Bel avoids Kam's table for the rest of the night, which is a little easier than he thought because business picks up. Em pesters him with questions about his "boyfriend" until Bel wants to dump the ice bucket over her head. Gulf is always present, moving between the tables and the bar, both networking and making Bel squirm with questions and teasing comments not quite on the same level as Em's, but almost. The security gorilla watches from the corner, and Kam doesn't move from his table.
Literally.
He stays in the same seat, downs his whiskey sour and watches Bel. Part of it is to annoy the younger man, but part of it is still genuine curiosity. After Bel had left, Kam had taken the liberty of giving the house and car port the once over. He'd seen the liquid spill in the place where Bel's car usually parked, and had known it was leaking. Since he couldn't exactly crawl under the car in a public parking lot without looking suspicious, Kam made a mental note to double check the fuel line later tonight. Could it have been deliberately cut, or was it just normal wear and tear?
Bel's house was small, ridiculously clean, and if the contents of the fridge were anything to go by, Bel needed to take a grocery trip soon; but Kam found nothing that could arouse the suspicion of anyone. Yes, there had been that USB with the same label as the one Nina showed him lying on the kitchen table, next to Bel's closed laptop, but unless he'd known about it's contents beforehand the USB didn't look like anything other than what it was.
So why would someone--anyone--want Bel dead? At the moment, Kam had no answers, and he found that a little bit irritating. Maybe that was why he'd provoked Bel tonight. Since he had to keep Bel in his line of sight anyway, he might as well see what made the kid tick.
A lot, apparently.
While the look on Bel's face when Kam had said they were boyfriends had been expected, the feeling Kam got when he saw that look had not. Was Bel irritated that Kam had declared them to be something they weren't? At the time, it had seemed like a good idea--Kam couldn't really think of any other excuse he could give that would allow him to be in this restaurant every night, but now Kam wasn't quite so sure.
What he is sure of is that Bel isn't looking in his direction, and Kam doesn't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing. So he just sits and watches until Bel approaches him at the end of the night.
"Are you mad at me?" The question sounds pathetic to Kam, but he asks it anyway.
"No," Bel waits for Kam to get to his feet before walking toward the front door. "I just have a lot to think about."
Which could mean a number of different things.
Neither of them say anything else as they go out to the parking lot. Bel apparently has a lot to think about, and Kam is going to let him think. After a minute, Bel speaks.
"You don't need the money."
"Huh?" Kam's not sure if Bel is accusing him or asking him a question or stating a fact or all three.
"If your dad's a business magnet," Bel's voice is patient, rather than accusatory. "Then why do you need the money from Nina?"
"My dad was a business magnet," Kam answers. "Custom cars and things like that. Until about six months ago."
"What happened six months ago?"
"He died." Kam's tone says this part of the conversation is closed, so Bel doesn't press him. There's silence between the two of them for a minute, before Kam speaks again.
"I didn't know what else to say when Gulf asked why I was here. So I said that."
As he says them, Kam realizes that the words are true. Yes, he'd used the word "boyfriend" to make Bel's ears turn red. But he'd also been caught off guard and said the first thing that popped into his head. Bel looks at Kam, and there's understanding in his eyes.
