“Just tell me!” Chloe moved away from Ali, leaning against a nearby tree. The bark cut into her back but she ignored it.
“You two had an argument. I don’t know everything that was said but I called you. It was right after Mike pulled you over.” Ali paused. “You were really upset. Sounded like you’d been crying.”
“Mike pulled me over?” Chloe frowned, recalling the dream she’d had earlier. Maybe it hadn’t been a dream after all, but a memory. “Where did it happen?”
“What, your argument? In the parking lot of the bar. I found Cam out there, all sullen, miserable bad boy. Then the next thing I know, you wrecked your car and he’s the one who pulled you out of it. You’re at the hospital and he’s walking out of your room, his face full of guilt.”
Chloe tried to process everything Ali said but it was so hard. “When did he talk to you?”
“At the hospital the day they released you. He asked that I not say anything about that night. That he would tell you everything when you were feeling better. He didn’t want to upset you. Said you were traumatized enough.” Ali pressed her lips together into a grim line. “He didn’t tell you, did he?”
Chloe blinked. No, he hadn’t told her. He’d kept it from her. “Cam never mentioned it. He must have a reason, though.”
“Sure, he has a reason. He knew you’d be mad once you found out. Whatever he said, you were really upset. Crying upset, Chloe,” Ali reminded her. “Distracted and crying and then you get into an accident. So he blames himself and becomes your hero. Why do you think he’s been at your beck and call ever since?”
Ali’s words slashed at her heart like the sharpest knife, tearing it to shreds. She made it sound like the only reason Cam spent time with her was out of a strange sense of guilt.
That couldn’t be true. Could it?
She pushed away from the tree, wincing at the pain in her knee. It was the only thing she could feel. Otherwise, she was numb. Completely numb. “I need to go home.”
“Chloe…”
“I need to go home,” she repeated, ignoring the stinging pain in her knee, focusing on the numbness instead. “I need to talk to Cam.”
Chapter Eleven
Chloe walked into her house, her heart aching at the domestic scene before her. Cameron in her kitchen, wearing the shorts from yesterday and nothing else, a carton of eggs sitting open on the counter, a bowl in front of him and a whisk in hand. “Hey, you’re back earlier than I thought.” He smiled at her.
She stood in the middle of her tiny living room, unable to move. Her entire body hurt, not from the scratches she suffered when she fell but from Cam’s deception. It felt like the worst sort of betrayal, especially when he had no idea she knew.
Wiping his hands on a dishtowel, he threw it on the counter, his strides determined as he headed toward her, the sweetest smile on his face. The kind of smile she’d always hoped would someday be directed at her and no one else.
Now it was all a lie.
His hair was damp, curling about his neck in a way that made her ache to touch him there. She loved his hair, loved his handsome face, loved everything about him. That he’d gone and done this, held some stupid argument from her, spent time with her out of a twisted sense of guilt…
“What happened to you?” He stared at her bloody and scratched knees. “Did you fall? Where’s Ali?”
Chloe swallowed hard, collapsed onto the couch behind her. “I left her back on the trail.”
“Let me get something to clean you up.” Before she could protest he was back in the kitchen, running a clean washcloth under the tap, squeezing all the water out of it until it was damp. He came back into the living room and knelt before her, her knight in shining armor as he gently tended her wounds. She hissed when he touched a particularly sore spot and he sent her a sympathetic glance. “Sorry. You really scratched yourself up. Got any Band-Aids? Antiseptic cream?”
“Cam.” Her voice was cold, devoid of any emotion, and his gaze met hers once more, his brows furrowed. “I don’t need a Band-Aid.”
He cocked his head, looking confused. “Are you okay?”
She slowly shook her head, her entire body trembling. “No. No, I’m not.”
He touched her leg, rested his warm, reassuring hand on her thigh, and she jerked away from him. “Chloe. Tell me what’s wrong.” He sounded worried.
Well, he should be.
“What happened the night of my accident? When we were at The Tree?”
Cam blinked slowly. “You know what happened.”
“I’m not talking about when we were in the bar, me flirting with you and making a fool of myself.” She closed her eyes briefly, breathing deep before she continued. “I’m talking about out in the parking lot.”