by DC Renee
“I don’t know if I can,” I admitted. “I hate him,” I told her. “I hate him,” I repeated with more conviction as I thought about Cam as Tyler. “But I’m not that person.”
“He deserves it, Gen. He deserves it.”
I wanted to tell her that no one deserved to be purposely hurt, but I couldn’t bring myself to say the words because the more I thought about her idea, the more I liked it. Tyler Haywood deserved to feel even a fraction of the pain he’d caused me. A broken heart was nothing, but it sure as hell would make me feel better. I didn’t respond as I thought about her plan.
Finally, my mind decided for me. I smirked as I echoed Amanda’s words. “Okay,” I said. “Okay, let’s do it. Let’s heal my heart and break his.”
CHAPTER TWENTY
Past
Cameron
Eleven years earlier…
FOOTBALL HAD BECOME my outlet. I pushed myself harder than the other kids, felt it deeper in my bones than the other players, and came alive more than anyone else. It was where I was praised for my work and where my coaches said, “Good job.” It was where I felt like I truly mattered. I was only nine years old, but I felt older. I’d been feeling much older for years now.
Circumstance made it so.
I was old enough to know other kids in the world had it worse than I did. They were poor, starving, beaten, or raped. I didn’t have that. But I didn’t exactly have the best home life either.
After my baby sister had died before she was even born, Charles started drinking even more. And when he drank, he was mean—mostly to me—although I know my mom tried to protect me the best she could. She just didn’t have the energy or the strength to stand up to him. And part of me didn’t think she wanted to. She just wanted all her problems to magically go away.
“What are you looking at? All those hits in football making you dumb? You look like a fucking idiot. Stop staring at me,” he said when he was half-passed out on the couch—what was becoming a routine for him.
“Get the fuck out of here, you dumb shit, before I kick your ass.”
I tried not to let his words affect me, but he got under my skin. It had started as just a few times here and there, but the frequency of his verbal assaults was increasing. I wanted to answer him, but what good would that do me? I wanted to fight him, but he’d win. So I put all my pent-up frustration, all my growing anger, all my pain and sorrow into football. I was the best on my team. I knew this, my teammates knew this, and my coaches knew this.
It was funny that my escape from Charles was actually thanks to him. He’d put me in football in the first place; he’d pushed me to want to be better. His reasons were wrong, his motives were malicious, but my love of the game was genuine. My need to be the best was essential.
I didn’t get the love I craved at home, so I got it on the field.
I had a feeling football would one day become my everything. I didn’t know at nine years old just how right I was.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Present
Genevieve
“HEY, EVERYTHING ALL good?” Cam asked as I arrived to class. I couldn’t bring myself to think of him as Tyler, or I’d punch him in the face before I could even exact revenge. He had waited for me outside of class. That hadn’t been the first time he’d done it, so I shouldn’t have been surprised, but I was. I couldn’t equate the two guys I knew as one person. Tyler was an ass of epic proportions, yet Cam didn’t seem to be.
“Uh, yeah, fine. Why?” I asked nervously.
“It’s just that you ran off pretty quickly yesterday,” he said.
“Oh, yeah, that.” I paused to decide my next words. I also needed a moment to compose myself and to remember that the goal was to get Cam to fall for me. I thought of what Amanda would do. How would she turn this situation into a flirt session? “It’s just that I got so caught up in you … er, in the project,” I said it like it had been a slip of the tongue, like I hadn’t meant to admit that, but it was all an act. I think it worked because he smirked. “So caught up in the project,” I repeated, “that I was an hour late meeting Amanda. I hadn’t even texted or called her to let her know, so I had to run.”
“All good now?” he asked.
I took a moment to look him up and down quite obviously before answering, “Yep, definitely all good now.”
I hoped I wasn’t trying too hard, but I needed him to know I was interested. I needed him to see me as more than a friend. And guys responded well to flirting, right?
“Do you want to do the honors or should I?” I asked as I pulled out the paper I had printed earlier that morning.
“Together,” he responded. I nodded, and we walked into class and down the aisle to the front as I placed the paper on the small stack on the desk.
“Oh my gosh, I can’t believe that’s done,” I told him, meaning my words as we walked to our usual seats.
“Yeah,” Cam responded less enthusiastically.
“Now that we don’t have to get together like four times a week to work on it, that will leave us both with free time to do other things.” I was fishing. And I think I had gotten a bite on the line because Cam visibly swallowed hard.
“Yeah.” He nodded. Maybe Cam liked me? Maybe Amanda had been right, and I was blind? Or maybe I saw it all along but chose to ignore it since nothing could come of it before, but now … now, I not only wanted it to happen, but I also needed us to happen.
Class started right after that, so we couldn’t talk anymore. We did our usual thing. I took notes while Cam stared over my shoulder. He knew I’d copy them for him or he’d steal them from me and copy them himself. It had become something we just did, and I didn’t anticipate that changing.
“Do you have class right now?” Cam asked as we packed up our things when class was over.
“My next class isn’t for an hour. Why?” I asked.
