2. Cameron
Chapter 2
Cameron
" C am, what are you doing here so early today?"
"Everett's back," I say as I stand in the doorway as Mackenzie unpacks boxes in the announcer's booth at the Bulldog's new stadium. I knew she'd be in early trying to get things done before she left for Florida for the summer, and I needed to get out of the house. "Did you know he was coming home?"
Her slight pause in movements as she unpacks the box gives her away. "Not really. I mean, yes…" she draws off before returning to the shelving unit she was arranging trophies on. "Connor didn't call him until yesterday. I think he's been trying to convince himself that he could manage things back here while planning the new stadium in Jupiter. He finally came to his senses and called his father, realizing he couldn't be in two places at once–"
"What does Everett have to do with Connor not being able to be in two places at once?" I cut her off as movement down on the field catches my eye.
You've got to be kidding me. I came here to escape him, and here he is. My eyes lock onto his muscular back as he talks with Connor beside the field. Even in a suit and from this distance, his broad shoulders are imposing. I should stop staring. I shouldn't let my eyes drift down to his narrow waist or his toned ass, but I do because I'm a glutton for punishment, and I hate that he looks even better now than when he left. I hate believing that life seemingly went on unchanged for him since he took off without a word.
"I was getting to that. Everett is going to take over for Connor this summer."
That pulls my eyes away from him. "He's what?" I ask as my eyes practically bug out of my head. I mentally remind myself to check my jaw and pick it up off the floor. "How the hell will Everett swing coaching and the law firm?"
"I honestly don't know. This all transpired over the past twenty-four hours. Nothing was planned, which is why I didn't give you a heads-up thathewas coming back. Connor literally called him yesterday afternoon, and even then, he knew his ask was steep. Everyone knows Everett eats, sleeps, and breathes Callahan & Associates." She pauses and tosses the now empty box into the corner with all the others that still need to be collapsed. "I'm not sure Connor was convinced he'd come. You know their relationship has been strained." Joining me at the window, she adds, "Seriously, I planned on telling you all this today. I just didn't realize Everett would book the first flight home and show up before I got the chance."
"Yeah, maybe if I'd had a heads-up, I could have made myself scarce last night and he wouldn't have walked in the door and asked me to move out."
"He what?" Her head snaps to mine. "Oh, Cam…" She throws her arms around me. "I'm so sorry. You can crash at our house if you need a place to stay. We'll be in Florida for the summer anyway."
I hold her tight and try to push down the hurt I feel from the mere thought of leaving his house. My house . "I might take you up on that offer until I can find my own place. I don't want to take the first thing I come across because I feel rushed."
She releases me, concern etched across her forehead. "I can't believe this. Did Everett say you needed to get out right away?"
"No, he said we'd discuss it in the morning."
Mackenzie cocks her brow and puts her hand on her hip. She knows me too well. That's the thing about best friends. If they'rereal, you can't hide shit from them.
"Ah, now I see why you're here so early. Cameron, you know postponing the inevitable will only make it hurt longer, right?"
I turn away from her and find a chair to flop into. I know she's right. I'm hurt, but that's only part of it. I haven't seen Everett since hers and Connor's wedding. He left in the middle of the night, and I haven't heard from him since. That was months ago. He didn't owe me a goodbye, but Ilivein his house. You'd think he'd give me something, a note, an email, a text. The list of acceptable communications is endless, but I still received nothing, and now he's asking me to leave.
"I'm not avoiding him per se. I haven't seen him in months. He knows my birthday is coming up, which also means the anniversary of my parent's accident is approaching, and then he sprung this on me. Does it hurt? Yes, but I'm also mad. I needed some time to collect my thoughts. We both know I'm good at making questionable choices and worrying about the consequences later. I didn't want to fuck this up. It's important to me."
She leans against the front of the desk and crosses her arms. "How did it come up? Did he say he wanted you out right away? Did he sound mad? I need more details."
Mackenzie is the only other person I would ever give detailsto. We got close working at the concession stand at Hayes Fields together last summer. She had secrets, and so did I. It was during that time I divulged my crush on Everett Callahan. Having a crush on a guy isn't a crime, but when there's a twenty-plus-year age gap and the man is your dead father's best friend and business partner, not to mention the same one you went to live with after your parents died in a tragic car accident, it gets a little complicated. At least for some. Not me. In my eyes, love is love. I have fawned over that man for as long as I can remember. He's been my first and only crush since I knew what the word meant, and now he's all I have, and he wants me gone.When it comes to Everett,I knowI don't have a clear head.It's hard to step back, so hearing Mackenzie's thoughts will help me better understandmy own.
