Chapter 11
Chapter Eleven
Alonzo
T rying my best to be quiet, I eased my door open and tiptoed out into the living room with my phone’s flashlight on.
The door next to mine swung open.
I glanced back at Cam, who stopped short at her doorway, a look of pained resignation on her face. She held her hand in front of her eyes, and I lowered my phone, which I’d instinctively pointed at her.
Closing the door, she strode toward me with quick, light steps, waving at me to go on. I opened the front door for her, and she slipped out. When I finished locking up, she was already trotting away in the direction of the beach.
Luckily, I had longer legs and had no problem catching up to her.
As I came up to her side, she let out an aggravated sigh. “Shouldn’t you have a hangover?”
“I have a slight headache, but the water should take care of it,” I said, matching my pace with hers. “And I’m used to waking up at five a.m.”
She harrumphed, and I wondered if it was because I was spared from the full consequence of drinking alcohol or because we had our early-bird tendencies in common.
She seemed determined to hold on to her dislike of me. I couldn’t fault her for that, especially after I’d snapped at her again last night. So much for making things up to her for the accident. “About yesterday?—”
Her groan tore through the quiet street. “We don’t need to talk about it.”
“Let me apologize, and I’ll stop talking.”
She gave the side-eye. “Are you actually capable of that?”
“Not talking?” I chuckled. “My girlfr—" I clamped my mouth shut. I didn’t have a girlfriend anymore, did I?
I’d always known there was a chance Dani would break up with me. That she’d realize she could do better. I just never imagined—never let myself consider—that she might step out on our relationship the way she did.
“So that’s why you’re here.”
I glanced at her, but she was looking straight ahead. All the better.
“She cheated on me.” The words shot out of my mouth before I could think twice. It was the first time I’d said them, and they tasted just as acidic on my tongue as they felt in my gut.
Cam turned her head, her face clear of any expression. No surprise, no pity. “How did you find out?”
“She told me. The day after Christmas when I picked her up for our date.”
A nod. “Damn.”
“Yeah.” My jaw tightened. “Of course, she did it with the guy I always thought would be perfect for her.” In fact, after Dani introduced me to Aaron, I asked if she’d ever had feelings for him. She’d vehemently said no. Told me she saw him as a brother.
Had that been a lie, or had her feelings simply changed?
I didn’t know what to believe anymore.
“That’s fucked up.”
“Yeah.” Cam didn’t say anything else, but she didn’t tell me to leave either.
I took that as a sign that I could continue talking.
Not that I could have stopped if I’d wanted to.
“I knew she was too good for me, but I tried to give her everything she wanted. We were going to be lawyers together before she caved to her parents’ demands.
We planned to see the world together. Have two kids. I thought she was it for me.”
“You thought she was the one even though you weren’t good enough for her?”
“I know. I was reaching?—”
She shook her head. “That’s not what I meant. Look, I don’t do relationships. But if I did, I’d want the two of us to be on equal footing.”
If that was a prerequisite, then Dani and I wouldn’t have dated in the first place. Hell, that would mean she and Aaron were destined for each other. Both their parents would probably throw a party if they did get together now. No—a gala .
“Shit.”
Cam’s sudden exclamation pulled me out of my contemplation. I focused on the scowl she aimed at some undistinguishable point in the distance.
“I thought you talking was annoying, but you being this quiet is freaking me out.”
That drew out a laugh from me despite everything.
“Sorry.” I didn’t know why I’d shared as much as I did, but something about her just had me talking.
It felt like I’d unloaded a bit of the weight off my chest, and yet saying the words out loud made the situation all the more real.
And so I searched for a different topic. “Do you always walk here alone?”
“That sounds like a sucky pick-up line.”
“I’m serious, Cam. Is it safe?” We’d left the rows of houses behind and reached where the gravel gave way to rocky sand. There didn’t seem to be anyone around, but if we’d ventured out earlier, it would have been pitch black. Way too easy for a stranger to creep up on a woman out on her own.
“This isn’t Manila.” She glanced at me, and the crease between her brows lightened. “Not that I owe you an explanation, but I studied self-defense. Plus, I usually hold onto my keys.”
My stomach tightened because I knew what that meant. Luna used to do the same when she lived in Manila, tucking her key ring in her fist with one key peeking out between clenched fingers. “Good.”
“I know how to take care of myself. I’ve been doing it for years.”
“Since you moved here?”
“Longer.”
My brows rose. “When you say take care of yourself, what do you mean exactly?”
The corners of her mouth tightened. “However way you can imagine.”
Her vague answer had my brain snagging, and despite knowing I was pushing my luck, I persisted. “What?—”
“That’s all you’re getting,” Cam grumbled, lengthening her stride.
“Okay, okay.” I filed it in my ever-growing mental compartment of things I’d never know, telling myself to let it go. That was a puzzle I didn’t need to decode.
“Do you always interrogate strangers?” she asked.
“Only the ones I keep running into. I take coincidences as a sign.” Without looking at her, I could tell she was rolling her eyes. I continued talking anyway. “I think meeting a stranger over and over again means we aren’t supposed to be strangers after all.”
“Sounds like stalker logic to me.”
I laughed. “Maybe this is the universe telling us we should be friends. Or at the very least, that you should give me a tattoo.”
“Ha! In your dreams.”
Now that we were closer to the beach, the sounds of the waves crashing grew louder. A pair of surfers stood with their boards by the shore while a third paddled out.
“Watch out for the boards,” Cam told me without looking away from the sea. “Bye, Manila.”
I stood still, watching as she headed to the single-room shack where locals stored their surfboards. My eyes drifted down her body, taking in the black rash guard she wore with matching board shorts.
My stare lingered on her backside far longer than it should have before I pulled it away to settle on the sea. Guilt and confusion gnawed at me.
For years, I’d never let myself look at any girl aside from Dani. She was the only one for me.
We’d been each other’s firsts. I thought that also meant forever.
Dani said we could work through this, but could we? She’d broken the trust I’d implicitly given her, and I couldn’t see a way that we could ever get it back.
Maybe the real question was, did I actually want to?