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"What the hell, Hunt?” I should be yelling, but for some reason, I’m whispering, like I’m the one doing something wrong. “If my manager catches you here, I could get in trouble.”
He ignores me, and drags the plastic chair in front of mine on thelinoleum, to sit beside me at the staff table.“I have something for you.”
We're alone in the small room, and my heart starts to gallop.I will it to calm down. He's not going to do anything scandalous with my colleagues and clients just next door in the café.
“I don’t wantanythingfrom you,” I spell out slowly between my teeth.
Camden slides a small flat box to my side. I stare at it silently, downright confused.
It's a phone—one of the latest iPhones, by the looks of it.
"I updated your contacts and inserted your SIM already. It's all ready to go."
"Wh—why would you hand me a new phone?"
"Because yours was a piece of crap." He shrugs. “A broken piece of crap, at that.”
“You can't possibly havethoughtI'd accept a gift fromyou. And as you'veclearlytakenit, I'd like my phone back, please."
I missed it the last couple of days. I wake up early enough without an alarm, so I don’t strictly need it in the morning, but my habit of checking my notifications to see if this asshole decided to ruin my life is like an itch—now I have to get to my computer, which is far less convenient than my phone.
I also missed two calls from Willow, which pisses me off. I know my work schedule this week, but if my boss wanted to contact me with any changes, I’d be screwed. I try to be as flexible as possible, as I badly need this job.
And there’s Trent. I don’t even know if he tried to contact me. I have to remember to tell Harper to text him.
"No can do. I threw it away."
What the hell?
ChapterEighteen
I seriously can’t believe this guy.
My teeth grind together as I glare at the box."You can't buy me, Camden. I’m not for sale."
"Everything is for sale,” he retorts lightly. “It's just a matter of finding out the price.”
I can tell he believes what he’s saying. It’s just sad, that he’s never had anything that was worth more than money. I know I’m right because there’s no price, nothing I wouldn’t exchange for Willow’s welfare. Apparently, Camden Hunt has never loved anything enough to understand how wrong his statement is.
I’m not about to give him a lecture he won’t believe on the value of family and friendship, so I settle for telling him, "Well, whatever my price is, it's not a phone."
He laughs easily, but anxiety claws my inside.
We shouldn't be here, alone together. I left my hometown to be as far as possible fromhim, and for good reasons.
I need him to leave me alone, and that means trying to get to the bottom of his true reason for showing up here, and making him understand his crusade is pointless."Why are you doing this, Camden? Speak plainly. No lies. Is it a bet? Is your ego bruised because I didn’t fall at your feet. Is that it?"
The sooner I understand his motivation, the sooner I can convince him to fuck all the way off.
"Is it so hard to believe that I want you?" He tilts his head, staring into my eyes and seeming rather confused by what he sees. “I do, Morgan. I’d like to fuck that pretty cunt of yours and use your mouth again. I’d like to fuck your ass until you scream my name. We have chemistry, you and I. You didn’t even want to be there, and we were fire last time.”
Anger courses through my veins at his casual mention oflast time. Like we had a grand old party together. “Well, I wouldn't like to explore anything withyou.”
"But that's not why I replaced your phone,” he says, disregarding my words as usual.“I found yours Tuesday, and it’s a fucking mess. I wanted you to have something from this century. It's that simple. Take it as a replacement for the one I chucked away. You don't owe me a thing."
I scrutinize his expression, to try to get to the bottom of his bullshit, but I can't read him.
As usual, he projects all the confidence and honesty of a powerful man who's always done as he pleased, and nothing else.That doesn’t make him sincere, so much as adept at concealing his true intentions. Untrustworthy.
