Page 124 of Masters of Control

“So, your family wouldn’t be supportive if you brought Kincaid home?” he asked. “If you feel comfortable talking about this. You don’t have to.”

Zach gave him a wry smile.

“That’s awfully nice of you to say after I just word vomited all my issues all over you,” he joked, taking another sip of his beer. Across from them, Shane started wiping down the gleaming surface of the bar, which made Freddy smirk. “I don’t know. I know my sister wouldn’t care. My mom would try, but I have no idea how my dad would react. I’m pretty sure my grandparents on my dad’s side would take it really badly, but we hardly see them because they’re pretty awful to everyone.”

“That’s hard. My parents were always pretty outspoken about their beliefs, so I was pretty sure it would be fine, but I still had the fear maybe I was wrong. Like, maybe they were only accepting of other people’s kids being part of the rainbow alphabet, but they wouldn’t be of me.”

“Yeah, that’s how I feel about my mom. My dad has never talked about it much, and I think he’s more of the ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ variety, but I don’t want to bring Kincaid home to meet them, then have to act like we’re just friends because it’ll make my dad uncomfortable… but I also don’t want to make my dad uncomfortable, especially in his own home.”

“Invite them out here?” Shane suggested.

“Maybe if I hadn’t just had yet another fight with Kincaid about it.” Zach’s shoulders slumped. “It’s like a vicious circle. I don’t tell my parents about him because I’m afraid the relationship will fall apart, and I’ll have told them for nothing, but my relationship is falling apart because I won’t tell my parents about him.”

“Sounds like the easiest solution might be to tell your parents about him,” Freddy said gently. “Telling them about part of yourself doesn’t equate to ‘nothing,’ even if the relationship doesn’t last.”

“It might for me. I can’t see myself with another guy. My interest in men begins and ends with Kincaid. Besides, if it does go badly, he’ll feel like it’s his fault for pushing me. I might even resent him. But if it goes well, he might resent me because we’ve been fighting about it for so long. There’s no way for me to win here.” The words were filled with bitterness.

Freddy’s heart hurt because he thought the two of them were a good, if complicated, couple. He was rooting for them, but this wasn’t going to be something easy to get past.

“I guess it comes down to what you really want. If you want to keep your relationship with Kincaid, you’ll have to tell your parents, eventually,” Freddy said gently, rubbing Zach’s shoulders.

“I know.” Unfortunately, Zach sounded more miserable than determined. “But what if I tell them and I lose him, anyway?”

Yeah. Freddy didn’t have a good answer for that one. He looked across the bar at Shane, but the bartender seemed to be at a bit of a loss as well.

Sometimes, there were no easy solutions.

Chapter Fifteen

Camille

“So, how was last night?” Julie’s smile matched that of the Cheshire Cat, smug and completely pleased with herself.

“Oh, are you who Freddy was with last night?” Olivia asked before Camille could respond, her eyebrows rising on her forehead with interest as she opened her napkin and settled it on her lap. “I was wondering when I saw that he’d reserved a room at the last minute.”

Julie’s eyes lit up, and she sat up straighter.

“You two got a room?!” Sheer delight colored her voice, and Camille sighed. Julie was going to be a pain in the butt to deal with, taking all the credit for matching Camille with Freddy.

“Yes, one of the rooms had a cancellation, so I had Freddy reserve it for us.” She gave Julie a look. “Since we agreed that last night would be a onetime thing, for now, we wanted to make the most of it. No, we did not stay overnight.”

Although she had considered it, but in the end, the need to keep some boundaries—and the lack of clothing for her to change into the next morning—had won out. She knew it had been the right decision, even if she’d regretted it almost the second she got home and had to get into her lonely, empty bed. But it had been the right choice.

At least Julie had messaged her this morning to distract her from her regrets, asking if she wanted to meet her and Olivia for lunch at Murphy’s Meals to make up for being ditched the night before. Even if being ditched had come with some very nice benefits, thanks to Freddy being on hand to keep her company. If she hadn’t heard Julie’s distress when her cousin called, she would have suspected it being a setup.

“Well, I hope it was a good night,” Julie replied smugly in a tone, indicating she was completely sure it had been. Camille wasn’t about to malign Freddy by lying and saying it hadn’t been.

Still.

“It would have been better if we didn’t still have our clients hanging over our heads,” she said with a sigh. At Olivia’s confused look, she explained that she and Freddy were representing two opposing sides in a contested divorce, though she didn’t give names or go into details. Still, Olivia was astute enough to pick up on the fact that Camille’s client was a jerk, the same way Julie had. That or maybe she just assumed due to knowing Freddy and his firm’s reputation that he was on the side of the good and the righteous.

“So, basically, as soon as you’re done with your douchebag client, you can date Freddy?”

Julie choked on her drink at Olivia’s blunt summation.

“As soon as the divorce has been resolved, I can date Freddy,” Camille replied smoothly. “But I wouldn’t want anyone to think that I’m not giving my client my best services because of who I’m dating.”

“Are you worried you might end up on opposite sides again?” Olivia asked, leaning forward on one of her elbows while she stirred her drink with the straw. It looked like her brain was whirring with possible hazards for Camille and Freddy, something Camille had already thought about a lot.