Game Breaker:The Loop

by BJ Harvey

  Wait, Wyatt? As in, her-gay-best-friend-from-high-school Wyatt?

  “Yeah, I’m here waiting for you, and you’re not here.”

  She chews her lip while she listens.

  “What? No!” she cries dramatically. “Don’t they know how important this is? I mean, I went on the train in a freaking wedding dress.” She’s obviously forgotten that I can hear every word she says—not that it was the world’s best kept secret or anything—but it hadn’t escaped me that she never told me straight out that she was getting married today.

  “I suppose we’ll just have to come back tomorrow then.” She turns around and walks back my way, her soft eyes full of disappointment.

  “Okay, I’ll see you at home later?”

  “You will not believe my day so far. Like seriously, I couldn’t even make this shit up it’s that crazy,” she says. “Yes, from the moment I left home till now it’s been one thing after another.”

  She lifts her finger to her mouth, her teeth fidgeting with her nail, something she always used to do when she was stressed.

  “It’s not your fault, Wy. We’ll try tomorrow. I’ll even bribe your boss with cupcakes if I have to.”

  She giggles and her shoulders finally relax. “Love you too. Bye.”

  Dropping the phone and her hand to her side, she stops in front of me and quirks a brow.

  My mind is racing. I have one afternoon to remind Sarah how good we used to be and how—even sixteen years later—I’m a much better man now than I ever could’ve been had I not left. Ten hours to prove to her that she deserves so much more than what she’s getting, and that I’m the man who’d do anything for the chance to give it to her. I just need to confirm my suspicions that she’s marrying her still very gay best friend for a particular reason.

  I shoot her a huge knowing grin, and her confident expression falters slightly the moment she realizes she’s lost the upper hand.

  “You heard everything, didn’t you?”

  I cross my arms across my chest and nod, my eyes dropping to her mouth when her tongue darts out to wet her lips nervously. “Yep.” My voice drops an octave, and I feel the word rumble through me.

  “So what now?”

  “Well, I told you I’d stop you from doing anything stupid, but it seems this wedding’s not happening today anyway. Not that it was ever going to be a real marriage at all, was it?” She blushes but quickly regains her composure and meets me head on, her eyes boring into mine in an impromptu stare-off, one she has no hope of winning. She soon gives up, making a harrumph sound and pointedly not arguing my point. “So that gives me. . .” I look at my watch then back at her “. . . just under ten hours to show you why you shouldn’t try and do it tomorrow.” I reach out and grab her hand, pulling her toward me with a firm jerk on her arm. Gently resting my other hand on her hip, I decide to make my move and let her know exactly what I plan to do.

  Her breath catches when I drop my chin and our eyes meet. “Cameron…” she whispers.

  “You were on that train for a reason, Sez, and we’d be crazy not to take the chance to see what that was.” I rest my palm against her cheek. “Not once in the past three years have I seen you on that train and the fact that it happened today means someone’s got a plan for us. Now it’s our job to figure out what that plan is.”

  We stare into each other’s eyes for a long time.

  “Do you have anything else planned for today?”

  “Not now, but I think I need to explain—”

  “Yes, there will be plenty of explaining to do, by both of us, but there’s something we have to do first before we go anywhere.”

  “What’s that?”

  “We need to get back on the train and get you home.”

  “Cam, I don’t think—”

  “Then I want to take you somewhere.”

  Her head jerks back, and she tries to pull out of my arms. I tighten my grip and she narrows her eyes.

  “What are you doing?” she grinds out, looking more annoyed by the minute, especially when I smirk down at her.

  “Well, it’s simple really. I’m taking you home and getting you out of that dress.” She gasps, but I power on. “And then we’re gonna go do something—maybe drive around, get some food, and then talk… definitely talk.”

  If I’ve only got ten hours to change the course of her life—and mine—then I’m damn well going to make the most of it.

  Because when fate steps in and puts you in the path of your future happiness, you damn well take the wheel and steer that puppy home.

