16. Luke

16

luke

My brain clicked to life when Joel hung up on my son. The video had short-circuited me. I couldn’t comprehend why someone would do something so violating to another person. It was sick. And this wasn’t just any person. It was Cameron. Someone I’d cared about for a while, but had been feeling a shift lately from paternal to something more. Seeing this happen to him made me feel so helpless and a little bit murdery, to be honest. It was an unusual feeling, but I’d always been a bit protective over him.

I felt more then saw Cameron start to fall, but Joel was there before he hit the floor. “Shh, baby boy. I got you.”

Joel glanced at me. “I’m getting him outta here. Can you find his boss or someone to tell?”

“Sure.” I didn’t realize it until Joel carried Cameron out of the room, but there were other people milling about, people who were now staring at us with wide-eyed interest.

“Cameron needs to leave. There’s been an emergency. Who do I talk to?”

A woman who had been sitting at the other makeup station, I couldn’t remember her name even though Cameron had introduced us, raised her hand. “I’ll handle it. Just go.”

I wondered how much they’d seen or knew already. A few of them were on their phones, so I had a sick feeling that the whole crew would see it in the next few minutes. Pissed, I ripped the phone out of the hand of the guy closest to me. Sure enough, he had just pulled up the video. “That was done without his permission, both the posting and filming. Watching it makes you almost as sick as the person who did this.” I tossed his phone back at him and stormed out before I could do something stupid that would get me arrested and Cameron fired.

I expected Joel to have brought Cameron to his car but was surprised when I left the theater to see him standing on the sidewalk, still holding a shaking Cameron. “I took my fucking motorcycle,” he snapped.

Joel was barely containing his anger. It was taking all his strength to push it aside and focus on Cameron. “I have my car. C’mon. I’m in the garage two blocks away.”

I wanted to offer to take Cameron. Joel had a bad knee and had had back surgery a few years ago. He probably shouldn’t be walking all this way carrying a grown man. Albeit a small one, but still. I also knew that there was no way in hell that Joel would let me take him now. It was almost instinctual how he cradled him, not letting anyone get too close.

I was grateful that I’d managed to find parking so close, and it was the short blocks too. Still, Joel’s arms were shaking by the time we got to the garage.

Cameron hadn’t said a word and wasn’t moving, except that constant shivering. It terrified me. Cameron was always so strong and sassy. The closest I’d ever seen him come to this was when the first videos had come through, and it was nowhere near this bad.

We fucking finally got to my car, and I unlocked it. Joel went to put Cameron down and he keened, his nails digging into Joel’s skin. “Don’t leave me, Daddy!” They were the first words he’d said since he’d spoken to River, and they broke my heart.

“Shh, baby boy. I’m not going anywhere. I’m just putting you in the car.” But Cameron just cried and clutched Joel. He growled, but it wasn’t at Cameron, and maneuvered himself into my back seat.

Once they were settled, I closed the door and immediately got in the car and started driving. I was running on autopilot, but we had to get Cameron somewhere. Joel’s house was the closest, as he was just over the bridge in Brooklyn.

I focused on navigating the city while Joel whispered to Cameron, trying to soothe him.

“I need to call Justin!” Cameron’s voice nearly made me jump. He sounded so panicked.

“Justin?” Joel asked.

“He—he was in one of those clips. And in the video I was sent earlier today. His face was in it. I need to tell him. He needs to know it wasn’t me that posted it. He’s a good guy. I need to tell him.”

“It’s okay, caro . I’ll call him and explain. It’ll be fine.”

I was stuck on something else Cameron had said though. “What video from earlier today?”

The car got deadly silent. “Wait, what?” Joel snapped. The rage he was starting to get control crashed of right back to the surface.

“He said Justin was in the video he was sent earlier today.” My own anger was starting to bubble up. Had Cameron been keeping stuff from us? I probably had no right to demand he share any of this with me. I’d jerked off once while he’d been fucked by my boyfriend. I didn’t think that was enough for me to demand anything of the man. It didn’t stop the way I felt though. I couldn’t even imagine what Joel was thinking.

“I-I was going to tell you. Later. We already had so much else going on, and Logan was working on it. I figured it could wait. I’m sorry . . . .” Cameron sounded so defeated, it was just amping up those murderous tendencies. I’d only ever felt like this about one other person: my sons’ sperm donor. I hadn’t thought it was possible for anything else to make me feel this level of hate, but apparently it was.

