Chapter 38 Reed
REED
The late afternoon air was sharp. It was one of those late spring days that couldn’t make up its mind.
The sky hung low with clouds and threatening rain, but the sun kept elbowing through like it refused to be ignored.
I rolled the window down halfway anyway, letting the chill slap some sense into me as I drove.
Each mile felt heavier than the last.
The road to Cam’s house wasn’t long, but it might as well have been a year. Every turn twisted tighter in my chest, every landmark reminded me of what this drive meant. This wasn’t just some drop-in. This was a line I had to cross.
Cam had been my best friend since we were eighteen.
He was the guy who punched the first idiot who mouthed off to me when I started at the high school.
He was the one who showed up when my mom’s addiction got worse, causing my dad to abandon us, and I couldn’t breathe for three days. He’d been constant. Solid.
And I had fallen for his sister. It wasn’t just some crush. Not my usual one-time thing.
I was in love. The real kind of love. The kind that wrapped around your ribs and lived under your skin and made you feel like the world had color again. That night with Wren hadn’t just changed things, it had wrecked every plan I thought I’d made for my life.
Cam didn’t know that part yet. All he saw was betrayal. All he heard was silence from me when I should’ve said something. I should’ve told him sooner.
I gripped the steering wheel harder, knuckles pale.
Every word I rehearsed last night was gone.
All I had now was a gut full of guilt and the image of Wren’s face still tucked in the back of my mind.
The way she’d looked at me, half-asleep in the truck bed, like I was the safest place she’d ever been.
God, I wanted to be that for her. Her safe haven.
But what did that mean for me and Cam? Was love worth trading loyalty? Or was I just telling myself that because I didn’t want to give her up? Could I get Cam to understand how I was feeling? Could this ever turn out okay?
The truck bumped over a pothole, snapping me out of it. I could see the house now. The porch light was off, and the blinds were still drawn. Cam might not even be awake yet.
I pulled into the driveway slowly, engine low, gravel crunching like it didn’t want to wake the street. Then I just… sat there. Hands on the wheel. Heart thudding. Mind racing.
He’s your best friend, but she’s not just some girl.
I closed my eyes for a second and let my head fall back against the seat. Wren’s smile flashed behind my eyelids. That soft, real one she gave me just before I left. The one that made me think maybe, just maybe, I could be enough.
Then I opened the door and stepped out into the cold. Whatever happened next, I’d face it.
For her.
And for the part of me that already knew this love, this messy, complicated, all-consuming love, wasn’t something I could walk away from. Even if it costs me everything else.
The sound of metal clanged from the open garage door as I walked up the driveway.
There was a sharp echo, followed by a muttered curse.
Cam was under the hood of his Mustang, sleeves pushed up, grease smeared across his forearms. Classic sign: he only worked on the car when he was pissed or trying not to be.
Cam’s Mustang was the kind of car that looked like it had a story even when it was parked.
A ’67 fastback, black with hints of primer gray still peeking through from the panels he hadn’t gotten around to painting yet. The body was straight now—he’d spent years pulling dents, sanding it down, replacing what needed replacing—but it still looked like it had clawed its way out of a junkyard.
He loved that damn thing. Not in the flashy, show-it-off way some guys did, but in the way a man loves something he’s bled over.
Hands scraped raw from tightening bolts, long nights under the hood when he couldn’t sleep.
That car had absorbed more of Cam’s frustration than any punching bag ever could.
He rebuilt it himself—piece by piece, paycheck by paycheck.
Never let anyone else touch it. Said no one else knew how to handle her.
I’d teased him once, called it his girlfriend. He didn’t laugh. Just said, “She never let me down.”
That car was just like Cameron. It was stubborn, reliable, and built to outlast the worst of it. Even now, as he worked under the hood, it was like he was trying to fix the only thing in his world he still had control over.
And I was about to crack it all open.
I stood in the doorway, watching for a minute. He hadn’t noticed me yet, or maybe he had and just didn’t care. Either way, I cleared my throat.
Nothing.
“You always treat your carburetor like it insulted your grandmother?” I immediately regretted the joke.
Cam didn’t look up. Just reached for a socket wrench like I hadn’t spoken. The silence felt heavier than the damn car he was working on.
“Cam,” I tried again, softer this time. “Can we talk?”
He didn’t move for a beat. Then came the reply—dry, clipped. “Oh, are we talking now? Or is this where you continue to say this just happened?”
