Hemlock Clan: What I Am

~ XXIX ~

Cameron

Sage grabbed my hand as soon as I walked through the front door of the Hemlock's mansion.

"Cameron." Her eyes were wide and her grip on my arm was strong. "I, uh, need to apologise for the other night." She ducked her head, and her fingers dug into my forearms. Ouch. She was just as strong as her mother.

"Sage." Blake appeared next to me and he reached for her hand. "Let him go." He pried her fingers off of me and I flexed my hand, glad it was still working, although I knew there would be bruises later.

"Sorry," she muttered. She wrapped her arms around her waist and peered at me from under her eyelashes. "I, um, wanted to say sorry for just turning up to your work place unannounced the other night. I could have gotten you into trouble with your boss or something."

Cocking my head to the side, I took in her dishevelled appearance. It looked as though she hadn't slept in a few days. Her clothes were baggy and crumpled. There were dark circles around her eyes and she looked far more pale than the last time I'd seen her.

"Are you okay?" I reached out to touch her arm, pulling back almost immediately as the shock of how cold she was pinched at my fingers. I hadn't realised how icy her skin was when she'd grabbed me earlier - I had been too worried about losing my arm.

Sage nodded at my question and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear that had escaped from her ponytail. "I'm fine."

She looked anything but fine.

Blake grabbed my hand. "Well, that's good, then. See you later, sis." He led me away from her and along the hallway, his walk was determined and his face was set.

Glancing over my shoulder, I saw Sage hang her head and drudge carefully in the opposite direction.

"Is she okay?" I turned my attention back to Blake, who simply cocked a brow.

"Yeah, she'll be okay." He shrugged. "She's just a little ... off today."

Funny he should say that, because Rosie had been feeling the same way. Last night, she called in sick to work. The night before, she had been acting like everything was an effort, almost every task taking her longer and more energy than it should. She even struggled to make a pot of coffee.

And it had been that way since she had met Sage.

Strange.

Tugging on my hand, Blake sighed. "Sage will be okay, you know. It's just ..." He shrugged as he ran his free hand through his dark hair. "It's kinda hard to explain. But I will one day. I promise." He smiled at me and all thoughts of Sage vanished.

Blake's smile was ... enough to stop my heart for a moment.

Fuck.

Swallowing to relieve my suddenly dry mouth, I nodded, a little unsure of what he'd just said. I had been too distracted by his smile to concentrate on his words.

Stopping by a closed door, Blake looked at me, a sheepish grin tugging at his lips. "I hope you don't mind, but Mom and Dad wanted to say hi again." He scratched the back of his neck and all I could think of was how cute he looked.

Grinning at the thought of being enveloped in the care and affection that his parents had showered on me during my last visit, I nodded, watching Blake sigh in relief. Was he worried that I didn't like them? His parents were awake at this time of night, just because they wanted to see me again. How could I not like them?

In fact, there wasn't a single person I'd met in this house that I didn't like.

And I didn't think that would change.