"I was in my swimsuit searching for a glass, completely unaware he was home, and literally the first words out of his mouth were, 'I think it's time for you to move out.'I haven't seen him since your wedding, and those are his first words to me." I can't help the indignation in my tone at the end.
"Was it the white thong bikini?" she questions as though that makes a difference.
"Yes, but I'm not the only one who wears those. Everyone wears those these days. Watch when your Midwest ass goes to the beach in Florida. You're suddenly going to feel like you're wearing one of grandma's moo-moos with how covered you'll be compared to most. Evan's dumbass threw a freedom party to celebrate his divorce. Of course, I put on my swimsuit. I planned on sitting poolside and having a front-row seat to the shitshow."
"Back up," she starts to pace the space in front of the desk, "So Everett walked in, saw you in the kitchen, and immediately told you he thinks you need to move out. You realize he probably thought you were the one throwing the party, not Evan, right?"
I lay my head back and stare at the ceiling. "Yes, he insinuated as much before he stormed out of the kitchen to shut it down."
"And you didn't stand up for yourself? That's not the Cameron I know. Why didn't you tell him it wasn't your party?"
I spin in the desk chair and close my eyes. Why didn't I defend myself? There are a few reasons, but the first and most glaring was the suffocation I felt being in such close proximity to him. The man makes me weak in the knees, and it's only grown disgustingly truer the older I get. Even disheveled from a long day at the stadium, he was ridiculously attractive, maybe even more so because the lock of hair that fell onto his forehead as he spoke to me wasn't something the world gets to see. Nor do they get a sneak peek of his chest hair because he was so hot in the humidity he couldn't help but unclasp the top two buttons in search of relief. The world gets to see the mask. I get to see the soul behind it, and what a beautiful soul it is. Until he opened his damned mouth. Being head over heels for someone who doesn't reciprocate the feelings sucks. But I can't let it go. I've tried. Even if he never loves me back, I'd still love him because he deserves it, because he's worth it.
"What would you have done if the person you want more than anything in the world asked you to leave?"
"Easy. I'd fight forhim. I don't think Everett wants you gone. I think he's jealous and doesn't know what to do with the way you make him feel. Think about it." I sit up in my chair and give her my full attention. "The day of my wedding, you showed up on Parker's arm. You'd already been hanging out together, but that day, you let Parker put his arm around you and kiss your neck. To anyone else in attendance, you looked like an official couple.Everett couldn't take his eyes off you that day, and thenext day, he was gone.Before then, you had saidyou feltthings between the two of you were changing. Like he was finally seeing you the way you wanted him to. Didn't you say he caged you in at the sink while you rinsed vegetables one night the week before the wedding?"
"Yes, the kitchen is one of the only other rooms he ever frequents besides his office,” I say quietly as her comment has one of my favorite memories flooding vividly into my mind.
Cooking is not my specialty, but I had just gotten home when I overheard Everett flippantly mentioning to one of his associates that he hadn't had a home-cooked meal in ages as I walked past the cracked door of his home office. With a bit of extra pepin my step, I hurried to the kitchen, determined to make him a meal.Thereweren't manyingredients in the fridge, but he had peppers and meat, the main ingredients for stuffed bell peppers.So, I pulled up a recipe and got to work.
I was browning the meat on the stove when he walked up behind me and placed a hand on either sideof meas I sliced and cleaned the peppers. "What are you doing?" Every hair on my body was acutely aware of his proximity. It felt as though literal electricity was zinging between our bodies. I wouldn't haveevenneeded to take a step to be firmly plastered against his front. I could have simply leaned back, but I didn't.
"Making dinner," was all I managed to answer. I was too nervous to say more. I didn't want to break him free from whatever haze had fallen over him and brought him into my space.
His hand lightly trailed up my arm, and he said, "Smells good."I could feel his body pull toward mine like a magnet. His heat enveloped me, and my skin pebbled with awareness . As I cleaned the seeds out of the pepper, I swear I felt his free hand gently brush against my hair as my entire body was innately cued into his every move, but something stilled his hand.The next thing I knew, he squeezed my shoulder and said, "Please don't cut yourself." And then he walked away.
