End of Lies

by Sara Dailey

  When his eyes met my half-naked body, he stopped in his tracks with a look of complete shock on his face. I shot him a scandalous smile, knowing I could turn his scared-shitless expression into one of lustful desire as soon as I got my hands on him.

  “Come here, Gavin. I won’t bite…much,” I teased.

  He continued to stand there frozen in place. “Kendall, this is not a good idea. As I think I mentioned before, I do not have a death wish. If word got back to Drew, he would kill me without question.”

  Jeez, why did he have to be such a good guy? I knew he wanted me. Who wouldn’t? Gavin just needed a bit more convincing. He needed to realize that this would so be worth it. I stood up and walked over to stand before him. His eyes roamed over my body and then back up to my face. Yeah, he wanted me. There was no denying it, so I took his hand in mine. I brought it up to my lips and kissed his palm before I guided it down my neck, over my chest, and then placed it on my breast.

  His breathing slowed, but his heart rate increased, and I knew without a doubt that he was into this. His scent and pure desire washed over me as I molded my body to his. Looking up into his eyes, I slipped my hands under the hem of his shirt and then took my time allowing my fingertips to trace the hard, defined muscles of his abs and chest. Needing to feel his skin against my own, I lifted up his shirt, and he helped me pull it over his head.

  My eyes took in his perfectly sculpted body, and I couldn’t take it any longer. I needed this man. I needed to feel his hands all over me. I needed to feel his weight on top of me as he claimed me for the first time. My arms wrapped around his neck, and I pulled him closer. His lips finally met mine, and this time he kissed me back, gentle at first and then…

  Ouch! What the hell was that?

  I pulled back and looked up at Gavin, but immediately my vision began to blur and my legs turned to Jell-O. Then I think I heard, “I’m so sorry, Kendall,” before everything faded to black.

  CHAPTER 43

  Cami

  I’d hardly left the safe room all day. After my call to Cade, I decided to make it my life’s mission to observe every move made by the Crescent Hills’ elite, memorize every guard’s patrol path, and figure out how to beat this pack at their own game, all the while ignoring the fact that Gavin and Kendall had yet to come out of his new home.

  By ten o’clock the hunger pangs in my stomach became too much to ignore, so I begrudgingly left my post in search of food. There wasn’t much left to choose from, but I knew my mother had a secret stash of ramen noodles hidden in the pantry. She’d never admit it aloud, but it was her favorite stress food. Some people gorged on chocolate, others drank wine. My crazy mother ate ramen in the dead of night when no one was around all because she was too snooty to just admit that she loved the cheap, nasty, dried-up noodley brick. Tonight, I was quite thankful for her dirty little secret.

  It wasn’t long before I was right back in my chair shifting through camera angles, looking for anything and nothing. The only camera view that never changed was the one directed at Gavin’s place. I briefly wondered if Kendall left while I was gone. No, surely not. She was most likely taking full advantage of his return.

  My mind wandered to a place where I took off out of this house, marched right over to his house, threw open the door, and caught his two-timing ass in the act. Before I knew it, I was switching camera views to check out the perimeter of my house, so I could time my grand escape.

  I stopped and started laughing at myself for my moment of insanity. I was not going to sneak out of here and risk my life for that no-good sack of shit! Not a chance! What the hell was I thinking?

  It wasn’t long before my laughter turned to tears, and I was cursing myself for being so damn pathetic. As I wiped away the evidence of my weakness, movement on the camera outside of my house caught my attention. I sat up and took a closer look.

  “Holy Mother of God! That freaking asshat,” I muttered as I watched Gavin sneaking around to the back of my house. “He going to get himself killed!”

  I jumped up from the chair and hurried to the back door to rescue him from his own stupidity. Sure, he deserved to fry for his transgressions, but if anyone was going to kill him, it was going to be me. Not Crescent Hills!

  I threw open the door just before he approached. Shock registered across his face as I grabbed his arm and pulled him inside. I let go as soon as he was safely in doors, and without a word, I marched straight to the safe room, knowing he would follow.

