Was it?
Cam reached out to tuck a stray strand of hair behind her ear. “The last five years have been a lie. Well, an omission. I’m good at those.”
Confusion and horror battled it out inside her chest, neither one gaining ground over the other, and her mind outright refused to comprehend the words coming out of his mouth. She massaged the headache in her temple with a shaking hand. “I don’t understand. Everything we’ve done together…?”
“No, that’s not it. I’ve meant absolutely everything that’s happened between us since day one, but I’ve always wanted more, and I never told you. I want you, Eva. I’ve always wanted you, but I’m done being patient. I’m not your partner. I’m not your fuck buddy. I’m not even your friend.”
She sucked in a stunned breath as horror finally won out and dug icy claws into her heart. “What are you saying?”
“I can’t continue to separate the friend you want me to be from the man who is crazy in love with you.” He squeezed his eyes shut for a long moment, then shook his head and turned away. “So maybe it’s time you find a new best friend.”
…
Vaughn settled onto the stool beside her barely twenty minutes after Cam left her standing on the street with her head reeling. She wasn’t at all surprised to see him. As soon as Cam showed up at home, Vaughn would have felt the need to go all protective “big” brother. Maybe that’s why she’d hung around here. Waiting for him to come flay her alive.
Not that she didn’t already feel like an open, throbbing wound.
“You know,” Vaughn said conversationally, plucking a red straw from the napkin holder on the bar and sticking it between his teeth. “I can make you disappear and nobody will ever find your body.”
She slid him an incredulous sideways glance. Amazing he could look so much like Cam, and yet…not. He always carried himself like he was spoiling for a fight, and the flatness in his blue eyes warned back off or get hurt. He was one scary dude. Not someone she’d want to cross paths with while unarmed on a dark street, especially after the sunny statement he just made.
“You know,” she replied in the same conversational tone, “that’s called premeditated murder and carries a twenty-five-to-life sentence.”
He lifted one shoulder, then smiled as the busty bartender set a short glass of rum and Coke in front of him. Either he’d ordered before he sat down or he was as much a regular at Maguire’s as she was. She bet on the former. A cop shop like Maguire’s wasn’t his usual scene.
“I’m not saying I will,” he said after a long, appreciative drink. “But I can. Actually, I should because you’ve done nothing but make my brother miserable since Key West. If I remember correctly, we had a talk about the consequences for that.”
“You mean when you threatened me at the reception.”
“Ah-ah.” He wagged a finger. “I don’t make threats.”
“And what exactly do you call this?”
“I’m giving you an ultimatum.”
She stared. “Ultimatum?” Indignation made her slam her bottle down on the bar with more force than necessary. “What? Stop fucking Cam or else?”
“I don’t care if you fuck him twice a day and three times on Sunday. Good for him if you do.” He tapped his temple. “It’s the mind fucking I don’t like. You need to make a decision. It’s either Cam or that asshole you’re so hung up on. But if you choose Preston, you need to let Cam go. Cut all ties.”
Cut all ties with Cam? Her stomach pitched at the thought. “That’s not fair, Vaughn. You can’t ask me to—”
He faced her, and she gulped back the rest of her protest. His eyes were no longer flat and expressionless, but had ignited into cold fury. “No, I’ll tell you what’s not fair. Cam’s always right there when you need him, even if that means leaving his own brother’s wedding. You tell him to jump, and he’ll reach for the moon. He’s put his whole goddamn life on hold for you. What have you done for him besides give him a few good lays?”
Eva opened her mouth, but found she had no breath to respond. Vaughn finished his drink in a gulp and dug some cash out of the pocket of his jeans. He stood and peeled off a few bills for the bartender’s tip.
“Vaughn.” She grasped his arm. “I’m sorry.”
His lips tightened into a thin line, but he didn’t glance down at her as he extracted himself from her grip. “I’m not the one you should be saying that to.”
Chapter Twenty-two
Eva left Maguire’s with the sense that her entire world had just imploded, and it only got worse when she drove home to find Preston’s car waiting in her driveway. He shut off the engine and got out when she parked beside him.
Exasperated, she shoved open her door and climbed out, meeting him at the gate to her yard. “You have to stop doing this.”