Page 18 of Santino (The Camboy Network #4)

CHAPTER

SIXTEEN

SANTINO

I’ve been looking forward to today ever since I saw it listed in Sebastian’s binder. Cake tasting day. Hell, yeah.

We’ve taken over this fancy bakery place. Like, they’ve literally closed their store to the public for our shoot. Me, Bellamy, Noel, and Sebastian are sitting at a table in the middle of the room. All around us are light boxes and cameras set up on tripods.

A waiter serves us slice after slice of cake, every single one with wild flavors I’ve never heard of before.

Strawberries and cream, passionfruit and white chocolate, spiced coconut and papaya, pistachio and dark chocolate.

Who knew cakes could come in all these different flavors? I feel like I’ve won the cake lottery.

“This one is champagne and crème de cassis.” The waiter circles the table, setting a single serving of cake in front of each of us, explaining things like the texture of the crumb, the balance of flavors, and other random things I don’t understand.

All I know is every bite I’ve taken so far has been fucking delicious and I would like to take home one order of everything, please.

“Mmm,” I groan around the bite in my mouth. “This one. This has to be the one.”

Noel shoots me an unimpressed look. “That’s what you said about the last three cakes.”

“Yeah, ‘cause I hadn’t had this one yet!” I shovel another forkful into my mouth and Noel rolls his eyes.

“This one is very good,” Bellamy says.

“Should I add it to the shortlist?” Sebastian asks.

“Yes, definitely,” I answer before Noel can object.

“How many more do we have?” Noel asks, pushing his barely-touched slice away.

“Two more, sir,” the waiter says dryly.

I wince. The guy’s been perfectly nice to us the entire time and Noel’s been nothing but a grumpy asshole to him.

Across the room, Hayden’s been rotating between the cameras, checking angles and adjusting settings. I catch his gaze and we share a look. He’s tried to explain that Noel is only this gruff on the outside and that he’s actually a marshmallow on the inside. But I’ll believe it when I see it.

He gives me a shy smile that’s little more than a quick curl of lips. I wish he wasn’t all the way on the other side of the room. I wish he was sitting with me at the table.

It’s been a couple days since we shot our scene together.

Since we sat in the dark, in the middle of the night, and talked.

It’s felt like a dream. We went on a walk and lounged in the park under the sun.

He asked me what I felt like eating and when I said lasagna, he made the best fucking lasagna I’ve ever had—from scratch.

He read to me from his books and we played video games late into the night.

A few times, I’ve caught him staring off into space with an air of sadness surrounding him.

But he always seems to snap out of it pretty quickly.

He smiles when I tease him. He laughs at my dad jokes.

I know mental health isn’t something that magically disappears on its own, but it doesn’t seem to be bothering him as much.

I hope I’ve made things a little easier for him.

Listen, I know this whole falling-in-love thing is only a story Sebastian’s weaving for the public. It’s supposed to be make-believe. It isn’t supposed to be real. But it feels very fucking real.

We look like a couple. We’re acting like a couple. We feel like a couple. So when does it stop being an act? Because I haven’t been acting. I fell in lust with Hayden from the first moment I set eyes on him. Now I think I might be falling in love too.

Is it too fast? Yeah, it probably is. Do I know everything about him? Nope, definitely not. But sometimes you just know, don’t you? In that place, deep in your soul, where reason and logic don’t matter. Being with him feels right—and I think that might be enough.

The waiter brings out the last two flavors of cake: coffee-infused mocha and ginger and rum. I think they’re winners, but based on Noel’s reactions, they probably won’t make the cut.

Sebastian scribbles a few final notes in his notebook before closing it. “Alright, that’s a wrap on the cake tasting. I need Santino and Hayden for a few more shots, then we’re done here.”

I push my chair away from the table, lift both arms overhead, and arch my back to stretch. My t-shirt rides up and I can feel the heat of Hayden’s gaze on the strip of skin around my middle.

Despite us being all couple-y the past few days, we haven’t done anything more than cuddle. No making out. No sex. We’ve even kept to our own beds at night. I’m not entirely sure why.

I mean, no, we’re not officially together or anything.

So it’s not a given that we’d be intimate.

And there’s no camera trained on us, so there’s no professional reason either.

I definitely want to kiss him again, feel his naked body against mine, have his dick deep inside my ass.

But neither of us has made a move and… I’m pretty okay with that for now.

“Santino?” Sebastian waves me over to a long table by the wall, filled with extra slices of cake. “Alright, pick a plate. Then wave Hayden over and feed him a bite. Got it?”

“Yup!” I search the table until I find the one that reminds me most of Hayden.

“Ready?” Sebastian asks, pointing the camera at me. “And action.”

I dig my fork into the cake and take a bite, moaning nice and loud for the mic to pick up. “Hey Hayden! You’ve got to try this.”

Hayden enters the frame. “What flavor is that one?”

“Spiced coconut and papaya.” I raise a forkful of cake and feed it to him.

His lips wrap around the tines of the fork and his gaze locks onto mine as he slides the cake off the silverware.

