Buzz (The Riley Brothers Book 1) (18 page)

“Back to your place to change and treat those stings? Here, open wide.”

Cameron pulled up at a stop sign and opened his lips to let Noah pop the pill into his mouth, then took a gulp of water from his car water bottle. “Thanks. Yeah, we'll stop by Jackson's first. Assuming you don't just wanna be dropped off at home.”

“Not at all,” Noah smiled. His gaze was half-lidded with exhaustion, but he was pleased.

Despite all they'd just seen and done, the silence was more contented than tense this time.

“Sorry for the mess,” Cameron apologized before they even climbed out of the car, and Noah smiled. He seemed self-conscious about bringing Noah here, but Noah knew they were moving. He couldn't judge them on their pre-moving chaos.

When they entered the cute little house, though, Noah didn't see much to apologize for. Just boxes in neat stacks, and Jackson in a t-shirt with the sleeves pushed over his shoulders.

“Oh, hey, Cam,” Jackson told Cam, his eyes on Noah. “Hi, Noah.”

“Hey. Jackson, Noah – Noah, Jackson. I gather you know each other anyway.”

Jackson laughed and nodded. “Through the art show, yeah. So you two...?”

Noah nodded.

“We're dating,” Cameron confirmed.

“Wow, congrats.” Jackson glanced at Cameron, then narrowed his eyes. “You're swollen. Did something happen?” Then he noticed Noah raising a foot to pull down his sock from his ankle and inspect it. “So are you.”

“The bees had an emergency. I went in to help,” Cameron told Jackson. “Noah, do you mind if I change and grab some more antihistamines?”

“No, go ahead,” Noah assured him.

“Sit down. Can I get you anything?” Jackson offered, dusting his hands off after taping a box shut.

Noah nodded. “Water would be amazing, thanks. Long day out there.”

“Yeah? How about the art show – that coming along all right?”

Thank God we've got that in common already,
Noah thought. He watched Cameron disappear upstairs while Jackson went to grab him a glass of water. “Yeah, really well. I think Jo's art will fix everything. They accepted the proposal and we've got the full space.”

“Oh, awesome.” Jackson came back with three glasses of water in his hands. He set two down by the couch, then leaned back in the armchair nearby with the third for himself. “So you're dating my little brother? He never said.”

“He didn't?” Noah laughed under his breath.

“Nah, but he's always been quiet,” Jackson grinned. “He hates being teased. But I'm glad for you both. He could use someone smart like you around to keep his head on straight.”

Noah laughed again, his brief worry dissipating. “Ouch. Can't blame him.”

“Nah, he's plenty smart on his own,” Jackson chuckled. “He was up for team captain before, on his team.”

“Yeah?” Noah wasn't sure what team Jackson meant, but he smiled regardless. “Where was that?”

“In Toronto. That's why I had to get sketches of him here, to finish my piece off.”

Noah blinked a few times. “Sorry, I don't...”

Jackson's eyebrows raised. “The Toronto minor leagues. The hockey team he quit.”

Oh.
“...As in, pro hockey.”

Jackson grimaced, worry clouding his expression as he glanced up to the stairs and then back to Noah. “So he didn't tell you he was a pro hockey player.”

Noah fidgeted with his water glass. This was awkward. “Yeah, no.” It was his turn to learn something new about the man.
A pro. Oh my god, and I invited him to play on our little team. He must think we all suck.

“Don't take it too hard. He's going through a bit of a... rough transition, I think.” Jackson cleared his throat. “So, how were the bees?”

The distraction worked: Noah explained that he and Cam hadn't turned on the bee yard fence and a bear had struck. Jackson sympathized as Noah described the cleanup.

When Cameron came back downstairs, he gulped down some water and then nodded. “Ready to go to yours?” he asked Noah. “Be back later,” he added with a glance to Jackson.

“No rush,” Jackson assured him. “I'm about at the limit of what I can pack up anyway. Enjoy your evening.”

“You, too,” Noah bade, standing up again while Cameron led him back to the door.

“See you around,” Jackson answered.

Despite how well they'd gotten on, the surprising news left Noah glad he had the chance to talk privately with Cameron. But how was he gonna bring this up?

“Your brother's very different. He told me before he doesn't play hockey at all... and you said you can't do the forging stuff he does.” It was a clumsy segue, but it was all he could think of.

“Different strokes,” Cameron shrugged. “Why, you were recruiting?”

