Dirty Little Mistake (Hard to Love #2)

Chapter 43

Camryn

S unlight warmed my closed eyelids as Trystan's chest rose and fell against my back, his arm draped heavily across my waist. I couldn't stop the smile spreading across my face as I kept my eyes shut, trying to preserve this moment a little longer.

"Good morning, beautiful." His morning-rough voice vibrated against the curve where my neck met my shoulder. When his lips pressed against my skin, a shiver rippled from that point of contact down to my toes, leaving a path of goosebumps across my skin.

"Mmmm." I arched into his touch, my body moving on pure instinct. "What time is it?"

He traced lazy circles on my hip. "I have no idea." His words brushed against my skin like silk as his lips mapped a lazy trail from my shoulder to my neck. "I want to stay in this spot, holding you like this all day."

A laugh bubbled up from my chest. "We can't. We have wedding stuff to do."

His fingers splayed possessively across my stomach. "No one will miss us."

His teeth grazed the shell of my ear, and I clutched the sheets, fighting to keep my voice steady. "Oh yes, they will." There was nothing more I wanted than to spend all day in bed with him, but we couldn't, and we couldn't go public about us yet, either. "Hey." I rolled onto my side to face him, the mattress shifting beneath us. His eyes were still heavy with sleep, dark lashes casting shadows on his cheeks in the morning light. The few inches between us felt electric. "I want to keep this," I placed my hand on his bare chest, feeling his heartbeat strong and steady against my palm, "us, a secret for now."

His brows pulled together, a shadow crossing his face that made my stomach clench. His fingers traced a burning path along my throat before cradling my jaw, his thumb ghosting over my lips in a touch so gentle it almost broke me. "I think they're going to notice."

"Well, for now," I said, trying to focus as his other arm slid under my head. "I want this to just be us."

"Does this have anything to do with Owen?"

Biting down on my bottom lip, I hesitated to answer. "Maybe. A little. But mostly, I just don't want to cause drama this weekend. Kai and Jax's wedding is on Saturday. The last thing they need is to worry about us."

He pursed his full lips, his gaze lifting over my head like he was thinking about what I had said. "So you want to be my dirty little secret?"

"For a few days." I smirked.

His fingers dug into my hip, drawing me in until we were chest-to-chest. "Okay," he murmured. His hand slid up to cradle my jaw, thumb pressing gently beneath my chin to tilt my face toward his.

My eyes fluttered shut, lips parting in anticipation. "But only until the wedding is over." The words ghosted across my mouth before his lips claimed mine.

He shifted, pressing me back into the mattress as his free hand traced a deliberate path between us, down the column of my throat, between my breasts, leaving a trail of fire across my skin until his fingertips teased the sensitive skin above the waistband of my panties.

His lips captured mine as his tongue slipped through my parted lips, tangling with mine until I was breathless.

I tore my mouth from his gasping for air, and his lips trailed down my throat, teeth grazing my pulse point as his hand skimmed lower. My breath hitched when his fingers disappeared beneath the elastic of my waistband, each touch deliberate and knowing. He traced lazy circles against my heated skin, making my hips arch toward his hand.

"Can you come quietly for me, baby?" His words vibrated against my collarbone.

I pressed my lips together, managing a shaky nod as his fingers found their target with devastating precision. Every muscle in my body tensed in anticipation. I sucked in a harsh breath. "Actually, maybe we shouldn't." He pulled his hand away from my skin, and I groaned.

"Don't you," I forced his hand back, "dare stop."

The corners of his lips tugged up into a cocky smirk as he slid his fingers through my wetness, finding my clit again. He moved in tight little circles, and my lips parted on a soft moan.

"Shhh," he breathed through my parted lips as his speed increased, and so did my breathing, each breath carrying a tiny moan. His free hand wrapped around my mouth, silencing my moans. "Now come for me, baby."

The door crashed open like a gunshot, and I shot up, shifting Trystan to my side.

"Cam..." My name died in Owen's throat as his gaze tracked from my face to Trystan's hand, still intimate between my thighs. The silence stretched, thick enough to choke on. Each second felt like glass about to shatter.

Time crystallized in that moment—Trystan's hand frozen, my breath caught mid-gasp, the morning light suddenly harsh and exposing. Owen filled the doorway, his familiar silhouette transformed into something dangerous by the rigid set of his shoulders.

When Owen finally laughed, the sound was wrong—hollow and sharp-edged. "Un-fucking-believable." The words fell like ice between us. He shook his head, a gesture so familiar it made my chest ache, before spinning on his heel. His footsteps echoed down the hallway.

"Fuck." I scrambled out of bed, my bare feet hitting the cold hardwood floor. The oversized t-shirt fell to mid-thigh as I rushed into the hallway, painfully aware of how exposed I was in just my panties. "Owen!"

"Let him go," Trystan called from the bed.

I ignored him, my feet slapping against the floor as I chased Owen's retreating back. "Owen, stop!" My voice echoed off the hallway walls.

"What, Cam?" Owen whirled to face me, his voice cracking like a whip. "What?" I stumbled back. The narrow hallway suddenly felt suffocating, with Owen's six-foot frame towering over me. His hands clenched and unclenched at his sides as he advanced one step. "You know it really didn't take you long to move on, did it?"

