The Burning Key

Chapter 2

Chapter 2Across the next week, he spent most of his days with Nicky and his nights with Ezra. Only his obligations as a pot grower and assistant got in the way of his s****l exploits. In other words, for the first time in his life, Cameron had a busy schedule.

All was going fine until Nicky found out about Ezra. “Why didn’t you tell me you belong to the boss?” was his abrupt and blunt question.

“EZ doesn’t own me,” Cameron countered after a pause to think the accusation over. “He doesn’t control me. And anyway, he doesn’t mind that I’m seeing you.”

“He knows about me?!”

Cameron nodded slowly. “Yeah, I told him.”

“Why would you do that?! He’ll fire me for sure!”

“No, he won’t. I won’t let him do that. Calm down. He said he doesn’t care so long as I’m still with him, and I believe that.” He walked up to Nicky and caressed his arm.

Nicky looked down at the floor. “I thought I had you to myself.”

“I’m sorry. You deserve someone who can devote all their time to you. If you want to stop what we have, I’ll understand. I’d be devastated, because I think you’re great, but I’ll understand.”

“There’s no way you would leave him for me?”

Cameron pursed his lips. “I can’t.” Too much was as stake, and anyway, he liked being with Ezra, too. They may not have a romantic relationship like the one that was developing with Nicky, but it was friendly, and he benefited so much from their arrangement. “Not right now.”

Nicky looked positively morose. He sat down on the floor next to the bed and stared up at Cameron. “But you still wanna be with me?”

“More than anything.”

“Come here.”

Cameron took a seat next to him. Their feet touched. After a long silence, Nicky kissed him. Cameron wrapped his arm around him and pulled him closer.

* * * *

He got high before attending the final faction meeting. Since his presence there was purely for Ezra’s comfort, and he didn’t actually have to do anything, why stay sober? He was on a cloud of chemical cushioning when it started.

The distant boom would have been ignored if not for the three that followed. Ezra got up and walked over to a window. Whatever he saw, it startled him. Without a word to anyone else, he fumbled with the door and staggered outside. The group members began to whisper among themselves. Rachel and Cameron looked at each other in distress as Anjea strode up to the window to see what all the fuss was about. She gripped the frame and seemed unsteady on her feet. Cameron did the right thing. He rushed over to her and helped her into a chair.

“What’s wrong?” he asked. “Is it the baby?”

She shook her head and pointed at the window. Cameron turned to look. The edge of the warehouse could just be seen from their position. Well, it usually could. It was gone.

More explosions came from that direction. “Our place,” he said just above a whisper.

Anjea nodded. “We’re fucked.”

Cameron stumbled away from her and out the door. He found Ezra in the middle of the road, kneeling. His face was contorted in anguish. Throwing away pretenses, he dropped to his side and embraced him. Ezra pressed his head against Cameron’s.

“We need to look for survivors,” came from Anjea, who had exited the building.

Ezra didn’t address her at first. He kissed Cameron and held onto him for dear life. But Cameron knew that they needed their leader. He pushed him away, rose to his feet, and offered him his hand. “C’mon,” he pressed quietly. “Everybody needs you.”

He stood up with Cameron’s help but never took his eyes off of him. “It’s gone.”

“We’re still here. We’re still alive, okay? We can recover. Maybe even rebuild. Just tell us what to do, and we’ll do it.”

“I don’t know.”

“Yes, you do. You built your business from nothing. You protected and supported us. I know it looks bad, but there’s gotta be stuff we can salvage. Maybe even some of my plants made it. Or at least the seeds. But we won’t know if we don’t check. Please.”

“Can you help me?”

Cameron kissed him. “Of course!”

“Get everybody together. The cops will be coming. I don’t know what they’ll do.”

He nodded and quickly left Ezra. Moments later, he had everyone out of the faction’s headquarters and onto the street. Anjea looked impressed. She shot him a glance of approval. Rachel took her place next to Ezra, and together the group walked down the avenue toward their destroyed home.

Once they were there, everyone fanned outward to search for anybody who lived through the blasts. The structure was reduced to rubble in most places, with the far wall to the right still standing. Completely sober now, Cameron helped the others look.

But all he found were body parts. Blood and various sections of the human form were everywhere. He vomited from the smell alone. The metallic scent mixed with death. After a few minutes, he could take no more. Instead, he moved to the section of the warehouse where his plants could be found. They were crushed by the ceiling, grow lights, and ductwork. Despite that, he was able to locate a small bag of buds and a single plant that had seeds. He carefully collected them and placed them in his pocket.

