Dissonance (23 page)

Galen had known the risks, so he’d suggested he go with Cam. But Cam, ever stubborn—and no doubt worried that he’d somehow involve Galen—had insisted on going to the meeting alone.

A little girl walking by with her mother stopped and waved at him. “What would you like me to play?” Galen asked, happy for the distraction.

The girl looked at her mother, who nodded and smiled at Galen.
Former musician.
He knew them well from their wistful expressions and the way they seemed so comfortable speaking to someone playing in the subway.

“Twinkle, Twinkle?” the girl asked.

“I can do that,” Galen answered with a grin. He played the melody and the little girl sang along in a sweet voice. Musical, like her mother. He finished the song, then repeated it, this time adding scales and flourishes in his own variation on the theme. At the end, the girl squealed and clapped her hands. The mother gave her a dollar to drop in Galen’s case.

“Thank you,” the girl said as she left the dollar.

Galen watched as the girl skipped away toward the N trains, holding her mother’s hand and asking if she could learn to play trumpet.

Where are you, Cam?
He looked around just in time to see a flurry of activity at the end of one of the tunnels. He heard several shouts, then saw someone running. Someone with light brown hair, wearing a blue jacket. Cam.

Shit.
Galen pulled out the mouthpiece, then shoved the trumpet into the case and closed the lid without bothering to remove the coins and bills. He threw his backpack over one shoulder and latched the trumpet case as he strode across to where the tunnels converged. He caught Cam’s eye as Cam ran toward the S train, then kept walking the way Cam had come.

Several men dressed in dark suits came charging toward him, weaving in and out of the people transferring to different trains. Galen took a long, deep breath and walked directly into their path, trumpet case held in front of him. The collision that resulted sounded far worse than it felt. Galen landed on his butt, staring up at the men.

“Are you all right?” one of them asked. The other nodded at his partner and took off in the direction Cam had been running.

“I… I think so.” Galen dry-scrubbed his face and blinked a few times, then tried to get back to his feet. He’d taken the hit on the side of his body to minimize any real damage, but the man who’d run into him didn’t need to know that.

“Let me help you.” The man offered Galen his hand, and Galen stood slowly, then dusted himself off.

“Thanks,” Galen said as the man handed him his trumpet case and backpack. “I’m fine. Really.”

“Sure?” the man asked.

“Sure.” Galen offered him a reassuring smile, then waved and headed down the passage toward the Lexington Avenue trains.

M
ORE
THAN
three hours later, after the tunnels had emptied of most of the evening commuters, Galen stopped playing and packed up his trumpet. He’d seen several uniformed officers walking the tunnels, and the agent who’d quite literally run into him had stopped by to listen as he continued his search for Cam. Each time Galen had seen the authorities walk by, he’d been relieved. When he’d heard one of the police radios notifying the other officers that they’d lost the suspect and to return to their precincts, Galen’s heart finally stopped pounding.

He headed back toward the S train platform at nearly 11:00 p.m. He waited until a train pulled away, leaving the platform empty, then walked to the end of the platform and hopped off and into the closest tunnel, taking care to avoid the electrified third rail. He walked about twenty feet down one of the tracks used to take trains out of service, then turned into a small alcove. He pulled a small flashlight from the backpack, opened the door on the left, then stepped inside and closed the door behind him.

“Cam?” Galen shined the light around the small room.

“God, it’s good to see you.” Cam, who had been sitting on the dusty concrete floor, got to his feet and walked over to Galen.

Galen didn’t hesitate. He pulled Cam into his arms and held him for what felt like a long time.
Not long enough
. “I was so worried,” Galen said as he regained control of his emotions.

“Your plan worked perfectly. Thanks.” In the dim light, Galen saw Cam smile.

“But the evidence Dan told you about?”

“Bollocks, all of it. A trap meant to lure me in.” Cam hugged Galen again and sighed. “You were right.”

