by L A Cotton
“Should we take her to the hospital?”
“I think she’ll be okay,” I said, checking on her again. “She just needs to sleep it off.”
“She’s supposed to be staying at my house, but if my mom and dad see her like this, they’ll—”
“It’s cool, she can stay with me.” The words spilled out before I could stop them. I kept my eyes on the road but felt Hailee’s friend watching me.
“You like her, don’t you?”
I don’t know why, but the fact it wasn’t a question irritated me.
“I’m not doing this,” I said, coolly.
“Okay.” Felicity smothered a smile. “I won’t say another word.”
“Good.” It was barely a grunt, but I didn’t want to talk about this, not here. Not with her.
The ride across the river was quick enough and before I knew it, I was pulling up outside Felicity’s house. “Are you sure you’ll look after her?” she asked quietly. I huffed annoyed, and she swallowed, adding, “She’s my best friend and you haven’t exactly always been nice to her. I had to ask.”
“I’ll make sure she’s okay.” Hopefully everyone would be asleep so I could avoid any awkward conversations tonight.
“She acts tough but all this, your silly little games... she’s not as tough as you think, Cameron.”
I didn’t trust myself to reply, so I gave Felicity a sharp nod and waited for her to climb out.
Ten minutes later, I pulled up at my house. Hailee still slept soundly on the back seat, murmuring softly every now and again. Climbing out of my truck, I went around to the back door. Her body was heavy with sleep, and whatever else was in her system, as I picked her up and went inside, taking her straight up to my room.
“F- Flick, what happened?” She began to stir as I lay her down on my bed.
“Ssh.” I pushed the stray hairs from her face. “I’ll get you some water.”
“C- Cameron?” Hailee’s eyes flickered open and she stared up at me, confusion clouding her expression. “What is—oh God.” She clapped her hand over her mouth and retched.
“Shit, okay, up you come.” Helping her off the bed, I half-carried her to the small bathroom adjoining my room. Hailee crumpled to the floor clutching the bowl, just in time for her stomach contents to make a reappearance. I crouched down, gathering her hair away from her face. She seemed so small and fragile like this; nothing like the strong, stubborn, reckless girl I knew her to be.
Someone had done this to her.
The thought sucker-punched me in the stomach.
Fumbling to flush the toilet, Hailee finally managed it before sinking back into my body with a pained groan. “Feel better?” I asked.
“I don’t know what I’m feeling right now.” Her voice was groggy, her words sluggish.
“Come on, let’s get you cleaned up.” I found her a spare toothbrush and towel before helping her stand. “I’ll give you a few minutes. I can probably dig you out an old t-shirt if you want?” Her dress was wrinkled and stained but all I saw was how beautiful she’d looked at Homecoming.
“I, uh … yeah, that would be good, thanks.” She wouldn’t look at me, and it stung. More than it should have.
Nodding over the lump in my throat, I left her alone and went to find an old football jersey she could wear. It was a dick move, one she’d no doubt give me shit about when she felt better, but I couldn’t deny the idea of seeing her in my team colors was too tempting not to do it.
Knocking on the bathroom door, I pushed it ajar and slipped my hand inside. “Here you go.”
Hailee snatched the jersey off me and closed the door in my face. I dropped down in the chair in the corner of my room, rubbing my temples. This was not how I saw the night going. I thought I’d go to Homecoming, hang out with the guys, watch Hailee from across the room and imagine dancing with her, claiming her as my own, right there in front of our entire class. But then Miley had cornered me and the next thing I knew I was being swept up in the Homecoming Court announcements.
I was just relieved Flick had called Asher. If she hadn’t, it might have been Toby looking after Hailee right now, and not me. The idea made my chest tighten. Especially when I couldn’t be certain it wasn’t him who had slipped her something at the party.