  Halfway there, he said, “Cami, listen. I have to—”

  I stopped in mid-stride, keeping my back to him, as I cut him off. “Don’t even try it, Gavin Reed. You don’t get to try to feed me your line of bullshit just yet, so you best just save it until I’m damn good and ready to listen. You’ll be lucky if I even give you the chance.” When he didn’t reply, I kept walking.

  Once inside his former little home, I turned around and laid into him. “Are you fucking kidding me right now? What the hell are you even doing here?”

  He reached out for my hand, but I jerked it away. His sad gaze hit the floor as he spoke. “Cami, you don’t understand. I—”

  “Don’t understand? Oh, I understand just fine! I saw you! I saw you meet up with Kendall. Kendall, for Christ’s sake! I trusted you, and you turned on me. On all of us!”

  “No! That’s not what happened.”

  Gavin reached for me again, and I shoved him away with every ounce of strength I could muster. “Don’t touch me, you sick son of a bitch! You’re a liar and a traitor, and you used me! Was it all just bullshit? You were just using me to find out what we were planning, weren’t you? Oh my God! I can’t believe I was so stupid!”

  This time he just didn’t reach for me; he wrapped his long arms around me, and no matter how hard I fought, he wouldn’t let go. I struggled against him, but he just held me tighter. “Let go of me!” I cried as tears streamed down my face. “I hate you, you evil piece of shit! You and Kendall deserve each other!”

  “Stop it, Cami. Just listen to me. Please! You have this all wrong. I promised you I’d never betray you. Never.”

  I stopped resisting, but he still didn’t let go. With my face buried in his chest, I muttered, “Liar. I know you’re lying. Why are you even here?”

  He kissed the top of my head and said, “I’m here for you. I had to get back to you. The truth is that I screwed up, and I got caught, Cami. I was an idiot and tried to follow you that night. I wanted to make sure you were safe.”

  “No, that’s not what happened. I watched the footage. You walked out to the main road. I saw you meet up with Kendall with my own two eyes.”

  Still wrapped up in his embrace, I couldn’t see him, but I could feel him shaking his head. “No, that may be what it looked like, but she caught me and then blackmailed me into staying. I walked out to that road because my dumb ass got lost. I lost your trail and knew the only way I would find the gates was if I followed the main road out. But Kendall spotted me. And after she realized that I’d been with you this whole time, she threatened to tell the pack and said you would be the one strung up on a tree next. I couldn’t let that happen.”

  It was my turn to shake my head. I wanted to believe him. My heart was begging me to trust him, but I couldn’t. My head told me again and again that he was a liar, a traitor; he was the bad guy. But what I couldn’t figure out was why he came back. If he had really betrayed us, why come back?

  Slightly releasing his grip, Gavin pleaded, “Cami, please look at me.”

  I looked up into eyes full of pain and regret. Again my head started to shake back and forth. “No, Gavin. It’s not going to work. I saw you with Kendall. I saw you two, arm in arm. That was not the picture of blackmail. I know you’re—”

  Before I could finish, Gavin’s lips crashed into mine. With my head in his hands, he kissed me hard then pulled back to say, “I know what you saw, and I’m sorry. I did what I had to do to keep you safe. I wasn’t going to let Kendall hurt you even if t
hat meant playing into her hand, but I swear to you, Cami Moore. I’ll never lie to you. I’ll never betray you. And I’ll never leave you again because I love you. You’re mine and I’m yours, whether you like it or not.”

  CHAPTER 44

  Gavin

  By the look on Cami’s face, I could see that she was just as shocked by my confession as I was. I wasn’t even sure where the words came from. The feelings were there and had been for a while, but I never tried to put a name to them. Not love, and not so soon anyway. It was real though, and I meant it with every fiber of my being.

  Cami stood completely still; her eyes locked on mine. I released my grip on her and took her hands. They trembled, and I thought for a second that she might try to pull away, but she didn’t. Gently, I placed her shaking hands on my chest and admitted, “I mean it, Cami. You’re it for me. I don’t know how or when it happened, but it did. I love you.”