It took Joel a while to speak, and once he finally did, he was making a huge effort to keep his voice even and calm. “That’s not important right now. We’ll talk about it later. Is the video still on your phone?”

“Y-yeah.” I glanced at them in the mirror. Joel kissed the top of Cameron’s head with so much tenderness, it caused butterflies in my gut. There was so much love there. It didn’t make me jealous, though, because I knew without a doubt that Joel looked at me the same way. Our relationship might be different, but his level of care was the same.

“It’s okay, caro . We’re okay,” he whispered, but I still heard him. I also heard Cameron’s sigh of relief.

“We have to send all this to Logan,” Joel said to me. I met his eyes in the rearview mirror.

The moment was heady. We didn’t say anything, yet a full conversation passed between us. I told him I was all in. I’d be here for him while he was there for Cameron, and hopefully I’d be here for Cameron too, if he let me. A thousand thoughts and feelings passed between us in that split second I watched him from the mirror before turning my eyes back to the road.

By the time we got to Joel’s house, Cameron was asleep. This time I did offer to carry him inside and was honestly shocked when Joel reluctantly agreed.

“I hate to admit it but carrying him all that time killed my back.”

I squeezed Joel’s shoulder. “I got him.”

“Thank you, amato .”

The words I love you were on the tip of my tongue, but I held them in. This was so not the time. I just smiled at him before picking Cameron up and carrying him into the house.

“Put him in my bed,” Joel told me once the door was closed and locked. “He needs to rest.”

Joel followed me into the room and took Cameron’s shoes off once I placed him on the mattress. He pulled the blanket up and kissed his forehead. Cameron twitched but otherwise didn’t stir.

His hair had fallen into his eyes, and I brushed it out, needing to touch him, if only for a second. I shook my head, trying to clear my thoughts, then followed Joel out when he jerked his head toward the door.

“I’m going to fucking kill that motherfucker,” Joel snarled as soon as we were out of Cameron’s hearing distance in case he woke up. “How dare he do that to my boy.”

I wrapped my arms around him, sensing Joel needed that connection. “We’ll make sure he’s caught and Cameron gets justice.” Hopefully in a way that didn’t get Joel sentenced to 25 to life. I brushed my lips against his in a barely there kiss. Still, I felt him relax.

“Thank you for getting us home safely and for being there, amato . I couldn’t think straight.”

I rested my head against Joel’s shoulder as he held me tightly to him. “That’s not something you have to thank me for.”

“Still.”

We stood there just holding each other for a long time. But eventually, the pain in Joel’s back became too much, and I helped him sit on the couch.

I remembered that he had the extra-large ice packs in his freezer. “I’ll get you some ice and painkillers.”

He smiled warmly at me. “Thank you, darling. You’re so good to me.”

Why did that make me feel so warm and fuzzy inside? Once he was settled, Joel pulled out Cameron’s phone. He didn’t even look at the video that had been sent earlier, just forwarded it to Logan, along with the one on TW, even though I was sure he’d seen it by now. Then he looked in the contacts for Justin and dialed him.

“Cameron,” a deep voice boomed so loudly that I could hear it, even without the phone on speaker. “Why the fuck did I find out from my boss that there’s a video of me going fucking viral?”

I winced, but Joel somehow sounded deadly calm when spoke. “Justin? This is Joel, Cameron’s boyfriend.” Joel went on to explain everything that was happening, from the first text till the huge escalation today. He told him how Cameron’s consent had been violated, as well as his and probably most if not all the men in those videos. Justin must had been getting calmer because I could no longer hear him. It seemed like Joel was handling that, so I took out my own phone to text River.

Hey, just letting you know we took Cameron back to Joel’s. He’s asleep now. But we’ll have him call you later.

My phone rang and I jumped with surprise. River rarely called, much preferring texts.

“Hello?”

“Dad? What the fuck is going on?”

Joel was still talking to Justin, so I got up and walked into the kitchen.

“You saw what was going on before we did. That little fucker—” I cut myself off. We didn’t know for sure it was his slimy ex-roommates, though I’d bet my entire business on it. Still, I shouldn’t be defaming someone until I had proof.

“No, not that. That’s pretty self-explanatory, and I’ll get more details from Cam later. Logan and Lake are already on it. They’re not waiting for the cops to figure their shit out. Lake’s tracking down the IP address as we speak.”

