Prez turns his back while speaking. “Knox, man. You need to find Aurora. She’s upset and left without her phone.” He braces one hand against the wall and bends over slightly. “JD came back,” he tells Knox with a grave tone, then snaps his head around to pierce me with his stare. “Knox, you need to go getyourgirl,” he emphasizes, making sure I hear him. “She’s going to need you,” he finishes and hangs up.
My stomach drops when his meaning sinks in. Knox…and Aurora?
“It’s not what you think,” Dustin says.
“Why didn’t you tell me? I point-blank asked you if she was seeing anyone.”
Dustin repeats again, “It’s not what you think. She doesn’t love him.”
Prez pockets Aurora’s phone and throws some cash on the table. “I can’t believe you’ve been talking to this dipshit behind my back and never said anything,” he tells Dustin. “After everything Rory’s been through because of him. Or have you forgotten that night?”
Dustin’s head hangs low, chin to chest. “You know better than to say that to me.”
“What night? What happened? Did something happen to Aurora?” I feel panicked like I’m on the verge of hyperventilating. They’re not telling me something important.
“Like you care, asshole,” Prez sneers. “You left. You have no right to ask questions anymore. You lost that privilege five years ago. Rory is with Knox now.”
“Prez, hear him out. Let’s just sit back down and talk. We can go back to the house. What do you say?”
“It’s un-fucking-believable that he can make one phone call to you, and you roll over like a bitch and forgive him. I’m going to repeat what Aurora said: Fuck you.” Prez shoves past me, ramming my shoulder.
Dustin nudges me. “Come on. Let me buy you a beer. I think the events of today earned it.”
“Dustin, I miss her. So fucking much. She acts like she despises even the sight of me. How can I win her back if she hates me?”
“She doesn’t hate you. She’s hurt, and that hurt runs bone deep. If she didn’t still love you, she wouldn’t be as hurt as she is now. You were able to chip away at her stone walls before. Give it time.”
Time is the only thing I do have right now.
Chapter 33
Ican’t breathe.
I’m bent over, hands on my knees, my lungs desperate for oxygen. I haven’t had a panic attack in years. I concentrate on slowing my heart rate and count backward from one hundred. I look around. Where the hell am I? Taking in my surroundings, I realize that I ran over five miles. I recognize the grove up ahead which means I’m close to the cemetery. Close to Cam. I wipe the sweat from my forehead and start walking, the need to talk to my dead best friend guiding me. Other than the Montgomery mansion, the cemetery was my second home. Many nights, I would escape my hellhole of an apartment and sleep out here next to Cam’s gravestone.
The gates are open, so I walk on through. I can’t tell you how many times I had to climb over them at night when I came here. It’s late March and early blooms are starting to bud. Tiny crinkles of green sprouts and of new growth dot the barren branches of the dogwood trees, readying themselves to bloom white and pink flowers in late April. Tall magnolias stand like centurions and line the drive into the cemetery. As I get closer to Cam’s gravesite, I notice a familiar woman standing in front of his headstone.
“Mrs. Bollinger?”
She turns her head at the sound of my voice, tears in her eyes. “Oh, my word. Aurora! Come here and give me a hug, sweetheart.”
My feet spout wings as I fly into her open arms, the feeling of them wrapping around me like angel wings. Did Cam send her today of all days because he knew I needed a physical connection to him?
“I can’t believe you’re here,” I tell her.
She kisses the side of my head in a motherly way and leans back to get a better look at me. “Let me get my fill of you first and then we can talk.” She runs her hands up and down my arms and tucks my hair behind both ears. “You’ve grown up. Such a pretty girl.”
“Thank you,” I reply shyly.
“No. I need to thank you. You kept my boy alive. I’m sorry I wasn’t able to come sooner.”
“I don’t understand.”
“The community center. I was there last night.”
She was? “Why didn’t you come talk to me? I didn’t see you.”
“You were busy. I didn’t want to interrupt. You did a very honorable thing, Aurora. Naming the center after Cameron. You should be proud of yourself. I know Cameron would be.”