By the time the police arrived, the group found three people alive and relatively unscathed, in addition to a man Cameron barely recognized who had been crushed. He lived only long enough to die surrounded by his neighbors.

Ezra spoke to the officers on behalf of the others. He said that he didn’t know why they’d been targeted, that he ran a small self-sustaining town. When they asked if he was part of a faction, he answered honestly that they weren’t. Cameron followed the conversation from a small distance away, as he looked through the area where his quarters were for any sign of his belongings. He found only ripped and destroyed clothes.

After a while, he noticed a figure standing near the corner of the building, looking unquestionably distraught. It was Nicky. Though he scanned the rubble for Cameron, he didn’t see him, and surely, he assumed he was dead. Cameron stopped what he was doing and stood up. He waved in Nicky’s direction.

His expression changed to one of absolute joy. He quickly began climbing over the pieces of debris until he could reach Cameron. He threw his arms around him and kissed him. “Oh God, I was so worried.”

Cameron ran his fingers over Nicky’s cheeks, neck, and chest. “You can’t get rid of me that easily.”

Before they could really celebrate, Ezra noticed the two of them together. With tears in his eyes, he pointed at Nicky. “Get lost.”

Scared, Nicky made a move to go, but Cameron grabbed him by the waist. “Stay here. Please stay here.” He needed the comfort Nicky provided. Ezra was too scared to even attempt it, and Cameron thought it wouldn’t be enough even if he did. Addressing Ezra, “Let him stay. He hasn’t done anything wrong.”

With rage on his face, Ezra made his way over to them. He pushed Nicky away from Cameron. “I can’t deal with this today. I’m not gonna watch you be with him.”

Cameron tried to remain calm. He took hold of Ezra’s hands. “I can leave, too, if you want. But please don’t make me.”

“I don’t want you to leave.”

“Then let Nicky stay. He’s just as concerned for me as you are.” Probably more so. “And he cares about me.”

“What about me? I need you.”

Cameron took a risk and kissed Ezra in front of Nicky. “I’m here.”

Ezra hugged him as though he really couldn’t handle the situation without Cameron’s help. He thought that was strange, since Ezra had Rachel to love him through this.

With a sigh, Nicky backed up. “You know where to find me, Cam.”

“Nicky, wait—” But he was already walking back toward his apartment.

“Shit.” He wanted to go after him, but Ezra held him in place. He looked up at him with annoyance. “You said you didn’t care that I was with him.”

“I did. And to an extent, I meant it. But I need you right now. And I’m selfish.”

Cameron resigned himself to the situation. He embraced Ezra and pressed his cheek into his chest. He would apologize to Nicky later. Make it up to him. In the meantime, he would help Ezra with whatever he needed to get through the loss of his empire.

So, Cameron stood by his side as they continued to pick through the remnants of the warehouse. The cocaine was unsalvageable, as was all their natural food. They did find an intact safe in what remained of Ezra’s room. It was filled with money, both the paper kind and gold. At the end of the day, he used it to pay for hotel rooms for himself and the other eighteen living members of the group. They were stacked two to three per room, with the most awkward arrangement being Ezra’s own quarters. He expected Cameron to join him while Rachel was put with Anjea. Cameron felt wrong for taking a space he knew rightfully belonged to Rachel. But what could he do? Ezra made his decision, and in truth, Cameron wanted to be there for him.

The two of them cuddled for hours before Ezra indicated that he wanted more. Cameron accommodated his need for ultimate closeness and tried to enjoy himself along the way. Though he feared they wouldn’t have any lubricant—another casualty of the explosion—Ezra produced a tiny bottle of the stuff. In the end, they were both satisfied by the time they went to sleep, somewhere around midnight.

In the morning, there was a light knock on the door. Ezra slept through it. Cameron got up, threw on a pair of jeans, and answered the door. There, standing in a hotel robe, was Rachel. His stomach twisted into a knot.

“Is he awake?”

“No.”

“Okay.”

“I can wake him up for you. It’s no big deal.”

“Could you?”

“Of course.” Cameron opened the door all the way so that Rachel could come inside if she wanted. With a yawn, he crawled back into bed and gently shook Ezra. When he awoke, “Your girlfriend’s here. I think you should talk to her.”

Cameron slid out of bed and donned the same shirt he’d worn the day before. He took a few dollars from Ezra’s wallet and headed for the exit. “I’ll be back in a couple hours.”