“Yeah. We can always use more good players on the team. You're good.”

Cam tensed up a little and Noah wondered if he'd get the truth, but then he relaxed. Suddenly, the playoffs comment earlier made more sense – and lots of things did. “Thanks. But I've been thinking the stress might not be good. I can't push myself much, and... beekeeping might be more stressful than I was thinking.”

“Of course. You can quit anytime,” Noah reassured Cam, reaching out to squeeze his arm.

Cameron flinched and nodded. “I'll think about it.” Cam didn't make eye contact for the rest of the short drive to Noah's place, and Noah didn't push him.

Noah just glanced out his window, watching familiar streets pass. His new boyfriend was a little more closed-off than he'd anticipated.

Why doesn't he want me to know such a big part of him?

“Pull out the staple, and then we can cut away the rest of the foam.”

Cameron held the pliers tightly through his thick glove. He wiggled the metal left and right. Once it popped out of the side of the super, the foam draped around the box came free.

“That's it. Now just do that a billion more times,” Bill told him with a laugh.

Cameron echoed his quiet laugh and nodded, dropping the staple into a small bucket. The hives were wrapped in pairs with thick black foam and black plastic wrap. Some were two or three boxes high. He was warier of those ones, since they sounded louder.

The day was warm, a perfect first day out in the fields with the bees.

Compared to yesterday's experience, they were quite calm. There were only one or two bees flying at him when he came too close to their entrances. These ones didn't buzz angrily past his ear every few seconds.

“This is pretty light work, but there's just a lot of it.”

“Yeah, of course. I don't mind at all,” Cameron assured Bill. “I won't have a lot to do in town until I get the house anyway.”

“When's that?”

“Two weeks.”

Bill nodded as he bundled foam into a pile and plastic into another. “What part of town are you living in? Got a backyard?”

“Downtown, about ten minutes' walk away from Noah's. We will have one, yeah.”

“Any interest in a hive in your yard?” Bill said, grinning.

“Er... I might have to think about that.”

Bill laughed. “It's legal and it's pretty easy. I'm always looking for spots to pawn off hives. If you put it facing a hedge and keep a water buckets nearby, they aren't nuisances.”

Cameron didn't mind that idea, but he had to talk to Thomas and Jackson.

“I'll talk to my brothers about it first. We're buying houses together – three in a row.” Cameron bundled his first set of wrappings into a pile.

“Oh, that's unusual.” Bill brushed a bee off his hood and leaned in to look at his hives, then moved to the next pallet.

“Yeah, an investor who had them all wanted to sell them together, so we took it. It was a pretty good deal. Cheaper as a package than they each would've been on their own.”

“And you didn't fight over houses?”

“Not like fighting over bedrooms, nah,” Cameron grinned. “Each of us was drawn to a house. Theirs are more traditional and mine is a little weirder. Fitting.”

Bill chuckled. “Come here and see this hive.”

Cameron set down his pliers and approached, crouching next to Bill.

Bill pointed to the carpet of bees that blanketed the box around the entrance. “They're bearding.”

“Is that good?”

“Yeah. They're heading out to forage. First good, clear day, and they have more entrance access now. You can lean in closer and take a good look. See the ones watching you?”

It was hard to miss them. They watched Cameron and reared up on their hind legs, their front legs waving in his direction. “Er, yeah. Definitely.”

“They're guard bees. Each bee has a life cycle where she goes through a bunch of jobs according to her age. They start off cleaning out their own cell and so on. The last stage is foraging.”

Cameron smiled as he watched the bee waving her front legs at him. “So that's a warning?”

“Yeah. Those guards look out for animals--”

Cameron winced and said nothing.

“--or other bees, invaders from other hives.”

“They break in?”

“They'll try,” Bill sighed. “So that's something else to watch out for – battles happening at the entrances. We'll see after we finish unwrapping whether they're in danger. Then we'll crack open a few hives and check them.”

Cameron nodded, rising to his feet to resume ripping off the outer winter coverings of the hives. It was early days, but there was something satisfying about this job.

A quarter of the hives were dead. Cameron's heart fell, and even Bill was solemn. He better understood Noah's emotions yesterday – grief as well as guilt. The bees were somehow... vulnerable, despite how tough everyone seemed to think they were.

It made him want to protect them.

Much better were the ones where Bill cracked the top open and bees came up to peek up them, raising their front legs in warning.

