Redeeming You (Before You #2)(47)
Cam grimaced and looked away. Without a doubt, Alec was referring to his relationship with Anna. He didn’t dislike Anna when he dated her, if he could call it that, but for the most part, he dated her because of what she could offer Chasing Ruin. Her family had connections in the music industry. At the time, he didn’t think of it as using her, but that’s exactly what it was and he hated that someone had done the exact same thing to Taylor. It was official: he sucked. “I’m not using Taylor. I care about her a lot.” Cam’s voice cracked on the last word.
Alec nodded. “And that’s not even the worst part. He micromanaged every detail of Taylor’s life. At first it was small little things. He didn’t like her hair, so she cut it. If he didn’t like her boots, she stopped wearing them. He didn’t like her using Facebook, so she removed her profile. He didn’t like this friend or that friend and they slowly disappeared from her life. After a year had passed, I could hardly recognize her anymore and not just the way she looked, but also her personality. It was flat and stripped of any life. Taylor was f*cking gone. I didn’t think I’d ever get her back.” Alec pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and index finger. “And she’s my only family. Well, the only family that matters anyway.”
Alec’s eyes looked suspiciously glassy, but Cam would never call him on it because he felt sick. Sick about everything Taylor had faced in her life. “So how did you get her out of there?”
Alec smiled. “She caught him cheating on her with her neighbor when she stopped by to pick up the jacket she left there the night before. She finally snapped out of the trance she’d been in for over a year. I picked her up six hours after she called me and moved her into my house. I hope that guy rots in hell for hurting my sister. She didn’t deserve the shit he pulled with her.”
His hands fisted against his thighs, his knuckles turning white. Cam found it difficult to swallow. Taylor’s relationship with her ex was probably one more star branded on her wrist. When he first noticed the scattering of stars, he thought they were sexy with the way they floated up the inside of the unblemished skin of her forearm, but now he wished he could erase every one of them. “She got out of there. That’s all that matters,” he mumbled, not really believing the words as he said them.
Alec stared absently down the hallway. “I want more for her than just surviving and I’m not sure you’re the one who can give her that.” Alec shook his head. “For five years, I left her alone in that house after I graduated from high school with my drunken excuse for a mom, and I tried not to think about what could be happening to her. I told myself she’d be okay, that she was thirteen years old, that she could take care of herself. Every time I came home to visit, she was less and less like the Taylor I knew, and I realized I failed her. I should have never left her or I should have taken her with me and just when I thought she was herself again, she met Miles.”
“Yeah, she needed you,” Cam said.
“She told you what happened to her after I left home?” Alec asked, his too intense eyes boring into him.
“Some, but I got the impression that she probably has more bad memories than she’ll ever share.” Right now anyway, he added silently because he wanted to know everything about Taylor no matter how small.
“That’s exactly why I need you to walk away from this before you hurt her. I don’t know how much shit she can handle, but I don’t want to test it.”
Maybe Alec was right or maybe he wasn’t, but he couldn’t push Taylor out of his life. It’d kill him to let her go. In less than a month, she’d become the center of his life. He loved that she nibbled on her lower lip when she was thinking or when she was nervous. He loved the way she tapped her fingers against her legs whenever she listened to music. Hell, he was probably in love with her or at least more than half of the way there.
“No, it's not going to happen. She can leave me if she wants, but I’m not going to walk away from her.”
Alec’s mouth dropped. “Fuck. You’re in love with her.”
Cam’s eyes widened momentarily. “No f*cking way. I’m not talking to you about this.” This conversation wasn’t happening regardless of what Alec wanted. He hadn’t said anything to Taylor about the depth of his feelings and he sure as hell wouldn’t confess anything to her brother before he shared it with her. She deserved that and so much more.
“Fine.” Alec laughed. “You don’t have to say anything. I get it.”
“You don’t get anything.”
Alec snorted. “Whatever…it’s about time you got over Bre.”
“I’ll always love Bre.” Cam stepped into the elevator with Alec, pressed the button for the lobby and watched the door close as he mulled over his next words. “As a friend, as the closest thing I’ll ever have to a sister, but it was never the kind of love to build a lifetime on. I understand that now. We were just two people who had known each other their entire lives. We have a shared history and we were comfortable with each other, but it wasn’t crazy love. You know what I mean?”
“Yeah. Don’t you wish you figured that out months ago?” Alec shoved him lightly against the elevator wall. “I was getting sick of your martyr performance. This tour couldn’t end fast enough for my taste.” Alec mock shivered as he chuckled under his breath.