A Hunted Man (The Men of Halfway House) (17 page)

Hunter looked at the scrap and saw a phone number and address. "Thanks," he said, shoving the paper into his pocket.

"You leaving now?" his father asked.

"Yeah and you can't tell anyone where I'm going. Got it?"

His father nodded. "What excuse did you give for leaving?"

"I told them I had to look into something for you. Um, I kinda mentioned I was looking at retirement places."

"Great. Blame it on the old fart who needs looking after," his father grumbled.

Hunter laughed. "Thanks, Dad. I gotta go," he said.

"Be careful, Son. Please. If someone's done this to Pete—"

"I know, Dad. That's why I've got to find him."

He pulled his father into an embrace.

His father tightened his hold. "Don't think I haven't noticed how you're avoiding the subject."

Hunter released his dad and glared at him. "Yes, I saw him earlier, and yes, I asked him out. Happy?"

"What did he say?"

"He said 'soon', I guess that's better than a no," he added before laughing.

"Yes, that's better than a no," his father said then patted him on the shoulder. "You're smiling with your eyes, you know? That tells me you're happy."

Hunter grinned as thoughts of Cameron flooded his mind. The way he smelled, his taste, the soft yet strong lips when they kissed, the way Cam's body fit perfectly against his. He wanted to believe he was slowly breaking down Cam's iron walls.

"Yeah, Dad. I'm happy," he said wistfully. "I've gotta go. I'll see you soon," he said before waving bye.

Cameron called Matt before he left the diner. Rather than ask Julian to pick him up, he decided to walk the few blocks to get back to the halfway house. He didn't want to be a bother—he knew Julian was planning something for Matt's birthday today but didn't have a clue what it was.

The swelling in his hand had lessened and thoughts of Hunter and a future date lingered in his mind. Where would they go, what would they do? He wanted to enjoy the peacefulness he always felt when they were together. The worries that riddled his mind would vanish, and the fear of trying to fit in, blend, survive, everything just righted itself with Hunter.

He took the steps up to the house and heard a familiar voice. He walked in and saw Sam talking with Matt.

"Hey, there!" Sam said before grabbing Cam into a hug.

"What are you doing here?" Cam asked Sam and looked over to Matt.

"He escorted over two guys to our house," Matt responded proudly. "J's showing them around. They're getting the green rooms," Matt said with a nod and a smile.

Cam chuckled. Matt and his fricken color-themed rooms. Cam didn't care about the colors—he just cared that the green rooms were the farthest away from his
.

"Oh, there he is," he heard Julian say as he walked down the stairs. "This is Cameron." He gestured toward him.

Cam nodded in acknowledgement.

"This is Cole," Julian said, pointing to the guy wearing a knit beanie, then he turned to the tall guy with the serious expression. "And this is Luke."

Cameron extended his hand in greeting. Cole gripped Cameron's hand enthusiastically. He was constantly shifting from one foot to the other, unable to stand still. He was a ball of energy, with a devilish grin and a mischievous glint in his mismatched eyes. He wore a beanie low over his forehead and thick black hair peeked out along the back. He was about a head shorter than Cam and stocky, couldn't have been much taller than five-eight, give or take an inch.

"Dude, this place is awesome!" Cole said with a huge grin and a wealth of enthusiasm.

"Yeah," Cam answered. He turned to Luke who stood silently, observing. "Nice to meet you."

Luke firmly shook his hand then made eye contact. A clear
you-leave-me-alone-and-we'll-be-fine
vibe screamed from his gaze.

"Ignore Luke's tough guy act. You should have heard him with his girlfriend on the phone."

"I'm going to beat you in your sleep if you don't shut up," Luke said with a sideways glare targeted at Cole.

"Cam, keep everyone busy here for two minutes," Julian said to Cam in a whisper.

Cam simply nodded. He wasn't sure how he was supposed to entertain anyone or keep them busy.

