Hailee’s hand curled around my arm and I froze, my heart jackhammering in my chest. “It’s okay. I’m okay. I would know if anything had happened, and it didn’t.”
But it could have. If Flick hadn’t have found her when she did, it could have.
Slowly, I turned to her. Hailee’s eyes were red and puffy, and her smile didn’t reach them. “None of this is okay,” I said quietly. “When I think about them doing that to you... of them possibly hurting you, I...” Swallowing, I wrapped an arm around her waist, anchoring us together, and dropped my head to hers, breathing her in.
“It was just a cruel prank, Cameron.” Both of Hailee’s hands gripped my arms now, but I couldn’t figure out if she was holding me closer or trying to keep me at a safe distance. “Jason will—”
“Ssh.” I pressed my thumb to her lips. “Jase is the last person I want to talk about right now.” This shit with Thatcher, between him and Hailee, it had to end.
It should have ended long before now.
Her eyes flashed with surprise as she sucked in a shaky breath. “Why are you here, Cameron? Why did you come?”
It was the question I’d asked myself more than once on the ride over here. But the second I’d opened that link, I couldn’t think of anything but getting to her.
“Because I care about you, Hailee,” I confessed. “I care about you so fucking much.”
Her expression faltered and then she was burying her face in my chest, sobbing into my t-shirt. My hands slid into her hair, coaxing her face back to mine. “I will fix this, I promise.”
I didn’t know how yet but I would. It had gone too far. Hailee didn’t deserve this. She’d never deserved any of it.
And I’d been too much of a fucking coward to stop any of it.
Tears collected in the corners of her eyes and I slid a hand down her face, brushing the drops of moisture away with the pad of my thumb. “Don’t cry, Sunshine,” I said. I can’t bear it.
Hailee’s mouth curved. “I really hate it when you call me that.”
“And I really love the way you blush when I do.”
“What are we doing, Cameron?” Her eyes pinned me to the spot, searching for answers. Answers I wanted to give her but wasn’t sure she was ready to hear.
“What we should have done a long fucking time ago,” I choked out, my grip on her tightening.
And then I kissed her.
Hailee
“Cameron, wait.” My hands slid to his chest, pushing gently. He jerked back, his eyes simmering with lust and something I didn’t want to acknowledge. “We can’t—”
“We can,” he said without hesitation. “Tell me you don’t want this, Hailee. Look me in the eye and tell me you don’t want me.”
I want you.
I want you so much it terrifies me.
But the words were lodged in my throat and all I could do was stare back at him.
“Hailee, I’m done pretending,” Cameron breathed out, lowering his head to mine. “I want you. I’ve wanted you since the first day I laid eyes on you.”
“We were just kids.” I rolled my eyes. There was no way he could possibly mean that.
Could he?
Cameron’s hands slid up my arms, resting on my shoulders. “I want you, Hailee Raine. You.” His eyes burned into me, igniting a fire in my stomach.
“But we… we hate each other.” It was a useless argument. One I knew no longer applied where me and Cameron were concerned. The tug of his mouth into a smirk told me as much.
“Nah, Sunshine, it’s not hate, it’s—”