  Holding my breath, I just stood there and waited for her reply. When she didn’t speak, I reached out and tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear and said, “Say something.”

  She took my hand again, and my heart stopped beating. “Gavin, I…I,” Cami started, but when she couldn’t find the words, she kissed me. We were only apart for a single day, but when her lips touched mine, the agony of being without her flooded into my soul. I hadn’t realized just how much I needed her. Her touch filled me with such warmth, my insides erupted into flames.

  Pulling her body flush against mine, I deepened our kiss and took my time exploring her mouth, memorizing the shape of her lips and savoring the delicious taste of her kiss. But as each second passed, my control began to slip. Just kissing Cami wasn’t enough anymore. I needed her intoxicating scent all over me, and I needed it now.

  I had to have a moment to clear my head. I pulled away, breaking our kiss, but the desire in Cami’s eyes told me everything I needed to know. She felt the same way I did. Taking her by the hand, I led her into the small bedroom inside the safe room. When I paused to shut and lock the door, Cami stopped in front of the bed and turned to face me.

  Without uttering a sound, Cami pulled her shirt over her head and tossed it to the floor by her feet. I was entranced. She was so beautiful, and she was all mine. I had to be the luckiest guy in the world.

  As I walked over to her, my eyes never left hers. Cami smiled up at me as she slid my jacket off my shoulders and lifted my shirt up. Reaching behind me, I grabbed the neck of my shirt and pulled it over my head to help her remove it.

  She ran her fingers down my chest, searing a trail on my skin, and I sucked in a breath as my muscles tightened. When she licked her lips, I nearly came apart right then and there.

  “You are so beautiful,” I said as I ran my fingers down her face. She closed her eyes, completely absorbed in the moment. In my touch. I kissed her again, gently at first, but quickly gave in to every ounce of need and yearning coursing through me. I backed Cami up until her legs hit the bed behind her. She broke our kiss but only to ease back on top of the bed. Wasting no time, I climbed in after her. My lips returned to hers as my hand skimmed up her side to find her breast. She moaned into my mouth when my thumb teased her peak.

  As if she could read my mind, Cami pushed me up so that she could reach behind and unfasten her bra. As soon as the silky fabric was gone, my mouth watered for a taste. I trailed kisses down her neck, stopping to pay special attention to her beautiful breasts, and then worked my way down her flat stomach.

  Cami’s unique scent mixed with the smell of desire was like a drug that I couldn’t get enough of. As I kissed my way back up to find her mouth again, she reached down and slipped out of her yoga pants, sending my lust-fueled mind into overdrive.

  Our hands and lips were everywhere and becoming increasingly desperate with each passing second. Unsure of how far she wanted to take this, I knew I needed to slow things down before my brain shut down all together and pure instinct took over.

  Easing off of Cami, I was rewarded by a moan of frustration as she grinded her core against my throbbing shaft. At that point, all reasonable thought was lost, and with my lips still on hers, I slipped my hand inside the silk of her panties. Cami whimpered against my mouth as my fingers sought out her warmth, and hearing my name cross her lips while she rocked her hips back and forth made me desperate to be inside of her.

  Again, as if our minds were somehow connected, Cami grabbed my shoulders and pushed me down beside her. Before I knew it, she had climbed on top of me. “I love you too, Gavin,” she whispered as she unfastened my jeans, “and I want you. All of you.”

  *****

  I woke up sometime in the middle of the night with Cami still wrapped around me, warm and completely naked. I thought she was asleep until I felt her soft, swollen lips gently kissing my chest.

  “I need to get to my room. Just in case,” she told me. Nodding, I kissed her forehead. “I know. I was about to wake you.”

  Cami started to get up, but I grabbed her and pulled her back on top of me. “Tonight was incredible,” I whispered.

  Cami chastely kissed my lips and smiled. “I love you,” she said, snuggling up in the crook of my neck. I squeezed her tighter before telling her that I loved her too, and then I reluctantly let her go, knowing that she wasn’t safe in my bed.