“I don’t know. It’s just … it’s going to feel weird not hanging out with you. Want to grab something to eat?”
“Uh, yeah, sure,” I responded. I tried to hide my smile. I didn’t succeed, but the good news was that he smiled back.
We headed to the nearest cafeteria and grabbed some food before sitting down. People stared at us. This wasn’t anything new, but usually, we had our laptops out, so at least people realized we were working together. This time, though, it was just two friends having an early lunch.
We ate and talked about random things for a few minutes before Cam changed the subject. “This is nice,” he said. “Hanging out without having the pressure of schoolwork hanging over our heads.”
“Yeah,” I agreed.
“So let’s make this a habit. We’ll get together just to hang out. Can be coffee, can be lunch, dinner, a movie, whatever.”
I had a feeling he wasn’t used to this kind of suggestion. He seemed somewhat nervous. He didn’t need to be, though, because I would have agreed readily to speed up my process. “I like that. I mean, we’re friends, right?” I purposely added the word “friends” because Amanda always said people wanted what they couldn’t have. She said putting a guy in the “friend zone” made him want to be out of it. He already knew we were friends, but aside from that one time, we hadn’t talked about it. “And friends hang out outside of school.”
“Exactly,” he said.
The rest of lunch went by pretty smoothly. I went to my next class then called Amanda and told her to meet me at the dorm.
“Wow. You’re slicker than I thought,” she said after I told her what had happened.
“I didn’t even do anything,” I told her.
“Then he likes you even more than I thought. He couldn’t fathom the thought of not seeing you twenty-four seven. This is going to be easier than I thought,” she said.
“If it was so easy, how come he hasn’t hit on me prior to this? Like when I really wanted him to and not just because I wanted to crush him?”
“Because he had an excuse then. He was keeping you at arm’s length becau
se he knew he’d constantly see you, so he didn’t have to worry. Now, he doesn’t have that going for him.”
“He would constantly see me because of class,” I pointed out.
“Stop being a pain. That doesn’t count.”
“Okay, so now what? Tell him I want to date him or something?”
“Oh, God, no,” she cried out. “The guy clearly likes you but is scared, or I don’t know—something’s holding him back. You don’t want to push too hard. You have to be his friend first. Make him realize how much better his life is with you in it. Just make sure to flirt a lot, so he knows it’s not just a friend thing. And touch him subtly whenever you can. Make him miss your touch when you’re not around.”
“I really wish you could just switch places with me. You’re so much better at this than I am. Or at the very least, can we get those little ear devices they have in spy shows so you could coach me through it all?”
“That’s not a bad idea,” she said.
“Really?” I asked incredulously. “Where are we going to get those earpieces?” I asked.
“Come on, Gen. We’re not James Bond here. I just meant it’s not a bad idea for me to be there. To see you guys interact so I can give you tips. My birthday,” she said.
“What about your birthday?” I asked. Her birthday was that coming weekend, and we were going out to celebrate.
“He’s your escort.”
“What?” I screeched.
“You heard me. Text him and tell him your friend wants to meet the guy who’s been keeping you away from her. Tell him you want him to meet your other friends.”
“What if he says no?” I asked.
“He won’t.”
“How do you know?”
“Because, Gen, you’re you. He won’t say no to you. I just know.”
“Okay,” I said, sounding unsure because really … I hadn’t even begun my revenge, and I already wasn’t sure about any of it. I just knew in my heart of hearts, though, that the broken pieces I hadn’t been able to glue back together might have a chance at fitting together after this. And I would take that chance.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Past
Cameron
Eleven years earlier …
I CAME HOME from football practice in time to see Charles shove my mom. It didn’t look like he pushed her too hard, but my mom had grown thinner and weaker over the years. A light breeze would have knocked her over. He should have taken better care of her. He should have never lifted his hand against her, but I knew that hadn’t been the first time he’d touched her, and I had a feeling it happened more often than I could imagine.
She fell sideways, the front of her body hitting the small corner table just to the right of her. She cried out in such pain as she hit the floor that I actually cringed. I was paralyzed for only a moment before running to her.
“Mommy,” I cried as I moved to her side. Normally, I would have tried to stay in the shadows so Charles wouldn’t see me, but something about the twisted pain marring my mom’s facial features was enough to make me forget to hide.
“Get away from her, you fucking retard,” Charles screamed at me. “And you, get the fuck up,” he ordered my mom.
She pushed against me to try to stand but cried out again in such agony that I felt it in my bones.
“Something’s wrong,” she said quietly. “Something’s very wrong,” she said louder as she clutched her stomach. She cried out again. “The baby,” she said, her voice laced with panic. “The baby,” she screamed. “Call nine-one-one,” she ordered me.
I hadn’t even known she was pregnant. She hadn’t shared that news with me yet. And by the look on Charles’ face, she hadn’t told him either. He was frozen in place, his face an image of anguish and anger, and I wasn’t sure which emotion was winning. I just knew he blamed my mom for this; I knew he blamed me for this when the person he should have been blaming was himself. He’d done this to her.