Cameron leaned in, smiling at a row of bees peeking up at him. “Hello,” he greeted. “I'm new around here. Be nice to me.” He didn't see Bill's smile, but he felt his approving glance.

“It's been a while since I've worked with anyone who cared about them as more than just money,” Bill told him.

“Why didn't Noah stay around?”

“Oh, he was never interested,” Bill told him. “In a job, anyway. He likes it as a hobby and he's a good man – he helps without complaint when I need it. But I can tell it isn't his passion.”

“Art is.”

“Art is,” Bill echoed.

They smiled over their shared understanding of Bill's nephew, Cam's boyfriend.

Then, Bill settled the lid back on the hive and they rose to inspect the next one together.

***

The afternoon was long, the evening light lingering until late this time of year. Cam had just changed out of his bee suit and was climbing into his car.

His phone rang and he frowned, keeping his car running but not pulling away yet. “Yeah?” he answered.

“Cameron?”

“Yeah, that's me.” Cameron raised his hand to wave to Bill as he pulled away past him in the opposite direction.

“This is Jonathon Field. I'd like to have a chat with you about the New Brunswick minor league team that's forming.”

Cameron dragged a hand down his face. He hadn't gotten stings, but it was still rough physical work. He was hungry and he wasn't in the mood for fucking journalists. “I'm leaving hockey. I've left.”

“Where are you going to live, then? I heard you're living in New Brunswick, and there's rumors that you can play at home now.”

Cameron gave a huff of irritation. “Coach Walker gave a statement last week, didn't he? Saying I left hockey. That still applies.”

“A lot of people wonder about that. I mean, it's terrible about your medical condition, but a lot of teams were vying for you before that happened. It's not unthinkable that one could privately fund treatment and training. They could make you the surprise star of the new team. Then draft you for the major leagues after the first season...”

“I'm out. Do you have an actual question?” Cameron snapped, more venomously than he'd meant.

“Are you going to quit your passion so easily? A lot of people think--”

“You know what? Fuck off.” Cameron hung up and shoved his phone into the cup holder, then pulled away from the curb.

He wasn't usually one to swear at them, but there was nothing they could do to him anymore. Coach Walker said the story had already broken in the sports section of the papers. Cameron hadn't read them, and he didn't intend to.

“I'm gonna quit my passion whenever I fuckin' want, thanks,” he muttered under his breath. He rumbled along the back country road, home and supper the only things on his mind.

Saturday afternoon was cloudy, but at least it stayed dry and the hockey court was clear. Cameron appreciated not being soaked during practice. Even in field drills, he'd never learned to embrace the cooling rain.

“Cam, off for a bit,” Kevin called out, gesturing for Justin to take his place instead. “Justin.”

Cam frowned as he trotted off the court. More guys were here now – almost enough for proper lines – and Kevin had been swapping him back and forth all game. At first, Cameron thought Kevin wanted him to play hard or else get off the court. Now, as he crouched near the fence with the other two guys who were off, he realized that Noah was probably behind this.

Thursday, Friday, and even this morning had been filled with beekeeping. Cameron enjoyed working hard, but he hadn't seen Noah much since their talk about his heart condition. Noah might be worried for him.

He checked his watch. Only ten minutes left in the game.

When Kevin gestured for him to come back on the court and replace an exhausted Lonnie five minutes later, Cameron was sharp and focused.

This was his chance to prove himself.

He ducked into the fray without hesitation. Straight away, he snaked his stick around the blade of a defenseman and flicked the ball away to Kevin.

Kevin took the pass and dodged Noah while Cam spun around George and avoided his fierce stick work. When Kevin passed back to Cam, Cam was already waiting at a forty-degree angle to the net. Matt, the goalie,
always
left a gap there.

The ball barely grazed his blade before he flicked it into the corner of the net. Blue, who'd been reffing since he was sixteen, called the goal.

Easy as pie.

The second goal took a few minutes longer: he had to fight harder against George. The guy had a way of always being right where Cam needed to be. Still, Cam barely broke a sweat as he and Kevin drove through the defense line to score again.

Cam got the sense time was ticking down, so he kept his body and stick in the way of the best angle for Noah to pass up the court. Blue yelled, “Game over.”

“Whoa. You two,” Noah breathed out, glancing back and forth between Kevin and Cameron. The guys came up behind them to slap their backs and bump their chests.

“Great work--”

“Holy shit, you two were on fire--”

“Well done--”

Even Matt came up to fist-bump them both, especially Cameron. “Nice, man.”

