The Outlaw

18

EIGHTEEN

Due to the ungodly hour in the morning, regardless of having talked to him just a half an hour before, I was surprised to see Cameron lingering in the living room when I got home that night. I saw him balk once he caught a look at my tear-streaked face. Without breaking my pace, I padded straight to my room.

Hastily kicking off my shoes, I crawled between the cool sheets of my bed, curled my body around a pillow and closed my eyes. I felt Cameron behind me before he spoke.

"What's wrong, Maddie?"

I stayed silent for a moment, breathing deeply before twisting abruptly to face him. "You should really move to New York. If that makes you happy, you should go."

Slowly sinking to an elegant crouch, Cameron kneeled beside the bed so that we were at an eye level. "There is nothing else in the world that makes me happy as much as knowing that you are."

Despite everything, that made me smile. I touched my hand to his wrist. "I ended the arrangement with Travis."

He brushed a wayward hair out of my face, nodding absently. "Travis wanted more."

A statement, not a question.

My mouth curved into a rueful smile. Cameron always got it. Though he hadn't asked, I still answered. "Yes."

"Of course he would. How couldn't he? You're perfect."

I shot him a disbelieving look. "You're my only family—"

"And I'm damned lucky for that."

"—So you're entitled to say that."

Cameron arched a dark eyebrow, his ocean-blue eyes twinkling with amusement. "And Travis?"

Snuggling deeper into the sheets, I tucked a hand under my cheek. "Travis doesn't know me, Cam. Not really."

Tapping my nose, he chastised, "He knows more than you think, Maddie. And he still wants you."

Travis' last words rang through my head: For someone who's so fucking strong, you really are a damn coward.

I blew out a breath. "You, of all people, should know why I can't be with him. He doesn't deserve to be with someone who's so eager to run out the door."

I was so terrified of losing, that I pulled shit like that for the sake of self-preservation. Travis' trust had been broken once by his father—and if I'd stayed with him, I'd do it again and again, until he eventually resented me for it.

Cameron's face softened. "You've come a long way, Maddie. You should give yourself more credit than that."

I stared at him as that sank in but didn't have anything to say.

He stood up, pressing a kiss to my forehead and then turned to leave. "Get some sleep."

"Hey, Cameron?"

Cameron stopped, his hand on the doorway as he pivoted to look at me. "Yeah?"

"Thanks for putting up with my shit." An overwhelming amount of guilt surged within me just thinking about the radio silence I'd put Cameron through the last week.