He noticed Matt's curiosity piqued and the man looked ready to follow Julian into the kitchen. "I wouldn't do that," Cam said.

Matt looked over and bit his lip. "What the hell is he doing?"

Cam shrugged. He did know it was Matt's birthday but he couldn't even acknowledge that without risking a chance at Matt figuring anything out.

"So how long have you been here?" beanie guy asked.

"Couple of weeks," Cam responded.

"What did you do?"

"What did
you
do?" Cameron asked.

"I boost exotics and sleepers," Cole said with a grin.

"Boosted, Cole. Past tense. The goal is to not do that anymore," Matt corrected.

Cole guffawed. "Dude, if a Ferrari pranced in front of me, I can't promise I'd have that much self-control."

"Then we'll have to work on that," Matt said with a smile. Matt had a distant look on his face then tugged the back of his hair. "What are sleepers?"

Cole moaned. "They're the powerful sexy ones no one pays attention to. But I do."

Cam chuckled and took pity on Matt. "They're cars that don't look fancy on the outside but have a lot of power under the hood. Think of it as high performance in disguise."

"Oh, I get it," Matt said shyly.

"Dude, you're totally giving me a hard-on right now," Cole said to Cam.

"Keep it in your pants, Boost Boy," Cam said as Julian walked out of the kitchen and glanced over to Sam moments later.

As if on cue, Sam started herding the new arrivals to the kitchen. "I'm starving. Matt you got anything we can nibble on? We didn't get a chance to grab anything on the way here."

Matt fidgeted. "Um, we might have something…I think." He looked around and saw Julian lingering then looked back over at Cam. Matt raised an eyebrow then stood in front of Julian, arms crossed. Julian half smiled, grabbed him, and pulled him into the kitchen.

Cam followed the others into the kitchen. On the table was a birthday cake with a single candle and two wrapped gifts, one noticeably larger than the other. Everyone applauded and Matt's face immediately flushed when everyone broke out in unison to sing him "Happy Birthday". Even Luke looked as if he was mumbling the words. Julian wrapped his arms around Matt from behind and rested his chin on Matt's shoulder as he sang. Cam had never seen Julian with such a huge smile on his face. He transformed into a different person right before Cam's eyes.

Matt blew out the candle and everyone chanted to open the gifts. Julian handed the large box over to Matt. When he unwrapped the gift, he gasped, then immediately looked up to see a smiling Julian staring back at him. Matt pulled out a beautifully carved, square wooden sign that read 'Halfway House'. Along the edges were additional carvings.

Matt looked up at Julian with such emotion even Cam's chest began to hurt. "J—" was all he was able to say before Julian rushed to his side and resumed his position behind Matt, arms wrapped around his waist and chin resting on his shoulder.

"You guys really called this place 'Halfway House'? Um, you never actually gave it a name?" the beanie guy asked.

Julian gave him one of his six-foot-under glares. "You got a problem with that?"

Cole raised his hands in surrender. "Nah, man. But you gotta admit. It's weird as shit that you didn't actually give it a real name."

"That
is
a name," Julian snarled.

"Uh, yeah. If you say so," Cole said.

Matt wistfully spoke as he grazed his fingers over each of the names carved into the edges. "There were so many people who played a part in this house, whether they knew it or not. Both in the original idea that inspired this house, and in every detail since. It began as a tribute to a friend of mine, but it developed into so much more. Coming up with a name that would represent them all and what they meant to the both of us was impossible."

"Oh," Cole said, shuffling his feet. "Sorry."

Cam neared the sign to get a better view. He could read a few names, all hand-carved and slightly burnt in the recessed carvings. Liam, Eleanor, Marie, even Sam's name was etched into the wood.

Matt turned in Julian's arms and muttered a barely audible "I love you" to which Julian immediately whispered a response in his ear.

Cameron closed his eyes. It felt voyeuristic to be in the same room at that moment to witness so much tangible affection. He'd never openly admit it, but he was both jealous for not having someone who openly cared that much for him, and angry that his circumstances would probably never allow it.

