Page 85 of Trust Me Always

She starts shaking her head. “It wasn’t like that, Brady.”

I study her, words I can’t quite form working their way up my throat before knotting there, forcing me to swallow so I can speak them. “Tell me you know it’s okay if it were.”

A gentleness falls over her, and she steps into me, her warm palms moving to rest on my chest as she raises on her toes. She presses a kiss to my lips—a quick, barely there peck—with another smile to follow, and suddenly I really wish I hadn’t said that at all.

“I know, Brady. Now come on. Let’s go hit some balls.”

A low chuckle leaves me, but for some reason, my feet feel a little heavy as I lead us toward my truck.

A few minutes down the road and we’re climbing out at FunWorks.

Xavier runs in to add some money onto his players card, so I unpack his helmet and bat, setting it up against the fence of the fastball cage.

“Don’t we have batting cages on campus the baseball teamcan use?” Cameron asks, picking up the highlighter-green bat and inspecting it.

“Yeah, but there’s something about the good old-fashioned cages at a place like this. Remember when me and Chase played baseball that one year? What was it, seventh grade?”

She smiles. “You literally tried to quit after the third game, but your dad wouldn’t let you.”

“No way he was going to let his son be a quitter.” My words settle in my chest, a mix of pride, love, and sorrow creating a whirl of emotions within me. “He always said don’t commit to something in life you’re not one hundred percent sure about and can’t give your all to.”

The rest of his words run through my mind.

No one deserves half-assed, even if that’s all they offer you. Be better. Do better. Be the reason someone else smiles, even if all you want to do is cry, and you can cry, Son. All good men do from time to time.

Cameron looks over her shoulder, a soft tip to her lips, somehow sensing I might need it.

Turns out, I did because the heaviness falls away, and I grab a pink helmet from the cubbies along the fence line, tugging it over her head.

She puts her hands on her hips as if to pose. “How does it look?”

“Perfect, Cammie Girl.” I toy with the hair sticking out the bottom, my eyes meeting hers. “You look perfect.”

And she does. Her eyes are bright, her cheeks a little pink from the chilled air, and that smile—all wide and true and pointed at me. I want to kiss her, pull her close, and be the reason for a whole different sort of flush to her skin. I want to thank her for choosing me, promise her things and deliver on them, because that’s my job as her man.

’Cause, fuck me, I think that’s what I am. Hers.

And she’s mine.

If only for a little while…

Cameron

“No, don’t drop me off!” I slap at his arm quickly when he flicks on the blinker. “I don’t want to go home alone.”

“I’ve got a training session, but I can come over after if you want?” he offers, rolling into the middle lane, intent to ignore my request.

A scowl builds, and I unbuckle, scooting over into the seat Xavier just vacated.

Brady looks over, doing a double take. He frowns at first, then with a hesitancy I don’t quite understand moves back into the regular lane and heads straight.

We follow the road down and around the block and turn into the parking lot of the training center. Not twenty seconds later, a second familiar vehicle pulls in two spaces away.

“Coach asked me to go through some routines with Alister a couple times a week. Since I work with Mason all the time, he figured I was the man for the job.”

Brady’s heavy exhale fills the cab, and I watch as Alister unfolds from the driver seat. “So that’s what he meant when he said see you later. He was talking to you.”

“Disappointed?”

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