There had been pizza, and hot chocolate, and a caramel apple “bar”, and now movies.
Fuck Cam was tired, and he wasn’t sure he’d make it to midnight…
Mark plopped down next to him, face covered in makeup, hair standing up, and glittering and spiky. “I need beer.”
He grinned over. “I don’t know if we’re allowed to have beer.”
“Hey. Listen, man, you’re on pain pills. But I get a fucking beer. I took a hit for the team.”
Cam had to go with that because he detected no lies. “What’s Mitch up to?”
Mark beamed at him. “I think he’s currently setting up three different TVs with three different sets of movies. There is thewe-like-cartoons set. There is the we’re-thinking-about-liking-boys set. And then there’s the we-like-to-scare-the-pants-off-of-everybody-we-meet set.”
“Does he need help?” He’d gotten about halfway up when Mark eased him back down.
“No, no. He’s got this. He is in his element. Little girls everywhere, swinging from the ceiling. It’s like that damnAnniemovie. He lives for this shit. I’ve never seen him so happy.”
Cam looked over and said, “You think so?” God, he wanted to believe that.
“Are you kidding? He’s got you here. He’s got me here.” Mark grinned outrageously. “He’s feeling good physically. He’s got his girls, and they’re having friends over. He got to be the dad—thecooldad—who provided makeup and chocolate and sticky shit. And now he gets to be the cool dad who lets them stay up till midnight and see the ball drop. This is a man in his element.”
“Oh Lord. And this is just beginning. They had at least another thirteen years of this nonsense.
It was going to be amazing.
“So what about you, man? You doing okay?” Cam asked.
Mark nodded, bobbing along to music only he could hear. “Yeah, yeah, I’m doing good. After the first of the year, though, I got something to discuss with you.”
“You do?” Cam stared at Mark, a horrible thought popping up. “I’m going to be clear here— we’re not sharing Mitch, and I’m not interested in having a threesome with you. I’m totally a monogamist.”
Mark gave him the hairy eyeball. “One, eww. Two, eww, and three…look, dude, if I wanted to do the nasty with Mitch, I had way more opportunity than you ever did.”
He cracked up, holding his good arm out in surrender. “Okay, okay, so what is it?”
“Actually, it’s a business proposition.”
“A what?”
Mark frowned at him, eyebrows drawing together. “You know, business—that thing that you do that makes money.”
“Don’t make me kill you.” Cam rolled his eyes. “What kind of business could you and I possibly collaborate on?” Mark was an engineer and he was a broke-dick roper.
“Well, you know how I drove your trailer back and everything?”
He nodded. He’d heard about it.
A lot.
“I’ve been working on this thing, and I went out and altered the trailer.”
Wait. What was “messed with”? “You did what?”
“I altered your trailer. Sort of significantly. It’s okay, I can put it back if you hate it. I have a torch.”
He stared hard. “How on earth did you alter it?”
Mark shrugged. “I found a hitch that’s going to be way easier to use, but also I found a way to make it where the back just opens out, and it’s sturdy enough for the horses to walk down.”
