Page 35 of Hard Rock Sin
"Trash panda?"
"A raccoon," he clarified.
"Is that what you call them?"
"Why not? They look like small pandas. They eat trash."
I snorted out a laugh.
"Do you get many trash pandas around here?"
"Oh yeah. My trash is high quality. All the little rodent creatures fight over who gets to root around in my garbage."
I laughed harder. Cameron returned my laugh with a grin of his own. I nestled down into the mattress.
"Thanks, Cameron."
He continued to hover over me. His eyes glinted, pale moonlight reflected off the dark blue.
"If you want to talk, I'll listen."
I burrowed down into the covers. The bed depressed next to me as Cameron reclined, leaning on one arm so he could look at me. The worry and concern in his face made my heart clench. I closed my eyes.
"Only Noah knows the whole story."
"About the break in?" Cameron's brow furrowed in confusion.
"It wasn't just that our place got broken into." I paused. "I was home that night."
Cameron stilled for a moment before his hand returned to my hair, stroking softly.
"You saw the break in?"
"I didn't just see it. I— I walked in on it. I was in my bedroom. I heard a noise. I stepped out into the living room, expecting to see Noah coming in late from rehearsals. There were two of them. And…"
"Tell me," he said in a gentle voice.
"I knew them," I confessed quietly. "They had been in foster care with me and Noah. My brother got famous. They came around again. Acted like we were family. We trusted them."
"Fuck," Cameron cursed. "That's messed up."
I huffed out a laugh.
"I don't think Noah ever forgave himself for letting it happen. For leaving me alone all night. For trusting the wrong people."
"No wonder he's such a cranky, overprotective, hard ass. Being betrayed like that would really fuck a person up."
"He was always overprotective. And always kind of a hard ass," I admitted. "But this sent him over the edge."
"I had no idea," Cameron said quietly. "I thought you and Noah walked in and found your apartment torn up. I never knew."
He looked almost as distraught as I felt.
"No one knew. I lied to the police. I said Noah and I had walked in together. Noah wanted me to tell, but I refused. I was too afraid." I took in a deep breath. "That wasn't the worst part, though."
Cameron held my gaze. "You can tell me."
"At first, when I walked in on them, they didn't know what to do. I thought they might run. But instead—"
