by L A Cotton
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.
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 escape 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, driv
ing 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 Flick 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?”
“Cameron, you’re eighteen. It’s senior year, I’m sure if things were… well, I’m sure your dad would tell you if he needed more help.”
He gave me a small smile, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “I don’t know anything anymore,” he sighed. “Football, the team… Jase; it always seemed so important but now Mom might be sick, really sick, and you’re caught in the crossfire in this thing with Thatcher and I just don’t know—”
“Ssh.” I pressed my lips to the corner of his mouth. “I’m here, I’m right here.” I’ll be here as long as you need me.
Cameron held onto me like I was a life raft and he was drowning, and I realized there was so much more to the infuriating, cocky guy I knew him to be. He was shouldering the weight of the world; the pressures and expectations of the team against his family’s situation. And now, for reasons I still didn’t quite understand, he’d taken on my worries too.
I’d spent almost six years hating him. For being Jason’s sidekick. For standing by, even helping, my step-brother make my life hell. I hated their stupid football team, that hadn’t changed. I hated what they stood for, what they represented. The way people worshipped the ground they walked on and excused their shitty behavior because they wore a blue and white jersey. I hated the whole damn institution.
But I also couldn’t deny that although I hated Rixon Raiders with every fiber of my being, I was pretty sure I was falling for one.
Cameron
I left Hailee asleep in Felicity’s bed. She was exhausted. After we’d talked and kissed and touched some more, she started to crash. So I’d told her to get some rest and that I would check in with her later. I needed some air. Not from Hailee, she’d been perfect. Everything I needed and hadn’t even realized. But she’d said something when we were together, something I couldn’t shake.
Heading over to Ash’s house, I was hardly surprised to pass Felicity on her way out, Asher hot on her heels. “Do I even want to know?” I asked him as we both watched her storm from the house, fists clenched by her sides, anger rolling off her in waves.
“Just Jase being his regular asshole self.” He shrugged. “I’ll go make sure she’s okay.”
I gave him a nod and he took off after her. At least now we had the house to ourselves. I found Jase in the kitchen, nursing a funky looking protein drink.
“Did you do it?” I looked him in the eye, praying to God Hailee was wrong.
“What the fuck did you say?” Jase’s eyes narrowed dangerously as he rose to his full height.
“Tell me you didn’t do it? Look me in the eye and tell me you didn’t set this whole thing up to ruin her?”
I hadn’t even considered it until Hailee planted the seed. But as I’d lay there, watching her, it had taken root, growing into something ugly. Something I couldn’t stop.
It was a stretch though. Jason hated Thatcher, so the idea of them collu
ding to hurt Hailee was out of the question. Especially given the history between them. But I couldn’t help but wonder if he’d had a hand in everything going down the way it had.
“You think I had something to do with…” He dragged a hand down his face, letting out a heavy sigh. “No, I didn’t fucking do it. But part of me wishes I had. Is that what you want to hear?”
“But Aimee—”
“Aimee has nothing to do with this.”
“You fucked Thatcher’s sister and sent him a video of the two of you.” It was low, even for my best friend, and it had raised the stakes in their war. But he’d had his reasons. For as messed up as it was, Jase never acted without motivation or provocation and Aimee hurt him in a way few ever had.
“Yeah, well she was a conniving bitch who got what she deserved.”
“There’s something very wrong with you; you know that, right?” I hadn’t known what he planned to do to Aimee, but even if I had, there would have been no stopping him. He’d let her in, only for her to throw it back in his face. And in his twisted logic, Jason had only been killing two birds with one stone.
“Go fuck yourself, Chase. You don’t know what it’s like walking in my shoes.”
“Boo fucking hoo. You have this whole goddamn town at your feet. But it doesn’t mean you can walk all over people, Jase. There are consequences to your actions. Just because you didn’t pull the trigger on this doesn’t mean it doesn’t have your prints all over it. If you hadn’t started this thing with Thatcher, Hailee would never have got caught in the crossfire.”
“You think I give a shit?” He folded his arms across his chest, raising a brow. “You have no idea what it’s like living with her. Pretending everything is fine when it’s not fucking fine. My mom left because of her.”
“Hailee?” I frowned, confused. “Your mom didn’t leave because of Hailee. She left because your dad couldn’t let go of his past.” He was married to the game, the future he’d lost out on, the future Jase had within his grasp.