Jesus, is it just me or did it suddenly get super hot in here?

My stomach tightens with desire and heat pools in my groin.

“Mmm,” Hayden hums, not breaking eye contact. “It’s good.”

“Uh huh,” I murmur.

There’s a bit of frosting at the corner of his mouth.

Almost in slow motion, his tongue slips out to lick it up, but he doesn’t get all of it.

In a trance, my hand floats up and I wipe off the rest with my thumb.

I meant to clean my hand on a napkin or something, but Hayden catches my wrist. Still staring into my eyes, he brings my hand back to his mouth.

I watch in a lust-filled stupor as his lips part, then close around the digit. I gasp. It’s hot and wet and somehow, it feels like he’s sucking on my cock instead of my thumb.

He scrapes his teeth against the fleshy pad, bites gently, then soothes it with his tongue. The camera can’t see any of that, but that only makes it hotter. He’s not doing it for the camera. He’s doing it for me. Only me. And I sure as hell can feel it all over my fucking body.

I shudder and sway toward him. He steadies me with a hand on my hip.

When he releases my thumb, my hand falls to his chest. The muscle is hard, rising and falling with each of Hayden’s breaths. I can feel his heart hammering against my palm. So fast, it’s like he’s just run an obstacle course.

Is that how he feels when he looks at me? Because it’s how I feel when I look at him. Like I’ve jumped through all the hoops, climbed all the walls, crawled through all the mud just to be with him.

“Cut!” Sebastian calls.

I hear him, but I don’t want to move. I don’t want to step away from Hayden or stop staring into those incredibly green eyes. I want to get closer. I want to press myself right up against him and squeeze out every molecule of air between us.

A vibration in my pocket makes me jump and I scramble to dig out my phone. My stomach sinks when I see the name on the screen.

I managed to get out of family dinner last weekend with some food poisoning excuse. I only barely convinced my mom not to drive all the way to San Francisco to drop off soup. I felt awful for lying to her and I’m not even sure she believed me, but what else was I supposed to do?

I debate not answering, but I already ignored her call from two days ago and if I don’t pick up this time, she’ll send the fucking National Guard. Reluctantly, I hit the green accept button and move to a quiet corner of the store. “Hey, Mom.”

“Tino, where are you?” Mom practically barks.

Panic explodes through me. What does she mean, where am I? She better not be at my apartment in San Francisco. She only sometimes shows up unannounced. “Uh, what?”

“Where are you? Are you at home? I need you to find something for me on the internet.”

Relief douses the panic and the sudden spike and crash leave me a little weak. I slump against a wall, letting my forehead fall heavily against it. “No, I’m not home right now. I’m out with some friends.”

“Which friends? Who are they? Do I know them?”

I bite back a groan. I shouldn’t have mentioned friends. I know better than to voluntarily offer information she didn’t specifically ask for. “No, you don’t know them, Mom.”

“Well, then who are they? What are you doing with them?”

Oh come on. Seriously? “It’s, uh, Bellamy and some of his friends. You know Bellamy? My old roommate?”

Now Mom sounds annoyed. “Yeah, I know Bellamy. Why did you say I don’t know them when I do?”

“I don’t know, Mom. It doesn’t matter. What do you need me to look up for you?” I try to keep the annoyance out of my voice.

“Insoles. The doctor says I need orthotics, but the custom ones are too expensive. So I want to get insoles instead. Can you get me some insoles?”

“Um…” My mind blanks. I’ve never bought insoles before. I wouldn’t even know where to start. Why is she asking me ? Why can’t she ask my sisters who both live ten minutes from her house? “Can’t Paola or Lucia get them for you?”

Mom tsks at me. “No, no, they’ll get the wrong ones. You have to get them for me.”

“I don’t even know what size shoes you wear, Mom.”

She doesn’t skip a beat. “Size seven. And make sure they have good arch support. I can never find ones with good arch support.”

“Um, okay?” I say, resigning myself to researching insoles later tonight.

“When will you be home?”

I don’t know how to answer that question. Where even is home right now? San Francisco, where there’s nothing and no one waiting for me? Santa Cruz, where my family is chomping at the bit to smother me? Or here. In Hayden’s apartment. Where I feel more free than I ever have before?

“Um, I’m not sure,” I say, choking on my words. “But I’ll have the insoles delivered to your place.”

“Good. Make sure to do overnight shipping. I love you, Tino. Muah.”

Guilt makes my stomach feel as heavy as a rock. “Love you too, Mom.”

When I turn back toward the room, Sebastian and Bellamy are packing up the equipment while Noel stands around looking bored. There’s no sign of Hayden.

Sebastian notices me scanning the room. “He went home. Said he was tired and wanted to nap.”

“Oh.” Disappointment hits me like a truck. He didn’t say goodbye before leaving. He left without me. We were going to go sightseeing with Bellamy and Noel this afternoon. He seemed okay earlier. Did I miss something?

“He said you should still go to Rockefeller,” Sebastian adds, giving me a look that speaks volumes. Like maybe Hayden wants to be alone. Like maybe he doesn’t want me around.