The Trouble With You

by L A Cotton

  “Now,” his voice was cold. “Want to explain to me what the fuck you think you’re doing?”

  “Hmm, about that… Well, I thought Jason’s car needed a little facelift?” It came out more of question than the sarcastic wisecrack I’d been shooting for.

  Cameron blew out an exasperated breath and I’m sure I heard him whisper, “You’re not making this easy for me.” But I figured my ears were playing drunken tricks on me. “You couldn’t just walk away, could you?” His eyes pinned me to the spot.

  But screw that.

  And screw him.

  “Then maybe you should rein your boy in.” I jabbed my finger at him. “I can take him messing with me. But not Flick. She’s not a part of this.”

  He leaned in, curling his fingers around mine. “And you don’t think when he finds out you did this, he’ll come after you with everything he’s got? Think about it, Sunshine.”

  “Stop calling me that.” I couldn’t think straight when he said it.

  Cameron’s mouth curved, only a fraction, but enough for me to know he was enjoying this. Asshole. He was just like my step-brother. Worse even, because there had been a time when I truly believed he was different. But I was young and foolish and I’d learned my lesson where Cameron Chase was concerned.

  “What are you going to do?” He frowned at that, so I added, “Are you going to tell him?”

  “Let me worry about Jason, you just worry about yourself.”

  “What the hell does that mean?”

  More voices pierced the air and Cameron glanced to the gate beside the garage. “Shit,” he mumbled. “You need to get out of here.”

  “But what about—”

  “Hailee, just go. Now.”

  “Hails?” Flick burst through the trees, her eyes glassy and wide, panic etched into her soft features. Cameron cussed under his breath. “Are you both drunk?” he sounded pissed.

  “I… we…” My eyes moved to the gate, the clunk of metal catching my attention.

  “Get her out of here, now. And don’t come back.” Cameron wasn’t talking to me now, he was glaring at Felicity as if she was somehow to blame for all this.

  “Don’t look at her like that,” I started but Flick already had her hand on my arm, trying to pull me away.

  “Yo, Chase? You out here?” My step-brother’s voice was close now. “I thought I heard a car.”

  “Go, now,” Cameron’s voice was a deadly whisper.

  Vodka obviously gave Flick super-strength because she yanked me into the trees like I weighed nothing, Cameron’s face no longer fully visible through the leaves. “What the hell was that?” she hissed.

  But I couldn’t answer because I didn’t have one.

  “Motherfucker!” The boom of Jason’s voice, the anger dripping from every syllable, drowned out all my thoughts.

  “Shit.” I jumped into action. “We need to get out of here, now.” My hand found Flick’s and started pulling as I moved quickly through the woods. We’d walked to Asher’s house from Flick’s. She only lived a couple of blocks over, but it was far enough for Jason to find us if we didn’t hurry the hell up.

  Once we were clear of the Bennets' property, we ran. Neither of us were very athletic but we didn’t need an excuse tonight. Our feet pounded the ground, trees and branches rushing past us, shadows dancing across my vision. When we spilled out of the woods onto the street, I’d never been happier to see Flick’s house up in the distance.

  “Come on,” I said breathlessly, linking my arm through hers, and glancing over my shoulder one last time. “We should probably get inside.”

  Forty minutes later, we were both showered and lying on Flick’s bed in our pajamas. “I can’t believe Cameron caught you,” she said, taking a bite of Twizzler.

  “I wonder what he told Jason.”

  “I guess you’ll know soon enough.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” My brows crinkled.

  “Well, if he does tell Jason, you can expect some awful retaliation, and if he doesn’t, then I guess you’re safe… for now.”

  “You make it sound like an episode of Game of Thrones.”

  “More like the Battle of the Sexes,” she joked, and I nudged her shoulder with mine.

  “It was weird though, right? Cameron could have cussed me out right there, but he didn’t. He told us to go.” Flick smirked, and I added, “What?”

  “Nope. Nothing…”

  “Come on, tell me.”

