I stand on the sidewalk, my heart racing along with my mind.
I don’t get a response, so I figure he didn’t see it and went back to sleep. Deciding I should leave, I turn around to head back towards my car, when I hear him calling my name.
I turn to see him standing in the open doorway, shirtless, wearing Ninja Turtle pajama pants, of all things. And then he does the craziest thing.
He runs down the steps, into the rain, his bare feet splashing puddles all the way down the steps until he’s in front of me. His eyebrows furrow as he looks at me, and I come undone.
“Austen?” His voice is full of concern, and I hate it. The sympathy, the judgment. The shock.
But I love it, too.
I look back at him with blurry eyes, my voice cracking as I speak.
“I didn’t know where else to go,” I say, but it’s not entirely true. I could have gone anywhere.
But I didn’t wantanywhere. I wanted home, and Cameron has always been home, even if I didn’t see it before, or more likely—refused to see it.
He slides an arm around my shoulders, the motion pulling me closer to him, and I don’t fight it.
“Come on,” he says, his voice soft, careful. I wrap my arms around myself, shivering from the cold rain and the forced air as he leads me into the building.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Cameron
All I can think as we ride up the elevator to my apartment is that he found out. He knows Savannah has been cheating on him—because obviouslythat’sbeen going on for a long time. His life is ruined now. She’s finally destroyed what’s left of him.
But did she tell him I know too?
Of course she didn’t. Austen wouldn’t have come here if he knew that I knew about Savannah. He’d obviously want me to tell him, right? I should tell him. Yet… he’s already hurt right now.
The threat fromMatteois the least of my worries. If he knew anything about me at all, he’d know my job is not more important than the people I care about. He could havethreatened my entire career and I wouldn’t have cared. Not if it would destroy my friends in the process.
Yet, it seems I’m doing that all on my own by keeping this secret. One that I should tell Austen about. But maybe he already knows and it’s done. Maybe she didn’t tell him, and he’ll never have to know that I was there, that I saw it. That I chose to keep it from him. So, I guess the smart thing to do is to just forget it. Stop worrying about it. What I should worry about is him now, here. Whatever happened between them, he came here. He chose to come to me… and I’m states away.
Don’t look into it too much, Cameron.
Fuck, this is going to be really hard. Because what I’ve learned from the last time I saw him until now is that Austen has my heart. Forever and always. My feelings for him never went away, and I don’t think they ever will. I’d planned on making peace with the fact he is married and will never be mine. Even after what I saw with Savannah… but maybe there’s a chance? I mean, he’s here, right? He came to me.
Everything up until now has been innocent. We ran into each other, hung out, that was that. But coming to me during a hard time? That’s more. It has to be.
Once we’re in my apartment, I lock up.
“Do you want to change?” I ask.
He looks down at his drenched clothes. “I forgot my stuff in the car.”
“It’s okay. I have some clothes you can wear. Come on.”
I gesture for him to follow me and lead us into my room, where I dig through my drawers and pull out two pairs of sweats and two t-shirts and hand him a set.
“Bathroom is over there.” I gesture behind him, at the closed door that blends in with the wall.
He heads in there, and I quickly change into my own dry clothes while he’s changing. Once he’s done, I take his wetclothes and toss them into my wash with the few other things in there and start the cycle.
“Are you hungry?” I ask.
“No, thanks.”