Shit, she shouldn’t have been there, in East territory. Thatcher had made it clear he was coming after her. This had his name written all over it. I was just relieved Flick had found her before … Fuck. I couldn’t even go there. The idea of someone touching Hailee, hurting her, was almost too much to bear. Inhaling a ragged breath, I tipped my head back and closed my eyes. It felt like an eternity until the sound of the bathroom door creaking made me open them. She stood there in nothing but my old football jersey and her panties… and I realized my plan had backfired. Because she looked completely at home in my jersey, not to mention as sexy as fuck.
“I, uh…” Her cheeks flushed a deep pink as she tugged on the hem of my jersey. “So I may have puked a little on my dress and I tried to wash it off and now it’s all wet, and I couldn’t—”
“It’s fine.” I stood up, closing the distance between us, telling myself to look anywhere but at her long, smooth legs. “How are you feeling?”
“Like I got hit by a truck. But I’ll live.” Her gaze dipped to the floor as she tucked her hair behind her ear. “I wish I knew what happened.”
“We think you might have been slipped something.”
“We?” Her eyes lifted to mine, and my chest tightened, doing all kinds of weird shit.
“Yeah, me and Felicity.”
“She called you, huh?” An uncertain smile played on her lips. “Which is really odd because I had no idea the two of you were on a cell phone number exchange basis.” Hailee let out a strangled laugh.
“She called Asher.”
“Asher? Flick has Asher’s number? How did I not know that?” She frowned. “So she called Asher, and what exactly?”
It was my turn to look at the floor. I played football against some of the biggest defensive ends in the game. Getting tackled to the ground by guys twice my size was all par for the course. Yet, Hailee, a girl half my size, completely disarmed me.
“She called Ash and asked him to have me call her.”
“But why would she do that? And more to the point, why did you call her back?”
My eyes narrowed slightly. “Hailee, come on...”
“Why, Cameron?” Her eyes pinned me to the spot.
“Because you don’t deserve any of this,” I admitted. “And I was worried.”
“But—”
“Come on.” I cut her off. “It’s late, you should probably get some rest.” My head motioned to the bed, and her brow quirked up. I added, “I’ll take the floor.”
“Cameron.” My name on her lips sounded good. Too fucking good. “I’m not going to make you sleep on the floor.” Color crept up her neck and into her cheeks. Hailee ducked around me and got on the bed, slipping under the covers. Part of me had expected her to put up a fight; to insist I take her home.
But she hadn’t.
And like the sucker I was, I wanted to believe it meant something.
Yanking off my t-shirt, I started unbuttoning my jeans while Hailee tried her best not to peek. But I felt her eyes on me more than once. I crawled on the bed beside her, careful not to get too close. Fumbling for the light switch, I plunged the room into darkness.
“Well, this isn’t awkward at all,” Hailee whispered. And even though it was dark, and I could barely see her, I was aware of everything. The soft sound of every breath she took, the warm current flowing between us. The way my skin tingled, and my pulse raced at her close proximity, despite the fact I hadn’t even touched her.
Turning onto my side, I traced the profile of her face. “Get some sleep.” I choked out the words to stop myself from doing something stupid. Like telling her it didn’t feel awkward to me at all.
That it felt pretty damn near perfect.
&n
bsp; “Night, Cameron.”
“Night, Sunshine.”
A beat of silence passed and then her sleepy voice cut through the quiet. “Cameron?”
“Yeah?”
“Thank you.”
As I felt the pull of sleep, my mind was a jumble of thoughts. Of me and Hailee. Of all the reasons why this was a really bad fucking idea. But one thought stood out above all the others. It was the first time I’d ever fallen to sleep with a girl in my bed.
And I liked it.
I liked it a whole lot.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Hailee
“Ameron, Ameron’s home.” The voice startled me, and I peeked open an eye, trying to get my bearings. Where the hell am I? I wracked my brain for an explanation when a dark-haired, chubby-faced boy filled my vision.
“You’re not Ameron,” he said, a cute little frown crinkling his face.
Ameron?
I groaned, pushing the hair from my face. What the hell—
Everything slammed into me at once. Homecoming. The party with Toby. Cameron holding my hair while I puked up everything but my soul in his toilet. The toilet in the bathroom next to his room.
