Good. He deserves to feel regret. Or guilt.
“Go away, Cameron,” I respond coolly.
“No. Just… fuck, just stop!” A strong hand wraps around my bicep, and the feel of his skin on me, even through my jacket, burns.
It hurts.
“Don’t,” I hiss, yanking myself from his grip. “Go back inside. Go back to Grace, or continue your gossip session with Cassie. I’m out of here.”
“Please,” Cameron begs, hurrying around me to stand in my path. His eyes are wide and watery, and his hands are shaking. “Please just listen to me. It’s not what you think!”
“Oh, so youdon’tthink I’m controlling?” I laugh out, my own eyes narrowing on him.
Cameron flounders, his mouth opening and shutting several times.
“That’s what I thought,” I continue. “You think I’m some controlling, possessive man and that I’d lock some poor girl away in my castle.”
“Yes!” Cameron suddenly shouts. “I mean, wait, no! Kind of? But not like that. Please, understand it’s not like that.”
He’s full of so much desperation, so much longing that I almost break down and let him explain. I almost forgive him.
Almost.
“No,youunderstandme:I will not cater to you while you go behind my back and demean me. I will not take this from you or anybody else. I may be controlling, and I may be possessive, but I’m not a monster. I’m notrepulsive.”
Cameron’s eyes soften, fresh tears building.
“Atticus,” he whispers, his tone full of regret and pain.
“Enough. I gave you…” I take a deep breath, resisting the urge to reach out and touch him. To graze his cheek with my fingertips or wrap him in my jacket as he has lost his at some point. “I was willing to give you everything.Allof me.”
“I want that,” he gasps. “I want… don’t go. Please.”
“I guess I should be thanking you,” I admit, moving around him to continue the trek to my car. “Thanks for showing me how much of a colossal waste of my time this has been. That we were. And by the way,” I turn back to him, taking in his hurt expression. “You would havebeenso lucky to rot away in my castle.”
“Waste… waste of time?” he murmurs, arms crossing as he grips his biceps against the cold. “That’s what we were?”
“It is now,” I tell him. “It definitely is now.”
“But I thought… I thought we had something.”
“Hadsomething?”I spit out, glaring daggers at him. “You and me? No, Cameron. You’re going to return to your life as a Port Orford mechanic, and I’m going to find some high-class woman to hide away in my dark, scary castle. Just as it should be. Clearly, we were never meant tohave something.”
And with that, I turn, and I walk away.
Cameron does not follow.
I will never,neverallow another so close to my heart. In fact, as far as I’m concerned, I no longer have one.
I’m done.
Part Two:
The Present
Cameron
11
