A Fighting Man by Sandrine Gasq-DIon Read Free Book Online Page B

camera.
    For four hours I was bent, prodded and poked as the photographer went on and on. I was ready to drink the damn can in my hand. I’d tasted the stuff before and it wasn’t bad, so I didn’t feel like a hypocrite doing the ad. My eyes kept wandering to the door looking for Casper, but I never saw him. By five, we were wrapped for the day and I let out a huge sigh of relief. I hit the dressing room and found Casper sitting in my chair. My heart raced immediately at seeing him.
    “Hey, I didn’t see you out there.”
    “I was there.” Casper picked up the blush brush and inspected it. “How did you like Juan-Carlos?”
    “He’s a little touchy-feely.”
    “He’s hot.” Casper shrugged.
    “Well, I guess,” I said slowly. “If you’re into that kind of guy.”
    Casper looked up at me, eyes narrowed. “And you’re not?”
    “No.” I sat down across from him. “Why?”
    “Why not?”
    “Okay, first off, he knows he’s hot.”
    “So do you,” Caper pointed out.
    I sat back and stared at Casper. “What are you trying to say?”
    Casper stood up and looked around. “I need to go.”
    “Wait a minute.” I reached out and grabbed Casper’s arm. “Talk to me.”
    “I just thought, well, because you didn’t kiss me…”
    “I didn’t kiss you because I didn’t think you were ready and that’s the only reason.”
    “And then Juan-Carlos was whispering in your ear and he pinched your butt and then—”
    “Whoa, inhale there. He asked me out, I said no.”
    “Really?” Casper whispered.
    “Yes, really. I didn’t spend all my hard-earned cash wooing you to just drop you and go off with Wonder Muscles.” I peered into Casper’s eyes. “Okay?”
    “Okay.” Casper nodded.
    “Now, I’m going home to sleep for the day.”
    “It’s five.”
    “Fine—for the night and tomorrow. But I want to see you again.”
    “Okay.” Casper smiled.
    “Yeah?”
    “Yes.”
    “Awesome.”

Casper
    I kept busy Saturday night going over the proofs of the shoot. Sunday was more of the same. I did everything in my power to stay busy. I’d come off like a jealous teenager on Saturday, but God help me, seeing Juan-Carlos draped all over Slater drove me nuts. Then there was the non-kiss at the end of our date. I had really wanted him to kiss me, but part of me didn’t want him to. I was the type of guy who knew everything there was to know from that first kiss, and I didn’t want Slater to be bad at it.
    Because I was really starting to like him.
    I paid the toll on the Robert F. Kennedy and continued on. I was on my way to the cemetery because it was the last Monday in May and there was someone I needed to see. I didn’t know how Mason would feel knowing I was interested in someone again. We’d never discussed that. I knew I was asking for trouble by visiting him, but Mason had been mine and I had every right to visit him on Memorial Day.
    I was going earlier than normal to avoid his family anyway. Most times I tried to see Mason’s grave, I was blocked by them. He’d been gone for three years and I’d gotten to spend one Memorial Day without interference from his brothers, as well as two Veterans Days.
    Mason’s older brother wasn’t as bad as his middle brother, but they were both assholes. His mother and father were the worst. They hadn’t let me anywhere near the funeral. I wiped at my eyes as I drove. I knew I’d start crying the minute the memories resurfaced. I pulled into the parking lot and grabbed the flowers and flag from the backseat. It was oddly chilly out and a mist covered the ground. I walked through the rows of gravestones in Calverton National Cemetery, the place where Mason had been laid to rest.
    Of course, I hadn’t been there the day he’d been interred and it still bothered me. I smiled upon seeing his gravestone. I moved all the old flowers aside and set the white roses into the small vase. I placed my hand on the cold stone and pressed my forehead to it.
    “Hi,