Even with everything going on, I took a moment to appreciate how blessed I truly was. I had amazing children and in-laws that would immediately drop everything to help someone they cared about. I’d had a wonderful and beautiful love with the woman of my dreams, and I was starting to realize it wasn’t as once in a lifetime as I’d believed.

What I felt for Joel, and was starting to feel for Cameron, wasn’t the same as my love for Helen, but it didn’t make it lesser. Just different.

“So then what?” I asked even if I was pretty damn sure where River was headed with his question.

“Why are you answering Cam’s phone and referring to you guys as we?”

I had? I quickly looked at the text, and sure enough, I’d said we’d have him call you back.

“I—” I honestly had no idea how to answer that. I couldn’t tell my son I’d had the best orgasm of my life watching my boyfriend fuck the life out of his best friend and then knot him.

“Oh gods, he’s not calling you Daddy too, is he?”

I sputtered, so caught off guard. “What? Fuck, River. No, he’s not calling me Daddy.”

“Thank gods. Sorry, Dad. I love you both, but that’s just too weird for me. And if he ever does, please don’t tell me about it.”

“Trust me. I have no plans on it. This conversation is uncomfortable enough.”

River laughed. “Yeah, I know. But seriously, are you and Cam, you know?”

“No.” Then I sighed, bracing myself to tell him the truth. “Not yet.”

River gave a breathy sigh. “Yeah, this is weird.”

I leaned against the counter in Joel’s kitchen. I really could use a drink. I was not ready to have this talk with River. I still didn’t know what was happening myself. “Too weird? I-I don’t know how I feel honestly. But something happened last night, even before all this, and I think my feelings are changing for Cameron, and I believe his might be too. But,” I added quickly. “I’ll never do anything that upsets you. I love you. You and your siblings come first. I hope you know that.”

“Dad, trust me, we know. We all love you too. Also, it might be odd as hell, but I’m not such a dick that I’d get in between the two of you if feelings are developing. I want you to be happy. We all do. And I want Cam to be happy too. If that’s with you, well then, I don’t want any details, like none, but I’ll support you.”

I hadn’t cried since Helen had died, but my emotions were so close to the surface that I felt tears starting to spring to my eyes. I wiped them away quickly. “Riv, I, thank you.”

He laughed. “Not really sure what you’re thanking me for, but you’re welcome?”

Just then, Joel appeared in the doorway. He looked exhausted.

“Riv? Can I call you back?”

“Sure. We’ll keep an eye on things here and make sure that asshole doesn’t try anything else. Logan is working the legal channels, and Lake has all kinds of shit going on that I couldn’t explain if I tried. But we got this. You just worry about your men. Ugh, ok, I’m not saying that out loud again.”

I laughed. “I love you, kid.”

“Love you too. Also, remember every time you call me kid, Cam is 3 months younger than me.” Then the little shit hung up.

“Everything okay?” Joel asked wearily. I was glad I didn’t have bad news. I didn’t think Joel could take it right now.

I walked to him and took him in my arms. He melted in my hold. I curled my fingers in his hair and rested my forehead against his. Joel took a deep, shuddery breath. “Everything is fine. The boys are already tracking the video and monitoring for any other activity. And . . . River asked about Cameron and me.”

“What did you tell him?” Hesitance and concern laced his words.

“The truth. Minus all the details.” I huffed. “I told him I still had no idea what was happening, but my feelings were shifting, and I felt maybe Cameron’s are too.”

Joel rubbed his nose against mine. “They are. What did River say about that?”

“That I better never tell him if Cameron starts to call me Daddy.”

Those seemed to be the magic words. Joel finally relaxed, and I was able to back up enough to get us both back to the couch. He really needed to rest.

“So, he’s okay with it?”

“Yeah, it seems like it. It’s awkward, and he doesn’t want any details, but at the end of the day, River just wants us to be happy.”

“He’s a good kid. They all are.”

I squeezed his hand. I knew he was thinking about his daughter. I still didn’t know exactly what had caused their falling out, as Joel hated talking about it, but it hurt him. He said it had something to do with his lifestyle, whatever that meant. Even with as much as he had to be hurting, he never begrudged me or resented my relationship with my kids or grandkids. I hoped one day they’d resolve their issues, but Joel wasn’t hopeful.

“We’ll get through this,” I told him, resting my head on his shoulder.

“I know, amato . I know.”