Chapter Thirty-Four

The bubble burst five days later.

Dax and Cameron weren’t at home. Since Dax’s recovery was now progressing in leaps and bounds, or at the very least, in larger strides, they began to spend less and less time in the house. Dax was filled with a new kind of energy, and he found that as spring now slid into summer, there was plenty to see outside.

He and Cameron were taking a walk on the forest path on a hill above the house when Cameron whispered at Dax to stand still. “Don’t move,” he hissed.

Dax froze on the spot, sure that there was a sniper in among the trees, and he resisted the urge to turn and run as fast as he could in the opposite direction. He hadn’t tried running just yet, having thus far managed only a lolling jog, but he was sure that if his life depended on it, he could flee.

But there was nothing to fear. From his side, Cameron pointed out a space in front of them, a little to the right, and Dax’s mouth curled into a smile of wonder as he spotted a fawn, moving slowly between the trees. Its wide eyes blinked delicately, as it sniffed the air, aware that there was someone there, but until Dax or Cameron moved, they didn’t scare it.

It stepped forward tentatively, lowering its head to munch on some grass on the ground that had grown in the space where light had filtered through the branches overhead.

“Where’s its mom?” Dax whispered, barely allowing the words to slip out of his mouth in a single breath.

“She’ll be around,” Cameron replied. “That little guy’s far too young to be out here on his own.”

And then, as though on cue, out stepped a beautiful large deer, its stunning head moving left and right, concern etched on her face. Dax sucked in his breath, and he was so stunned by the view of the deer and her baby that he felt tears pricking his eyelids. He’d never seen anything so beautiful in all his life.

It was a reflex that made him raise his hand to his face to wipe his eyes, but it was enough to startle the deer. The mother bolted first, her fawn following behind her a split second later. “Shit,” said Dax. “That’s my fault. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it,” laughed Cameron. “It’s not like we could have stood like statues for the next hour. We’ll see them again.”

“That was amazing. I don’t know how on earth you quit this place to live in London.”

“Well, I kind of got my heart broken,” Cameron said.

“Oh?” Dax was sure he knew what Cameron was talking about; he thought back to the man he’d heard mentioned in the bar the night he’d gone to the quiz.

“I used to do a lot of work for the navy,” Cameron said, as they slowly walked along the path. “I think I mentioned it. I was a trainer, and so a lot of injured sailors would come to me. Not necessarily if they’d seen combat. Usually it was because of a daft injury they’d picked up on the boat. And one time I had a man called John referred to me. He was an officer, and he’d helped rescue a boat full of refugees off the coast of Malta, and one of them had panicked and kicked him in the shoulder so hard it shattered his scapula.”

“Ouch. That sounds really bad.”

“Well, he came to me for treatment. With an injury like that, if it doesn’t heal properly it can mean the end of a career for a sailor, so it was important that he got the best care. He was flown to the base, not too far from here, and so I treated him at the house, and I suppose it went from there.”

At the thought of Cameron being with another man in that house the way the two of them had been together in recent days, Dax felt a little nauseated. He swallowed, and his fists clenched in his pockets. He was jealous, but he’d never felt such a feeling before, at least not where another man was concerned. Cameron caught the look and stroked his back. “It was a long time ago,” he said. “Nearly three years.”

“What happened?”

“He was married, and I didn’t know,” Cameron said, simply. “I knew something wasn’t right about the whole thing. And I was completely taken in by his lies. He hurt me really badly, and I just couldn’t stand to be in the house anymore. It reminded me of being betrayed, and I was ready to sell, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. Instead, I moved down to London. The noise and chaos was a good distraction.”

“Well, it sounds like he was a real prick,” Dax said. He didn’t know what else to say. Nothing seemed appropriate. He found himself wondering what this guy was like. Whether he was handsome, if he was tall and dark, or short and fair. He wondered whether Cameron had enjoyed sex with John more than with him. He found he didn’t like to think about things like that. For the first time in his life, there was someone he really liked, and the idea that someone else would have touched him in that way made him feel things he didn’t want to feel.

They walked back toward the house, but from the hill, Cameron pointed out and Dax thought there was another deer in front of them, but it was much worse than that.

Parked in front of the house was a huge black car, its tinted windows black and ominous. “I’m guessing that’s for you,” Cameron said. “I don’t know many people who’d drive a beast like that.”

Dax’s heart sank. “Shit,” he muttered. He didn’t want to go back to the house, but there was no way to avoid whatever was there waiting for him.

Cameron never locked the front door, because people weren’t generally so rude as to simply walk in and take a look around however they pleased. Grant Beaumont was not such a person. As Dax and Cameron walked into the house, they saw that the large, red-faced manager was already in the sitting room. He was peering at the bookshelf, and he looked up as the two men entered.