“I’m sorry about that. I really hoped I was wrong.”

Cam shrugged. “I’m sure Duncan’s paying him. He probably helped with the foreign deposits. He’d have needed someone at Raice to make the scheme work.”

“Duncan?”

“I should have realized something was strange when he didn’t object to acquiring Raice four years ago. He’d ignored all my suggestions for expanding the business before.”

“Then why now?” Galen asked. “Why point the finger at you?”

“Because the jig is up. He didn’t count on new software that would allow the FBI to flag smaller transactions. When they started investigating Raice, Dan conveniently provided them with evidence that showed I owned the foreign accounts.” Cam laughed bitterly. “I’m sure he hoped the authorities would never figure things out. But just in case, he set me up to take the fall. Perfect timing too, because I’d managed to spend through all my inheritance.”

Galen couldn’t argue with the logic, even if hearing this made him ache even more for Cam. Duncan had betrayed Cam as a child, and he hadn’t thought twice about doing it again. “So what’s your plan?”

“I’m not sure. I guess I go back to your place. Regroup. If… if that’s all right with you, of course.”

The look of desperation on Cam’s face made Galen’s gut clench. “Goes without saying. I told you, Cam, you can stay as long as you need.”

“Thanks.” Cam pressed his lips together and shook his head. “I can’t tell you how much that means to me. How much I apprec—”

Galen silenced Cam with his lips. The kiss didn’t last long, but Galen felt a hell of lot better afterward.

“Oh… wow,” Cam croaked. “That was….” Cam’s cheeks pinked.

“Here’s the clothing.” Galen handed Cam the backpack, which he’d completely forgotten about. “Once you get changed, we can head back to my car. You can tell me all about Dan on the drive.”

Cam nodded, then opened the backpack. “Camouflage?” he asked as he pulled the pants out and studied them. Then he dug through the rest of the clothing and pulled out the beanie cap from the bottom of the pile.

Galen laughed and shook his head. “Don’t worry. They’re my brother’s. He forgot them the last time he came to visit.”

“I take it
he’s
not a vegetarian.”

“Not in the least.” Galen looked away as Cam changed into the pants and dark T-shirt. He knew it was silly—they’d slept pressed against each other for several nights now, after all—but he still felt uncomfortable. He’d begun to realize that part of the reason he hadn’t been more tempted to do more than just kiss Cam was that he didn’t want Cam to feel taken advantage of. If they were going to do more than sleep in the same bed, Galen needed to know that Cam wanted it and that he was ready.

C
AM
STIRRED
the curry and grinned. It tasted damn good. Even better, he’d made it himself with what he’d found in Galen’s cupboards and some of the butternut squash Galen had brought back from the farmers’ market. He inhaled the fragrant basmati rice as it cooked, and leaned back into the bend in the counter.

In spite of the excitement of the day before—the chase through the subway, the adrenaline that had coursed through his body in anticipation—he’d slept like a rock next to Galen. He’d
wanted
Galen so badly it had taken every bit of his willpower not to beg him for sex. But he’d struggled to stay awake, and he knew that whatever might happen between them, as exhausted and ragged as he felt after they’d made it back from the city, it wouldn’t be the first time he wanted.

He laughed to himself to realize that he could think about sex that way, as something to be savored. Something that needed a proper time and place and, even more surprising, a proper state of mind.

Max, who’d been sleeping under the kitchen table, barked several times and trotted off to the front door.

“Cam?”

“In the kitchen,” he answered.

“Sorry I’m later than I said I’d be,” Galen said as he walked into the kitchen. “I got stuck in a meeting….” He saw the table and stopped speaking. Cam had set it with a tablecloth he’d found and ironed (he had the burn on his thumb to prove it), china he’d found in a high cabinet, a couple of wineglasses (he couldn’t find two that matched), and a tiny bud vase he’d snagged from the mantel that he filled with a few straggler roses from the climbing bush on the side of the house.