  And my home was and was always meant to be Sarah Mason.

  Now I finally have my chance to prove it.

  I must be in the twilight zone, because since the moment I woke up this morning, everything I thought would happen has been completely twisted around.

  I mean, I never imagined that I’d see Cameron on the train this morning.

  I’ve thought about him a lot over the years, mainly when my friends were celebrating those life milestones that I thought I’d share with him like graduation, engagements, weddings, and babies. Everyone says you never forget your first love. In my case, it was damn near impossible.

  “Change of plan,” he says, giving my arm a gentle tug.

  “What?” I snap at him, unable to hide my pained expression when I turn to face him.

  “You’re limping. What is it?”

  “Nothing.” I slap on a big cheery—and very fake smile—which he doesn’t buy, if the dirty look on his face is anything to go by.

  “You were always a crap liar. You’re hurting. What’s wrong?” I scowl at him, squaring my shoulders as I try to stand up to his macho, mind-reading, hot-guy stare.

  His lips twitch, and I know I’ve lost this round. Growling in frustration, I lift my feet up one at a time, bending down to remove the torture devices called shoes that have my toes throbbing as if they’ve been beaten with a baseball bat.

  His mouth drops open when he sees the state of my feet. “Screw the train, we’re jumping in a cab. You should’ve told me you were in pain.”

  “I didn’t realize they were that bad.”

  He levels me with a ‘don’t bullshit me’ look. How can he tell me off without a single word crossing his lips? Maybe I dodged a bullet all those years ago if this is how he acts.

  Who am I kidding? I loved his bossy protectiveness way back then, and seeing it again now is giving me tingles in all the right places.

  Wrong places—totally wrong places. I think about unsexy things: smelly socks, bad breath, anything other than my hot ex-boyfriend who has filled out in the best places in the best possible ways, and who, like fine wine, has only gotten better with age.

  “You’re checking me out, Sez.”

  “Am not,” I retort, too quickly and defensively to be anything but a lie.

  “Right, let’s go with that then. Why are you looking at me like I’m a juicy piece of meat and you haven’t eaten in a week?”

  “More like six months,” I mutter, feeling all too aware of his attention on me.

  “I know you wouldn’t have been celibate, Sarah, but don’t piss me off by making me think about you and other men.”

  That hit a nerve. “Like you’re a choir boy,” I shoot back, the pressure in my head rapidly increasing.

  “Never proclaimed to be. I was in and out of the country for the better part of twelve years, living in the desert and witnessing unfathomable things. I’d have to have been a saint not to need distractions whenever I was on leave.”

  “Now who’s trying to piss who off?”

  “Just putting the shoe on the other foot.” He looks down at the heels hanging from my fingers and chuckles. “So to speak…”

  “Don’t make me laugh when I’m grouchy.”

  Leaning in, he reaches out and runs his hand down my arm from my elbow to my fingers before looping the straps of my shoes in his thumbs and pulling back.

  “You don’t have to—”

 
“Babe, you know what I’m like.”

  “I know what you used to be like.”

  “The only things that have changed are that I’ve grown up a bit, and I have a few gray hairs threatening to take up residence on my head, but I hear that’s hot for guys now.” His grin is so endearing, I find it near impossible not to smile back at him. I do try to hold out though, for at least a few moments. “But I still have manners. I still know how to treat a woman, and because of that, we’re now catching a cab so you don’t have to walk in those heels anymore or go barefoot through the streets of Chicago.”

  Breathless, thy name is Sarah. I’m starting to realize that resistance to anything Cameron-related is going to be futile. The best I can hope for is a zombie apocalypse or a meteor strike. Without either of those, I can see myself melting like putty in this man’s hands—which should be the least of my worries.

  “You have changed, you know,” I say as he holds out his hand, trying to hail a cab coming down the street without any luck.

  His eyes slide to mine. “And how’s that?”

  “You’re more aware of the world around you.”

