Page 64 of You Found Me in the Dark
Nothing.
“You always treat your carburetor like it insulted your grandmother?” I immediately regretted the joke.
Cam didn’t look up. Just reached for a socket wrench like I hadn’t spoken. The silence felt heavier than the damn car he was working on.
“Cam,” I tried again, softer this time. “Can we talk?”
He didn’t move for a beat. Then came the reply—dry, clipped. “Oh, are we talking now? Or is this where you continue to say this just happened?”
I stepped in further. “It’s not how I meant it. I just… didn’t know how to say it.”
“That you’re fucking my sister?” He stood upright, finally, wiping his hands on a dirty rag without looking at me. “Yeah, that one’s a real mystery.”
I was starting to understand why Wren was so worried last night. This feeling fucking sucked.
“She’s not just—” I stopped myself. Swallowed the heat. “It’s not like that. You know me. You know it’s not like that.”
“Exactly.” His voice was flat. “I do know you.”
Cam turned away, back to the engine, like I wasn’t even worth a full stare. The tension radiated off him like heat. I could feel it, standing two feet away.
“I didn’t plan for this to happen the way it did, Cam,” I said. “We didn’t sneak around to hurt you. I didn’t want this to happen behind your back. But it did. And I’m still here because it matters. She matters.”
“You think I don’t know that?” he snapped, finally slammingthe hood shut. “You think I’m mad just because you crossed some imaginary line?”
He finally faced me, eyes sharp and raw. “She’s my sister, Reed. She’s been through enough. And I watched you ruin every good thing you’ve touched since we were kids. You burn through women like they’re nothing.”
He was aiming to hurt me like I’d hurt him, but that hit worse than I’d prepared for. Still, I took it. I let it sit.
“You know damn well that was me a decade ago,” I said quietly. “And I’m not proud of a damn bit of it. But this isn’t like before. I’m not like before. I would never hurt her. Not Wren.”
“Maybe you believe that.” His voice cracked just slightly. “But I don’t think you get what happens if you do.”
He wasn’t yelling anymore. He didn’t have to. The weight of it pressed down between us.
I stepped closer.
“I’m in love with her.”
Cam’s jaw tensed. He looked like he wanted to say something, maybe a dozen things, but none came. Just that haunted silence.
“I love her,” I repeated. “And I’m not walking away. I’ll earn your respect back, or I won’t. But I’m not running.”
We stood like that for a while, two men who’d grown up side by side, now facing a crack in the foundation.
“I need to go for a drive,” he muttered.
“Yeah,” I said, rubbing the back of my neck. “Okay.”
He didn’t look at me again as he tossed the rag on the workbench, grabbed his keys, and walked out through the side door. The old Bronco roared to life a moment later, tires spitting gravel as he pulled away down the road.
And just like that, the garage was silent again.
I stood there for another minute, letting my shoulders fall, theadrenaline bleeding out of me. My hands were still shaking—I didn’t even realize they had been. Then I went inside.
The screen door creaked like it always had, and the familiar scent of floral candles and old pine hit me as I stepped into the house. The floorboards groaned beneath my boots. Everything looked the same—the same mismatched decor on the counter, the same crooked picture frame in the hallway—but it felt different.
It was knowing she was here. I walked down the hall, heart thudding like it knew I wasn’t just facing Cam anymore. When I turned to the first door on the right, I saw Wren lying on her side in her bed.
