Page 9 of Ashley & the A-Listers (Sweetverse)

9. CATCHING UP

CAMERON

“And this is the nest,” Cameron said, pushing open the door.

“Wow, look at this,” River said, and stepped inside.

Cam followed as he stepped down into the plush comfort of the dip in the floor, the bed-sized hole where usually an omega would sleep.

This nest, however, still had that hotel feel. Undisturbed bedding, vacuum tracks in the carpet, perfectly fluffed pillows.

Cameron usually slept in the other room, all the way across the apartment, exactly one door down from Dylan.

In Dylan’s words, “If anyone comes in, they’ll have to get through me.”

Paranoid much?

But this nest was nice, painted a moody navy blue—a shock compared to the sterile white of the rest of the apartment—and filled with a startlingly slight number of pillows and blankets.

Not that any of them had seen much use.

Until now.

River rolled over onto his side and propped his head up with an arm. “I ran into your trainer this morning, at the coffee shop. We ordered the exact same thing.”

Cameron arched a brow. “A caramel macchiato with an extra shot?”

“You remember?” River asked, the lines around his eyes softening.

“Of course I do. It’s sweet,” Cameron remarked. “The drink.” Too sweet for an alpha. His gaze went distant as he realized it surprised him. He wouldn’t have expected Ashley to get something so sweet, and he filed this new information away in the Ashley box. Did she have a sweet tooth? Or was coffee her only treat?

I smell sweet.

Did Ashley like his scent?

“Earth to Cam,” River said, and Cam’s attention came back into focus on the curve of River’s amusement.

“Sorry,” Cam said, shaking his head.

River pursed his lips, peering at Cam a bit closer. Cam recognized this look, similar to one he’d get when he was trying to figure out a plot twist.

Then he laid down, crossing his arms behind his head.

…His toned arms, the left one covered in a sleeve of tattoos. Cam was sufficiently distracted when he said, “You know, she’s an alpha.”

Cam took River’s old pose, rolling to his left side, turned towards the beta as he reclined his head in his hand.

“Yeah?” Cam questioned.

River shrugged. “You don’t like alphas.”

“I don’t like most alphas,” Cam clarified. “They’re knotheads who like to throw their weight around.” He was surrounded by them in the film industry, and they all left a bad taste in his mouth.

“But she’s different?” River guessed, and a light bulb went off in Cam’s head.

“Oh. Oh, ” Cam said eloquently. “I mean, yeah. Ashley’s cool. She’s awkward sometimes, and I find that charming. Refreshing.”

“That all?” River said.

Cameron rolled his eyes. “I know what you’re getting at.”

“Do you?” River asked. “You have that look in your eyes.”

“What look?”

“You know,” River said, and waved his tattooed arm and hand at Cam. “The one you get when you read a script you really like. Or when your favorite Indian food truck has samosas.”

Cam’s eyes fluttered shut, and he let his head fall back as he groaned in desperate need. “Christ, I would kill for a samosa right now.”

“Don’t change the subject,” River said, though his eyes had darkened just the way Cam liked to see.

“Fine. Yes. Ashley is, like, very cool and intimidating and hot and she can kick my ass. So.”

“Classic Cam bait,” River mused. “Does she know you’re into her?”

They hadn’t talked about it, about what they’d do if Cam wanted a pack one day, if he found someone else he was interested in. Hell, trying to keep River a secret was hard enough.

“Of course not,” Cam said. “She’s my trainer, and I get the vibe that she’s very serious about her job. I think she’d take the client-something rules to heart.”

“Dylan doesn’t apply to those rules,” River said, and Cameron’s gaze shot to him as his stomach flopped.

“What?”

“The way she was glancing at Dylan all day? There is something totally unresolved there.”

“Oh,” Cam said, relaxing again. “Definitely. Dylan’s tight-lipped about it, but there’s history for sure.”

“Do you think they dated? Hooked up?”

Cam shook his head. “No—I feel like if it was something as simple as that, they would’ve worked it out already. I think this goes deeper.”

River hummed. “Are you willing to get all caught up in that?”

“You’re talking so seriously about this when she doesn’t even know I have a crush,” Cam said, suddenly nervous. “It doesn’t have to be a… thing. It can be… casual.”

River’s lips twitched. “Alphas and omegas don’t really do casual. You know that. Besides, casual worked out so well for us, hmm?”