He left the hotel and went to a café around the corner. There, he ordered an expensive coffee and a homemade pastry. He let himself enjoy his breakfast before wandering toward Nicky’s apartment.

Nicky wasn’t as angry as Cameron worried he might be. He seemed a little unhappy at first, but he soon warmed up to him once more. “I hoped to see you last night.”

“Sorry.”

“It’s okay. EZ looked pretty shaken up. I know if I felt that way, I would want you with me, too.”

“You’re sweeter than I deserve,” Cameron pointed out as Nicky took hold of him. They kissed deeply. With little pretense, the two of them tumbled into bed. As a reward for being so understanding, Cameron went down on him for the better part of twenty minutes, until he inevitably climaxed. Nicky then expertly used his fingers to stimulate Cameron, both inside and out. Altogether, it was a pretty fantastic way to spend the morning.

They showered together, and Nicky let him borrow an extra toothbrush. “You don’t have anything to wear, do you?” he asked.

“No. Everything was in the warehouse.” Except what he was wearing during the blast.

Nicky clicked his tongue against the back of his teeth. “Well, I suppose I could loan you some of mine, at least until EZ buys you a new wardrobe.” He offered up a soft, light blue T-shirt and a pair of gray sweatpants.

Putting them on, Cameron smiled. “Smells like you.” He kissed him goodbye, scooped up his dirty clothes, and promised to take him somewhere nice for dinner.

When he got back to the hotel, he found Ezra surprisingly still in their room. Cameron assumed he would be handling business affairs or maybe making up with Rachel, but instead he just sat there on the edge of the bed. He looked up when Cameron entered the room. “How was Nicky?”

Feeling guilty, “Fine.” He paused to close the door and lean against it. He asked the only thing he could think of in response: “How was Rachel?”

His eyes were bloodshot. “She dumped me.”

“What?”

“She got tired of sharing me. I don’t blame her.”

Good for her, Cameron thought.

But he knew that Ezra would likely lean on him, now more than ever. He wasn’t sure he was up to the task, but he would certainly try his best. “I’m sorry. I know she means a lot to you.”

“No, I should expect it. She saw how we are together. I practically shoved it in her face. What kind of person does that make me?” He laughed dismissively.

A bit of a jerk, to be honest. “Human.”

“At least I still have you, right? You won’t leave me?”

“I won’t leave.” He approached slowly. When he got to Ezra, he kissed him with as much enthusiasm as he could muster. “But you have to promise me you won’t chase Nicky away.”

“Why do you want to be with him? I can give you anything you want.”

“I like him a lot, EZ.” Perhaps more than that.

“And me?”

“I like you, too.” He jumped up on the bed and put his hand on Ezra’s thigh. “You do so much for me. Stuff I haven’t even asked for. And I’m really grateful for that. I’m grateful to have you.” He leaned in and kissed Ezra by his ear. “I promise I have enough energy, enough heart, for both of you. Please don’t make me choose.”

Ezra set his hand on top of Cameron’s. “I couldn’t do that. You never once asked me to choose you over Rachel.”

Nor would he even dream of it. He knew that he was supposed to be secondary. He enjoyed the lack of responsibility that came with just being a s*x buddy. Even as Ezra became more and more interested in him romantically, Rachel still provided some balance. Now, it was just the two of them—and Nicky—and Ezra would expect more from Cameron. While he was prepared to continue their relationship, he was not about to put his focus entirely on Ezra. Nicky deserved just as much attention.

But if he was going to devote himself to both men, then he had to make sure each one knew they were cared for. Cameron got up, took off his borrowed shirt, and threw it on the floor. He placed both hands on Ezra’s shoulders. “Let’s get close for a while. We can do whatever you want.”

“You think that will solve everything.”

“I think it’ll help. I know I feel better when I’m with you. Let me cheer you up.”

Ezra moved his hands into the back of Cameron’s sweatpants and pulled him nearer. He brought his lips to Cameron’s neck, kissing him.

Cameron moaned. “Show me what you got.” He closed his eyes and let Ezra do the work.

* * * *

He stayed with Ezra all day. In the late afternoon, the two of them went shopping for clothes and other essentials. At nightfall, he took his leave of him to keep his promise to Nicky. A fancy dinner at a real restaurant. Though he expected to work to improve Nicky’s mood, Cameron was pleasantly surprised. Nicky had brought him flowers and ordered inexpensive champagne. When he looked up at Cameron, his expression radiated adoration. He stood up, took hold of Cameron’s chair, and slid it out for him.

