“I’m sorry if I made things harder for you,” he says. “But I had to try. If I didn’t, it would have been another regret to add to the first one.”
“Thank you for believing I was worth the time.”
“You’re worth a lot more, Cameron Cox, and if I thought for even a second I had a shot, I would keep trying to take it.” He reaches over, squeezing my hand.
I hold on to it for a moment before both our arms fall to our sides, and we start the trek back to the house.
When we get closer, some of the guys are outside, throwing the ball around.
We stand back and watch, and after a few minutes, Alister glances my way.
“So.” He raises a brow. “That’stheTrey Donovan, huh?”
“Yep.”
“Man,” he says. “I must bereallygood-looking, considering you have impeccable taste in men.”
Laughter flies from me, instantly gaining the attention of a certain beastly man, but I don’t look Brady’s way, even though he continues to stare.
“I pulled up his social media pages last night,” Alister admits,and now it’s my turn to raise a brow. “Think Lancaster knows what a big night Trey had after his team’s win last week?”
I smirk to myself. “Nope.”
“You gonna tell him?”
“Nope.”
Now it’s Alister who laughs, and I can’t help the smile that blooms.
I’m happy we can do this, that things didn’t get so misconstrued along the way where it ended with him hurt and me an epic, deceiving asshole.
Alister knew the score. He’s known since day one that he was fighting a losing battle, but I commend him for trying. Respect it even, and in a way, it’s made my feelings for him into something more genuine, just not in the way he hoped for.
“Thank you, Alister,” I say softly, turning to wrap him in a hug. “Thank you for hanging around long enough to show me what a good man you really are.”
“I’m going to miss you, beautiful,” he whispers.
Tears form in my eyes, and I smile, kissing his cheek as I pull away. “I’ll be around…but you should probably just call me Cameron now.”
He lets out a heavy exhale, but his smile doesn’t go away. “Yeah, you’re right. Well, I guess I should go show these dudes how a real pass is supposed to be made.”
I chuckle, pushing him toward the game.
When I look over, Brady is still standing there watching me.
And he doesn’t look away.
Brady
Most of us are in the kitchen, running around and getting things ready, with several conversations going on at once, but I’m onlyhalf tuned in. My eyes are glued to the sand hill just outside the floor-to-ceiling windows. I only came inside to check on my turkey and see if the others needed any help with their dishes, but now it seems I’m glued in place.
Trey and Cameron are standing there, chatting with an older couple walking by with a dog. He’s got a football in his hands, and she’s got a smile on her face. I bet those strangers think they’re two young kids in love.
“Guys,” I mumble.
“Let’s move that down there,” I hear Mason say.
“Can we put on Christmas music?” Paige asks someone.