His room.
Oh god, I was in Cameron’s bedroom.
In.
His.
Bed.
I glanced over and sure enough, there lay Cameron, on his front, arm tucked under his head, snoring softly.
“Who you?” the boy asked as he clambered onto the bed, settling between me and Cameron.
“I’m Hailee.”
“Ailee? I’m Ander.”
“Nice to meet you.” I gave him my best smile despite the panic rising in my chest “Hmm, Cameron?” I hissed. “Cameron, wake up. We have company.”
“Xan?” Cameron said, his voice thick with sleep. “Shit, Xander?” He bolted upright, rubbing his eyes. They flew to mine, wide with alarm, and I chuckled, ducking my head.
“You ot a irlfriend, Ameron?”
“What, I… uh, no, buddy. This is my… friend—”
“Ailee.” He nodded. “She pretty.”
“Okay, buddy, time for you to go.” Cameron scooped up the kid and climbed out of bed not bothering to pull on any clothes. “I’ll be right back,” he mouthed over his shoulder and I nodded, feeling my cheeks flush.
When they disappeared out of the room, I sank back into the pillows, groaning with mortification. I was in Cameron’s bed.
Cameron’s bed.
And we’d just been caught by the cutest toddler I’d ever laid eyes on.
Just when I thought my life couldn’t get any crazier.
Two minutes later, Cameron stepped back into the room, taking the air with him. “Sorry about that.” He ran a hand over his head, his eyes darting around me.
“Your brother is adorable,” I said, pulling the sheets up around my body, aware I was dressed in only his football jersey and my panties, and he was wearing nothing but his tight black boxer briefs. Keep your eyes on his face, Hailee. On. His. Face.
“Yeah, although he’s like a whirlwind.”
“He’s a cute kid.”
“Don’t be fooled.” He laughed and we shared a rare smile. “How are you feeling?” Cameron sat on the end of the bed, his eyes burning into me.
“I’ll be okay, I guess. I still can’t believe someone did that to me.” My head hurt and my muscles were like lead, not to mention the fact my stomach felt like something had died in there. But I had more important things to worry about right now, like the fact Cameron was right there, and he was almost naked; the hard planes of his body just begging to be touched.
God, I wanted to touch him.
What the hell was wrong with me?
“Yeah, well, people will do all kinds of crazy things in the name of football.”
“Does that include you?” My brow rose, as I lowered my face, looking up at him through my lashes.
“I’ve done some stuff I’m not proud of, yeah.” Cameron swallowed as if the words were hard to say.
“Well you came through last night, so thank you.”
“It was nothing.”
But it wasn’t nothing, it was something.
The events of last night were hazy. But I remembered with perfect clarity Cameron had come running after Flick’s SOS call.
He scooted closer, angling his body to me. I felt a little light-headed suddenly. “What can you remember about the party?” he asked gently.
“I...” A heavy sigh escaped my lips. “Not much to be honest. We left Homecoming and Toby came to pick us up. He said it wasn’t a football thing, so I thought...” My voice trailed off, my gaze dropping.
“Why’d you leave Homecoming?”
My eyes snapped to his, but I didn’t answer. What would I say? That I’d left because I saw him with a girl? Shrugging, I picked at his sheets. “I only went to keep Flick happy and she seemed upset about something, so we left.”
“Funny.” His brow lifted slightly. “Because she said you left because you were pissed with me.”
My cheeks flamed. “She needs to learn to keep her mouth shut.” I was going to kill her.
“I looked for you, thought I might cash in on that dance.” His lip curved. “But you were already gone.”
“Yeah, well, you seemed pretty busy to me, so I figured it was no big deal.” Wrapping my arms around my waist, I lowered my gaze again.
“Hailee,” his voice soothed something inside me. “What’s… Miley…” He let out an exasperated breath. “You saw me talking to Miley.”