I called nine-one-one and told them my mom was pregnant, had fallen, hitting her stomach, and was in a lot of pain.
When I looked back at my mom, I could see a stain of blood on her pants. I knew what that meant. I knew there would be no baby sister or brother for me—not this time.
I looked at her face, and she was stricken, absolutely horrified, her eyes filling with tears and her lip trembling with pain.
“You fucking bitch,” Charles roared. “You did this on purpose. You lost our baby again on purpose!” he screamed.
“No,” my mom yelled back.
“You didn’t want me to know you were pregnant because you don’t want my child. You only want his. Always fucking him. And now you go and kill another baby of mine!” he roared. His anger was so palpable that I actually had to take a few steps back to keep from being hit with its force.
“You fucking bitch,” he repeated. “You will have my baby,” he vowed. “You will bear my child whether you fucking want to or not. And you,” he said as he turned to me. “Grown-up stuff isn’t for you,” he said. “So stay the hell away from our business, you stupid good-for-nothing piece of shit.” I flinched. I couldn’t help it. No matter how many times he called me names, no matter how many times he put me down, no matter how much worse his words got or how frequent his outburst were, they hurt each time.
“Make sure they fix you up. We’re starting on another baby as soon as you’re out of the hospital,” he announced and left before the ambulance even arrived.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Present
Genevieve
PICK YOU UP at 7:30 ☺ I read the text message three times to make sure I had read it right.
I’d texted Cam the following day. Or rather, Amanda had texted on my behalf. She didn’t even tell me she was doing it when she took my phone. Sneaky, I tell you.
Amanda’s birthday celebration this Friday. You’re coming. Not taking no for an answer. That hadn’t been what she had told me to text him. And it wouldn’t have been my choice of words. So when he didn’t respond right away, I got nervous.
“Stop worrying. He’s probably just busy,” Amanda told me. I was worried, though. Not that he’d say no, although that would suck, but because I didn’t want to appear desperate—like a loser. He’d called me that enough times in the past to leave its mark.
When I got the response an hour later, I literally felt giddy, and then I had to remind myself this wasn’t a date. It wasn’t even technically a couple of friends having fun. It was revenge.
So, like a true idiot, I responded with Great! I’ll be the one in the sexy red dress.
I literally slapped my hand to my forehead after I hit send without even thinking. I didn’t even have a red dress—sexy or not. And I hadn’t meant to dress all that crazy in the first place. We were going to a bar that didn’t card. It was very, very casual.
“So we’ll find you a sexy red dress.” Amanda shrugged like it was no big deal. Then she dragged me to six stores until she found a dress she deemed “the one.”
“Hot dayum,” she said when I tried on the dress. “Shit, Tam is going to shit bricks.” She’d combined Cam and Tyler after she found out they were the same. I giggled the first couple of times she’d called him that.
I had only agreed to that shopping excursion because I didn’t want to backtrack on my words, and also because of Cam’s response. Can’t wait ☺
The smiley face was what got me.
So Friday night rolled around and instead of me and Amanda fussing over her—because it was her birthday, after all—we primped me out.
“I can’t wait to see Tam’s face,” she announced after she put the finishing touches on my makeup.
I looked at myself in the mirror, and I had to admit that Amanda had done a good job. A really good job.
And just a few short minutes later, Cam texted me he was downstairs waiting for us.
“Here goes nothing,” I said as Amanda ushered me out of the dorm room.
When we walked out o
f the building, I was nervous. When I saw Cam’s expression as he took me in—his eyes never leaving me, not even to glance at Amanda in all her natural beauty beside me—I felt a little bounce in my step. I looked over at Amanda, and she gave me a look that said, “See, I told you.”
I nodded slightly in response.
“You look beautiful,” Cam said as we approached. I blushed. That had been the second time he’d called me beautiful, and it was so unlike Tyler.
“Thanks,” I said as I took a moment to check him out. He filled out his jeans and black V-neck very well. “You’re not so bad yourself,” I told him. “Cam, this is Amanda. Amanda, this is Cam.” I introduced my friend and my frenemy.
“Nice to meet you. Happy birthday,” he said as he held out his hand to shake Amanda’s.
“Thanks,” she replied. “So we ready to get this party started?” she asked.
“Yeah,” Cam responded. “I’ll be your driver for this evening,” he said in a mock professional voice as he took a little bow. I smiled, and when I glanced at Amanda, she was smiling too.
He opened the door for us. Another thing that didn’t scream Tyler at all.
And when we got in, he asked, “Where to?” Amanda gave him directions and grilled him the entire ride. Where are you from? What’s your major? Do you have any siblings? Why USC? The list of questions went on, and Cam answered each one of them. I had learned far more about him in that twenty-minute drive than I had in the whole time we’d been friends.
I silently thanked Amanda although I wasn’t one hundred percent sure why. It wasn’t like I wanted to learn these things about him. I wasn’t planning to date him or anything. I was planning to break his heart like he’d broken me just a few years before.
