“Yeah, you will. One day you’ll walk into the locker room and Aidan Flynn will just be another guy on your team.”
For a split second, Cam considered asking if that was how Dawson wanted Cam to seehim. Just another guy on the team. A guy he hooked up with sometimes. A teammate he worked with on the field. That he could shoot the shit with. But that in a year or two or five, he’d barely remember.
But Cam didn’t, because he wasn’t sure he’d like the answer.
“But,” Dawson added, and Cam could feel him grinning even though he couldn’t see it, “you’d betterneversee me as just another guy in the locker room, rook.”
Cam let out an unsteady breath. He hadn’t asked, but he hadn’thadto ask. “I don’t think we’re in any danger of that happening.”
“Didn’t think so,” Dawson said smugly.
Maybe he’d never been in a relationship before, but Camhadhad a decent number of hookups in his life, and it had never felt like this with any of them. Even the regular friend with benefits he’d had his junior year at Western had been totally different.
Maybe he needed to stop being so worried about freaking Dawson out, no matter what he said, because he seemed right there with Cam—no hesitation and no pulling away.
Cam relaxed into his arms. At least until Dawson said, “I told him about us, by the way.”
“What?” Cam flailed, until Dawson wrapped his arms around Cam until he went still.
“Don’t freak out,” Dawson said. Chuckled. “Guess I should’ve led with that part. It’s cool. Aidan’s cool.”
Cam craned his head so he could look Dawson in the eye. Shoot him a look because he already knew the truth. Aidan wasAidan,but Cam also didn’t really think he’d ever been cool a day in his life.
“Okay, fair. Aidan’s not usually cool. But he was cool about this. At least after I reassured him that I didn’t take advantage of you.”
“Seriously?” Cam squawked. “He thought you would? He thought youcould?”
“Warned me off you and everything. But that was stupid and I told him that.”
Cam wished he wasn’t so quick to blush, because he was bright fucking red right now. “Hedidn’t.”
“Tomorrow you should definitely tell him how shitty that was,” Dawson said.
“Ha.No. Just . . .oh my God. He wasworriedabout me?”
Dawson smacked him on the arm. “Stop it. You’re making me jealous.”
And that was something Cam was going to have to unpack. Later, though. “I just don’tgetit. I’m fine. I didn’t need—whydidhe?”
“Good fucking question. The easiest answer I can give you is that you’ve met plenty of older brothers in your life, but you’ve never met an older brother who older brothers like Aidan does.Is he better than he used to be? Sure, yeah, absolutely. But it’s like he saw you, saw some of Riley in you, and it was like he couldn’t help himself. But he agrees that it was ridiculous.”
Cam didn’t know what to do with all of that. “He did?”
“Well. Yes.Hedidn’t use that exact wording—”
“No? I can’t imagine why,” Cam teased.
“Shut up, you,” Dawson said affectionately, voice gooey and fond. Something elsefor Cam to unpack on his next sleepless night. “But I pointed out that you know what you’re doing, and Idefinitelyknow what I’m doing—”
“Modest, too.” It was impossible not to keep teasing, not when Dawson reacted like that. Like he was offended but also delighted. And every time Cam made Dawson smile like that, it was like someone handed him a gold fucking medal.
“Are you telling this or am I?” Dawson asked archly.
“If you’d get on with it, you are,” Cam said.
Dawson laughed and tucked him more firmly into his embrace.
“Anyway, I made sure he knew that this wasn’t just because you worshipped the ground I walked on. Being older and amazing, the way I am.”
