Page 68 of Warrior's Cross

“Preston? Who’s Preston?”

“My driver,” Julian said as he looked back up at Cameron almost pleadingly, the hurt still showing in the set of his shoulders. “What sort of person do you think I am?” he asked.

Cameron slumped and leaned over to hide his head in his arms on the bar. “You’re upset with me,” came out muffled.

“How long have you wondered if I was married?” Julian asked without responding to the statement. “First I was some sort of... man-whore; now I’m some asshole cheating on his wife? What else do you think of me, Cameron?”

Head snapping up, Cameron decided he was angry more than anything else. “I don’t know what I think of you, Julian! You never talk about yourself! I can’t do anything but guess!” His wine-fueled bravado suddenly waned, and he just stopped talking. “I’ve had too much to drink,” he mumbled, pushing the glass away and moving to cork the bottle.

Julian stood at the counter, staring at him and waffling between appearing angry and hurt. “Fine,” he breathed after a few tense moments of silence. “Get your fucking coat on,” he ordered as he reached into his pocket for his phone.

Cameron looked up from the bottle. Resignation was clear on his face; he knew he’d not just upset Julian. He’d made him angry. One part of him was amazed to get a new reaction out of his lover. He’d never seen him truly angry before. The rest of him just hurt and ached and sort of wanted to cry. “Why?” he found himself asking.

“Because I fucking told you to,” Julian snapped as he held the phone to his ear. He barked Cameron’s address and then jabbed the phone off angrily.

Cameron blinked in surprise at Julian for a few heartbeats before thoughtlessly moving to obey. He scooted around the bar and out into the living room to get his coat. Julian muttered to himself as Cameron moved and then began stalking toward the door.

“Make sure the dogs have food,” Julian said as he yanked the door open.

Cameron did what he was told quickly as Julian, practically vibrating with anger, waited silently. Cameron thought he might understand how Julian scared Miri, but despite how angry Julian looked and acted, Cameron didn’t feel threatened. More upset with himself and ashamed than anything. He swiped his keys off the small table at the door and stopped an arm’s length away from the other man.

Julian stared at him without saying a word. Finally, he let his eyes travel up and down Cameron and then met his eyes. “Ready?” he asked in the same low, quiet voice he always used at the restaurant. He seemed deceptively calm again.

Frowning a little, Cameron wondered where all the anger had gone so quickly. “Yes,” he murmured. Julian reached out and took his upper arm, his fingers digging into the muscle as he ushered Cameron out into the hall and closed the door with a bang behind him. He pulled him toward the stairs without another word.

Cameron didn’t resist as he shuffled along beside Julian, except to crane his neck back to make sure there wasn’t a white puffball trailing along behind them in the hallway. He realized that the anger wasn’t gone; it was just expertly masked. The fact that Julian could veil it so well bothered him more than Julian being angry in the first place. How many other times had Julian been feeling some emotion that he had suppressed and so easily hidden? The thought was disconcerting.

They stepped out of the building into the cold night just as a black Lexus pulled up in front of the building. Julian gestured to it with a low growl and moved Cameron toward the back door. Cameron glanced from Julian to the car and back, nearly stumbling into the side of the Lexus as Julian directed him along with the hand clamped around his upper arm.

Julian yanked open the back door before the driver could even get out of the car, and the blond man quietly sank backinto the driver’s seat after one look at Julian. Julian growled at him and shoved Cameron into the back-seat roughly, climbing in beside him and pulling the door shut with an unsatisfying muffled thump.

“Home,” he ordered curtly, and the car pulled away from the curb.

Knowing better than to open his mouth, Cameron glanced from Julian to the driver—Preston?—and then out the window. He knew without a doubt that he didn’t want to make Julian any angrier than he already was. As much control as Julian had over his emotions, he had to be furious to be displaying even this much. Cameron wasn’t sure what he thought about the fact that it had taken getting Julian this angry to find out something concrete about him.

The city flew by in the night, eventually thinning into an old neighborhood full of refurbished turn-of-the-century mansions. The car turned into a hidden drive protected by a great stone archway and iron gate, and Preston reached out the window and slid a card past a sensor discreetly positioned near the shrubbery. The gate swung open on well-oiled hinges, and the silent driver pulled the car through and drove up to the front of the house. The Tudor house at the head of the circular drive wasn’t large by the standards of the neighborhood, but it looked somehow foreboding. It was the house on the block that kids skipped at Halloween.

Julian sat with his head bowed and his eyes closed. After a few moments of idling in the driveway, he raised his head and stared directly ahead. “Home,” he announced to Cameron quietly.

Cameron had already been staring out the window with wide eyes, which he now turned on Julian. No wonder the other man stayed with him only one or occasionally two nights a week. With this incredible house to come back to, why stay in an old,converted warehouse condo? Cameron suddenly felt his simple, lower-class lifestyle very keenly.

Julian glanced over at him carefully, almost visibly forcing the anger away. “Do you want to come in?” he asked softly.

Cameron turned his chin to look out the window at the imposing house again. His hands clenched in his coat pockets, and he shook his head jerkily. “I... I don’t belong here,” he whispered, feeling very uncomfortable.

“Does it matter to you that I love you?” Julian asked as he looked away and up at the house.

Cameron stared at Julian, wishing he could see his lover’s eyes.

“It’s the most precious thing in my world,” he answered brokenly.

“Then why can’t you believe the same of me?” Julian asked softly.

Pain cut through Cameron deeply enough that he flinched and had to look out the other window to blink away the wet in his eyes. “I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I just have a hard time understanding what someone with a life like this,” he nodded out the window, “could see in someone like me.”

“You were happier when it was just me and you in your condo,” Julian murmured with a nod as he looked up at the house sadly.

Cameron grunted in frustration. “You knew I’d feel this way,” he realized out loud. “You always know,” he said bitterly as he kept his eyes trained on the house. “You know me better than I know myself. Am I really so predictable?” he asked plaintively.

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