  “I know you think he doesn’t want you, Hails, but you have to admit, it seemed a little bit like he was protecting you.”

  “Protecting me?” I sounded incredulous. “Two minutes earlier he was saying goodnight to his little fuck piece.”

  “Little fuck piece?” Flick exploded with laughter, rolling onto her back, but I wasn’t laughing. I didn’t know what I was anymore. Senior year was turning out to be more confusing than I anticipated.

  I rolled over too, lying shoulder to shoulder with her. We both stared up at the ceiling, letting the events of the night settle over us. “Did you have fun?”

  “Fun?” she balked. “Getting chased off Asher Bennet’s property by Cameron after you tagged Jason’s car, isn’t my idea of fun, Hails. Why?” Suspicion dripped from her question. “Did you have fun?”

  “I think I’m wired wrong,” I admitted. Because while I’d been terrified coming face to face with Cameron, I couldn’t deny a part of me liked it. The danger, the heart-pounding thrill as I stickered Jason’s car with his rival’s logo.

  “You’re not wired wrong,” Flick sounded sad. “You’re just so used to being on the defensive, to playing these stupid games with Jason, that it’s altered your perception of what’s fun and what isn’t.”

  “You mean I’m hardened?” I flinched, remembering the word she’d called me earlier at Ice T’s. It already felt like a lifetime ago.

  “Yes… and no. I do think you're hardened, Hails, but you’ve had to be, I get that. But this thing with you and Jason, the constant back and forth; you don’t have to prove anything to him.”

  Prove anything?

  She thought I was trying to prove myself to him?

  “That’s not what I’m doing,” I said, but as the words came out, I realized maybe she had a point. Jason had been so quick to write me off when our parents first got together. He never even gave me a chance. And maybe part of me engaging in this battle of wills with him was about more than knocking him off the pedestal the school, the town, put him on. Maybe deep down, I wanted him to realize I was a good person. A person worth knowing.

  A sister worth having.

  Ugh. I hated feeling like this. Weak and at his mercy.

  I hated feeling like Jason’s opinion of me mattered at all.

  Rolling onto my side, I turned away from Flick. After a couple of seconds of silence, her voice drifted over me. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you.”

  “It’s fine,” I choked out, swallowing the tears threatening to fall.

  I wouldn’t cry.

  Not over this.

  And definitely not over my asshole of a step-brother and his friends.

  “I just don’t want to see you get hurt,” she said, rolling behind me. Flick slipped her arm around my waist and tucked herself against my back. “I know you, Hails, and I know you’d never let things go too far, but Jason? I’m not so sure about him. He has to be the best, come out on top, whatever the cost. You should know that by now.”

  I did.

  He was cold. Focused. Determined to succeed no matter what.

  And for as much as I talked a good talk, even walked it sometimes too, I wasn’t like him. I was hardened, yes, but I still had feelings. I still hurt. Cut me open and I was pretty sure I’d still bleed red, unlike Jason who would bleed blue and white. Or maybe even black to match the color of his soul.

  My best friend was right. If I wasn’t careful, this game between me and Jason was going to chew me up until nothing was left. It’s
what Cameron had been warning me about too. Jason wouldn’t stop. He’d keep pushing, keep coming at me, until I surrendered.

  But even knowing he might hurt me, that in the end, Jason might successfully smash through my walls, I still didn’t know if I could do it.

  I didn’t know if I could walk away.

  Cameron

  “After Thatcher talking shit on Twitter and Snapchat all week, my money's on him.” Asher took a long pull on his beer, slouching down in one of the La-Z-boy chairs in his games room.

  “Well he’s got a fucking death wish, if it was.” Jason’s whole demeanor radiated anger. After he saw his car—and Hailee’s handiwork—I thought he was going to detonate. Asher acted quickly and shut down the party, sending everyone home, while we tried to clean up his car and calm him the fuck down. We’d gotten the sticker off without any damage, but the paint was going to need removing professionally.

