Page 88 of Plain Sight

“I’m ready in the event it tries.”

I’m always ready.

I’m always here.

That’s how I like it.

Eleven days later, I’m in the shower, thinking of Caspian’s wet hair and his wet body and the light in his dark eyes, hard to the point of pain and nowhere near any kind of release, when my phone rings.

Mason has kept his phone with him at all times since I met him, so I do the same. My phone vibrates against the countertop.

I let go of my cock and tip my face up to the stream, doing my best to shake off the pool party memories.

Then I shut off the shower, lean out, and grab my phone.

“It’s me. Everything okay?”

“Dev.” There’s rustling in the background. “Lily went into labor in the middle of the night. She wants us at the hospital, just in—no, I don’t know,” he says, I think to his wife, Charlotte. “She wants us there. Jameson wants us there. We’re not barging in on her.”

Sometimes, I find it surprising how much Mason Hill cares what I think. He’s the hero of Phoenix, not me, and still—my opinion matters.

“I’m sure you’re not. You wouldn’t.”

“I won’t be in. I don’t know—depending on how things go, I—” He lets out a long breath. This is not a side of Mason Hill most people outside his family are allowed to see, but then, I’ve been seeing this side of him since the day we met. “I want to be there for both of them,” he finishes. “I feel like I should be there. And available. So it might be a couple days.”

“Gabriel, too?”

“Yeah.”

“Mason?”

“Yeah?”

“Don’t worry.” I can almost hear his relief over the phone. “I’ve got it covered. I’ll be here when you get back.”

21

AUGUST

People sometimes ask, if they’re feeling comfortable enough and bold enough, why I do portraits and engagements and weddings when my brother and I have also covered natural disasters and war zones and embedded with military units around the globe.

All right, fine—usually, they don’t ask me. They ask Julien, because they have incorrectly assumed I’m deaf.

Then Julien looks at me, because he’s not the one doing portraits and engagements and weddings and occasionally fashion shoots or what have you, and we do our dance.

I sign. The bold and/or comfortable question-asker gets embarrassed because I’m not deaf and they thought I was. I flash them a comforting smile to put them at ease.

Usually. For Julien.

I give them an answer. Most of the time, I go with the classic I enjoy photographing a variety of subjects.

But you know—you sneaky thing—you know that’s not the truth.

You know that’s not the full truth.

I’ll give you the full truth.

One reason I do portraits and engagements and weddings and various and sundry lifestyle-type shoots is for the balance.