“What the hell was—” Cam started in an incandescent tone, his heart pounding so violently at the sight he had just witnessed he thought it would leap out of his chest.

“You asshole,” Joe said between gritted teeth. “Where the fuck have you been?”

Cam blinked rapidly, stunned for a moment. He scowled in the next instant.

“That’s my fucking line!”

Joe raked a hand through his hair.

“No, it bloody well isn’t.” He sighed. “Let’s clear up this misunderstanding right now. What you just saw was your boyfriend violating my lips, thinking I was you. Which, let me tell you, pisses me off to no end.”

Cam stared, his pulse skittering in his veins. “What?”

“What’s going on with you two?” Joe said gruffly.

Cam dropped his garment bag on his travel case, his mind still reeling at what Joe had just told him. “What the hell do you mean?”

Joe put his hands on his hips and glared at Cam. “Gabe’s been a miserable bastard the whole time you’ve been away, but even I was shocked at the state he was in tonight. He thinks you’re breaking up with him.”

Cam felt blood drain from his face.

“What?” Pain twisted through him as he stared blindly at the man on the bed. “He said that?!”

Relief flashed across Joe’s face.

“So, you’re not breaking up with him?”

“No!” Cam said vehemently. “If—if anything, it’s the opposite—” He broke off, his eyes widening. “Oh, shit. The phone call.”

Joe frowned.

“What phone call?”

Cam glanced at him dazedly.

“I was on the phone with Gabe when I was riding to the airport,” he said hoarsely. “We got cut off just before my battery died. I told him we needed to talk.”

Joe cursed. “Jesus, Cam. No wonder he was so upset.”

Cam’s shoulders sagged. He raised trembling hands to his head, his fingers twisting in his hair at the agony Gabe had no doubt lived through tonight.

“You mean, he’s spent the last seven hours thinking—”

“Yes.” Joe’s expression grew sympathetic. “I don’t know what’s going on between you two, but I hate seeing you guys like this. You need to fix this, Cam.”

Cam hesitated before dipping his chin.

“I—I know.”

Joe studied him for a moment. “He loves you, Cam,” he finally said. “Wholeheartedly. Irrevocably.”

Cam shuddered and closed his eyes briefly, blood rushing in his ears at his best friend’s blunt words.

“I know,” he breathed.

Joe’s cell rang. He slipped it out of his pocket, glanced at the caller ID, and took the call.

“Hi. Yeah, I’m still at the apartment. Cam just got here.” Joe hesitated. “We were just talking things over.” He looked at Cam. “They’re gonna be fine. I’ll make my way back now.” Lines marred his brow. “Yeah, I know you’re waiting for me.” Joe’s frown deepened. “What do you mean, you’re sending me a picture?”

The phone dinged. Joe looked at the screen. His eyes flared.

“Is that my bow tie on his—” Joe brought the cell back sharply to his ear. “You little punk!” A slow smile curved his lips. “I’ll be right there. Do not move an inch!”

Joe ended the call and crossed the floor to Cam.

“Ethan told me something once.” He paused. “He said there was one way to make sure no one ever took him away from me. And that was to claim him as my own.”

Joe looked over at Gabe and placed a hand on Cam’s shoulder.

“Dare to be happy, Cam. Let go of your past and embrace the future before you.”

Cam squeezed his best friend’s fingers and swallowed hard, his vision blurring. The sound of the front door closing reached his ears seconds later.

Silence descended on the apartment.

Cam let out a shaky breath and made his way to the armchair opposite the bed. He sagged into it and watched the sleeping man on the sheets for a long time, angry with himself for having been so stubborn and guilt-ridden by the unnecessary pain he’d inflicted on his lover.

And also just a little bit resentful about that kiss.

* * *

Gabe stirred and blinked fuzzily. Curtains fluttered ahead of him. A hot breeze blew through the open window overlooking the terrace outside the bedroom and washed across his skin. He rolled onto his back, wondering why his head throbbed so much. Something tugged at his hands.

Gabe looked up and stiffened. A gray silk tie was wound tightly around his wrists, binding him to the sculptured bedpost in the middle of the leather and wood headboard.

Gabe’s pulse jumped when he registered his near nakedness. He was dressed only in his briefs. A familiar smell reached him in the next instant, dousing his rising trepidation. He knew this scent.

Gabe scanned the shadowy bedroom, a different kind of nervousness suddenly skittering through him. His breath caught when he saw the man sitting in the chair opposite the foot of the bed, elbows on his knees, chin resting on the backs of his folded hands.

Gabe shivered, transfixed by the intense light in the gunmetal eyes studying him unblinkingly.

“Cam?” he whispered, confusion flooding his mind.

Cam rose slowly from the chair, his stance predatory as he approached the bed. He was still dressed in his work suit, the dark material clinging to his solid thighs and broad shoulders.

Gabe felt his cock twitch at the sight of Cam’s commanding figure. He didn’t know what was going on right now, why he’d been stripped and tied to the bed, or even how he’d ended up here in the first place.

The last thing Gabe recalled was sitting on the couch in Joe’s old apartment above Saron, being comforted by Ethan.

Cam’s gaze skimmed Gabe’s body, his face inscrutable. Gabe bit his lower lip and squirmed under the laser stare. Despite the echoes of pain still coursing through his chest at the last words Cam had spoken to him, Gabe could not control his body’s reaction to Cam’s presence.

“About that conversation we had…” Cam said in a low voice, his eyes rising from Gabe’s swelling arousal.

Gabe stilled when Cam met his stare head on. A fresh bout of agony twisted through him. He blinked back tears, his nails digging into his palms.

“I think you seriously misunderstood something,” Cam continued, his gray gaze turning the color of a storm-swept sea.

Gabe’s heart leapt and started a wild beat in his veins. He blinked, not sure if he’d heard Cam right.

“We’re not breaking up.” Cam reached up and slowly undid the knot in his red silk tie. “I’m sorry if I made you think that. I truly am.”

Gabe inhaled shakily when he read the blazing truth in Cam’s dark eyes.

Thank you, God!

Puzzlement replaced relief in the next instant. Gabe hesitated.

“Um, Cam, why am I—”

“Tied to the bed?” Cam cocked an eyebrow. “Oh, that’s just the first part of your punishment.”

Gabe’s train of thought juddered to an abrupt halt.

“What?”

“For the kiss,” Cam said, his voice hardening for a second.

Gabe stared, bewildered.

“What kiss?”

Cam narrowed his eyes.

“The one I saw when I walked in here tonight. You kissing Joe. In our bed, no less.”

Gabe gasped. “What?! No way! I would never—”

Gabe stopped then, blood draining from his face. He thought he was dreaming earlier when he saw Cam hovering over him. He dimly recollected a pair of hard lips against his own. Gabe swallowed a groan.

Oh, shit.

“The guilty expression on your face tells me you remember what you did,” Cam said coolly. He wrapped the ends of his tie around his hands and tugged slowly.

Gabe’s mouth went dry, a shiver dancing down his spine as he focused on the taut red silk.

Fuck.