by L A Cotton
“Brownies, got it.”
“And last thing, don’t hurt her. I know you two have this weird thing going on where you both pretend not to care. But she cares. Hailee cares about you Cameron; she’s just too damn stubborn to admit it. And I think you care too. So I’m warning you, as her best friend, if you hurt her, I’ll find a way to destroy you. I’m talking full on Carrie-style revenge.”
I choked over the breath in my lungs. “Jesus,” I mumbled.
“I’m serious, Cameron.” Her eyes narrowed dangerously.
Oh, I didn’t doubt it. Asher was right, it was the quiet ones you had to watch.
Felicity gave me a curt nod and slipped out of the door, and I released the breath I’d been holding. Everything was such a fucking mess and the worst of it was, it wasn’t over yet. When school rolled around tomorrow, everyone would have seen the video of Hailee. And she would have to walk the halls at school knowing they’d seen it.
My fist curled as I swallowed the roar building in my throat. I couldn’t let my emotions get the better of me, not while Hailee was upstairs. So I stuffed it all down and went in search of the box of brownies and then I went to find her.
Brownies in hand, heart in my throat, I rapped my knuckle against the door only to be met with silence. “Hailee, it’s me. Cameron.” Way to go, asshole.
Silence.
“Hailee?” I peeked around the ajar door. “Can I come—”
“No,” she snapped, barely meeting my eyes.
“Too bad, Sunshine, you’re stuck with me.” I slipped inside, closing the door behind me, aware the action seemed to suck all the air from the room.
Hailee was sitting in the middle of Felicity’s bed, her back pressed against the headboard, knees bent, hugging a pink, fluffy cushion. Silent tears tracked down her cheeks. She looked so fragile and sad, a complete contrast to the girl I was used to dealing with. And the sight of her gutted me, squeezed my heart so tight I thought I might pass out.
“I’m so fucking sorry.” I moved closer, my eyes flitting between the end of the bed and the desk chair. Opting for the safest choice, I dropped the box of brownies on the desk and took the chair.
“You... you saw the video?” She blanched, a fresh wave of tears flooding her eyes. “Did… did Jason see it?”
I pressed my lips together wondering what the fuck I was supposed to do here.
“Oh God,” she groaned.
“Hey, it’ll be okay. We’ll make sure—”
“The whole school has probably seen it by now. You can’t make people unsee it, Cameron.”
No, I couldn’t. But I could threaten any fucker who tried to bring it up, to ever mention that shit in the halls at school.
“I keep trying to remember what happened,” Hailee said, her voice quiet. “Keep trying to see their faces, hear their laughter... but there’s nothing. That’s what I hate the most. That they did that to me, and I didn’t even know. I mean what if they...” She retched and the sound was so full of pain, it ripped open my chest. “What if they tried to do... more.”
“More?”
Her eyes slid to mine, widening with meaning. “No,” I said, unwilling to believe it. “Thatcher is fucked up, but he wouldn’t... Why, do you think someone hurt you?” The words lodged in my throat.
I’d assumed the video was the end of it, but what if it wasn’t? What if someone had actually physically hurt her?
Bile rushed up my throat as I breathed in through my nose, trying not to lose my cool.
“No, I... I don’t think so. I didn’t feel anything... you know?” She gave a little shrug as if it was no big deal.
But it was a big fucking deal.
“Fuck,” I ground out, clutching the back of my neck. “And I... we...” I’d touched her yesterday morning. Me. After someone might have... I leaped up, pacing back and forth.
“Cameron,” Hailee said, but I couldn’t think straight. I couldn’t get the image out of my head of her lying there, out of it, while someone stripped the dress from her body, laughing, whispering taunts about how much she wanted it, how easy she was.
Bile rushed up my throat. No one had been recognizable on the video, the angle of the camera zeroed in on Hailee. Her body.
Hailee’s hand curled around my arm and I froze, my heart jackhammering in my chest. “It’s okay. I’m okay. I would know if anything had happened, and it didn’t.”
But it could have. If Flick hadn’t have found her when she did, it could have.
