Page 64 of Forged in Peril

This, all of this, was way too much.

She thought that by coming here, she’d be able to start over, to escape the damage that Warrington had caused, but there was no way out. Certainly not here.

“I’m sorry,” she stammered, refusing to meet his eyes as she started to walk toward the door. He followed, his footsteps heavy against the floor, but he didn’t come close enough to touch her. “I’m sorry for coming here and for putting you, your brothers, and everyone else at FBS at risk.”

“This isn’t your fault,” Cameron said, his voice firm. “No. We’re not afraid of these people. We’re all committed to putting an end to this terror and keeping you safe. You belong here.”

She stopped walking, pressing her eyes shut for a long moment.

He sounded so sincere, so willing to put up with any level of danger, just because–for whatever delusional reason–he wanted her close to him.

Her heart was racing again, willing her to turn around, to wrap her arms around his neck, to let his breathing guide her own.

But she couldn’t do it.

She’d already gotten too close, and today had made it clear that it was too dangerous. She had to get away, for all of their sakes.

She swallowed, turning to face him at last, not wanting to utter the words that she knew she had to say.

“Bristol, you need to stop,” he said huskily, raising his hand as though he was about to reach out and touch her before letting it fall to his side once more. “We want you here.Iwant you here.”

She drew a long breath, sending up a silent prayer and begging for forgiveness for the hurt she was about to cause.

“Maybe that’s part of the problem, Cameron,” she said, forcing herself to meet his eyes. “You want me as this woman who wants to follow your lead, who knows how to trust you more than I trust myself. And I’m just not that girl.”

He crossed his arms over his chest, waiting for her to finish.

The fact that he hadn’t interrupted her made it even worse.

“I wasn’t that girl back then, either, which is why I had to reject your proposal–”

“It’s why you ran away, you mean,” Cameron said flatly.

“I thought that maybe things were different now. Since you came back into my life, I thought maybe I’d changed. But I haven’t. I keep falling back into old patterns and making the same mistakes, and I don’t know how to stop.”

“You don’t have to be perfect,” Cam said, shaking his head. “You just need to try. That’s all I could hope to ask of you. Don’t be like this.”

The hurt in his eyes was too much to bear.

She looked down at the ground, cheeks burning with shame, but she couldn’t stop now.

She wouldn’t. Not when he could have died today trying to save her.

Not when he was so determined to love her, even when all she knew how to do was to offer pain in return.

“I can’t. Trying isn’t good enough. Not when the stakes are this high,” she said, unable to conceal the way her voice was shaking. “I can’t do this. I’m sorry.”

CHAPTER

TWENTY

CAMERON

Cameron waited for Bristol to finish, each sentence washing over him like freezing water.

At last, she had said what she wanted.

She didn’t move any closer to the door, and he willed himself to remain where he stood, not wanting to give her the satisfaction of listening to him beg.

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