"And I know for certain he was always watching you. I noticed it from the first time I met you. You tried to force his hand with your Parker scheme, and it backfired. I get the idea. You were trying to make him own his feelings. The cooking incident was just one of many tender moments the two of you started sharing last summer, but then you pushed him. Maybe if you hadn't started a fake relationship with Parker, things would have kept progressing between you and him."
I stand from the chair, unable to sit, my anxiousness winning out over the levelheadedness I was trying to maintain. "So how does that pertain to the now? I can't go back and undo what has already been done."
"I'm saying he's jealous. I think he said those words last night because he can't stand watching you with other guys. But believe it or not, jealousy is a good thing. Or, at the very least, it's an indicator of more. If he's jealous, he's thinking of you, and he's afraid because he knows he has something to lose."
"Knock, knock," Connor says, catching us off guard. I instantly hold my breath as I wait for Everett to round the corner behind him."I think we're missing some boxes,andweneed some clarification on where to take a few.While the guys could, and they don't mind the workout, I'd rather not have them lift heavy boxes more times than necessary."
Connor looks like his father, though his hair is lighter and his build is leaner. Until Mackenzie showed up last summer, the pair were the two most eligible bachelors in town. I'm not immune to Connor's good looks. It's just the charm that was always lacking for me. I felt like the unwanted sister for the longest time, and we're not even related. I was like a gnat he couldn't swat away. Don't get me wrong, he was never mean, but any inclusion always felt like an obligation and nothing more. Now that I'm best friends with his wife, our relationship has changed. What always felt like toleration has started to feel like friendship.
"Where's Everett?" Mac glances back at me, sensing I'm on pins and needles.
"I left him with Coach Teague while I came uphere to get my marching orders."
"Are you still down to help me today? I'd like to finish the offices and announcer booth before we leave at the end of the week," she asks me as I sigh an anxious breath of relief.
"Let's do it. Who says I can't lift boxes while wearing heels?"
I'm down to help but I don't care to cross paths with Everett, and if I know Connor, he'll hole me up somewhere rather than make me run around the stadium in heels.
Connor's eyes drop to my feet. "You are not lifting shit wearing those. The last thing I need to deal with today is you twisting an ankle or falling. You can help unpack boxes, and at noon …" he checks his watch before adding, "The staff uniforms are arriving."
"Really?" I clasp my hands together. "I thought they weren't due in for another week."
He shrugs. "I guess they got them done ahead of time. Can't complain about efficiency."
Another perk to being Mac's best friend is that she helped sell my pitch to Connor about letting me design the new team uniforms. Mackenzie designs spaces, and I design clothes. We were always meant to be best friends. I was desperate to get some kind of actual design gig on my resumè before graduating, and this was the perfect opportunity. It's hard to find designinternships,especially ones that actually put you in any type of position to showcase your ability. I explained all that to him, but it was the part where I said I would do it for free that sold him. Connor is already bleeding money in enough areas that the cost savings of not having to hire a designer was a no- brainer. To my surprise, he actually liked all of my first-round drafts. I was fully prepared to go back to the drawing board multiple times, but my designs impressed him so much that he asked me to assist with designing the staff uniforms and logo wear for the team shop here at the stadium.
Mackenzie wraps her arms around Connor's waist and pushes up on her tippy toes for a kiss. "I didn't get my morning kiss yet."
He grabs her jean-clad ass hard, making me jealous, not of him but of the affection. Connor looks at Mac like she's his purpose, his reason for existing, and I want that.
"That's because you left before dawn to come down here. I never should have given you a key." He kisses her sweetly before smacking her ass and pulling away. "That's all you get."
"Hey…" she drones, clearly not ready for their moment to end.
But he doesn't relent. Turning on his heel, he slaps the doorframe before saying, "An eye for an eye, baby. You thought to deprive me of my morning meal. Now you get to go hungry."
"Let's go, Salt. I said you could unpack boxes, not stand there and look pretty."
I start toward the door to follow after him but not before teasing Mac, "Morning meal?"
"You have no idea, though I'm not sure why he called it his morning meal. It's more like every meal," she says as we walk down the hall.
"Lucky bitch."
"Yeah, well, maybe we can compare notes when I return in August. What's that saying? Like father like son? Maybe the fetish is hereditary."
I don't say anything out of fear of delusion, but it's in that same vein of fear that I find my fortitude. I can't reach for what I really want if I don't lose my fear, and I want Everett, but I'll deal with that in a few hours... after I've found my words and apparently my backbone.