Precious Consequences(29)

“Don’t worry about it, I’ve already forgotten about it.”

His eyes sadden. Good. He’d better be feeling what I felt when he walked away from me.

“You look tired,” he remarks. “And skinnier.”

“Yeah, it happens when you spend a week in the hospital without eating much,” I bite back.

“You spent a week in the hospital?” he asks. My fists clench and I have to resist my desire to slap the look of sympathy and concern right off his beautiful face. I don’t need him to care anymore. It’s too late for him to care.

“Yes, my daughter needed me.”

Cameron looks away, rubbing the back of his neck. “Is she alright?” he asks quietly. “Your daughter.”

My anger flares and I struggle to reign in the warring emotions being here with him has evoked.

“Don’t do that, Cam,” I state firmly. “Just don’t.”

I start walking away from him, although I have no clue where I’m going. I just need to get away from him and the pull I feel when we’re in the same room. His hand curls around my bicep and his fingers press into my skin as he pulls me around to face him.

“Don’t do what, Hayley?” he asks. His eyes bore into mine and it makes me uncomfortable.

“Don’t pretend you care just for my benefit. I know our friendship was just an act to get me into your bed, so there’s no need to act like it was more than that.”

Cameron’s hand tightens and he glowers at me. He takes a step closer, leaning into me and lowering his face until our noses are almost touching. I do the stupid thing and breathe him in, his sexy, masculine scent mixing with the smell of chlorine. He’s too close and he smells too good. It’s nearly too much.

“You think I’m pretending?” he grinds through his teeth.

“Aren’t you?” I throw back.

Silence.

Cameron’s gaze remains hard and it’s a full minute before he responds. “Maybe it started that way,” he concedes. “But it changed. I started to care about you more than I wanted to.”

That definitely doesn’t make me feel any better. I snort. “Oh sure, that’s why you said you would have never asked me out if you had known that I had a little girl. Is that supposed to convince me you care?”

“I was caught off guard, okay?” His voice grows louder, frustrated. “Is that what you want to hear? That I freaked the f*ck out when I found out you have a kid? Because f*ck, Hayley, that’s not something you should’ve kept from me!”

We are going around in circles. Neither of us ready to relent. Not to each other and not to the inexplicable chemistry between us. Even now, with anger pulsing through me, I feel it. I feel him.

“I was protecting my daughter, Cameron! What was I supposed to do? I knew you would run once you found out, but I wanted one night where I could be a teenager, and not a mother!” I half-shout. I don’t expect him to understand, no one does.

“It doesn’t matter now,” I add. “You made your choice and I’m fine with it. You can go back to doing whatever it is you did before you met me.”

Before Cameron can say anything else, the rest of the team files in and starts getting ready for practice. My chest deflates, a mishmash of relief and contrition leaving the spaces between my ribs.

I catch up with Coach Andrews and thank him for allowing me to sit in on their practice before getting to work. I walk along the poolside as the guys dive in one after the other, swimming length after length, stroke after stroke. I try my best to focus on my assignment, but when Cameron dives in, and I watch the way his body glides effortlessly through the ripping water, I have a difficult time concentrating. I zoom in, bringing his movements closer to me, and follow his smooth progression. His muscles tense and then release, each transition as effortless as the one before. It’s mesmerizing, watching him this way, in his element. It’s like watching a wild animal move in its natural environment, the way it blends in with its surroundings and poises itself as if getting ready to strike its prey. With grace and precision, speed and power. I realize then that Cameron is all of those things, wrapped up in a sexy-as-sin, frustrates-the-bejesus-out-of-me package.

After checking to see that I have enough pictures, I make my way towards the stands where some of the guys are catching their breaths. Noah intercepts me, halting my footsteps. He can be a total douchebag, but for some reason Noah and I started getting along, and I found I like him. I didn’t have much choice when it comes to hanging out with him, being that he is Hannah’s brother, but I didn’t mind it. Before last week I found myself becoming good friends with him and now I’m not sure if it will be awkward, after what happened between Cameron and me.

“Hey Noah,” I greet politely. I smile up at him.

“Hey Hayls. How’s Arianna?”

My eyes widen in surprise and he chuckles. “Hannah told me,” he replies. “You should’ve told us about her sooner, I think it’s cool.”

“You think it’s cool that I have a kid?” I ask incredulously.

“I think it’s cool that you stuck around and took responsibility for her.”

I look at Noah in shock, I think. That is the last thing I expected to hear from someone like him. But then again, I’m starting to see that not everyone will judge me like I expected them to.