Slowly, I turned to her. Hailee’s eyes were red and puffy, and her smile didn’t reach them. “None of this is okay,” I said quietly. “When I think about them doing that to you... of them possibly hurting you, I...” Swallowing, I wrapped an arm around her waist, anchoring us together, and dropped my head to hers, breathing her in.
“It was just a cruel prank, Cameron.” Both of Hailee’s hands gripped my arms now, but I couldn’t figure out if she was holding me closer or trying to keep me at a safe distance. “Jason will—”
“Ssh.” I pressed my thumb to her lips. “Jase is the last person I want to talk about right now.” This shit with Thatcher, between him and Hailee, it had to end.
It should have ended long before now.
Her eyes flashed with surprise as she sucked in a shaky breath. “Why are you here, Cameron? Why did you come?”
It was the question I’d asked myself more than once on the ride over here. But the second I’d opened that link, I couldn’t think of anything but getting to her.
“Because I care about you, Hailee,” I confessed. “I care about you so fucking much.”
Her expression faltered and then she was burying her face in my chest, sobbing into my t-shirt. My hands slid into her hair, coaxing her face back to mine. “I will fix this, I promise.”
I didn’t know how yet but I would. It had gone too far. Hailee didn’t deserve this. She’d never deserved any of it.
And I’d been too much of a fucking coward to stop any of it.
Tears collected in the corners of her eyes and I slid a hand down her face, brushing the drops of moisture away with the pad of my thumb. “Don’t cry, Sunshine,” I said. I can’t bear it.
Hailee’s mouth curved. “I really hate it when you call me that.”
“And I really love the way you blush when I do.”
“What are we doing, Cameron?” Her eyes pinned me to the spot, searching for answers. Answers I wanted to give her but wasn’t sure she was ready to hear.
“What we should have done a long fucking time ago,” I choked out, my grip on her tightening.
And then I kissed her.
Chapter Thirty-One
Hailee
“Cameron, wait.” My hands slid to his chest, pushing gently. He jerked back, his eyes simmering with lust and something I didn’t want to acknowledge. “We can’t—”
“We can,” he said without hesitation. “Tell me you don’t want this, Hailee. Look me in the eye and tell me you don’t want me.”
I want you.
I want you so much it terrifies me.
But the words were lodged in my throat and all I could do was stare back at him.
“Hailee, I’m done pretending,” Cameron breathed out, lowering his head to mine. “I want you. I’ve wanted you since the first day I laid eyes on you.”
“We were just kids.” I rolled my eyes. There was no way he could possibly mean that.
Could he?
Cameron’s hands slid up my arms, resting on my shoulders. “I want you, Hailee Raine. You.” His eyes burned into me, igniting a fire in my stomach.
“But we… we hate each other.” It was a useless argument. One I knew no longer applied where me and Cameron were concerned. The tug of his mouth into a smirk told me as much.
“Nah, Sunshine, it’s not hate, it’s—”
I smashed my lips to his. I didn’t want to hear what he thought this thing between us was, not yet. I just wanted to feel. To forget. I wanted him to help me esca
pe the shitshow my life had become, just for a little while.
Cameron groaned with approval as I pushed my tongue into his mouth, pressing my body against his. But it wasn’t enough. I needed more.
I needed all of him.
My arms looped around his neck and pulled until we fell onto Felicity’s bed landing with a whoosh of breath and a tangle of limbs.
“Shit… Flick,” I rasped. “We shouldn’t—”
“She’s not here.” Cameron stared down at me, his weight crushing me in the most perfect way. “I sent her to keep an eye on Jase.”
“You did?” My brow rose, unsure how I felt about that.
“If you want to stop...” He started pulling away, but my fingers dug into his shoulders.
“I don’t want to stop,” I breathed out, my heart crashing violently in my chest.
“Thank fuck.” Relief settled over him and Cameron dipped his head to kiss my jaw, moving lower to suck the hollow of my neck. A soft moan worked its way up my throat, spilling out as a needy sigh. He rocked back onto his haunches. “Up.”