“Well, look who’s all well again!” he cried, beaming, his hands outstretched as if to envelop Dax in a large hug.

“What the hell’s going on?” Dax asked. “I didn’t know you were coming. How did you even know I was here?”

But Grant ignored the question and instead held out his hand for Cameron to shake it. Dax could see he didn’t want to, but he took the flabby hand out of courtesy and gave it a brief shake. “I’ll go and put the kettle on, shall I?” he asked.

He left the room, and Dax sighed heavily. “You’ve got no right just busting in like this,” he said, and Grant sat down on the sofa, still in his coat and leather gloves.

Grant ignored this, too. “Charming little place,” he said, but Dax could hear the sarcasm dripping from his voice. “The English really do know how to build pretty houses, don’t they?”

“We’re in Scotland,” Dax growled. “It’s a completely different country.”

At this, Grant matched Dax’s stare with an icy glare of his own. “Don’t you think for a fucking second I don’t know where we are,” he snapped. “I know exactly where we are. I know the fucking coordinates of this God-forsaken place. Don’t imagine I haven’t known where you’ve been all this time. And I’ve just spent the last thirty hours dragging my ass over here to see what the fuck you think you’re playing at.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Dax said. “I haven’t spoken to you in days.”

“Exactly!” Grant cried. “You haven’t taken a single call, haven’t answered a single text, and even Kelly hasn’t been able to get a hold of you. Now I see you’re up and about, looking better than ever, so I can only assume that you haven’t been lying on your back the whole time.”

“I’ve been recovering,” Dax said. “I don’t turn my phone on much these days.”

I don’t want to hear from anyone back home, he nearly added, but stopped himself. He knew that Grant had a right to be worried. Sure, he wasn’t expecting to walk in and find him in the sitting room like this, but he should have been prepared for the fallout after not having made any contact with anyone back home ever since he and Cameron had first slept together.

“Your mom’s worried sick,” Grant said, changing tack in the hope that this would produce a more favorable response. His voice softened a little, but Dax could only hear the sickly sweet quality of the tone, as it dripped with faux concern. He’d never been so repulsed by the man as he was now. What was it Cameron had called him? The cult leader. The supreme ruler. The puppet master who dangled the strings, having Dax dance whenever he could.

“My mom knows where I am,” he said, finally. “She doesn’t have any reason to be worried, but I’ll call her. Tonight.”

“You don’t need to call her,” Grant replied. “You’re not staying here another night. I’ve got a jet ready to leave from Edinburgh tonight. You’re packing your things and I’m taking you with me. I should never have let you out of my sight the first time, and I’m not letting it happen again.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” Dax said, the words out of his mouth before he could stop them. “I’m happy here. I don’t want to go back to that life.”

Grant threw back his head and laughed. “It’s almost like you and I don’t have a multi-million dollar contract!” he cried. “It’s as though we’re not hemorrhaging money like a leaky faucet. As though I’m not fighting fires every single fucking second you’re out here, having to explain to everyone that no, you’re not dead, you’re alive and well and you’ll be back to your old self very fucking soon!”

Cameron appeared at this moment, stepping out of the kitchen. “Nobody talks like that in this house,” he said, sternly.

“Fuck off,” spat Grant. “Don’t think I don’t know what you’ve been up to here, Son. I’ve done my research.”

“Oh?” Cameron folded his arms. “And what has that uncovered, exactly?”

“You’ve had him here as your little fucking pet,” Grant said, his red face now a startling shade of purple. “You fucking faggot. The whole plan was to get a global superstar in your bed the whole time. And I bet you’ve managed it, too. Dax always was a bit stupid, and he’s a sucker for a pretty face. You might have had him fooled, but don’t insult my intelligence by thinking I don’t know exactly what the two of you have been up to.”

“Shut up,” Dax said, pointing his finger toward Grant’s face. He couldn’t bear to see Cameron humiliated in this way. He’d been on the receiving end of Grant’s poison so many times, but he wasn’t about to let Cameron suffer in the same way.

He knew that Grant was lying. Not about having done his research, of course. He wouldn’t have expected anything less. He knew that Grant was telling the truth when he said he’d known where Dax had been the whole time, too. But he knew that Cameron hadn’t had any ulterior motive in bringing him to Scotland. He knew it with all his heart.

But he also knew that it was over. All of it. His time away had come to an end, and he had no choice but to go back. Because as much as he loathed Grant Beaumont, the man was very, very right about one thing. Their contract was binding, and he knew that they were losing millions every day he was gone.

It was time for Dax to leave Scotland, and return to the States. And with every fiber in his being, he wished that it weren’t so.