And everythingwasnormal, except Dawson.
He’d seen the rookie dressed up before, right? They’d gone out to Vault at least twice, but he couldn’t remember what the guy had been wearing before. Clothes?
Certainly nottheseclothes.
“You’ve been quiet today,” Cam observed as Dawson tried to fall into his phone screen, tracking the car that was supposedly just around the corner but that had yet to appear.
“Uh, just . . .preoccupied, I guess.” It was early October in Toronto; he should not be sweating under his collar.
“You’re not still worried about that kick on Sunday, are you?” Cam frowned, his eyebrows narrowing together. “’Cause we’ve worked hard this week. It’s not gonna happen again.”
“It wasn’tyourfault,” Dawson said automatically. Realized his mistake in activating Defender Cam only when he curled a hand around his bare forearm and squeezed supportively.
Dawson made the mistake of looking up into his eyes. Regretting that yes, Cam was at least two inches taller. His eyes were brown, yes, but a rich and dark brown, with tiny flecks of green and gold. Beautiful fucking eyes.
Was this because they’d ended up at the swimming pool the other night? No, because he’d been too distracted that night, both by his own fucking distress and his realization that Cam was struggling, too. Then there’d been the dream.
But those had just been stray thoughts, coalescing into nonsense scenarios.
It didn’t feel like nonsense, now.
“Daws,” Cam said, “it wasn’tyourfault, either.”
“I know,” Dawson said quickly. Too quickly. Another mistake. They were piling up now and at some point they’d stack up too high, wobbling uncertainly, and Dawson was afraid of what might happen if they all came falling down.
A honk forcibly yanked him out of his spiral, and Dawson realized a second later that the car was here, and the driver had been probably been sitting there for at least a minute, watching them stand too close together. Watching Dawson gazing into the rookie’s eyes like he might find not just the secrets of the universe in them, but the magic answer to all the bullshit cluttering up his brain.
They climbed into the back seat, Cam sliding over on the bench, Dawson offering an apologetic glance to the driver as he pulled the door closed behind him.
“It’s not far,” Dawson said to Cam.
Cam glanced over, and Dawson was relieved to see that his smile was as bright as it had been before. This was okay, then. He didn’t want to jar Cam too forcefully out of his comfort zone.
“You always crash Aidan’s offensive-line dinners?” Cam asked.
“Actually, never,” Dawson admitted. “At least not at Michigan and not here, either, but he’s being his normal nosy self. He’d have invited me earlier, I think, but Levi had him pretty well distracted.”
“He doesn’t seem that different to me?” Cam observed.
Dawson laughed. “You didn’t know him before. In his pre-Levi heyday, he made a triple espresso look chill.”
“Only by reputation, yeah,” Cam admitted.
“Oh that’s right.” Dawson shot Cam a knowing look, then deliberately ignored how the fire flicked to light in the base of his stomach as they shared it. “You thought Aidan was hot.”
Kept the inevitable question to himself.Do youstillthink Aidan’s hot?
Cam groaned. “Don’t remind me. And for God’s sake, don’t tellhim, okay?”
“Don’t worry. I’m not about to boost his ego like that,” Dawson said.Not about to fuck my own, either, even though that would probably be better for everyone.
A minute later, they pulled up in front of the restaurant and slid out of the car. The hostess clocked them when they walked in and immediately led them back to a private room situated at the back of the restaurant.
“Hey, glad you two made it,” Aidan said, greeting them. He tugged Dawson into a bro hug and then did the same with Cam.
“You mean, you’re happy we crashed?” Dawson joked.
Aidan shot him a look. “Please. If it gets you out of that sad, pathetic apartment, you can crash every single goddamn week.”
