He mumbled a curse, stumbled out of the pool, and hopped on one leg back into the house to
go fix his foot.
From the opposite end of the pool I was suddenly brave. “Why didn’t you tell me Spider saw
Griff climb out of my room?”
“Why didn’t you tell me that Griff climbed into your room?”
“You weren’t in a good mood, and I didn’t want to get him in trouble. He was already pretty
scared,” I answered right away.
“He didn’t follow orders. He had reason to be scared.”
His voice chilled me and I was less brave now. “You still haven’t answered my question.”
Cameron chewed on his answer. “You and this Griff fellow seemed to have grown … close over the
past few weeks. What you and he were up to in your room is none of my business. I won’t stop
you from being with who you want to be with. What I can’t have is an employee who refuses to
follow my orders.”
It had all sounded too rehearsed.
“You think that Griff and I were doing something up in my room?”
“Like I said, you can be with whoever you want, and I’m sure the two of you probably have a
lot in common. I still have a job to do and that includes keeping you safe. We have rules for a
reason around here and someone who doesn’t follow rules is a danger to you and the rest of us.
”
I tried to push my family’s history of adultery out of my head. “Do you really think that I
would kiss you and turn to someone else on the same night? What kind of person do you take me
for?”
“That thing last night—”
“That thing?” I should have braced myself, but I never got the chance.
“The kiss was just a kiss. It didn’t mean anything. I was really tired and you were drinking
… It should have never happened. Let’s forget about it.”
I couldn’t tell if he had meant his words; his expression, his tone were so well hidden behind
the mask. It didn’t matter much. The words had already done their damage, leaving a deep gash
in their path.
I took a long, ragged breath.
“But … you told me you loved me,” I argued, my voice barely a whisper.
“No. I never said that,” he reminded me coldly.
My heart was already plastered with wounds; most were mended, the rest were well calloused
scars. I doubted the one that Cameron had freshly carved would ever fully heal. It had reached
my core. What I didn’t know yet was that everything had started to harden around my broken
heart again—a well-practiced reflex.
I could hardly breathe, could hardly hold on. I pulled myself out of the pool and wrapped a
towel tightly around me.
“Just so you know,” I told him, my voice shaking, “Griff and I didn’t do anything. We
talked. Well, he talked mostly, and I listened.”
“What did he talk about?”
“He thought that you were going to kill him,” I spilled, eying him to see whether I would be
able to figure out the truth from his face.
He didn’t flinch.
“He also told me that I should be scared of you. That you were going to kill me too,” I fired
back, hoping it would hurt someone else for once.
Cameron cruelly remained unchanged. “And you believe that?”
I had no answer to give him.
I walked away.
I held on while I climbed the first staircase. I still held on as I made it up the second
staircase. When I was safely concealed behind Cameron’s bedroom door, I let it go, let myself
fall apart. Cameron … Griff … Cameron … it was all too much. I wasn’t sure of anything
anymore.
Chapter Seventeen:
Different Worlds
I didn’t want to open my eyes. I could feel the warmth of the sun on my face—which was the
last thing I wanted. Why couldn’t it just rain today? Part of me wished that I would open my
eyes and find myself back in my tiny room in Callister, living an ordinary life where people
like Cameron remained unseen and definitely unfelt. But the other part, that bigger part again,
knew that I didn’t want to go back to my former life, no matter what mean things Cameron
Hillard could find to say to me. I threw the blanket over my head with the hopes that if I
waited in the darkness long enough, clouds would come, to match my mood. But I could feel the
bed shake as Meatball was wagging his tail wildly. He knew that I was awake now.
“Not yet, Meatball, please …” I whined.
“You’re going to have to get up eventually.” I didn’t have to pull the blankets away to know
that it was Cameron. I hadn’t heard him come in, yet there he was. “Anyway, Meatball won’t go
back to sleep if he knows you’re up.”
His chilled tone hadn’t improved. It was going to be another one of those days. I stayed
hidden.
“Don’t you have anything better to do than watch me sleep?” I complained from under the
blankets, trying to keep my voice as cool as his, even though my somersaulting heart had
silently betrayed me. I hated that he had this kind of power.
Something thumped next to me. I peeked out—Cameron had thrown a shiny silver object at me. It
was a cell phone—my cell phone.