Page 41 of Trust Me Always

Cameron

It’s been a good Monday,which is saying something considering I hate waking up to an alarm, hate having to get ready right when I wake up, and hate long lines at the coffee shop.

Today was great, though. I woke up before my alarm—something thatneverhappens but is attributed to my lazy ass not getting off the couch all day yesterday and falling asleep “for the night” around four in the afternoon.

I was showered before Ari, so I didn’t have to bang on the door to tell her to hurry the hell upandthe café’s mobile order is thankfully still on, so I slid past the line, feeling like that meme where the hyenas snarl at the little lioness as she sashays by with a smile.

My professor canceled my first class, so I went to the childcare center early, and all the little ones were in the happiest of moods today. So yeah, it’s been a nearly epic Monday as far as Mondays go.

That should have been my sign the world was not in order and I needed to brace for what the moon had coming.

I hear him before I see him and clench my eyes closed.

“Have you seen Cameron?” he asks, getting right to the point.

Damn it.The way I don’t want to deal with him right now.

Leaning over the pretty pink sink in the Sigma sorority kitchen, I peek out the small window facing the front yard, and sure enough, there he is in all his glory, Ari and Paige standing before him.

I grin when my girls cross their arms, Ari looking away, ignoring him completely, while Paige is too damn poised to be so direct about it. But she does bring a smile to my face when she hits his ass with the best glare she can muster. Honestly? “Needs work, girl,” I muse, hopping up a bit to put a knee on the countertop so I can damn near press my ear to the glass to eavesdrop.

“I haven’t.” Paige smiles then; it’s too wide and purposeful, so she flutters her lashes his way, going the only route she knows how when it comes to confrontation—sweet as fucking pie. “But if I do, I’ll let her know you’re looking for her.”

Yeah, she will.

She will so I can hide from his ass some more. Cameron and controversy? We don’t mix. We pivot.

“Give it a rest already, Alister the Asshole,” I mutter, not quite feeling the power behind the words this time, especially as I accidently take him in from head to toe and a pout draws to my lips. “But why do you have to be so hot?”

“I was born that way.”

I squeal, lose balance, and fall right into the sink, ass cheek stabbed by the stem of a spatula and sending me jumping forward.

Brady catches me on the edge, his head falling back with laughter, and when he faces forward again, his glossy eyes meet mine. “Cammie Baby,” he purrs, mischief gleaming in his gaze.

“Big guy.” I raise a brow, looking behind him at the barrage of babes waiting to regain his attention. “Having fun?”

“Am now.”

I scoff, then remember what I was doing and swiftly spin my torso, only to find the driveway now empty. I press my lips together, unsure if I’m happy or annoyed.

“Let me guess.” He cuts a quick glance to the window where I have the blinds sneakily open and back. “That little fucker showed up uninvited again?”

“I mean, he is on the football team, and this is technically aparty for the football players but yes. Yes, he did.” I sigh, letting my body fall against his big-ass one, and stick my lip out. “I can’t shake him, Brady. I’ve tried and he just…won’t let me.”

Brady’s eyes search mine, a question I can’t read written in his own, though I’m not sure it’s the one he asks. “Do you really want him to? Let you shake him, I mean.”

“Yes.” My answer is fast—maybe too fast—and when that brow of his raises, I groan, covering my face and burying it in his chest. “No. I mean I don’t know,” I mumble against him.

God, I sound pathetic.

Opening my eyes, I meet Brady’s. “Am I having one of those dumb-girl moments?”

“No. He’s just a dipshit.” Brady’s attention snaps over my head, his eyes narrowing and his lips flattening. “But you need to decide what you want to do, ’cause he’s about to walk through the door in five, four, what do you want?”

Panic curls in my belly and I tense up. “I don’t know.”

Brady’s eyes slice to the right, and I hear the front door opening before they then cut back to mine. “Okay, then what do you need?”

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