“I thought I was taking you out,” he said with a smile.

Nicky laughed. He embraced him and planted a kiss on his cheek. Sitting back down, “I figured you were probably stressed after the bombing, losing your plants and all. And then trying to balance me and Ezra…”

“Don’t worry about that. What happens between me and him shouldn’t affect our relationship. I don’t want it to. I want you to feel special. I want you to have as much of me as you need.”

He sobered slightly. “You want me to feel loved.”

Cameron took a sip of some ice water and nodded. “Do you?”

“Maybe a little.” But his face said that he believed it to be true.

Such a revelation brought warmth to Cameron. He needed Nicky to feel every ounce of romantic emotion that Cameron possessed. That’s how he would make this work. Devotion. Going the distance to support and care for his two lovers. Each needed different things, but he was prepared to provide them.

The Italian restaurant served them bread and pasta, and they ate to their heart’s content. They got tipsy on the bubbly wine. Stomachs full and hearts enamored, the couple walked back to Nicky’s apartment. They had s*x—slow and deliberate—before settling in to sleep.

At sunrise, Cameron kissed Nicky goodbye and returned to Ezra’s room. The two got in some early morning cuddling before Ezra had to attend to business.

His first task was to purchase a new headquarters for their operations. He, of course, didn’t have enough money to buy a big warehouse again, nor were there any available to buy. But since their numbers had been nearly cut in half, he could set them up in a smaller property. So, he began visiting potential locations with Cameron in tow.

For each one, Ezra consulted his favorite pot grower on whether or not a new crop could be developed inside the structure. In most cases, he said it could, provided they got proper lights and ventilation. They toured everything from large mansions to floors in office buildings. The latter was a novel idea, one that Ezra seemed to like. It would be much more difficult to target them with bombs. They could set up their people in cubicles and offices. And Cameron could grow their source of income in a large postal room. It could work.

After a long day, the two settled in for some sleepy s*x.

Or at least, that was the idea. Mid-way into shedding their clothes, a knock came on the door. Cameron got dressed while Ezra answered it.

Anjea.

She pushed past him and waddled into the room. Before anyone could ask her why she was here, Anjea announced her intentions. “We need to stop the explosions.”

“How do you imagine we’ll do that?” asked Ezra.

“We find the assholes responsible and kill them.” She moved over to a chair and sat down with a grunt. Resting her hands on her belly, Anjea ignored Cameron entirely. “We have to get rid of them.”

Ezra shook his head. “The factions will take care of it. They’re just as angry as we are.”

“Do you wanna bet on it? They’re too busy bickering with each other to organize.”

“We don’t have the numbers to go after a gang that has bombs at their disposal,” Ezra insisted. “We don’t even know where to start.”

Cameron wriggled his way into a T-shirt. “Well, why don’t we work with the factions? We’re already friendly with some of them. And we know they’re pissed. They might even have an idea of who these people are, what they want, and where they can be found.”

Anjea glared at him for a moment before her expression softened. “That’s not a bad idea.”

Walking back over to the bed, Ezra sat down. He looked over at Cameron. “I don’t know. We could lose more people. We’d have to be okay with that, and I don’t know if I am.”

“We lost so many, EZ,” Cameron pointed out. “Shouldn’t someone pay for that?”

Ezra reached over and cupped Cameron’s face with one hand. He rubbed his cheek with his thumb. “Life isn’t fair.”

“We can make it fair,” Anjea interjected.

Cameron nodded. He touched Ezra’s hand and held it in place. “I think we should do it.”

Ezra let out a sigh. “You two can develop a plan, and I’ll make sure we have the resources to get it done.”

Though Cameron didn’t love the idea of working with Anjea, who looked down on him, he agreed. Retaliation was something he could get behind. He thought his dead neighbors and friends deserved retribution, and to an extent, he wanted it for himself, too. It’d taken years to develop his plants, and he enjoyed his way of living, both of which they took from him. While he still had the two most important people in his life—Ezra and Nicky—he wanted them to be safe. And he didn’t think they would be, so long as that gang was running around blowing up whatever they felt like.

Anjea acquiesced immediately. With everything settled, she left the two men to their own devices, vowing to meet Cameron for lunch the next day.

Ezra draped an arm over his shoulders. He kissed Cameron on the cheek. “I hope you’re right about this. It could get messy.”

“It has to be done.”