Cameron indulged himself for a moment in a smile, even if he knew it had hardly been a fair fight. With Kevin and him on the same team, they hadn't even stood a chance: 6-2.

“I'll have to put you on the other team from now on,” Kevin teased Cam, a newfound respect in his eyes. He looked almost suspicious. “You been practicing?”

Cameron shook his head. “Just stretching my legs.”

“Yeah, yeah, showoff,” Justin laughed from nearby, and even Noah chuckled.

Everyone piled off the court, dropping off sticks or carrying their gear to the car and bantering.

Noah came up next to Cameron and squeezed his arm. “You doing all right?”

“I'm not gonna pass out,” Cameron told Noah. “I wanted to show you – my health's fine. Between bee yard work and field hockey, I can manage it. I can't, like, run marathons anymore... but I can do
this
. I'm sure of it.”

He hadn't even had a dizzy spell, though the court wasn't large enough and the competition wasn't skilled enough to keep an “elevated heart rate” and put him in danger.

God, he was hating that phrase.

“I just... don't want to get the guys' hopes up,” Cameron murmured, his voice lower as he slid both his and Noah's sticks into his backseat. He perched on the bumper for a moment and Noah stood in front of him.

“Why?”

Cameron's eye was drawn by a guy in a car just on the other side of the lot – sitting in the driver's seat, scribbling. “Hey, that one of your artists?”

Noah got a funny expression on his face. “No. Kevin, uh, just pulled me aside during the break to tell me he went up to the guy and make sure he wasn't some perv.”

“Oh, God. Is he?”

“No, he's... he got a call the other day asking about our best players. And this guy asked if someone had been in touch yet to ask about players. We're thinking scouts.”

Cameron's brows shot up. “Why didn't you tell me?” Noah gave him a pointed look: they'd been playing hockey, not sitting around gossiping. “Sorry.”

Noah shrugged it off. “But yeah. There's some rumor of another team forming or whatever.”

Cameron rubbed his chin and leaned down to get a proper sight of the guy. He didn't recognize him, but the interior of the car was dark on this gloomy day. The car was dark blue too, a station wagon of some kind.

He couldn't shake the suspicion that something wasn't as it seemed. Was this a reporter? “Well, I'm not gonna get scouted, don't worry,” he snorted lightly, but Noah didn't seem as amused as he did.

“Right,” Noah nodded.

If he finds out I quit the team, though... I don't want him thinking I'm some loser who runs away when the going gets tough. When the cup's on the line.
Cameron licked his lips.
Which I am.

It had been too long since he'd felt Noah's bare skin under his. Cameron let out a breath, trying to forget about everything. “Wanna go back to your place?”

Noah let out a breath, like he'd been waiting to be asked. “Sure. I'll just tell the guys I'm gone.”

Cameron raised a hand to wave to the guys still milling around and climbed into the driver's seat. When he glanced to the left again for one more look, the dark blue station wagon was gone.

***

They barely made it in through Noah's front door, kissing all the way up the stairs. Both Cameron and Noah tumbled into bed together, limbs tangled and smiles on their lips.

Cameron rolled on top of Noah and kissed him hard, grinding against him as Noah grabbed his ass to pull him in closer. They both moaned through the kiss, and then Cameron pulled away to grab lubricant and a condom.

Noah tossed his head, his eyes wild as he stripped and then yanked Cameron's clothing off.

When they were naked together, Noah wrapped his hand around both of their cocks to stroke a few times. Cameron rolled his head back, thrusting lazily against the firm, stiff flesh. Noah squeezed his hand around the heads and Cameron groaned his appreciation.

“I want us to get tested soon,” Noah murmured, pressing a kiss to Cameron's neck.

“So we can do it bareback?”

Noah nodded, pulling back to look at Cam. “That cool?”

Cameron didn't mind condoms as much as some guys, but having one less step before sex? That made him shiver with pleasure. “Yeah. Let me know when.”

“A'ight,” Noah murmured, his lips busy with Cameron's earlobe. His tongue and lips were doing things that made Cameron's thighs clench and quiver.

Cameron pulled back from Noah's hold on his cock and knelt between his legs, pouring lube over his fingers and pushing them in. He wanted to make Noah squirm with need. His own need for penetration was almost unbearable.

So gorgeous.

