Page 75 of Hot Damn
“I understand your anger at me that first night now.”
“I couldn’t see past your job. Sometimes still can’t. I’m trusting you to keep this to yourself, Cami.”
She pulls from my arms and steps back; the shock on her face has me wishing I hadn’t voiced my concern. Before I can apologize, she’s poking me in the chest with her finger.
“If you think for one hot second I’d ever breathe a word of this to anyone, never mind put it in an article, you’re a dumbass!”
With that she spins away and stomps from the room, which is a feat considering she could barely walk a few minutes ago.
Behind me the toast pops and I grin. Cami may think this conversation is over, but I promised her toast.
And I should probably deliver it with an apology. Quickly plating the toast, I swipe some butter over each piece and grab jars of strawberry jelly and peanut butter just in case she wants something else on them.
When I get back to my bedroom, I find her sitting up in bed, back to my headboard, arms crossed, an angry scowl on her face.
“I wouldnevertell anyone what you just told me.” Her words are fierce, hard like the headboard behind her.
“I know. I didn’t mean to imply you would.” I sigh. “It’s hard to say why I said what I did. I mean I know why, but again, I can’trule out there’s a piece of me that meant the words the way you took them.”
“So you think I’m going to what? Just blurt your secret out to someone? Write it up in the paper?”
“No. But I won’t deny the fear I feel now that somebody other than myself knows who I really am. I went to a lot of effort to wipe out the past so that Whit could have the best life she could without the dark cloud of how she was conceived hanging over her head.”
“I understand that. And maybe I over-reacted a little, but, Beckett, you have to know I’d never share what you shared with me in confidence. You don’t know the full story of how I came to live with my dad and if you did, you’d know I’m the last person to put an adult, never mind a child, through the scandal revealing your true identity would be.”
“Okay. I guess we have to accept this isn’t a normal situation and our emotions, mine more than yours, are fully invested and tangled in a way that makes both of us a bit over-reactive.”
“Over-reactive? Is that a word?” The small smile curving her lips has me hoping we can move past this little misunderstanding.
I shrug. “It felt right.”
“Is that my toast?”
“Yes.” I hold out the plate until she takes it, then offer the two jars. “I wasn’t sure if you wanted either of these.”
“I’ll have some of the peanut butter.” The smile curling her lips now is more of a smirk. “Do I use my finger to put it on?”
“Shit. Sorry. I’ll go get?—”
“It’s fine. I can eat it plain but let me get out of bed.”
“Why?”
“Because you don’t want me leaving crumbs in here.”
“Cam, I can say with all honesty, crumbs in my bed are not a problem. Whit and I used to do breakfast in bed every chance we had before we moved here.”
“That might be so, but I’m not going to ruin these nice sheetswhen I’m planning to crawl back under them and sleep for as long as the outside world will let me.”
“How’s the hip?” I ask when I see her grimace as she slips to the floor beside the bed and leans her back against it.
“Okay. I think the meds have kicked in and the march up the stairs loosened things up,” she says sheepishly.
“Do you want more of that cream before you go back to sleep?”
“If you can spare some. There wasn’t much in the jar.”
“I can get more from one of the trainers tomorrow.”