My head recoiled in confusion. "Owen, you cheated on me."

"Let's not pretend like you didn't fuck Trystan the night before we started dating."

My lips parted in shock, and my eyes went wide. How did he know that?

"Do not talk to her like that," Trystan growled. I flashed a warning look over my shoulder to see Trystan standing behind me in his boxer briefs.

"Trystan, just go back to bed," I ordered. My chest tightened, and I realized that he had told Owen about us.

A door creaked open down the hall. Syn emerged, her hair a wild, sleepy mess. Harlow appeared behind her, hanging back in the doorway as she took in the scene: Owen and I squared off in the narrow hallway, Trystan's muscled form bristling with the tension between us.

"What's going on?" Syn's gaze darted between the three of us, her bare feet shifting on the hardwood floor.

"Nothing." Trystan's voice cut through the tension like a blade. He angled his body, trying to put himself between Owen and me. "Go back to bed."

I stepped out from behind him, wrapping my arms around my middle. "Owen, why don't we talk about this?"

"You want to talk about it?" Owen's lips twisted, and I saw it then—the pain I'd caused him, raw and festering. The same pain I'd been running from. "Okay. Let's talk. Maybe I wouldn't have cheated on you if you hadn't—" His eyes cut to Trystan, and I saw the moment his hurt hardened into something uglier. Something meant to wound.

"If you finish that fucking sentence—" Trystan's voice dropped to a tone I'd never heard before, something dangerous. He moved past me with lethal grace, his shoulder brushing mine. That brief contact told me everything—the tremor running through his muscles, the barely leashed violence in every line of his body.

The hallway's air grew thick with testosterone and threat. The muscle in Trystan's jaw jumped once, twice—a countdown to explosion. "You're going to eat your teeth for breakfast." The threat landed soft, almost gentle. Those were always the most dangerous promises.

"You cheated on her?" Syn asked. "What the fuck, Owen?"

"Can everyone just shut up," I shouted. "Please."

"Fuck this." Owen's face twisted with fury. "And fuck you, Cam. I'm not really into whores anywa?—"

The words died in his throat as Trystan's fist connected with his jaw. The impact cracked through the air like a gunshot. Owen staggered back, but Trystan was already moving, both men colliding and toppling sideways. They hit the floor hard enough to rattle the pictures on the walls, a tangle of flying fists and cursing. Each impact of knuckles against flesh echoed through the house like thunder.

My scream caught in my throat as flesh met flesh, each punch punctuated by grunts of pain and rage.

"Oh my god!" My voice was lost in the chaos of shouts echoing off the walls. Syn pressed herself against the wall to my left, her hand covering her mouth. Harlow had disappeared—probably to get help. The hallway felt too small, too crowded with bodies and craziness.

My heart thundered against my ribs as I searched for an opening to intervene.

Jaxtyn burst through the stairwell, his broad shoulders filling the space. He shouldered past me, wrapped his arms around Trystan's waist, and hauled him backward. Trystan's feet skidded on the hardwood as he fought against Jax's grip, still trying to reach Owen. "What the fuck is going on?"

No one said anything.

"I don't know what's going on—" Jax's voice cut through the chaos. The words fell into the sudden silence, heavy with authority"—but this ends. Now."

Blood dripped steadily from Owen's split lip. Trystan's chest heaved against Jax's restraining arm, each breath sounding like it was being torn from his lungs.

"Then tell your fucking friend," Trystan's words came out ragged, "not to call my girlfriend a whore."

The word 'girlfriend' landed like another punch in the hallway. Jax's scowl deepened as his gaze tracked from face to face, piecing together the story written in our expressions, our positions, our silence.

"Wait." Understanding dawned in his eyes, followed quickly by something like resignation. I'd come here as Owen's girlfriend, and now I was with Trystan. "Your girlfriend?"

"He fucking cheated on her."

"Okay," Jax said, pushing Trystan's chest and forcing him to take a step back. "Listen, this can't happen right now. Kaia's pregnant and already stressed about the wedding. So all of you need to let whatever this is go for the weekend."

My gaze flashed between all of them, waiting for one of them to say something.

"Do you understand me?"

"Yeah," Owen finally said. "I got it."

"Trystan?" Jax asked.

"Yeah."

"Everyone, go back to your rooms and cool off. Just stay away from each other." No one moved. "Go," Jax roared. Trystan's shoulders stiffened, but he stormed off back to the bedroom, and Owen bolted down the stairs, leaving Jax and I alone in the hallway after Harlow and Syn retreated to their rooms.

"Do you know what you're doing?" Jax asked, his voice gentle.

I shook my head, throat tight. "No." The truth felt like glass in my mouth. "I just know I can't lose him again. Either of them." Because that was the real problem—Owen had been my safety net, my best friend before anything else. And Trystan... He was Trystan. The fantasy I'd been obsessed with forever. Who broke my heart and now swore he was ready to repair it. The one I was head-over-heels in love with.

"You need to figure it out, Cam." Jax's words landed heavily on my shoulders. "Before they kill each other."

Or before I destroyed us all.