murmur into his shoulder. But even though Cam’s dad’s gaze flicked to Cam once, and then twice, he returned to staring at Dawson each and every time.
Well,fuck.
They’d just agreed they were dating. That they were together. Dawson felt—well, he actually felt pretty fucking good about that. But it was one thing to feel good about it, with Cam’s dad a shadowy amorphous figure still in the back wilds of Montana, and another entirely to face him,now, in Toronto. With half a boner, still.
Cam’s dad turned to him, and Dawson trying not to panic, panicked a little. He couldnotface his brand-new boyfriend’s father, whose name he suddenly couldn’t remember, with evenalittlebit of a boner. He thought about Aidan puking into the bush. Thought about the gulp of rancid milk he’d taken once in college. Thought about the moment he’d gotten a call from his forensic accountant last year.
Andyep,that last one was the boner killer of the fucking century.
“You must be Dawson Hall,” Cam’s dad said, extending his hand.
Dawson shook it, trying to not shake anywhere else. Cam’s dad had the same warm, friendly brown eyes as Cam, but they were narrowed a bit as he took Dawson in.
Dawson didn’t blame him. Dawson came with baggage,capital B, and he was also older. He’d been lectured enough by Aidan and co to know how it might look, and he wasn’t sure what Cam had said to him.
“Shane Greene,” he said. Andthank God, Dawson didn’t need to ask him what his name was. Armed with his boyfriend’s dad’s nameandno boner, he was going to ace this shit.
“Great to meet you,” Dawson said, nodding. Trying to remember what he’d said and done with Ackerman, when he’d first met Brynn. But as soon as that thought crossed his mind, he froze. This wasn’t going to be the same. Itwasn’t.
It was getting easier to recognize the sudden onset of fear and combat it. But it stillhappened. Dawson still didn’t fucking like it.
“Heard a lot about you,” Shane said casually, but the way he was eyeing Dawson wasnotcasual.
“Dad,” Cam protested hotly, a flush rising on his cheeks.
Shane turned to his son with a mischievous grin. “Oh, but Ihave.”
And Dawson wasn’t totally relaxed about it, but he could breathe now, at least. It didn’tseemlike Shane Greene had come to Toronto to interfere or, God forbid, intervene.
“Oh yeah? I wanna know everything he said,” Dawson said, trying to be casual too.
Cam rolled his eyes and elbowed Dawson gently in the ribs. “Come on, don’t encourage him.”
Dawson flashed a conspiratorial smile to Shane and was pleased to see a shadow of the same look appear on Shane’s face.
“Next time,” Dawson said. “It’s late. I should get going back to my own place.” He was proud of pretending that he and Cam hadn’t been making out against the wall like they were on their way to the bedroom. His voice barely wavered at all, even though the thought of going back to his own lonely apartment felt like hell.
There’d been a time, last year, when he hadn’t been so good at doing hard things, but he must be getting better at it, because it didn’t feel great, but it wasn’t the end of the world, either.
“Really?” Cam’s pout did make it a little harder. AndGod, he did want to stay here. Did want to go to Cam’s bed the same way he had been every night since they’d started dating—and the irony of him finally seeing the light on that, tonight, when he couldn’t actually do it anymore, wasn’t lost on him.
“Yeah.” Cam drifted closer to him, a hand on his hip as Shane inclined his head and moved deeper into the living room, clearly trying to give them a little privacy.
“He’s not going to be weird about it,” Cam protested in a low voice. “And he’ll stay out here. The couch is a pullout.”
“Cam,” Dawson murmured.
“I’m just saying. I don’t want you to go.”
“Trust me, I don’t want to go either, but I also don’t want to start this thing with you the wrong way, especially with your dad here. I know you’ve missed him.” Cam had said it more than once, and Dawson remembered the wistful look in his eyes as he had.
“Yeah,” Cam agreed. “He really wasn’t supposed to be here for a few weeks. I thought we’d have time . . .to you know,talkabout it.”
“Cam, it’s fine. It’s really fine,” Dawson reassured.
Cam tucked his head closer, into Dawson’s shoulder. Dawson pressed a kiss to the side of his head. “Really?”