I sat forward, letting him work my t-shirt over my head, shivering as his fingers brushed my bare skin. Cameron yanked his own t-shirt over his head and my eyes drank in the inches upon inches of tanned muscles. Our eyes connected, as he crawled back over me, pressing me into the mattress. “I want to touch you, Hailee.” His gaze held a silent question, and I nodded, my mouth dry, my mind clouded with desire.
Anticipation vibrated through me as he leaned forward, pressing a kiss to the curve of my chest. Cameron’s hands slid underneath my back, fumbling with the clasp of my bra, and the material fell away from my body as he tugged it off, cool air dancing over my sensitive skin. His eyes darkened with lust, his Adam’s apple pressing against his throat as his fingers traced over my pebbled skin. “Perfect,” he whispered, before capturing one of the pink buds in his mouth.
I arched off the bed, smothering a moan. “You like that, Sunshine?” Cameron looked up at me through dark lashes. Pressing my lips together, I fought a smile, but he saw right through me, dipping his head once more to give my other breast the same attention. The feel of his hot mouth, the graze of his stubbled jaw against my skin, had my heart fluttering wildly, my stomach coiling so tight I gasped his name.
Cameron sucked and nibbled a path from my breasts up my collarbone to the slope of my neck. “What do you want, Hailee?” he whispered against the shell of my ear sending shivers rolling up my spine.
“You,” I finally admitted. “I want you, Cameron.”
His entire body seemed to relax as he smiled down at me. It wasn’t arrogant or smug this time, it was genuine. Warm. And it softened something inside me.
“What?” he asked, still braced above me.
“Is this real?” I chewed my lip, nervous energy pinging through me.
“It’s real.” Cameron kissed me, deep and unhurried, his tongue swirling with mine as he rolled his hips against me. There was no denying he wanted me, I only hoped he wanted more than just this moment.
But I was too far gone to worry about the consequences now. I needed him. I needed him in a way that confused me and excited me and made my head swim with possibilities. He kept kissing me, silently reassuring me this was real. That I wasn’t going to open my eyes and discover it was all a dream.
My hands ran down his chest, finding their way to the waistband of his jeans and I worked the button free, slipping my hands inside, grasping him.
“Fuck, Hailee,” he choked out as I began to stroke him. He was so hard and heavy in my hand, his body responding to my touch. “That feels…” Cameron swallowed, kissing me again.
But then his hand snagged mine, pinning it beside my head. “Your turn.” He smirked, pressing a quick kiss to my lips before leaving my body cold. Pushing his jeans and boxers off his hips, Cameron kicked them off before stripping me out of my leggings and panties.
“I could get used to this.” His hungry gaze swept down my body as he palmed himself. But I only had eyes for him. His sculpted body and broad shoulders, his tapered waist that highlighted the delicious V most girls only dreamed about.
He climbed back onto the bed, kneeling between my legs. Running his hands up my calves, sending tiny bolts of electricity zipping through me. Lowering himself back over me, he gripped himself, nudging his erection against my clit. “Cam,” I gasped. “C- condom.”
“Wait,” he said, his voice thick. “Just let me…” He rubbed himself against me again, sliding through my wetness, sending delicious waves rippling through me. “You feel so good, Hailee.”
“More,” I panted, twisting my fingers in the sheets. “I need…” My head rolled back, and I was vaguely aware of the tearing of foil, of Cameron’s hands between us. And then he was there, pushing inside me, stealing the air from my lungs.
“Fuuuuck,” he rasped, dropping his face to the crook of my shoulder. Warm lips kissed me, sucking and tasting, as I clung onto his shoulders. His arms hooked around my legs, dragging me closer, as he began to thrust into me. Slow at first, hitting a spot deep inside me that made my tummy clench and my breath catch in my throat.
“Oh God,” I cried as Cameron picked up his pace, driving into me with deep measured strokes. I met him at every thrust, rolling my hips to meet his until nothing but the sound of skin on skin and our moans filled the room.
“Fuck, Hailee, I can’t…” he mumbled against my mouth, our kisses growing messy; all teeth and tongue and hot desperation as we both raced toward the edge.