  I propped myself up and allowed myself the pleasure of watching Cami get dressed. “Did you find anything out from your dad that we could use?” she asked before she smiled, surely at the needy expression on my face that I couldn’t have hidden if I’d tried.

  Shaking away the dirty thoughts running rampant in my mind, I said, “Nothing definitive, although it did sound like they were planning on ending this charade very soon. Whatever ‘ending’ means. In any case, we need to move fast.”

  Cami leaned down, kissed me, and said, “I like that you said we.” I took her hand and pulled her down to sit next to me on the bed just before she finished her thought. “I know you’re with me, Gavin. I was just so sick about it yesterday. It’s nice to hear again,” she admitted, looking down at our entwined fingers.

  “I go wherever you go from now on. I won’t let anyone come between us again,” I told her, lifting her chin so that she could see the promise in my eyes.

  “I spoke to Cade earlier. After Kendall left here the other day, I got a bad feeling, so I told him that we needed to hurry. He agreed and told me to be ready. We are making our move within the next twenty-four hours.”

  “We’ll be ready,” I assured her.

  She nodded her head and smiled. “I’d better go. Goodnight, Gavin,” she said before she kissed me once more.

  She was almost out the door when a thought occurred to me. “Baby, you better go take a shower. Kendall could smell you on me earlier, and I’m guessing she would definitely smell me on you now,” I said with a wink. “I have a feeling she might be paying you a visit as soon as she wakes up. I kinda had to knock her out in order to escape. Let’s just say, my father’s medical kit actually came in handy.”

  “You didn’t!” she exclaimed with a smile.

  “Yeah, I did.”

  CHAPTER 45

  Kendall

  My brain felt like mush when I slowly opened my eyes to find the morning sun filtering in through the curtains. Wiping away the disgusting drool that had dribbled across my cheek, I sat up and glanced around the empty room. My mind flooded with images of last night as it tried to piece together what had happened and how I’d ended up passed out in the guest room of Gavin’s house.

  I reached up and touched my neck. That bastard!

  Standing up on shaky legs, I found my balance, got dressed and slipped on my shoes before I snuck down the stairs and out the front door. There was no need to search the house. If Brian were there, what would I say? Besides, I was sure Gavin was gone. And there was only one place he could possibly be if he was still on the estate.

  Halfway to Cami’s house, I regretted not using the bathroom or grabbing a bottle of water before I lef
t. My mouth felt like sandpaper, and I was quite sure I could drink a gallon of water and still not quench my thirst, but it was too late now.

  I banged on Cami’s door with vengeance, more than ready to lay into the stupid whore, but I had more important things to attend to, and when it didn’t take her long to answer, I almost thanked her before I pushed my way in and practically ran to the nearest bathroom. Thankfully, she had mouthwash.

  When I came out, she was standing there waiting with her arms crossed over her chest. “Well, good morning to you too,” she scoffed.

  Staring her down, I demanded, “Where is he? I know he’s here!”

  Not backing down one bit, the snarky little bitch replied, “What the hell are you talking about, Kendall? I’m the only one here.”

  I picked up a lock of her hair and took a deep whiff, surprised to not find a trace of Gavin’s scent on her. But her smirk gave her away. So she was smart enough to shower; maybe she wasn’t as stupid as I thought. Who was I kidding? It was probably his idea. “You’re not fooling me, Cami. I know Gavin’s been here. Where is he?”

  Before she had a chance to deny it, I shoved her out of the way and began my search. She followed behind me every step of the way, assuring me that she hadn’t seen him since he’d run off.

  She even had the nerve to pretend to be pissed at him. “Seriously Kendall, even if he had shown back up here, I would have told him to get the hell off of my property. That is if I didn’t kill him first for being a lying piece of shit. He’s a traitor to both your pack and mine. You really think I’d let him back in after what he did?”

  I stopped and turned to face her. “You’re actually going to stand there and call Gavin a liar? I may not smell him on you, but I can sniff out bullshit like nobody’s business. And Cami, you’re full of shit, and we both know it.”