Page 110 of Wild As Her

She keeps going. God, I love her so much.

“And if you ever think about using that voice towards him again, the one that drips with disappointment likeyouhave any high ground, I swear to God, I will make sure you regret it. And I won’t even have to raise my voice to do it.”

My father tries to laugh. It comes out brittle, like it’s caught in his throat.

Cami smiles. Not warm. Not kind. Just a warning with lipstick.

Then she looks to me, her expression softening the second her eyes meet mine. “Let’s go.”

I push back my chair, heart pounding—not from rage anymore, but something else entirely. Something closer to awe.

She turns and leans into him and says something I can’t hear, but I see his face tense up, and he grips the table, his cuffs clattering.

She puts her hand in mine. We walk out withoutanother word.

Outside, I slump against the seat in my truck, relieved that is over.

Cami watches me, arms crossed."You okay?"

I shake my head. "No. I thought I’d feel better. I feel worse. Like he had access to you, and he poisoned us.”

Her eyes soften and she lays her hand on mine. “I’m proud of you. You might not feel better, but you did it. And now you know. He didn’t change, and he probably never will.”

"I can't end up like him."

"Look at me. You are nothing like him. Not even close. He's not even human. He's an animal who deserves to be in the cage that he’s in. Look at you. There is so much good in you.Somuch good," she says as she motions to the prison. "There's no good in him, anymore. The only good part of him is that he made your brothers, Jenna, and you."

"Maybe we should slow this down," I blurt, panicked. "Maybe that’s safer. I can’t have him break you. I can’t let him take you from me. He knew I bought your ranch. How could he know that? What if he can still mess with us from prison?"

She blinks. Her face twists like I slapped her.Then she sits back. Cold."You know what, Jack? You don’t get to keep pushing me away and pulling me back in. I can’t keep letting you do that. I don’t have space in my life for another man who decides to come and go as he pleases.”

"Cami—"

Oh, shit. Just what I was afraid of. Messing this up between us. Again.

She turns and faces forward. Not saying another word. "Take me home."

She stares out the window the entire ride home. Her silence is worse than yelling. Worse than anything.

When we get back to the Wilder Ranch, she doesn’t comeinside, instead she gets in her truck and leaves without saying a word.

I wait. I call. Nothing.

Hours pass. The sun starts to dip low. I clean the barn. I feed the horses and Love. I pace until my legs ache.

I pace the yard, petting Love and wondering how the hell I’m going to fix this.

I call Violet.

“Hey, have you by chance seen Cami?” I ask, trying to be calm, but my heart is racing.

"Yeah," she says. "She’s here. She asked to stay at the cabin. And Jack? Don’t you dare come over here unless you’re ready to fix this."

I drive straight there.

She’s standing on the porch of the little guest cabin behind Violet’s place, arms crossed, fury glowing just under the surface when she sees me pull up. But she doesn’t look surprised.

"Cami. Come home,” I plead.

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