To be fair, she’s right. Cameron was the one… wait.
I only meant to keep you; I didn’t want to spend a single moment imagining you with someone else.
Those are both things Cameron said to me whilst trying to explain himself, to gain my forgiveness. And just last night, I heard Cassie say she wants to be with me.
Oh, god.Fuck. Was Cameron just trying to deter her from me this entire time? Has every messed-up move he’s made been his terrified way of trying to keep me all to himself? Because… because helovesme.
“Atticus?” Cassie presses.
“Huh?” I snap back to the present, barely seeing her through the whirlwind happening in my mind. “Uh, yeah. I forgive you.”
“That’s great!” she squeals, clasping her hands together as she steps closer. “In that case, I have a confession.”
My eyes widen. “Cassie—"
“I like you. I’ve liked you since we hung out at Checkers so long ago. You like me too, right?” Her pleading eyes drill into mine, and suddenly, I feel a little panicky.
Cameron really was doing what he thought was right, and here I am, being confessed to by his best friend. The exact thing he was fighting so hard to keep me from.
He’s a possessive little thing, isn’t he?
It makes me smile. Cassie lights up at the sight, so I very quickly erase it.
“No, Cassie,” I say softly. “It’s not like that for me.”
“But... but…” Her hands snap out, gripping my bicep. “Why not? I’m pretty, aren’t I? And I’m kind and can beverysubmissive.”
She says it seductively, as if just that phrase alone will get me to drop my pants. Which, she isn’t wrong, once again. If Cameron were to give me those big, stormy eyes and tell me how submissive he is, I might just lose it and rip him to shreds with my bare hands.
But there is a war raging inside of me now. One that features the realization that Cameronisn’ta douchebag butisdesperately in love; and one that knows either way, I can’t have him. Not when I’ve basically sold my soul to a demon.
One of these days, those consequences will catch up to me, and while I’m not freaking out about it constantly, I won’t make him face them, too.
“Cassie,” I sigh, gripping her wrist as she clutches onto me.
And then my phone starts to ring, loud and piercing. I pull it out quickly so I can decline the call and continue my rejection, but the name on the screen makes me halt.
Cameron.
“Hello?” I answer quickly, my heart thumping wildly in my chest.
“Back away from her.” The anger in his tone would startle me if it wasn’t kind of sexy.
My eyes flicker around the tree line. He has to be here if he knows she’s next to me. Butwhere?
“Why? Feeling left out?” I hear myself say, as if I simply cannot resist teasing him.
My eyes slip back to Cassie, who’s staring at me in confusion, most likely because I took a call right in the middle of a sentence.
“It’s not about that,” Cameron hisses into my ear. “Just back away from Cassie.”
If I hadn’t just had the revelation I did, I wouldtotallybe getting the wrong idea here. But no more of that. Now, Iknow.
I understand what he’s been so desperate to tell me, to show.
“Then what is it about?” I demand, wanting to hear it from him again.
Cassie mouths,“Who’s that?”but I ignore her, scanning the trees once more as I take a few steps away.