  “You can tell that after spending an hour with me?” he says with a quirked brow.

  I look at my phone and snigger. “An hour and a half actually.”

  The corner of his mouth tips up. “My apologies. That extra thirty minutes makes all the difference apparently.”

  “As a man, I thought you’d appreciate any extra time you can get.”

  “Never had a problem with stamina. You of all people should know that,” he replies matter-of-factly. My cheeks heat as I remember exactly what he used to be like in that department.

  “Or humility it seems,” I say with amusement. “But why is it that men’s brains always default to sex? I mention time, you immediately think I’m talking about the length of time you take to. . .”

  “Time I take to? Please continue. This conversation has gone from fun to downright interesting.” His eyes dance with amusement and are totally focused on me.

  I blush. “You know what I mean.”

  “Oh, you mean the length of time I can hold off before emptying myself inside you…?” His eyes darken now, the heat in them threatening to scorch me on the spot as he closes the distance between us, and he’s all I can see, smell, and feel. “But only after I’ve wrung you dry and made you come over and over again.”

  Jesus Christ, is it getting hot out here? Or just wet?

  It’s then that a cab pulls up to the curb beside us and honks its horn. Talk about being saved by the bell… or the cab. Whatever I’m calling it, it’s a welcome reprieve to my senses and resistance because any more talk of stamina and wringing me dry, and I would’ve been at risk of causing my own scandal in the middle of the sidewalk. At least now I’ve got some time to shore up my defenses before commencing the next round of sexy banter and loaded innuendoes—weapons he’s bound to use against me, since they’ve always been my kryptonite.

  And he obviously still knows it.

  “Where to?” the driver asks when I slide in beside Sarah and close the door.

  “Northwestern hospital.”

  Sarah’s head snaps my way. “Ah, Cam, my feet aren’t that bad.”

  The cab pulls out into traffic as I turn toward her. “Good to know, but what I have planned for us requires a car, and since going to get mine would take up our time together, I’m going to grab Cade’s.”

  “Oh.” Her brows lift in surprise. “He works at the hospital? So he really became a doctor?”

  I grin and nod. “He really did.”

  “I bet that made your parents happy.”

  “It did, but only because being a doctor is much more acceptable than enlisting without asking permission.”

  “Well, you kind of knew that would happen,” she replies, the corner of her mouth curling up.

  “I kinda did.” I smile back at her, her mood as infectious as it always was.

  “So how is Cade?”

  “He’s good,” I say, relaxing back into the seat. “He’s married and has a baby on the way.”

  “Wow, that’s all very grown up.”

  I chuckle because that’s exactly what I’ve been thinking. There comes a time when every man has to settle down.

  “And you? Are you a grown-up now?”

  “Do I look grown-up?”

  “You’re definitely not the boy I knew back then.”

  “Oh yes I am, I’m just bigger, older, and a hell of a lot wiser.”

  She beams at me. “Mmm hmm.”

  “Well hopefully by the end of today, I will have proven it to you.”

  “You mean, you want to spend the rest of the day together?” she asks, her eyes going big.

  “Got somewhere to be?”

  “Well, no… but—”

  I reach over and tangle her fingers with mine. “Sez, I said we were gonna talk, and I meant it. But before that, I want us to spend time together. I want the chance to reconnect.”

  She looks down at our joined hands and tries to move away. When she doesn’t succeed, she meets my gaze. “Isn’t that what we’re doing?”

  “Yes, and we’ll be doing more of it.”

  “Right,” she huffs.

  I give her a gentle squeeze, bringing her attention back to me. “Look, if you really don’t want it, I’m not gonna force it. Everything was always so easy between us and just from the time we’ve been together today, I’m sensing that nothing’s changed. But if you aren’t feeling it, I’ll drive you home and we can go our separate ways again.”

  “No I do,” she replies quickly. “I just… this is really weird for me. I haven’t seen you in so long but I have thought about you. A lot actually.”

  “I thought about you too,” I say quietly.