It started like a gentle wave rolling to shore and then crashed over me like a powerful tsunami knocking me over, leaving me boneless and breathless as I clenched around him.
“Shit,” Cameron groaned, burying his face in my neck, sucking the skin there in a way I knew would leave a bruise, as he jerked inside me.
“That was…” his voice was muffled as we both rode the lingering waves of pleasure.
But no words seemed to do justice to what I felt. Being with Cameron had been amazing. It had felt right. Like a cleansing of the past. But most of all, it had changed everything.
And I wasn’t sure I could ever go back.
“Are you okay?” Cameron asked me as we lay side by side sometime later, the sounds of our ragged breaths finally returning to normal.
“I will be,” I said, pulling the sheet up my body. “Flick is going to kill me though.”
He rolled onto his side, his eyes on me. “Nah, she won’t. We can buy her new sheets.”
I smothered a laugh. “I can’t believe we did that.”
“Believe it, Sunshine.” Cameron leaned over, pressing a kiss to the end of my nose. “And that’s only the beginning.”
Beginning?
Surely, he didn’t mean…
“Don’t look so worried.”
“But what about Jason?” I peeked up at him.
“What about him?” Cameron sounded cool, but I noticed the slight tic in his jaw when I mentioned my step-brother’s name.
“For all we know, he was the one who put Thatcher up to this—”
“He’s a douche, Hailee, I know that. But he’s still your step-brother, he would never do that. Besides, him and Thatcher working together, I don’t buy it…” Cameron trailed off and I frowned.
“Cameron, what is it?” His eyes had clouded with something.
“Do you regret it?” He brushed my jaw, leaning in to steal a kiss.
“Regret what?”
“This… us.” Vulnerability flashed in his stormy gaze, making my chest constrict.
“No, I don’t.” I didn’t regret a single thing that had happened between us this year because it all led to this point. Lying here in his arms, feeling safe and cherished. “Why?” I asked. “Do you regret it?”
A small smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. “The only thing I regret is not doing it sooner.”
I swatted his chest, but Cameron caught my wrist, pulling me onto my side.
“I guess F
lick was right all along.”
“And what exactly did Fee say?” His brow rose playfully.
“She seemed to think that all this, the pranks and stuff, was some kind of weird foreplay.”
“I guess you could say it was.”
“Cameron, come on…”
He shrugged, running his nose along my jaw. I sucked in harshly, my eyes fluttering, hundreds of butterflies taking flight in my stomach. “I never hated you, Hailee. I hated that I couldn’t have you. But Jas—”
“Don’t,” I urged. “Don’t ruin this.” Any mention of my step-brother was only bound to burst the temporary bubble of bliss we’d created for ourselves.
“You know, we’ll have to talk about this, us, eventually,” he said.
“I know. I just… I want it to be ours for a little while longer.”
Cameron nodded, leaning in to capture my lips again. Our tongues swirled together in long, lazy licks. “Can I tell you something?” he asked finally pulling back.
“Anything.” Easing away to put some space between us, I looked him in the eye. “You can tell me anything.”
“I’m scared, Hailee. I’m so fucking scared there’s something wrong with my mom.”
Oh god, his mom. I hadn’t even thought to ask how she was because I’d been dealing with my own crisis. “Is she—”
“She’s okay. They released her yesterday after a few hours of monitoring, but I found them earlier looking over all these papers and they were both acting cagey. Dad said they want to talk to me tonight, that everything was going to be okay, but I have this feeling…” His voice broke, and my heart broke right along with him. Wrapping my arms around him, I pulled Cameron into me. “This year is supposed to be my year, Hailee. I’m supposed to be excited about college, about the future. And all I can think is what if something is wrong, really wrong…”
“It’s okay,” I said softly. “I’m sure it’s all going to be okay.”
“And the worst of it is,”—Cameron pulled back to look at me, his expression beaten—“I can’t tell anyone. I mean, Ash knows some stuff, but Jase doesn’t get it. He doesn’t understand because football is everything to him. The end goal. But I have to think about Xander, my family. My dad wants me to focus on football, on winning State, but what kind of person does that make me?”