“Thought I’d make dinner for you for a change,” Cam said, feeling keenly uncomfortable and worried Galen wouldn’t appreciate him digging in the cabinets and refrigerator.

“Wow.” Galen smiled. The kind of smile that made Cam surprisingly weak-kneed. Cam brushed the thought away.

“I hope you don’t mind.”

Galen leaned over the stove and sniffed the curry. “Mind? It smells amazing, Cam. I didn’t know you could cook.”

“I asked our cook to teach me, when I was a kid. I’d forgotten how much I enjoyed it.” Cam lifted the lid on the rice. “Almost done.” He reached for one of the knobs to turn the temperature down on the curry and brushed Galen’s hand by accident.

“Cam, I….”

Galen turned and gazed at Cam. Neither of them moved, but somehow they stood closer than they had before, faces inches away from each other. Cam heard Galen’s stuttered breath. Then Cam leaned in without really thinking anything but that he wanted to be close to Galen. Galen didn’t pull away as Cam kissed him the way he’d imagined kissing Galen all day, hard and deep and full of hunger.

The hissing sound of water brought Cam back to himself with a start. “Bugger!” The rice had begun to boil over. Cam wrenched himself away from Galen and pulled the pot off the heat, then set it down in the center of the stove.

“Everything okay?” Galen looked stunned, and his slightly swollen lips made Cam want to kiss him again.

“Just a little more mess to clean,” Cam said as he turned back to the stove in an effort to hide the blush he was sure stained his cheeks. He stirred the curry for good measure.

“Should I open a bottle of wine?” Galen asked from behind him.

“Sure.”

“White?”

Cam nodded. “Sounds perfect. Oh, and there’s a bottle of chutney I found in the cupboard. Maybe you can open that and put it on the table, please?”

“Sure.”

A few minutes later, they were seated at the table discussing Galen’s day at school. “They’re making progress on the selections for the statewide competition,” Galen said as he poured their wine.

“Do you think they’ll be ready in three weeks?” Cam set some rice on Galen’s plate, then spooned curry over the top.

“I think so,” Galen said as he inhaled the fragrant rice and curry. “But even if they’re not, I think they’ll enjoy the trip to Princeton.”

“I don’t remember doing much traveling when I was in school. A few archeological sites near Edinburgh, that sort of thing. Old churches, mostly just ruins. I only played piano, so I wasn’t in orchestra or band. I skied in Switzerland a few times, but we never did much there but ski. When I got control of my trust fund, I finally got to see some of the places I’d dreamed about.”

“Do you have a favorite place to travel?” Galen asked.

Cam shrugged. “Not really.” He’d once loved Rome, but after Aiden left, the city had lost its appeal. Everywhere he’d looked, he’d seen Aiden and remembered the week they’d spent there. Their first holiday together. “You?”

“Don’t have a favorite place,” Galen said. “I never go to the same place twice.”

“Never?” Cam found this rather odd, although he wasn’t sure why.

“Never. I’m not one to put down roots.”

“But you’ve been living here a while,” Cam pointed out.

“Three years.” Galen speared a piece of squash and brought it to his lips. “It’s about time to move on, I guess.”

Cam didn’t know how to respond. He’d owned his New York condo longer than that, and if the world hadn’t come crashing down around him, he’d have been happy to keep it until he was old and gray. He’d often thought about giving up the London rental he’d shared with Aiden and taking up residence permanently in the US. He supposed that wouldn’t happen now.

Galen finished chewing and went for another bite. “Wow, this curry is amazing, Cam.”

Cam hadn’t even realized he’d been tense, waiting for Galen’s opinion of the food. “Thank you. It’s one of my favorites. Got the recipe off the net a few years ago. Not too spicy, I hope?”

“No, it’s perfect.” Galen grinned. “I love things with a bit of a bite.”

“Good. I was missing a few ingredients and I tend to go a bit heavy on the green curry.”