Page 63 of Trust Me Always

“It would have to be true for me to admit such a thing, which it isn’t.”

“And do you plan to still be dating him at the end of the month?”

“Even if I wasn’t, I already told you: I don’t want this.” She waves her fingers from herself to me. “I can’t trust you, and if I can’t trust you, I can’t be with you.”

I drop my gaze to the watermelon piece I spear with my fork, hearing what she’s not saying.

If I hadn’t fucked things up, then she would not be pretending to date some other guy just to keep me at arm’s length. Because that’s what she’s doing.

Not that she’s admitted it, but it’s like I said.

Brady will hook up with someone else at some point, forgetting or maybe too excited about the prospect to worry about a fake relationship, and then she won’t be able to hide the truth anymore.

I look up, meeting her eyes and hating the hint of sorrow that I’m responsible for that clouds those baby blues. “I know I’ve said it already, Cameron, but I truly am sorry for what I did to you. I hate myself for hurting you. If I could go back…”

Cameron stares at me a long moment. Hesitantly, she reaches across the table, and I take the offer, locking my hands with hers. She squeezes slightly, a small, sad smile on her lips.

“We can’t go back, Alister.”

I nod, my throat growing thick as I ask, “But do you think we can ever go forward?”

She opens her mouth, so for the sake of this conversation, I add, “I mean if you weren’t dating Brady anymore.”Fake dating.

She swallows, eyes dropping to the spot where my thumb is running along her wrist.

“I’m not sure,” she admits quietly.

She may as well have screamed the words into my ear because there wasn’t a no in there. That’s a maybe, and maybe will always make trying worth it.

We’re not done.

I just have to convince her of as much, and I think I have an idea of where to start. I shift closer, holding on a little tighter. “Hey, so?—”

A large figure wraps around her from behind, and I look up to find Brady.

She tears her hand free, quickly dropping it to her lap as her cheeks flame, but he’s already got his face buried in her hair, and if the silent shake of her shoulders a moment later means anything, he’s whispered something to her.

She tips her head back, smiling up at him, and I note the wayit reaches even beyond her eyes. There’s a tenderness there I never noticed before, and it has my stomach turning.

They’re just friends, I remind myself, slowly starting to feel like the outsider here when that’s my girl he’s holding on to.

Was your girl.

Damn it.

I clear my throat—loudly—and her head snaps this way as if she forgot I was here.

The tint coloring her cheeks makes me wonder if she did.

“Alister,” Brady drawls, his arms moving from where they are folded around her shoulders to her waist. “Mind if I borrow her?”

“If she were really your girlfriend, you wouldn’t have to ask.”

Brady chuckles, and he hauls her up with one swoop. “I got your bag, Cammie Baby. Ari and Paige are waiting outside.”

Cameron nods, looking back at me with a tiny smile and a wave before heading toward the door.

Brady watches her go, same as I do, and only when she’s out the door do we face one another. He bends down, placing his left fist knuckle down on the tabletop. “That littleif she were your girlfriendline hurt your case, not the other way around.”

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