Beautiful Oblivion (The Maddox Brothers, #1)(61)

“What’s wrong?” he asked, genuine concern in his eyes.

“Nothing,” she said, wiping her eyes quickly.

Kody looked wounded. “You can tell me, you know. I still care if you’re hurting.”

“I can’t talk to you about it,” she said, her face crumpling.

Kody put his thumb under Raegan’s chin and lifted her eyes to meet his. “I just want you to be happy. That’s all I care about.”

Raegan looked up at his big green eyes, and then threw her arms around his chest. He pulled her against him, cupping the back of her hair with his huge hand. He kissed her temple, and just held her, not saying a word.

I stood up and joined everyone else while Kody and Raegan had their moment.

“Cheesus Crust, does this mean they’re back together?” Blia asked.

I shook my head. “No. But they’re friends again.”

“Kody’s such a good guy,” Jorie said. “She’ll figure it out eventually.”

My cell phone buzzed. It was Trenton.

“Hello?” I answered.

“The f*cking Intrepid won’t start. I don’t guess you could pick me up from work?”

“You’re just now finishing up?” I asked, looking at my watch.

“Cal and I were talking.”

“Yeah . . . I have to run home to change for work tonight, though . . .” The line got quiet. “Trenton?”

“Yeah? I mean, yes. Sorry, I’m just f*cking pissed. It has one of those two-point-seven-liter engines so I knew it was gonna . . . you have no idea what I’m talking about, do you?”

I smiled, even though he couldn’t see me. “No. But I’ll be there in fifteen.”

“Sweet. Thanks, baby. Take your time. The roads are getting worse.”

I looked down at the phone gripped in my fingers after I hung up. I loved the way he spoke to me. The little nicknames. The texts. His grin with that amazing dimple in his left cheek.

Jorie winked at me. “Must have been a guy on the phone.”

“Sorry, I have to go. I’ll see you all tonight.”

Everyone waved and said their good-byes to me, and I jogged out to the Smurf, nearly busting my ass when I tried to stop. The tall security lights were on, breaking up the darkness. Freezing rain stung where it touched my skin and made tiny tapping noises against the parked vehicles. No wonder Trenton said the roads were worse. I couldn’t remember when we’d had this much wintery precipitation so early in the season.

The Smurf resisted for a few moments before starting up, but within minutes of Trenton’s call, I was driving carefully back to Skin Deep. Trenton was waiting outside in his puffy blue coat, his arms crossed over his chest. He walked to my side and waited, watching me expectantly.

I cranked down the window halfway. “Get in!”

He shook his head. “C’mon, Cami. You know I’m weird about that.”

“Quit it,” I said.

“I have to drive,” he said, shivering.

“You don’t trust me by now?”

He shook his head again. “It doesn’t have anything to do with trust. I just . . . I can’t. It messes with my head.”

“All right, all right,” I said, sliding away from him, over the console, and into the passenger seat.

Trenton opened the door and hopped in, rubbing his hands together. “Shit on a stick, it’s cold! Let’s move to California!” As soon as the words left his mouth, he regretted them, staring at me with both shock and remorse in his eyes.

I wanted to tell him it was okay, but I was too busy handling the guilt and shame that washed over me in huge, suffocating waves. T.J. hadn’t contacted me in weeks, but besides a respectful amount of time to wait between relationships, this was particularly insulting—to T.J. and to Trenton.

I pulled two cigarettes from my pack and put them both in my mouth, lighting them simultaneously. Trenton pulled one out of my mouth and took a drag. When he pulled into my parking spot in front of my apartment, he turned to me. “I didn’t mean . . .”

“I know,” I said. “It’s really okay. Let’s just forget about it.”

Trenton nodded, clearly relieved that I wasn’t going to make a big deal of it. He didn’t want to acknowledge whatever I had left with T.J. any more than I did. Pretending to be oblivious was much more comfortable.

“Can I ask you for a favor, though?” Trenton nodded, waiting for my request. “Don’t say anything to your brothers about us just yet. I know Thomas, Taylor, and Tyler aren’t in town much, but I’m not really ready to have the talk with Travis the next time he comes in to the Red. He knows about T.J. It’s just . . .”

“No, I get it. As far as Travis will know, everything is still the same. But he’s going to know something’s up.”

I smiled. “If you tell him you’re working on me, he won’t be so surprised later.”

Trenton chuckled and nodded.

We both ran to the door of my apartment, and I shoved the key in the lock. When it clicked, I pushed through, and Trenton shut it behind him. I turned up the temperature on the thermostat, and then started to walk toward my bedroom, but there was a knock on the door. I froze, and turned slowly on my heels. Trenton watched me for some sign of who it might be. I shrugged.