One of the Boys ✔️

XXI

I felt a hand on my shoulder and suddenly Kaidan was shoved away from me, hard enough that he stumbled back a few steps. Cam shoved me halfway behind him as he advanced on his friend.

"What the fuck, Kaidan?"

Kaidan looked pale and shocked. I don't know if it was because of what he'd done or because of the anger that was evident on Cam's face right now.

When he didn't respond, Cam shoved his chest and Kaidan stumbled back a few more stops. Breaking out of whatever trance had kept me still, I hurried forward and grabbed Cam's arm right as it reached for Kaidan again; whether it was to shove or to hit him, I had no idea.

"Cam, enough," I said, my tone not giving any room for argument.

"Stay out of this, Blake," he said, not even looking at me. At least he'd stopped advancing on Kaidan.

I scoffed. "Bit late for that, Cam. Knock it off."

"I think I'm going to go," Kaidan said quietly, his pleading eyes meeting my confused ones before he walked down the hall. He didn't bother with the elevator, he just went straight to the stairs and hurried down them.

Cam was still tense, his eyes never leaving the door to the stairwell.

"Cam, come back inside," I said, my voice gentler now than it was before.

Shrugging my hand off his arm, Cam stormed back into the apartment. I followed him, closing the door behind me and leaning against it for support. Cam stood in front of me with his arms crossed.

"Moving on to my best friend already? That's low, Blake."

I tried not to let the sting of his words get to me, because I knew that he was mad - maybe even hurt - by what he saw.

"I'm not moving on at all!" I exclaimed, unable to keep my voice even.

"Then what was that?" He gestured with his head toward the door where I was standing.

"I didn't ask him to kiss me," I said. That kiss on the cheek had been completely innocent. We'd had a few drinks, maybe Kaidan just... who was I kidding, I had no idea why he'd done what he did. But I definitely hadn't invited him to do so. Had I?

"Please," Cam scoffed.

My heart deflated a little bit. "Do you really think that little of me, Cam?"

His mask fractured a little bit at that. I could see the hurt underneath. Hurt at what he'd seen and what he'd said.

"Do you really think I'd do that to you?"

Cam sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "What the hell is he doing kissing you anyway? He knows how I feel about you."

I looked away. "But you don't act on it," I murmured.

"What?"

"You don't act on it," I repeated louder. "I know how you feel about me, Cam. Kaidan does too. He practically spent half the night talking about it."

Cam looked perplexed. "Then why--"

"But you can't have this both ways."

"What do you mean?" He asked the question, but I could see in his eyes that he already knew the answer.

"You've got this mentality of 'I want you, but if I can't have you then no one else can'."

This time it was Cam's turn to look away. "That's a load of crap."

"Is it? You looked murderous when you saw that kiss! You probably would've beat the shit out of Kaidan if I hadn't grabbed your arm."

"Because he's my best friend! He shouldn't be making any moves on my girl."