Chapter 9 #3
Stomach acid churns so hard I want to double over. Maybe this wasn’t a good idea.
Durban’s watching me, and while he’s concerned for my safety, I’m going to look like a fool if I hop into the passenger seat and tell him to floor it. He’s going to ask why, and I don’t want to get into it.
I suck in a deep breath and enter the office. Shelves to my left are full of sunscreen and trinkets. Coolers filled with water bottles and drinks line the wall. Bryce is at the counter, tapping away on the laptop.
He’s handsome in an outdoorsman way. His square jaw and buzz cut match the sunglasses tan lines already forming on the sides of his face.
I’ve never been attracted to him, and that might be because he used to tease me on the playground because I sucked at kickball and football.
I told him to get on a horse and we’d see who’s better.
I wish I could be doing this meeting on horseback. It’s helped me deal with Stanford even though I stress that he’ll hurt Hailstorm or January trying to live out my wedding dream.
Bryce looks up and grins. “Campbell. Nice to see you again.”
I take a deep breath, and suddenly, I’m back in my old office, another good-looking guy smiling at me, but his is predatory, like he’s got plans I won’t approve of. Bryce is looking at me like he expected me, like he’s happy to see me. But how do I know his intentions are real until it’s too late?
My heart rate climbs up so high and hard that my heart might slam right out of my chest. Words echo in my head.
You can go ahead and tell her, but we both know who she’ll believe.
Bryce’s gaze flickers. “Campbell?”
Your job depends on making me happy. What are you willing to risk?
My breathing becomes strangled. A band constricts around my chest.
You have such pretty lips.
I squeeze my eyes shut. I can’t do this. “I’m sorry.”
I bolt out of the shack.
Durban
The rain has let up, and I’m glaring at the window when Campbell blasts out of the door. Her eyes are wide, frantic, and she goes in the wrong direction first before stopping short, her head turning side to side like she can’t figure out where she is.
I’m out of the truck and by her side in an instant. “What’s wrong? What’d he do?”
She’s shaking her head. I grip her shoulders and try to catch her eye, but her gaze is darting around and she’s gasping for breath.
“Is she okay?” Bryce asks behind me.
“What the hell happened in there?” I holler at him.
He holds his hands out at his sides, his expression poleaxed. “She walked in and then ran right out.”
“It’s not—” She wheezes in a breath. “It’s not him. I’m sorry.” Her breathing shudders but grows steadier. She’s still not looking at me. “God, I’m so sorry.”
I want to rip Bryce’s head off, but he’s right. She wasn’t gone from my sight long enough for anything to happen. Yet there’s something about him, or about this place, that caused this. “I got her,” I say to him.
He reads into my tone and backs away. “No problem. I’ll be right inside if you need anything. Didn’t realize you two were together.”
I glare at him. Not the time or the issue. He shrugs and heads back to the office.
Campbell’s breathing evens out, but a tear streaks down her face. I gently wipe it away with the pad of my thumb. The rain starts again. A soft patter hits the ground and slaps the river’s surface.
“I feel so stupid.” She sniffs and her gray eyes lift to mine. “I dragged you out here for nothing. And he saw it.”
I want to haul her inside the pickup, but just as quickly as the rain started, it stops. She might quit talking if we do too much. “What happened?”
“Nothing. Literally nothing.” But she glances away.
“Something did though.”
She rolls her lips in and her brows furrow. “Yes and no. It’s nothing.”
After that night in the bar, I might’ve believed her bluff.
I might’ve written it off as an impulsive Campbell not thinking about others and doing what she wants.
But now I know the alarm-setting Campbell.
The woman who’s diligently working for her ex and putting up with his pretentious family to prove herself.
That girl doesn’t do things for only herself.
“Tell me what happened,” I say softly.
Her pink tongue flicks out to lick her bottom lip. “My old boss’s husband used to do a lot for the company.”
A growl rips from my chest.
She nods, her eyes shimmering. “Such a stereotype. I liked him at first. Trusted him. Then his jokes got more uncomfortable and soon he started coming into the office when she wasn’t there.”
“Were you alone?”
“That came later.” A tear streaks from each eye. I cup her face and smooth the drops away.
“Did that fucker hurt you?” I’ll go to Seattle right now and find a place to dispose of the body on my way back.
“No. He was insulting. And he was right. My boss would fire me before she listened to how the love of her life kept brushing against my ass, kept pushing how close to stand by me, until he finally cornered me and squeezed a tit.”
“Tell me you kneed him in the balls.”
“I punched him. Gave him a shiner to explain to his wife, and then I quit. Because I refused to get fired. He was a lawyer and knew how to work the system. They’d run me out of there, and I’d need therapy after.
” She hooks her hands on my wrists. “Then I went home, prepared to unload to the person who’s supposed to be there for me, only to see his bags packed and he tells me he’s leaving me for my cousin.
The cousin I thought was my best friend, and who I thought moved to Seattle to be closer to me. ”
She dealt with it all alone? “We need to throw them all in the river.”
She chuckles before dissolving into sobs. I pull her into my arms. She clutches my shirt at the sides and cries.
“Fuck them.” I want to shout, but I speak softly. “Fuck them all. Walk away from this wedding and have no regrets.”
She shakes her head. “I’m not leaving another obligation.” Her voice is muffled against my chest.
“You didn’t leave. You protected yourself.”
She pulls away and I just want to tug her back into me. How many times has she absorbed blame she didn’t deserve? I’m guilty of believing the spoiled girl only cared about herself.
“No one will see it that way, and Daddy would start trouble that I just want to forget.”
“They deserve to get taken down.”
“I emailed all my coworkers about what happened and left a bad review. He threatened me with a lawsuit and I told him to go ahead. I’m telling the truth, and he should’ve targeted someone whose family isn’t wealthy.”
Good for her. I start to smile, but something in her gaze stops me.
She bats away another tear. “Didn’t stop him from using his connections. I applied everywhere in Washington, Idaho, and Oregon. Even Northern California. Never heard back. It’s why I’ve gotta make it work here. It’s why I can’t let more bad word of mouth spread about me. I have nowhere else to go.”
This is so fucking unfair. Her old boss should lose her business and get a goddamn divorce. The asshole’s behavior should be made public and he should be the one struggling to find work. But that’s not Campbell’s way. She seems flighty and out of touch, but she’s actually alarmingly realistic.
She looks over her shoulder at the office. “I can’t go back in there. How embarrassing.”
“I can go with you.”
Her shoulders hang like she’s defeated. “I shouldn’t need anyone, and Bryce is going to spread rumors about us as it is.”
“Work Foster House in there. It’ll explain why we’re together.”
“Don’t you have to get approval?”
“I trust you can figure out a reason that’s so good the guys can’t refuse.”
Her smile is like the sun coming out. “Alcohol and white-water rafting? What could pair better?”
I jut my chin toward the entrance. “Lead the way. I’m not going anywhere.”