Page 52 of Cross Check My Heart
“Secondly, what’s going on between me and my family is none of your concern. We are not together anymore, so leave it alone.”
“And finally—” I’m cut off when he grabs my arm and pulls me back to face him. The sudden movement causes me to stumble and he has to grab both my arms to hold me upright. Once I’m standing straight, I expect him to let go. Unease courses through me when he doesn’t and instead turns us so he’s blocking the way to my building.
“Don’t say that. We can fix this.” I blink in disbelief. There’s no way that he is this delusional and believes that there is even a possibility that we’ll get back together. Shaking out of his hold and stepping away takes more effort than it should. It’s then that I realize that he moves us so that my back is to the building. The small distance I had made between us, he instantly closes, until there is barely a foot between us. My back isn’t against the wall, but from what I can see in my peripheral view, there’s not that much space.
Swallowing thickly, I lower my tone in hopes of placating him. He was never violent before, he always preferred to be manipulative with his words, but he never physically hurt me.
“Cam, no. We’ve both changed and want different things. It’s not just that, it’s also the fact that you hurt me, you broke my trust.” I try to sidestep and go around him, but he just follows my movement. Sighing, I close my eyes briefly and shake my head, fighting the urge to cry out in frustration.
“Look, I don’t know how you even found me here, but this is… beyond inappropriate.Youcheated, Cam. Now, you need to leave. I’m sorry if my family is complaining to you about my choices, but you have no say in this.” Keeping my voice even and calm when all I want to do is yell at him to leave me the hell alone is draining. I’m tired of repeating myself to him and to my family. I push away the thought that I will need to call my mom to find out if she had anything to do with him showing up.
He runs his hand through his hair, annoyance taking over his features, as he sighs. As ifI’mout of my mind.
“Lilly, this is stupid. You’ve had more than enough time to be overdramatic about all of this, now it’s time to come home. You’ve had your fun down here. Come home and we can act like this whole thing never happened.”
“Are you insane?” I scoff, slowly losing my patience with this whole situation. Considering that we were together for almost five years, I should have realized sooner that he’s not going to listen to anything I have to say. He views what he did to us as something that can be swept under the rug and forgotten about. He’s never going to listen to anything that I say because he thinks I’m just throwing a tantrum. Taking a deep breath, I move around him, bumping his shoulder as I go. I unlock my phone to call Dominik.
“Go home, Cam.”
Before I even have a chance to take another step, an arm wraps around my waist and I’m yanked back, dropping my phone as Cam pulls me back. My head bounces off the brick wall and I’m so focused on the pain radiating from the back of my head that it takes me a moment to process what’s happening.
When it finally catches up to me that he has me pinned between him and the building, I act on reflex. Placing both my palms on his chest and pushing him away, but he holds his ground with a grunt.
“Stop it, Lilly. You’re being ridiculous. It was just sex with those other girls, I got it out of my system and now we can be together.”
“Let me go.Now.”
I push him again, but he just grabs my wrists and pins them to my side. I go to knee him in the crotch, but he leans his weight against me, blocking the movement. Panic finally runs through my veins. Cam’s never been like this before, suddenly it’s like my mind has no idea what to do.
That whole fight or flight reflex should actually be called fight, flight, or freeze reflex. Apparently, my body reacts to danger by turning into a fucking statue.
“Lilly. You’re coming ho—”
“Get your fucking hands off of her.”
Relief pours over me as I turn my head toward the sound of Dominik’s voice.
If looks could kill, Cam would be six feet under. I’ve never seen Dominik so lethal, and while his murderous glare probably should scare me, all I feel is relief. I bite my tongue when I notice that he’s not alone, Greyson and Landon stand on both sides of him wearing equally pissed expressions.
Cam’s grip on my wrists tightens as he glances over his shoulder to address the guys.
“This doesn’t concern you. Just a small disagreement between my girlfriend and I.” I scowl at him at the use of the word girlfriend, which he misses as he gives them a cocky grin and an eye roll. “She’s just being dramatic.”
Cam turns back to me, thinking that these guys will actually listen to him and narrows his gaze. He starts talking again as if we’re still alone.
“Don’t be difficult about this. Now, let’s go home.” His grip on my wrist tightens again as he pushes himself off me and goes to pull me along with him. He doesn’t make it more than a step before Dominik is by my side. Grabbing the arm that Cam is holding me by and squeezing hard as he talks in a menacingly low voice that I didn’t know was possible.
“Let. Her. Go.” Cam’s face visibly pales but he chooses to stand his ground.
“Dude, I appreciate the tough macho guy routine, but we don’t need it here. My girl was just being a brat, bu—” He’s cut off by a fist to the face. Cam finally lets go of my wrist as he falls back, but I lose my balance and stumble back into the building again.When my head hits the brick this time, I don’t recover as quickly. The dull pain on the base of my skull flares and this time there’s no one to hold me up as I slide down the length of the wall.
Landon is by my side in the next moment, saying my name gently as he helps me sit against the building. I focus on Dominik, who is standing over Cam as if he’s considering going after him again, but Greyson has a hand on his shoulder holding him back.
“Are you okay?” I watch Dominik in a daze for a moment longer before reluctantly looking at Landon. He’s kneeling next to me, concern spread across his features as he hovers, but doesn’t touch me. I nod and glance back, not wanting to take my eyes off Dominik as he towers over Cam, but the pain that radiates across through my head has me flinching. Closing my eyes, I take a slow breath and try to swallow the nausea that’s rolling through me.
I’ve been lucky enough to have made it this long with no major injuries, so this is new to me. There’s also a huge part of me that is still trying to process the fact that I’m hurt because of Cam.
The sound of a female voice talking close by alerts me that someone else noticed what’s going on, but I keep my eyes closed. Exhaling, I mumble for Dominik to stop.
