Cameron refused to back down. “If I was, what? You’d murder me in a towel?”
A humorless smile spread across his lips. “You wouldn’t still be standing.”
A beat of silence stretched between them. Long enough to increase his heart rate.
Cameron shook his head, scoffing even as the beginnings of fear crawled up his spine. “This is insane.”
"Yeah?" Gavin’s voice dropped. "Then pray I never find out you crossed a line. Because if I do, you'll see just how far that insanity goes."
Cameron snapped. “You can’t keep her from everyone forever, Gavin! She deserves a normal life!”
Gavin’s flat stare didn’t waver as he hadn’t said anything. “This is my last warning.”
Cameron didn’t reply. Didn’t need to. Because the line had already been crossed. And they both knew it wouldn’t be the last time. If he did this, if he chose to continue on this path—there was no coming back. Gavin was not the kind of guy to forgive and forget. If Cameron survived the crazy bastard, he would make an enemy for life.
Chapter seventeen
She was lying out in the gazebo, the sun dipping low, the breeze warm against her skin. Her thoughts were spiraling again, the kind that refused to be quiet no matter how hard she tried.
Gavin had left a little earlier. She'd bumped into him in the hallway, allowing her to inhale a lung full of his signature scent. He was fresh from the shower. She noted his still damp hair, and the way the thick scent of his cologne clung to the thick air around him.
She hadn’t asked where he was going and he hadn’t told her. But she felt it, the way his eyes had searched her face as they passed. Like they both wanted to speak but something held them back. Her pride. His something else.
She missed him. Not just missed, but mourned. Mourned the loss of everything they once had. She had loved being around him. Being in his presence. Feeling the spark of his infectious charm warm the air around her. She had loved watching as people couldn't help but smile in his presence as if affected by a chemical reaction. She loved the way he made her feel. As if she was his best friend and together there was nothing they couldn't do. Harvard. The future. All of it felt possible when it was the two of them. And now? Now it was all gone. What would happen when they graduated? Would they become strangers? Or just nothing at all.
The ache in her chest throbbed as her anxious thoughts spilled out unchecked.
Thankfully her phone buzzed beside her, saving her from her thoughts.
Cameron:I want to see you. Come out with me.
An hour later the wind was whipping through the cracked window as they drove. The low hum of the engine filled the silence between them. Ebony closed her eyes and tilted her face toward the last golden streaks of light painting the sky.
A sudden thought brought her back to reality and she opened her eyes and grabbed her phone and texted Beryl.
Me: If someone asks, I’m hanging with you.
Beryl:Pfft. You mean someone being Gavin’s crazy ass.
Me:[Heavy sigh emoji] Yes.
Beryl:I’ll be your alibi. But I expect full payment in juicy details with whatever or whoever you're doing it with.
Me:Fine.
"So where does Gavin think you are?" Cameron asked as if reading her mind.
She shot him a look. "Gavin doesn’t tell me anything. And since you brought him up, I heard there was a scene between you two in the locker room. Care to tell me about it?"
Cameron gave her a dramatic wince. "Okay, point taken. No more mention of Gavin. Besides," he added with shrug. "There’s not much to tell. He came in to talk and...we talked."
Shedidn’t buy that for a second. But if there’d been a fight, Taylor would’ve informed her. She shoved the thought, and all the drama attached to it, into a box and mentally shoved it off a cliff.
Eventually they were on the twisting road that led higher onto the mountain, the car hugging its gentle curves. The mountain, which some Stardust Cove citizens bitterly referred to as just an oversized hill, led to Stardust Heights, the posher sister city to Stardust Cove filled with the wealthy elite.
Ebony leaned her head against the window, watching as the trees slipped past. A city within a city, Stardust Heights was a silent city that sat like a jewel on the crown of their town but at this time of year there was a not-so-subtle spark of rivalry in the air. Football Season. The silent camaraderie of their towns disappeared for a few nights every fall as the two high schools competed fiercely on the field. It was the game everyone in town vowed never to miss. The streets were eerily quiet, shops shuttered early, restaurants dark behind their glass fronts, even the gas stations looked abandoned. Everyone was at the stadium, this time at the Stardust Cove stadium, screaming themselves hoarse with unbridled fervor.
But up the mountain though, it felt like the world had been put on mute. The perfectly manicured streets were empty and the air silent. They pulled into a tiny coffee shop nestled right on the mountain’s edge. The building looked like something out of a movie: two old airstreams welded together sitting in a beautiful garden. Trellises were wrapped in purple wisteria, twinkling string lights flickered in the twilight, while the city and the sea cove glittered far below.
