“Right. Well, this works out, I guess. Whatever happens with the draft will be on your own merit.” A tight smile rests on his lips when he adds, “You didn’t exactly want to be attached to the Reed name anyway.”
Tears prick at the edges of my vision, but I blink them away and force myself to nod.
A sharp pain hits me in the back of the throat, the lie threatening to choke me despite words never leaving my mouth. Because I know the truth, and until ten minutes ago, I would’ve happily taken that name as my own. Or given him mine. It wouldn’t matter, as long as I had him.
But I don’t want someone who doesn’t want me back. I can’t love someone who will never feel the same. It may be my fault for falling for a lie—for trusting that I’d be anything more than what I’ve always been—but I’ve learned my lesson the hard way.
So I won’t stick around and open myself to more hurt just to have him a little longer.
“Well, I just realized I forgot something at the arena, so…”
“Uh, yeah. Okay. I’ll just…let you go.”
I wish you wouldn’t.
I don’t even wait for him to leave my room, just rise off the bed and grab my duffle bag before rushing down the stairs.
Lexi, of all people, is in the kitchen when I hit the main floor, and she smiles when she spots me.
“Cam! Hey, how was—”
“Sorry, Lexi. I gotta run,” I utter, my voice cracking slightly as I head for the door.
I don’t have it in me to be angry with her. After all, she’s probably as oblivious to Logan’s feelings as I was. And even if she isn’t, it’s not her fault her heartbreak wound up being the catalyst for my own.
I’m back in my car only a few minutes later, peeling out of the driveway and heading…I don’t know where. Anywhere but there. Any place but ones tainted with memories of him and us and all the lies I started to believe.
Except I don’t even make it down the street before I’m gasping for air, hurt and panic setting in, forcing me to guide the car to the curb. The second I shift into park, my head falls back against the headrest and the first tears finally spill free. They fall, one after another, as I whisper the same things to myself that I told Lexi barely more than a week ago.
It’s gonna be all right.
Just breathe.
You’re okay.
But I don’t believe them. Right now, I don’t have it in me.
My phone buzzes in my pocket, momentarily breaking my mind out of the spiral it’s swirling in, and when I pull it free, I see it’s a text notification. I don’t know if I’m more relieved or more heartbroken that it’s Holden in our group chat, and not Logan.
Holden: @Camden where are you? Get in here!
Opening the thread, I realize there’s an active FaceTime happening—a notification I must’ve missed when Logan and I were talking. Despite my better judgment, I wipe my face and click on the active call, the faces of my friends appearing on my screen a moment later.
And I meanallof them.
Madden and Theo are in one frame, in a hotel room from the looks of it. Phoenix and Holden are on their couch in another, and Quinton and Oakley are…well, I can’t exactly say. It looks like they’re outside.
“There you fucking are! Took you long enough,” Holden gripes within a couple seconds of spotting me.
“Sorry, I was dealing with something,” I reply weakly. “What’d I miss that was so important?”
Everyone is silent as Oakley looks at Quinton, a little smile curving his mouth, before he says, “So… We’re engaged.”
I almost drop my damn phone at the news, a new wave of agony ripping me wide open, and it takes every goddamn piece of my willpower not to burst into tears when Quinton lifts his left hand to reveal a silver band on his ring finger.
Yet, somehow, I find the strength to plaster on a smile instead.
“No shit. Congrats, guys,” I say, possibly forcing a bit too much cheer into my voice. “I’m really happy for you both.”