They’d met on set, and had started out as a fling, a way to blow off some steam between shoots. Low commitment, no pressure—until Cam realized what a big heart River had, and nestled right up.

Cam pressed up into his palm before throwing a leg over River’s waist and straddling him. “It worked very well, didn’t it?” Cam asked, daring him to say otherwise.

“So that’s your play, huh?” River teased. “Be sweet and adorable and fuckable until she folds?”

“Worked on you,” Cam mused, and shifted his hips until their groins were nudging together. He’d felt high ever since the sparring with Ashley, and it had nothing to do with the joint he and River had smoked once they’d gotten home. Now it was melting into something warmer, stirring low in his gut. “It can’t be that terrible a plan.”

Cam’s hands rested on River’s sternum, a chaste touch despite it all, at least until River propped his knees up, jostling Cam forward.

He smoothly planted a hand on either side of River’s head, heat striking sharp as they were pressed together.

“I missed you,” Cameron said softly.

“I could tell,” River said, tugging him close, hands smoothing down his sides, over the loose tank he still wore from the gym. “We need to be more careful. I got a talk from Dylan about it.”

“I know,” Cameron groaned, and laid himself down on River’s chest, head over his heart, nuzzled there.

He heard the steady thump of his heartbeat and took comfort in it.

“I was reacting instead of thinking,” Cameron admitted. “I was just so excited. Didn’t expect you to just… show up!” he sighed happily.

Cam supposed he hadn’t expected to react so strongly, either.

“I missed you, too,” River said, and hugged him.

“Keeping it a secret sucks,” Cameron muttered.

“I know, I know. I don’t like it either. And if you ever want to…”

Cameron pushed up into his palms to meet River’s gaze. Those green eyes were so pretty, and—as they always were when broaching this subject—intense. So easy to get lost in, to make Cam want to walk right out to the balcony and shout about how much he loved River, consequences be damned.

Dozens of camera flashes interrupted his fantasy, the bite of his management’s rules sharp on the back of his neck.

Here, in this nest that felt more like home every moment that River’s scent sank into the fabrics, there was no room for any of that—only soft blankets beneath his knees and the pillows that River could easily push him down into until he was surrounded by the scent of late-night writing and smoke.

It was safe here, in secrecy.

“I want to,” Cameron swore. “But management keeps insisting, and?—“

River cut him off with a kiss, a chaste, easy one, and the intensity faded. “I know, sorry. I know why we can’t. It just sucks, like you said.”

“Maybe Ashley will keep putting us in that private room, and you can come to training with me.”

“Yeah? You told her pretty easily,” River said, hesitation in his voice.

Cam’s cheeks flushed. “I think I jumped the gun a little. But she’s good people. I can tell.”

He didn’t regret telling her. He’d just been so ecstatic to see River, he’d let himself slip, and the way she’d rolled so casually with it made him want to confide in her. But that wasn’t very fair to River.

“I’m sorry,” Cameron said again, drawing a pattern into River’s chest with his finger. “It’s not fair that I got to tell someone so willy-nilly and you don’t get to.”

River smiled softly up at him, but he couldn’t quite disguise the disappointment in time. “Babe, it’s okay,” River said, sliding his hands up Cam’s thighs. “It wasn’t willy-nilly. I know she signed an NDA,” River drawled.

“And that,” Cameron agreed, nodding his head.

“You don’t like your other trainers like this,” River mused.

Cam shrugged. “Karate is really intense. I feel out of my depth there, but boxing feels… more fun.”

“How is crossfit?”

“Oh my god,” Cam groaned, and felt every muscle protest just at the thought. “I’m discovering muscles I didn’t know I had.”

“My poor, poor, overworked omega,” River teased.

Cameron whined and buried his head in River’s neck, inhaling deep. He smelled like the office at River’s house, an all-nighter. Ink and paper and smoke and coffee.

Just traces of it, in that beta way, not overwhelming like an alpha’s scent could be.

Though there wasn’t much that was overwhelming while Cameron was on suppressants. His own scent was dulled, his sense of smell barely existent—even his sex drive suffered, for christ’s sake.

Or at least, it normally did, when he didn’t have anyone to tempt him.

But River was here, beneath him, looking very sexy with that half-lidded expression he knew drove Cam insane.

“You’re not gonna make me work even more, are you?” Cam teased, grinding into him.

River rolled his eyes before flipping them, and Cam sank into the plush carpet.

Warmth coursed through him as River crawled atop him. “Wouldn’t dream of it.”