“I didn’t see you talking to anyone, Cameron, just drop it.” I didn’t want to feel like this, all over him talking to another girl. It was irrational. Illogical. It was completely pathetic. But I couldn’t deny jealousy burned through me when he said her name.
“Miley’s just a friend, you don’t need to worry about her.”
“It doesn’t matter.” I couldn’t meet his eyes.
“Why are you being like this?” he asked.
I finally glanced up at him. “Like what?”
“A bitch.”
“Way to remind me that you’re not the good guy here.” I threw back the cover and leaped out of his bed. “I should go.”
“Whoa, slow down, Hailee. We should talk.”
“We have nothing to talk about,” I called out as I dove into his bathroom, hoping my dress was dry enough to wear otherwise it’d be awkward explaining to Mom and Kent why I was in just my panties and one of Cameron’s old football jerseys.
“Thank God,” I breathed as I found my dress mostly clean and dry. Throwing my dress over the towel rail, I splashed some water on my face and tried to tame my hair by running my fingers through it. It wasn’t perfect, but it would do. Then I stole a blob of toothpaste to freshen up my breath. But when I looked up in the mirror, I was met with stormy gray eyes.
“Get out,” I snapped at Cameron as he blocked the door, staring at me with a dark expression.
“Make me.”
“Cameron, come on. You did a decent thing last night, but let’s not turn it into something it’s not.”
“And what would that be, Sunshine?”
“Do you know what the trouble with you is?” I spun around and glowered at him. I was tired, thirsty, not entirely sure I was done puking, and so fed up of the constant games.
The back and forth.
The push and pull.
All these unwelcome feelings I felt every time he looked at me.
“Oh, I’d love to hear all about what you think is wrong with me.” He leaned against the doorjamb blocking off my exit. Not that I was ready to leave; I still needed to get dressed.
“You’re entitled,” I said. “You’re used to people giving in to your every demand. You want to skip class, that’s fine because you’re a Raider. You want to fuck girls and then kick them to the curb and not get any shit for it, cool, you’re a Raider. You spend years making my life hell and then the one time you do something nice, I’m just
expected to what? Drop my panties and let you—” I swallowed the words as Cameron’s expression turned hungry, his lip curved in an infuriating smirk.
“Does the idea of me fucking other girls upset you, Sunshine?” He stepped forward, forcing me back into the bathroom.
“Cameron, come on, this is—” But he kept coming until my butt hit the marble counter. My hands flew out behind me, steadying myself, and he chuckled.
“Do you know what I think?” he said. “I think you’re a judgmental bitch. You don’t know anything about me or my life. You only see the game. You couldn’t possibly pull your head out of your ass long enough to see what’s really going on here.”
My lips parted on a gasp. “I’m not...”
“But want to know what I really think?” Cameron dipped his head, crowding me further against the counter until the rough edge bit into my skin. “You don’t hate me, you hate yourself. I’m everything you loathe, but you want me anyway.”
“I...”
His mouth hovered over my lips, so close I could feel his warm breath. My body began to tremble, my stomach knotted so tightly I felt a little lightheaded.
“Why do you keep doing this?” I whispered, barely able to speak. Cameron was too much. His gaze unyielding, his body plastered against mine. His hands… God, his hands began to caress my sides, making it hard to think straight, let alone breathe.
“I just want you to admit it.” He nudged my nose with his. “Admit you want me and then I’ll leave you alone.”
“You will?” I gulped, my mind swimming with all things Cameron Chase.
He nodded slowly, his eyes still locked on mine. I’d never noticed before—or maybe I’d just refused to see it—but they were a dark shade of blue with flecks of silver-gray streaked through them. They reminded me of lightning across a stormy sky. Fitting really, considering how dangerous Cameron was turning out to be for my carefully constructed life.
“I’m waiting, Sunshine,” he said when I didn’t reply.
“Fine. If it means you’ll leave me alone... I want you,” I said with as little emotion as possible. “It makes no sense, goes against everything I stand for, and to be honest, makes me real disappointed in myself, but it’s the truth. Happy now?”