I stepped in further. “It’s not how I meant it. I just… didn’t know how to say it.”
“That you’re fucking my sister?” He stood upright, finally, wiping his hands on a dirty rag without looking at me. “Yeah, that one’s a real mystery.”
I was starting to understand why Wren was so worried last night. This feeling fucking sucked.
“She’s not just—” I stopped myself. Swallowed the heat. “It’s not like that. You know me. You know it’s not like that.”
“Exactly.” His voice was flat. “I do know you.”
Cam turned away, back to the engine, like I wasn’t even worth a full stare. The tension radiated off him like heat. I could feel it, standing two feet away.
“I didn’t plan for this to happen the way it did, Cam,” I said. “We didn’t sneak around to hurt you. I didn’t want this to happen behind your back. But it did. And I’m still here because it matters. She matters.”
“You think I don’t know that?” he snapped, finally slamming the hood shut. “You think I’m mad just because you crossed some imaginary line?”
He finally faced me, eyes sharp and raw. “She’s my sister, Reed. She’s been through enough. And I watched you ruin every good thing you’ve touched since we were kids. You burn through women like they’re nothing.”
He was aiming to hurt me like I’d hurt him, but that hit worse than I’d prepared for. Still, I took it. I let it sit.
“You know damn well that was me a decade ago,” I said quietly. “And I’m not proud of a damn bit of it. But this isn’t like before. I’m not like before. I would never hurt her. Not Wren.”
“Maybe you believe that.” His voice cracked just slightly. “But I don’t think you get what happens if you do.”
He wasn’t yelling anymore. He didn’t have to. The weight of it pressed down between us.
I stepped closer.
“I’m in love with her.”
Cam’s jaw tensed. He looked like he wanted to say something, maybe a dozen things, but none came. Just that haunted silence.
“I love her,” I repeated. “And I’m not walking away. I’ll earn your respect back, or I won’t. But I’m not running.”
We stood like that for a while, two men who’d grown up side by side, now facing a crack in the foundation.
“I need to go for a drive,” he muttered.
“Yeah,” I said, rubbing the back of my neck. “Okay.”
He didn’t look at me again as he tossed the rag on the workbench, grabbed his keys, and walked out through the side door. The old Bronco roared to life a moment later, tires spitting gravel as he pulled away down the road.
And just like that, the garage was silent again.
I stood there for another minute, letting my shoulders fall, the adrenaline bleeding out of me. My hands were still shaking—I didn’t even realize they had been. Then I went inside.
The screen door creaked like it always had, and the familiar scent of floral candles and old pine hit me as I stepped into the house.
The floorboards groaned beneath my boots.
Everything looked the same—the same mismatched decor on the counter, the same crooked picture frame in the hallway—but it felt different.
It was knowing she was here. I walked down the hall, heart thudding like it knew I wasn’t just facing Cam anymore. When I turned to the first door on the right, I saw Wren lying on her side in her bed.
I gently knocked on her open door, and her eyes glanced my way, and she shot up, sitting on the bed.
She froze when she saw me—eyes wide, mouth parted in surprise.
She was barefoot, wearing an oversized Snoopy crewneck, and her hair twisted up like she’d thrown it out of the way hours ago.
She looked like she’d been curled up trying to hide from the weight of the day.
And now she looked like she was bracing for impact.
“Reed,” she breathed. Her voice was barely there. “What are you doing here?”
“I talked to Cam,” I said, keeping my voice low. Gentle. “He’s gone for a drive.”
Her arms crossed tightly over her stomach, like she was holding herself together.
“I told him everything,” I added. “I told him… I am in love with you. That I’m not walking away.”
Her eyes shimmered like she might cry. “You—what?”
I took a step closer. “I love you, Wren.”
She didn’t say anything. She just launched out of her bed toward me.
Her hands hit my chest, fingers twisting into my shirt, and then she kissed me—desperate, deep, like she’d been drowning and I was the first breath she’d had in hours. My arms went around her instantly, pulling her in, grounding her. Her body pressed flush to mine, warm and trembling.
I kissed her back just as fiercely, holding her like I was afraid letting go would undo us both. She pulled back just enough to rest her forehead against mine, her breath shaky.
“I didn’t know if you’d come back,” she whispered.
“I couldn’t stay away,” I said. “Not from you.”