Page 29 of Born to Scar

“Sounds like you have people who actually want to talk to you.”

He turns to the fridge and grabs a water bottle. Pulling my phone from my pocket, I search for the heaviest thing around me and smash it.

“Fucking listen to me,” I roar, my anger echoing through his kitchen. “I know what you saw. They fucking told me they were coming. I had just figured out what they did when Indy saw us.” I sigh, “I told you the truth. My parents were supposed to be there, not Angela.”

“Did Indy even know about her? Do we know anything about you at all?” I close my eyes and drop my head. He’s right. We’ve been doing this for months, but they know virtually nothing about my life outside of them. They know me, but nothing more.

“You know me well enough to know I would never intentionally hurt you.”

“Do we, Cam? Because the look on her face tonight disagrees,” he bites back.

“Angela isn’t worth the wasted words, man. I had sex with her once. It was well over a year ago. I’ve never been in any kind of relationship with her. I don’t even like her. Our parents are trying—and failing—to marry us off to each other.” I drop to the stool at the island. “It’s different in my world. The expectations, the ridiculous pressures to marry into another rich or prestigious family…”

Jared shrugs and shakes his head, like this doesn’t matter, as if my family drama isn’t worth it. And it’s not. But I hope I am.

“You need to figure out what you want. Maybe she’ll come around. It’s not me you have to convince, anyway.”

The laugh I bark out echoes just as loud around the kitchen as it did when I yelled. I do have to convince him—him, more than her. He’s the balancer. He’s the level-headed one. The way he’s acting is out of character. I don’t understand it. This version of calm is far from his version of calm.

“You know as well as I do, I have to convince you more than her. But I’m not here to convince you of anything. I’m here to tell you the truth. I’m here to make this right.”

His gaze burns holes into my skin. His mouth parts like he wants to say something, but he doesn’t. I’ve never wanted him to talk more than I do right now.

“I told her.”

Jared’s head tilts. “What?”

“I told Angela about us. That’s what this is all about,” I say, pointing to my phone. “I told her about us, and she definitely went back and told her parents. They would’ve told mine.”

“What does that mean for you, Cam?”

“I can be demoted from partner. I could be fired. My family could disown me. There is so much that can happen here. But none of⁠—”

“And what do you lose if you lose that?”

Our eyes lock. “Nothing. I’ll lose nothing. But I can’t lose this, Jay. Please,” I plead, pointing between us.

His eyes soften for the first time tonight, and he lets out a shaky breath. “She’s asleep. You can stay if you want. We can talk in the morning.” I nod. Even if she is mad right now, I want to be close to her. To him.

“Come on, let’s go to bed.” He jerks his head toward the stairs, and I follow. “You can sleep with us or in the spare room across the hall.” He turns to his room, but I’m stuck in the hall, hesitating.

He grabs his phone, but snorts when he looks up at me. “I’m going to let Micky know she’s here, so he doesn’t worry, but you need to decide because I’m going to shut the door.”

Taking a deep breath, I walk in. We’ve fucked her together. We can sleep in the same bed. He types out his message while walking to the door and closing it, unfazed by my decision. Stripping to my boxers, I climb in beside her. She’s in a ball in the middle.

Curling around her, I whisper in her ear, “I’m so sorry. I never meant to hurt you.” She snuggles closer to my body.

“Cam?”

“Yeah, baby.”

“Don’t do that again.”

She speaks so softly it’s nearly impossible to hear her voice, but I do. I hear her loud and clear. Jared climbs in on the other side and cuts the light.

CHAPTER 14

INDY