  “Then why didn’t you—”

  “Why didn’t I turn up on your doorstep and make the grand gesture?”

  “Or return my letters?” Her tone is sharp. I’ve hit a nerve.

  “If I’d opened those letters, I would’ve been on the first plane back home.”

  She blinks rapidly. “You didn’t read them?”

  “Not until I moved into my house a year ago and unpacked all of my things.”

  Her eyes go big. “But you kept them? You didn’t read them, but you stowed them away in some long-forgotten box?”

  “Of course I kept them. There’s no way in hell I’d ever throw those out.”

  “But why, then? Why keep them? Why think about me? You turn up today and now that everything is screwed up, you want to whisk me away for some impromptu trip down Memory Lane.” She shakes her head and takes a deep breath, turning to look out the window. “Did you ever think that maybe I don’t want this? I mean, you haven’t made an effort to find me so far—why are you suddenly hell-bent on being with me now?”

  I lift our hands between us, forcing her to turn back to me. I clutch our fists to my chest and dip my forehead to rest against hers. “Because everything happens for a reason, and I’m someone who’s learned to embrace the moment.”

  Then comes the question I’ve known was coming and am surprised she hasn’t asked yet. “Why did you never come find me?”

  “Because I wanted to be a grown-up when I turned up at your door and made you mine again, and by the end of today, I’m hoping to have proven to you that I am.”

  Thirty minutes in an enclosed space with Sarah tested my limits, but I survived without doing anything stupid or jumping her. Luckily, we’d found a park just a few spots down from her building so now Sarah just needs to get changed and we’ll be off to our next destination.

  “At least the elevator is working now,” she says, sliding her key into the lock and opening her apartment door

  I close the door behind me, then turn and lock eyes with a big ginger cat, the likes of which I’ve never seen lounging on a giant gray sectional. He almost looks as if he’s part tiger, part Chupacabra. That’s to say he’s got a face only a mother would l
ove, and since Sarah was always one to go for the underdog—or cat—I’m pretty sure she fell head over heels at first sight.

  “Hello Mister Mistoffelees, did you miss me?” she asks the feline in a hilarious baby voice. Bending down in front of the sofa, she dips her head and rubs her nose all over the cat’s face, the animal purring like a freight train as she does it.

  As if she remembers I’m in the room, she twists her neck to meet my eyes, a sheepish smile playing on her lips.

  “Sez?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Your cat is—”

  “Don’t finish that sentence, Carsen. You’ll hurt her feelings.”

  My eyes grow wide. “It’s a girl?”

  She gives the cat one last pat before standing up straight and glaring at me. “Of course she’s a girl.”

  “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and all that. Especially when you call her Mister,” I mutter, raking my hand over my mouth to hide my grin. She narrows her eyes at me and shakes her head.

  “I heard that. It must be a guy thing; Wyatt doesn’t like her either, and he lives with her.”

  “Wyatt lives here?”

  “Yeah, he’s my roommate.”

  And the plot thickens.

  “Anyway, help yourself to anything from the kitchen. I’m just gonna go get changed.”

  “I think I’ll just stand here. I’d hate to get within attacking distance of that thing… I mean, cat.”

  “You’re pushing it now. Go over and pat her; I bet you’ll charm her like you do the rest of the female race.”

  I tilt my head and smirk. “Does that mean I’ve charmed you?”

  She giggles, and the sound reminds me of how we used to be, when we’d spend hours just lying close, talking, laughing, kissing, and… you get the drift.

  “Go on,” I say, shooing her off. “I’ll be fine here while you get changed into something more comfortable.”

  Her responding snort makes me smile. “I bet you say that to all the girls.”

  “I definitely didn’t mean that the way it sounded,” I reply.

  Her eyes dance with amusement as she looks me up and down, slowly perusing my body like I’m a piece of eye candy put on this earth for her consumption. “Well…” She draws out the word. “I suppose that’s good. I’d hate to have to lock you outside while I get dressed.”