  “We can’t jump to any conclusions,” I said. “If we go after Thatcher and we’re wrong that could cost us—”

  “Yeah, but come on, man,” Asher folded his hands behind his head. “Who else is dumb enough to do something like... Hailee.” His eyes lit up. “It could have been her.”

  “Nah, man,” I said trying to act cool. “She’s up for a prank or two but criminal damage?”

  Jason was quiet. Too fucking quiet. I watched him out of the corner of my eye, trying to figure out what was going on in that head of his.

  “You checked the CCTV?” he asked Asher who nodded.

  “Like I said before, my old man switched off the system before the summer when it started glitching. He still hasn’t gotten around to fixing it.”

  Thank fuck.

  Jase grunted, rubbing his jaw. “Nah, Hailee wouldn’t do it. She’s ballsy but she’s doesn’t have balls big enough to pull something like this. It had to be Thatcher.”

  I didn’t know what to do. On the one hand, I could fess up and deliver Hailee right at his feet... or, I could withhold the truth and give him more ammunition to go after Thatcher.

  Either way, it was a shit show waiting to happen.

  But could I rat Hailee out knowing Jason would come after her with everything he had?

  “Still,” I said making my decision. “Without evidence, you need to tread carefully. Finnigan is just itching for an excuse to come down hard on you. If he so much as gets a whiff of trouble with East he’s going to pounce.”

  Jase sat back, considering my words. While Asher liked to stir trouble, I’d always been Jase’s voice of reason.

  “Fuck, I want to destroy that piece of shit.”

  “So, do it on the field, where it’ll hurt most.” Thatcher was much like Jason; hard-headed, arrogant, and devoted one-hundred-and-ten percent to the game. Losing to the Raiders would be almost as good as any retaliation Jase and Asher could dream up for him.

  “Or we go across river and show that fucker what the Raiders are really about,” Asher said around a shit-eating grin.

  I cut him with a hard look, but Jase surprised me when he said, “Nah, Chase is right. Although I’m ninety-five percent sure it was him or one of his guys, we can’t hit back. Not yet. Not with Finnigan breathing down our necks.”

  Asher grumbled under his breath but didn’t argue. Jase’s word was final, it always was.

  “Doesn’t mean I still don’t need to get Hailee back though.”

  “Now we’re talking.” Asher rubbed his hands together, mischief dancing in his eyes. “Can we play with Felicity too?”

  Jase’s expression hardened; only for a split-second, but I saw it.

  Interesting.

  “Nah, Hailee is right, this is between me and her.” Except he was all too happy to get us to do his dirty work now and again.

  Asher shrugged. “Yeah, whatever, man.”

  “I’m going to get another beer,” I said. “You guys want?”

  They both nodded and I left them to it. I was right to lie to Jason. If he knew Hailee was the one behind what happened to his car... well, I didn’t want to think about what he would do. But I realized now he wasn’t ever going to give up this game of cat and mouse with her. And if he misdirected his anger at Thatcher toward her, things could still get ugly.

  Unless Hailee was put in her place once and for all.

  Monday rolled around and everyone was talking about the upcoming pep rally. It was always a big deal with the whole school showing up to support the Raiders and welcome this year’s Varsity team. Khloe had been blowing up Jase’s cell phone all day wanting to know when they could get together to plan our grand entrance. Eventually, she’d pinned him down during his free period, but I’d left him to face her alone, saying I needed to show up for class. He’d pointed out that I was already late, but I’d just grinned and got the hell out of there.

  I hadn’t expected to walk straight into Hailee as I rounded the empty hall. “I need to talk to you.” She grabbed my arm and yanked me into the janitor’s closet.

  “Hello to you too.” I glared down at her, confused about how I felt about her manhandling me. On the one hand, my dick liked it. If the hard bulge in my jeans was anything to go by, it liked it a whole lot. But my head knew it was a dangerous game she was playing.

  “Why didn’t you tell Jason it was me?” Her eyes narrowed with suspicion, but I didn’t blame her. How could I when she had every right to be wary of me?

  “So, you heard the rumors then?” A slow smirk tugged at my lips. “About how Rixon East snuck across the river and tagged our captain's car? Tsk, tsk.”

