Page 616 of Manhattan Bossholes

My stomach churned at his tantrum, on a livestream no less. I could tell he’d been on edge since we’d gotten to the park, and while I knew he didn’t like being the center of attention, his anger had felt out of proportion to what was going on. And it worried me that nothing I did broke through his mood. Usually, we balanced one another. Today, he didn’t even see me, like there was something bigger going on he wasn’t sharing with me.

Our carefully constructed publicity stunt had just gone to hell, big time. Lucy framing that stupid moment like it was a proposal was ridiculous, and I could understand why Cameron would be upset about it, but did he have to be downright rude? The guy had been through media training, so how could he think that dropping F-bombs and being a surly jackass to a woman with a rabidly loyal following on a livestream would be the right way to tackle the mix-up? There were so many better ways he could have handled it. He could’ve turned it into a joke. Said he was practicing for the real thing, or that he was going to do something bigger and better, so people should stay tuned. No, instead he’d flipped out and come across as unhinged. And made me look like a total loser at the same time.

The public rejection was beyond humiliating, but what made it even worse was the fact that Cameron barely acknowledged me. I felt like an afterthought.

No. Absolutely not. After everything we’d shared together, I wasn’t going to allow Cameron to treat me like a cast-off. He needed to apologize to me.

“Hey!” I shouted after him as he stomped away.

Cameron paused to glance over his shoulder at me but kept walking down the narrow path, which flipped my shame to anger.

“Wait up,” I demanded as I jogged behind him, clumsy in my kitten heels and tulle skirt.

We were far enough away from the crowd that no one was around to see us, but given the whole “in the wild” aspect, I could never be sure we were completely safe from prying eyes.

He slowed, and I caught up to him. “What the hell, Cameron?”

“This was a mistake,” he said with a weary sigh even though I could tell he was still fuming. “We both know it.”

I calmed down a little because I had never expected him to admit to making a mistake. But at least he realized he’d screwed up by acting like a spoiled toddler when Lucy tried to frame his shoe tying as an actual proposal. I kept my mouth shut, waiting for the inevitable apology to follow.

“This was supposed to be a professional partnership, and it went too far.”

Wait…what?

“Cameron, hold on.” My heartbeat sped up. “What…what do you mean?”

His face went hard as he stared at me, and I remembered the way he looked at me the first time we met. A shiver rolled through me. Something was very wrong.

“We got caught up in the fun, Felicity. We slept together—and that was a mistake. We let our feelings get in the way, another mistake. We pretended this silly little campaign was real, but it never was. And I think it’s way past time for us to stop pretending.”

My stomach dropped to my feet.

“Are you serious, Cameron? Do you mean that just the campaign is done, or…”

It was all I could get out because my brain couldn’t process what he was saying. Maybe I was misunderstanding him. I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from welling up, because what we’d been doing had felt very real to me. Yeah, we’d never actually talked about where our relationship was going outside of the campaign, but I’d thought we were both happy with it. I couldn’t make sense of what he was getting at.

“I should’ve listened to my instincts,” Cameron continued, ignoring my question. He stared at the ground, like he couldn’t bear to look at me. “We were never right for each other, Felicity. All we did was fight in the beginning. That should’ve clued us in that we could never work out as a real couple. You’re nothing like the women I’ve dated in the past. Maybe that’s why the public was so fascinated by CamLicity,” his voice turned mocking as he made air quotes around our nickname. “People could tell we were a doomed relationship and wanted to watch us implode.” He shook his head and finally met my eyes again. “Well, they got what they were hoping for. It’s done.”

Oh my god, this was Cameron rejecting me. Not the campaign, not Lucy’s maneuvering, but me. Waves of humiliation washed over me as everything fell into place. I sniffled and swallowed my tears, because there was no way I was going to let him see how badly his words were injuring me.

“Cameron, you can’t be serious. You and I were…we were good together.” It came out as a whisper.

“Good or not, I think we lost the message in the madness. The point of the campaign was to highlight Veritique, not get caught up in a silly little romance. We lost control, Felicity, and that’s not something I can allow. I think it’s best if we go back to colleagues and nothing more.”

I hoped he couldn’t see my bottom lip trembling. My face felt like it was on fire.

“I’ll take part in whatever storyline the three of you come up with to save face, but CamLicity is officially over—in every way. I’m heading back to the office; just keep me updated with what’s next. Trust me, it’s better this way.”

My mouth dropped open because I couldn’t believe Cameron was dismissing what we’d shared so easily. Had I been naïve to think we were heading toward something real? The tears started flowing down my cheeks the minute he disappeared down the path.

I sat down on a nearby bench and allowed myself to cry all the expensive makeup off my face. I couldn’t not cry, not when the detached way Cameron ended it meant he’d never been invested in whatever we’d been doing together. He’d been so calm as he rejected me, like I was an underperforming employee he was terminating.

But it didn’t make sense. He’d been so real with me, so raw, and passionate, and devoted. Was it all an act? He’d convinced me that he cared for me. Neither one of us had used the word “love”…but in my heart of hearts, I’d really thought we were headed that way.

How could I be so wrong? Again? I banished any thoughts of Steven before they could make me feel even worse.

Lucy’s team was waiting for me since I’d given them my purse and phone to hold during the interview. I wiped the tears from my cheeks and hoped I could pass for someone who didn’t give a shit about the humiliation that had just happened in front of millions of viewers.