Redeeming You (Before You #2)(13)

Thinking of Evelyn, Taylor lifted her phone from the nightstand. She never told Evelyn that she accepted the position. There was one text from Evelyn and one from Miles. She deleted the text from Miles without reading it and read Evelyn’s text.



Evelyn: So are you officially part of the Chasing Ruin team? Please say yes.



Taylor laughed.



Taylor: Yes.



Evelyn must have been waiting for her text all morning because Taylor received an immediate response.



Evelyn: I’m soooo jealous. Maybe you could kiss Cam for me and tell me all about it. I watched that video and I wouldn’t mind sampling him for an hour or a night…



Taylor’s face heated remembering just how much of Cam she sampled last night.



Taylor: It’s a job. That’s it!



Evelyn: If you say so. BTW Miles stopped by last night.



Taylor nearly dropped her phone. Why wouldn’t he move on? It had been six months.



Taylor: WTF????



Evelyn: He said you won’t answer any of his calls or texts. He wanted me to tell you he misses you and he's sorry.



Taylor: Tell him to call Natalie. I’m sure she can help with that.



Evelyn: LOL



Just then, she heard a knock on her door. She swung her legs off the side of the bed ready to face the consequences of her behavior. She could blame it on drinking, she could blame on Cam, but none of her excuses would matter. She petitioned Alec and Jax for this position based on the argument that she wouldn’t be swayed by Cam and all his antics. Well, the joke’s on her. She didn’t even hold her ground for one day. Pathetic.

On the way to the door, she caught her reflection in the mirror. Lovely, she thought sarcastically. Same rumpled clothes from last night, messy hair, and makeup smeared around her eyes. It all contributed to an unintentional heroin chic look.

She peeked out the keyhole and seeing Cam’s shadowed face, she let her head slump loudly against the door. Couldn’t he wait until after she had a shower to initiate this little tête-à-tête. She needed to be prepared for battle to have this confrontation and that included looking halfway presentable. Maybe he’d go away if she ignored him.

“I know you’re there. I can hear you moving around,” Cam said, his hand pressed over the keyhole. “Open the door. I’m not leaving until we talk.”

Apparently the silent treatment wouldn’t get her very far this morning. She flung the door open, letting it hit the doorstop and bounce back, nearly hitting him in the face. “Yes?” she prompted with one eyebrow raised.

Cam stepped into her room, walked right by her, his shoulder brushing against hers.

He lifted her discarded black lace bra from the top of the dresser and tossed it on the bed. “Nice. I like your style,” he said, waggling his eyebrows as he propped his hip on the edge of the dresser.

She rolled her eyes feigning indifference, but the heat barreling up her neck and encroaching on her face told another story. “What do you want?”

“We need to talk,” he stated bluntly.

True, but she couldn’t do this right now, not when she looked disheveled and she had alcohol seeping out of her veins. She pushed her hair from her face. “Can we do this later?”

Cam laughed. “What? You’re not feeling so well?”

“For your information, I feel fine—better than fine. Thanks for asking,” she said indignantly as she folded her arms across her chest.

“If you say so…”

Cam’s eyes drifted over the hotel room and she wished she had taken the time to clean up the clothes scattered on the floor before she left for the bar last night. She must have changed at least five times before she found something she wanted to wear. Last night, she convinced herself that the inability to find the perfect outfit had nothing to do with Cam. In hindsight, she probably lied, but she liked to think of it as self-preservation. Every girl needed a big dose of that to make it through life with her sanity intact.

“I need to take a shower and get ready. I have to check out of this room in…” Her eyes scanned the room for the clock. Unfortunately, the books and water bottle cluttering the nightstand concealed the time.

“Thirty minutes and the bus leaves in forty-five minutes,” Cam said pointing at his phone as he held it in front of him so she could see the time too.

“No!”

“Yes.” He slipped his phone into his pocket. “That’s why I’m here. I thought we could talk about last night before we got on the bus.”

“Ugh.” She looked around the room. “I’m never going to make it.”

“Why don’t you take a shower and I’ll throw your stuff into your suitcase.”

“No way. You’re not touching my shit.”

Cam pointed at the bra he tossed onto the bed. “I already did. You’ve got nothing to hide from me unless you have illegal contraband stored in here somewhere.”

She started shaking her head.

“Think of it as an embarrassing but necessary medical procedure.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You know when you go to the doctor and they need to do something awkward and you desensitize yourself to the whole experience and pretend as if nothing out of the ordinary is happening?” Cam pushed away from the dresser and started opening the drawers.