  “Cameron...”

  “Sunshine...” My smirk grew.

  “God, you’re infuriating.” Hailee backed up, putting some space between us but it was the janitor’s closet so there really wasn’t much.

  My brow quirked up. “Me? I’m infuriating? You might want to take a long hard look in the mirror, Suns—”

  “Stop calling me that,” she snapped, before releasing an exasperated breath. “Why did you do it? Why did you protect me?”

  “You think that was me protecting you?” My gaze hardened as I folded my arms over my chest. “Sorry to burst your little bubble, but that wasn’t me protecting you. That was me protecting my best friend from himself. From doing something really fucked up.”

  “He’s a grown man,” she scoffed. “I’m pretty sure he’s quite capable of bearing the consequences of his actions.” It was Hailee’s turn to raise a brow.

  “You don’t understand.”

  How could she?

  “Ha, football.” The word was wrapped in bitterness. “It all comes back to football, doesn’t it?” Hailee shook her head with incredulity.

  “Jason has his whole career ahead of him. He doesn’t need to be distracted by you and your inability to know when to quit.”

  “I…” Her expression slipped and a bolt of guilt went through me, but it was quickly followed by something else. The thing living inside me that had gotten used to watching Hailee battle with Jason. That enjoyed her smart mouth and reckless actions.

  That craved them.

  Shit, I was so messed up when it came to her.

  “Admit it, Sunshine. You’re just like him. You can’t stand the thought of losing to him.” I lowered my face to hers. “I think you like these games. Like all the attention we give you. The attention I give you.”

  Her eyes flared with anger as she sucked in a harsh breath. It was only a small action but enough to pull my gaze to her lips. Those soft-pink kissable lips.

  Fuck it.

  She already hated me, she might as well hate me some more.

  I reached out for a strand of her silky hair, the same as I had when I’d paid her a visit in the art studio. “Cameron?” she asked, her voice uncertain and quiet and so unlike her. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

  “Like what, Hailee?”

  She swallowed, her tongue darting out to swipe across her bottom lip.

  And I was done.

  The thin rope of m
y control snapped, my mouth crashing down on hers as I threaded my hands into her hair and pressed us against the rack. Hailee’s fingers gripped my jersey, pulling me closer… or was she trying to push me away? I didn’t know, didn’t care, because the taste of her lips on mine, the way my tongue slid against hers, it consumed me until I was drowning in nothing but Hailee fucking Raine.

  My hand skated down her waist, sliding around to her ass to pull her closer, fitting our bodies together like two pieces of a puzzle. I was rock hard, my dick pressed up against her stomach, and fuck, if it didn’t feel good. If she didn’t feel good. But I was just getting into the kiss, rolling my hips into hers to get a little more friction, when she slammed her hands into my chest, shoving hard.

  I stumbled back as she shrieked, “What the hell, Cameron?” Her cheeks were flushed, her lips swollen. “What the hell was that?” I don’t know if she realized it, but her fingers ran across her lips, touching, as if she was unsure it had been real. But then her confusion melted away, replaced with anger.

  Red hot, fiery anger.

  And it was all directed on me.

  “That was... you can’t do that.” The words came out harsh, but she was tongue-tied and I couldn’t help but feel smug I’d affected her so much. Because fuck only knew, she affected me.

  “I can’t kiss you?” I teased. “I think I just did.”

  “Well, don’t do it again.” Her cheeks burned, the rise and fall of her chest quick. Oh, she wanted me to do it again all right, she just didn’t want to admit it.

  Stepping into Hailee’s space until her back hit the storage rack, I stared down at her. She was still breathless, confusion clouding her eyes. “You want me,” I said.

  “I do not,” she countered. “This... us... I hate you,” she seethed, but I wasn’t done playing with her. Sliding my hand along the curve of her neck, I leaned down, brushing my lips over the shell of her ear. “You can hate me all you want, Sunshine, but it doesn’t change the fact you’re probably wet for me right now.”