Page 27

The bus pulled up at our stop. He pulled his hand away and left the seat, climbing quickly out of the bus. I waited a few beats, still feeling the burn of his touch, let others climb off, then left too, and didn’t look over as I walked, head down, hands in my pockets, to my apartment.

I had to focus on the Games.

But afterward? I was getting him alone and we were going to remember all the ways we’d gotten up close and dirty before. Fuck what we were and weren’t supposed to do. Who cared about the future anyway? I needed Ren’s expert hands all over me as soon as possible, needed him all over me—his mouth, tongue, fingers, on me, in me, and all of him to myself. And I needed it soon.

It took Casey a total of three minutes at breakfast to ask where I’d been the day before.

“I just took a day, man,” I said.

“The whole day? Where’d you go?” he asked.

I shrugged and tucked into my porridge with fruit. “Out.”

“Leave him alone, Case,” Zoe said. “Doesn’t matter.”

“Sure, sure.” His soft labrador eyes flicked between me and Zoe. “But you just had to go off and buy postcards now?” He laughed, as though something were funny. Nobody from the team laughed with him.

“We have the opening ceremony rehearsal today.” Jen spoke up, changing the subject. She sat to my left in the spot she’d decided to make hers since the morning we’d arrived.

“I’d rather train,” Zoe said. “It’s a whole lot of waiting around, then some press this afternoon.”

They chatted, and I half joined in, half focused on my porridge, while my mind wandered back to yesterday and the walk in the park with Ren. I wasn’t a romantic guy, normally. Chat me up in a bar, buy me a drink, and I’m easy. Which was probably why I’d never really had a serious relationship. They’d all been on-again, off-again encounters that hadn’t meant much. Saga was a friend, and even though we’d fooled around, both of us knew it didn’t mean anything more. Ren was the opposite of that, and I still didn’t know what to do with it, or what it meant. But I’d liked it. I’d liked the walk, the shopping, the touristy beanie hat I’d brought with me that I would be wearing every chance I got.

Jen said something about the opening ceremony, but my gaze snagged on the unmistakable outline of Ren wearing Team GB colors. He looked better than he had this time yesterday, all bright-eyed, and even smiling along with his teammates.

He went over to the buffet and selected his breakfast, chatting with Tamsyn beside him.

“Isn’t that right, Cam?”

“Huh?” I looked down, realized I’d stopped eating my porridge, took a drink, and carried on, then smiled at Casey as he studied me. Jen was looking over too. “What?” I’d missed whatever they’d asked.

“I said Hasegawa is back. He wasn’t here at breakfast yesterday.” Casey leaned an elbow on the table and grinned. “Same as you.”

“He’s got a place in the city with his father, so I heard.” I tried to sound casual, drank my drink, ate my porridge, did not look up to see Casey trying to glare the truth out of me.

“Yeah, I heard that too,” Zoe said, backing me up. “The family has money.”

“Cam knows all about him, don’t you Cam?”

I smirked at Casey. “Not this again. Get over it, Casey. It’s almost like you’re obsessed. Why is that, huh? You hot for Hasegawa?”

“Fuck no.” Casey recoiled. “I’m straight.”

Jen and Zoe both laughed.

I grinned. “Relax, man. Nobody here is doubting that.”

He threw some kind of nut at me, that I caught, and ate, and still had no idea what it was. Hopefully it was edible. Casey then dove into a story about a girlfriend who looked like a boyfriend, and had us all laughing. Hasegawa and my absence yesterday had been forgotten. For now. Hopefully that was it, and it wouldn’t come up again. But just the fact it had been noticed kept me from going up to the buffet to grab a second helping right beside Ren.

Later the same day, we were all transported by coaches to the main event areas. The opening ceremony organizers put us beside Team GB, and I spent the next three hours not looking at Ren. We nodded once, when our gazes met, and that was it. Cold as ice. I’d forgotten how good at pretending he was.

The heat from his hand on my knee came back, though, and all the thoughts about what I was going to do with him when we next met. But when?

I opened our messages.

hey, wanna meet up?

I slipped my phone away and saw him take his from his pocket.