Noah's back arched, his stomach pushing into the air and chest heaving. His toes curled into the bed and fingers clenched around his own thighs as he pulled them apart...

In certain small moments, Cameron fell for Noah all over again.

He shook his head to clear it and slid his fingers out.

“Nnh,” Noah moaned his complaint. “You're fuckin' good at that.”

Cameron grinned. “You wanna come just from fingering? When you've got a cock right here?”

“Good point,” Noah whispered, trying to catch his breath. He flattened against the bed again. “I just want it on record.”

“Noted.”

When he pushed the condom-covered tip into the warm tightness, Noah's spine arched again. Cameron slid one hand into the small of his back to support him, leaning over him to press their lips together. Inch by inch, he slid into Noah.

“I'm good,” Noah whispered when Cameron's balls brushed Noah's warm skin. “Cam... Fuck me.”

Cameron gripped Noah's shoulder hard and slid his other hand down to Noah's hip to hold him in place for the familiar rhythm of fast, desperate, hot sex. If Noah wanted him hard and deep, that was exactly what he'd give him.

Noah rolled his head into the pillow and groaned. He grabbed Cameron's ass to force him all the way in with each thrust.

Demanding little bastard today,
Cameron thought with a grin. He leaned in to kiss around Noah's lips. He propped himself on his elbow to let his lips trail down Noah's neck and collarbone, then back up to his ear. Noah quivered as he sucked around his neck and shoulder.

With each pounding thrust of his hips, he squeezed into Noah and past his prostate. Noah trembled and squirmed – slightly, at first, then harder. Their bodies rubbed together, bare skin burning skin as Noah moaned.

“C-Cam--” Noah whispered, his voice hoarse.

Cameron pulled back enough to murmur, “Yeah?”

“You wanna jerk me off?”

I'd love to.
Cameron grinned as he was entrusted with all of Noah's pleasure. He braced himself on his forearm and reached between their bodies to curl his fingers around the sensitive, stiff cock. The velvety weight in his hand twitched when he grabbed it, so he kept his first few strokes light before firming his grip.

Noah barely needed that adjustment time. “Yes...!” he groaned, clenching unconsciously around Cameron's cock. He shivered in a series of squeezes that milked Cameron's cock. Cameron barely hung on. His muscles burned for release, his head spinning and heart pounding.

Extended periods of elevated heart rates, my ass.

They rutted together and moaned each other's names with sexual desperation into the quiet air.

Seconds later, Noah's cock pulsed in Cameron's hand. He squirted his load across his own stomach, arching off the bed and pushing his hips into Cameron's cock. Noah fucked himself as deep as he could on Cameron.

Cameron kept stroking and pounding Noah for a few seconds before letting go of Noah's cock. He grabbed Noah's hip to push into him one or two last times. Then, blackness hit and he couldn't hold out a second longer: he came in a burst of heat. All that registered was utter focus on Noah's pleasure-twisted face and sweating, slender, gorgeous body.

Heat poured from deep within and pooled in his stomach, his muscles quivering and clenching. Noah pulled him off-balance and down against him to kiss him hard, and Cameron moaned against Noah's lips. He was so oversensitive, but Noah sucked on his lower lip and ran his nails down his bare back and he loved it.

“Holy fuck,” Cameron whispered when he could pant for breath and his cock softened. He pulled out of Noah but Noah wouldn't let him get away until he'd kissed him thoroughly.

Cameron finally rolled onto his side and then his back to catch his breath. Noah stayed on his back next to him rather than following to cuddle into his side.

They were silent for a minute or two, Cameron's hand lightly tangled with Noah's as his body cooled off. When he rolled his head over to watch Noah, his gaze flickered along Noah's parted lips and half-closed eyes, noting the way he stared at the ceiling.

Something odd and distant was in his expression but Cam didn't think it was the moment to discuss it. It just... looked familiar in a way he didn't want to think about. But Noah was lying here with him, holding hands and sometimes squeezing Cameron's fingers... Nathan had only wanted to fuck fast and hard in a vicious cycle of whatever the fuck they'd had between them.

This was different in every way.

“I wanna do
that
again,” Noah murmured at last.

Cameron chuckled.
As long as that's not all we do.
His stomach twisted with brief anxiety before he let it go. Cameron raised Noah's hand to his lips to brush his lips across his fingers.

Noah slid his hand onto Cameron's chest and closed his eyes. Cameron watched Noah's expression clear up as he grew sluggish and contented.
I want to make love to him.