He was family.
“Cameron loves you and even if he tries to push you away or cut you loose, it’ll only be because he thinks he’s doing right by you. If his mom is sick again, and I really fucking hope she isn’t,” he let out a weary sigh, “you’re going to need to be his strength, Sis. Even when he doesn’t think he wants you to be.”
More tears flowed down my cheeks and I bit back a huge sob.
“You hear me?” Jase said. “You might not be a Ford, Hailee, but you are my sister in all the ways that matter. And we don’t quit, okay? We fight.”
“Yeah, okay.”
“Good, now go be with our guy. And tell him I’m here. Whatever he needs, all he has to do is call.”
“Thank you, Jason.”
“Anytime. Now brush yourself off and be the badass Hailee Raine I know you can be.”
Cameron
“Dad.”
His head snapped up and he was out of his chair in a second, rushing toward me and pulling me into his arms. “You’re here, thank God, you’re here.”
“How is she? What are they saying?”
“They’re still running tests.”
“Do they think it’s the same as before?”
He paled. “It’s the most likely scenario, Son.”
Fuck.
“But they said she was okay. She got the all clear.” Mom had the surgery and they’d gotten the tumor.
“We always knew this was a possibility, Cameron.”
Yeah, but how unlucky did someone have to be to have it come back? I couldn’t get my head around that. Hadn’t we dealt with enough already?
“Xander—”
“He’s okay.” Dad squeezed my shoulder. “I checked in with Julia earlier.”
But I knew the truth. Xander wasn’t okay.
“It’s like he knew,” I said.
“Whatever do yo
u mean?”
“It’s like he knew she was going to get sick again and that’s why he kept pushing her away.”
“Cameron, he didn’t know. He couldn’t have.”
Of course, I knew that. But it didn’t stop me wondering if he sensed something.
“Hailee,” Dad’s gaze moved over my shoulder.
“Hi, Clarke. I’m so sorry.” She didn’t think twice about hugging him.