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Prologue
Acacia Falls, MD
August 2007
She was about to shit on her own parade.
Adrianna Hayes forced her arms through the sleeve of her shirt and shook her wet hair. Her body still tingled from Cam's kisses and bites. She wanted nothing more than to cling to this moment. She stole another glance at the big rock and her face heated with memories of his fingers trailing her skin, the rough texture digging at her back. His wet mouth explored every nook, every crevice, inciting successive moans.
"What did you want to tell me?"
His gaze settled on her face, sending more heat to ripple over her chest and into her cheeks. For so long she’d dismissed him and those eyes, green like grass after the rain. Now she lived for the moments when she could see her reflection in them.
"Huh?" It was all she could come up with.
How did Cameron Blake, the constant rock in her shoe, make her lose her train of thought so easily these days? Easy. He did it in the same way he brought her frequent smiles, moments of sweetness and pure insanity. He made her forget what it was like being a Hayes in Acacia Falls.
He’d become her escape. The drug that transported her away from the small town without taking a step. He was her sanity, shutting the door on the monster’s shadow. He was hers and hers alone. She didn’t have to share him with half their high school.
His lips curved into a half smile as if he knew just what she was thinking about. "When I got here, you wanted to talk but…sorry about that." The smile deepened just like it had before he pressed her against a tree and pulled her shirt over her head.
He wasn't sorry.
Neither was she.
He shrugged his black Henley on and shot her a smile as bright as the sun. He was satisfied and happy, and she was about to ruin all that.
She pressed a hand to her stomach. "Tommy called. He's coming back tomorrow."
He paused long enough to drop the pressure in their atmosphere. The barely-there reaction roared louder than cracking thunder. "Did you tell him you moved on?"
She shook her head. He nodded and bent down. He didn't look at her as he put his shoes on.
Her pulse hiked, at a different kind of speed this time. Unlike minutes before, her heart wasn’t racing toward the orgasm that rocked her body. This time it was a reverse spiral toward one of their ugly fights. Adrianna was desperate to steer away from any explosive argument.
"I'm going to tell him. I just didn't want to do that over the phone," she tried to reassure him. "I owe him at least a face to face. We were together since sophomore year."
"You don’t owe him anything. Not when the guy was fucking all of Acacia High," he shot at her, derision etched in the curl of his lip.
"I know that, but I’m not him!" she retorted. She’d played the fool for two years. She knew it, the whole school knew it, but never again.
"You know what? Maybe you don't mind that. Maybe you still love him, and you think he won't do it again."
He, more than anyone else, knew how to make her madder than hell. Adrianna swallowed her anger to reassure him.
"I don't love Tommy anymore. I am with you, Cam. I love you. I just want to tell him face to face."
He looked at her hand on his shoulder and then back at her face, "You've been with him for three years. He’s been cheating on you, even with some of your friends. And you want me to believe you need to be face to face to tell him the truth?" he scoffed. "Everyone knows you and Tommy break up three times and make up four. I'm not going to be your in-between guy."
She didn't say anything. Because, you know, fuck him. How could he even say that to her? She turned away from him as the last three months flashed in her head like someone’s life in their last moments.
"Wait. You think I broke up with Tommy to get with you, to then go right back to him again? You pursued me all summer. You told me you always had feelings for me. You made me fall for you and now you're throwing it in my face? You are basically calling me a cheating whore."
"I never said that, Adrianna. I would never think that. And don't turn this on me." He gave her a half smile. "You're the one that had a chance to tell Tommy to go to hell but didn't. Because you never intended to. I'm just your summer fun and summer's over, so it's back to the real world."
What a dick.
"Oh, that’s the way you feel? Then maybe it’s for the best this is over now. I don't fit in with the sophisticated Blakes anyway. So, do me a favor and stay away from me. You and your freaking necklace . . ." She pulled the necklace he’d given her over her head and threw it at him. "…can go straight to hell. I don't ever want to see you again."
She turned on her heel and walked away.
"You got yourself a deal, Babe. Better yet, a promise." He called after her.
With bitterness exploding all over her tongue, she turned around and looked at him one last time. "That's a promise I intend for you to keep."
