Page 64 of Camilla & Dallas
“How long, what?”
Dallas cleared his throat and looked away. “I want you back, Camilla. I’ll do whatever it takes.”
She shook her head. “It doesn’t work that way. I gave you another chance. I can’t keep doing that. Whenever I do, another piece of me is taken.” A tear slipped free and she brushed at it as quickly as she could, but he glanced up at her as she did.
“I’m sorry I hurt you. You believe me, right?”
A nod was all she could offer.
“And you still can’t believe that I won’t do it again?”
Blowing out a steadying breath, she shook her head. “It’s not only you, Dallas. It’s everyone I’ve dated. Or most of them. I’ve been left behind by so many people. Figuratively and literally. The guys I date don’t stick around. They end up breaking up with me for no real reason they can give me, or they up and ghost me. It’s getting harder and harder to trust anyone. The only people in my life that I can trust are my family. And Cheyenne.”
A dark cloud seemed to cross over Dallas’s features at that. He took a sudden step forward, and she sucked in sharply but stood her ground. “Cheyenne isn’t the person you think she is. She’s been lying to you, too.”
Camilla thought back to the night when she’d sat with Cheyenne in silence. She’d asked her friend if she knew that Dallas had been planning on leaving. The way Cheyenne had reacted had been strange, but then Camilla hadn’t been in the best headspace.
She shook her head, pushing aside her doubts. “Cheyenne is my best friend. She was there for me when you weren’t.” The bite in her tone was sharper than she’d meant it to be, and when she met his gaze, she scowled at him to make it clear she wasn’t willing to be manipulated. “You left, Dallas. You left without a single word.”
“That’s not true.” He strode into her, his body colliding with her own. The only thing stopping that from happening was his hands wrapping gently but firmly around her upper arms. “I wrote you a letter. I made it clear I was going to come back for you if you’d let me.”
Her head spun. He was lying. If there had been a letter, she would have known. “What letter?” she rasped, attempting to take a step back, but his hold on her persisted.
“I gave it to Cheyenne. I told her to tell you I was sorry, that I was weak for not being able to tell you goodbye in person. It was a mistake, Camilla. One of the biggest mistakes of my life. I should have never left without making sure you got that letter.”
She shook her head again as if the motion would be enough to clear it. “But, I called. I tried reaching out to you. I wanted answers?—”
“I ended up getting a new phone number before I left. Cheyenne was supposed to give it to you, too.”
Her face flushed hot. No. She couldn’t believe that Cheyenne would do such a thing. That she would keep this information from her. Everything Dallas was saying meant that she’d been burned by not only him but his sister as well.
She tore away from him, the heat of his lingering touch burning into her skin.
“Camilla—”
“No,” she snapped. “No. You don’t get to come over here and tell me all of this and pretend that everything will go back to normal.”
“I never said it would.” His voice was quiet, meek. He wasn’t coming closer to her, and he wasn’t making demands.
Good. She couldn’t think straight right now. She needed to figure out what was going on.
“That’s not all, Camilla.”
Her eyes snapped to his. “What do you mean?”
He closed his eyes, and for a moment all she saw was the man she’d fallen in love with. Gone was the anguish she read in his eyes. His entire form relaxed as he focused on what he was going to say. She got the distinct impression that whatever it was would hurt—more than everything else he’d already said.
“Dallas?”
“I can’t prove it, but I think Cheyenne has been manipulating every relationship you’ve had so far.”
“What?”
The air had officially been knocked from her lungs. She couldn’t breathe.
“Cheyenne said something to me the other day—when she found—” He cut himself off and cleared his throat. “When she found out that we were dating again. She said that you were her friend first. She claimed I stole you from her.” His face reddened somewhat. “I guess she thought that if we were together, she wouldn’t have you anymore.” Dallas dragged a hand down hisface and blew out a breath. “Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if she thought anyone else in your life would end up coming between the two of you.”
“She wouldn’t do that,” Camilla whispered. “She was always excited for me when someone asked me out.”