"Open the other one," Sam encouraged.

Matt separated from the embrace with a shimmer in his eyes and a huge grin on his face. He reached for the next box.

"Um, maybe you should wait to open that one," Julian said in an odd tone.

Sam laughed. "Now you have to open it here and now."

Matt immediately ripped open the box as Sam and Julian snapped quick comebacks at each other.

Matt held a picture frame in his hands encasing a cut out newspaper clipping. Even though it had been flattened in the frame, it was obvious the ad had been folded at one time. The top of the frame had a decorated heading that read 'Boner looking for a handyman.'

Cole snorted a laugh. "What the hell is that?"

Julian tried to hide his smile.

Sam looked over to the picture frame. "Is that the ad we ran?"

Matt nodded and casually sniffled then looked over to Julian. He placed a hand on his waist in a poor attempt to seem hostile as a wicked grin spread across his face. "That's Doner, D-O-N-E-R."

Julian burst into laughter.

"But that says Boner?" Cole said, confused.

"Long story, Cole. But I think someone's going to get one hell of a beating tonight about it," Sam teased.

Cole looked over to Matt and Julian then back to Sam. "I know I'm not the brightest bulb in the shop, but I, uh, kinda think that was the plan."

"Happy birthday, Matt," Cam said before removing himself from the conversation and racing upstairs.

He closed the door then reached for the cell phone on the nightstand. He pulled the folded paper from his pocket and spread his hands over it gently to smooth it out.

Hunter
.

He took a few breaths and debated whether he should call now or wait. Cam didn't want to call and interrupt him at work and he wasn't sure what exactly to say. He figured he'd try sending the phone number via a text message. He touched a few menus but couldn't figure out how to send the message.
Fricken technology changes.
He grumbled then dialed the number scribbled on the paper before he could change his mind.

After two rings, voice mail answered the call. Cameron sighed when the sound of Hunter's voice echoed through the line. He closed his eyes and enjoyed the dip in his voice as he asked the listener to leave a message.

The beep of the recording jolted him back to the moment. "Um, hey, it's me. Cam. Shit I didn't write my number down but I guess you can get it from that caller ID thing you have or something. I guess I'll talk to you later. Bye." He pressed the button to end the call. Cam closed his eyes and sighed. He hoped he didn't come across like the fool he thought he sounded like in that message.

A knock at the door interrupted his thoughts.

"Cam?"

"Hey, Sam," he said as he opened the door.

"How are you doing?" he asked, entering the room. "Adjusting well? Matt says you're working at a nearby diner."

"Yeah, I'm settling in okay, I think." He shrugged.

Sam looked at him, assessing in his usual I-know-more-than-you're-telling-me sorta way. "So I heard you got pissed off yesterday. Want to tell me what that was about?"

Cameron inhaled as panic started to set in.
Shit, if Matt filed a report about him losing his temper—

"Hey, don't freak out, Matt's fine. He just wanted to make sure you were okay and he didn't want to push you. He mentioned it today when I came over for the transfer is all."

Cam exhaled with relief. "I fucked up. I got pissed off when Matt started asking questions and I sorta…yeah…took it out on that." He gestured to the bathroom doorframe which had a few new dents along the edge.

"You all right?" Sam asked with concern, reaching for Cam's bruised hand.

"I'm better. I just…I don't know," he said, looking up at Sam. "I just don't want to go back there and I want to forget all of it and try to move on. It just feels like I can't sometimes." His body slumped.

"Hey, don't start that," Sam said before throwing an arm over Cam's shoulders. "It's just going to take a while to adjust. You've got a job, soon you'll be out of here and you'll meet someone and things will start looking and feeling different with time. You'll see," he said encouragingly, patting Cam's back.

"I met someone."

"Yeah?" Sam asked with a smirk. "At the diner?"

Cam nodded eagerly. "He's different."

"How so?"