Bender (The Core Four #1)(75)
The gym was open on Thanksgiving? I shook my head. “No, I just noticed that you seemed upset about something, and you wouldn’t look at me when you got off the phone. I know that you have a past Camden, and I am not so blind to not think that past might want to come back around.” I was trying to give him a push to open up to me about any exes that might want him back. Particularly someone named Bree. “This isn’t about trust, but it is about you confiding in me. You can tell me things, I’m not going to judge.”
There were a few seconds between when I spoke and when he did. “There’s nobody coming back in my life like that. There’s also no reason for you to feel insecure. I know that I don’t say a lot or maybe open up, but I know that you are here. And I appreciate that.”
I swallowed the lump in my throat. He was hiding something. Every fiber of my being told me I was right. But I couldn’t call him out on it without getting into a huge fight right now. I’d just have to cross my fingers that at some point he’d want to tell me what was really going on and who it was that called him and had been texting him. In the meantime I nodded and gave a weak smile.
“Okay,” I said.
Placing his forehead on mine he repeated me. “Okay.” Giving me a quick peck on the lips, he took my hand and pulled me away from the fence. “Let’s get back to the house girlfriend, my brothers have probably already tore into the pumpkin pie, and if it’s all gone, I think I might murder someone.”
I grinned at his now silly demeanor and followed him back to his parents.
TO SAY THAT I’VE HAD A BAD WEEK would be the understatement of the century! First it started at work with going from a paper system to an electronic one. Scanning and inputting a couple hundred patients’ records was not only time consuming, it was tedious. And don’t even get me started with having to file the paperwork that was still coming in so it could all be switched over. Then I had a pop quiz in A&P that I wasn’t even close to being ready for. We had gone over the different types of cells in the body the day before and I hadn’t had a chance to look at my notes. Sarah had called me to say that Mom had left, and she was home alone. So I had to go get her and bring her to the apartment then take her back when my mom got home. I would have just let her stay if she didn’t have school in the morning. It has been one thing after another, and I was exhausted; mentally and physically exhausted! Not only that but Camden had been working later than normal so I’d barely seen him over the past few days, and it was making me crabby. I also noticed that when he was home with me, he was distracted. It didn’t’ sit right, and I wondered what was going on. But after our talk at the baseball field, I knew that I needed to trust him.
It was Thursday morning, and I was leaving the café with Macie. She knew about my talk with Camden and what was said. She told me that there was probably nothing to it, and it was more than likely something that he wanted to handle on his own. I agreed and decided I needed to let it go. I was stressing myself out over nothing, and I had no reason not to believe what he told to me. When we parted I decided to head home to take a nap before I went to work. When I got in I noticed Camden’s car was here. He hadn’t come home all week for lunch and seeing him was a nice surprise.
“Hey you, how was class?” he asked, getting up from the couch to greet me.
“Good I guess. Did you know that there are two hundred and six bones in the body…and that I need to know every single one of them and how they function? Ugh! Kill me now!” I practically collapsed in his arms.
Chuckling he said, “Yes, I’m aware of the number of bones, but unfortunately I can’t help you with all of them. Are you tired?”
“Mmm…hmm,” was the only response I could give him.
“How about we both go get a little sleep? I have a client in two hours so I have a little time to rest.”
“I’d love some sleep. I swear this is like the week that never ends,” I grumbled.
“Hmmm, and I thought it was just me. Alright Blue, hold on.” He lifted my arms around his neck, and he picked me up, cradling my too his body. Carrying me up the stairs we went into his room, and he laid me on the bed. He pulled off his gym shorts and crawled under the covers behind me, spooning me. “I’ll wake you up before you need to leave,” he said, kissing my temple.
“K. Thank you.” I yawned. His body was like a big blanket, and it comforted me in so many ways. It only took a few minutes for sleep to drag me under.
Beep, beep, beep. What the hell was that noise? Opening one eye I looked at the clock feeling completely discombobulated and stiff. Did the alarm just go off? Rolling on to my back I stretched my limbs and glanced at Camden’s side of the bed. It was empty, but I heard the shower running in the distance. Man I must have been really out, because I didn’t even feel him get up. I had a little over thirty minutes to get ready for work.
A second little beep, beep, beep went off.
Sitting up, I rubbed my tired eyes and looked on Camden’s night stand. His phone was sitting there and the screen was lit. I tried not to look at it, I really did, but curiosity got the best of me. I didn’t know why all the trust conversations that I’d had with Camden and Macie went out the window in that moment, but I needed to look. Something was drawing me to see who it was. Reaching for his phone, I pushed the bottom button on his to light the screen up, and I saw two text messages from Bree. Instantly I felt sick. Why was she texting him? I was able to see partial messages, but I’d never be able to look at them without him knowing that I read them. I looked up at the door and listened for the shower. It was still running so I had a little bit of time. With shaky hands I picked up the phone and lit up the screen again.