AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I swallow past the lump that’s formed and is suffocating me to the point my eyes burn. I look down and inhale sharply through my nose. “I see that psych class is going well.”
He chuckles. “It is, until I start psychoanalyzing myself and find that I should have known years ago that Emery would never want what I wanted.”
His words are like knives, but not for my flesh, his. “I think she will,” I say quietly. “Just like Mom said, you two have to grow.”
He shrugs. “Doesn’t matter anymore.”
Eh, that’s hard to believe, but I don’t want to talk about Emery. Though, it would keep him from analyzing me. I tap my fingertips to the counter as I think of my next move. I could go to their away meet, but then that would piss Coach off because I’ll miss practice Saturday. We have a game Friday too, so that won’t work. I could just go over to her dorm, but I don’t want her to feel trapped or awkward.
“Just call Callie. She’ll help.” Quinn looks at me and gives me a small smile. “Stop overthinking it.”
I exhale once more and then pick up my phone.
I stare at it for a long time until Quinn lets out an aggravated sigh. “You’re killing me, smalls.” I look up as he brings his phone to his ear. “Hey, Cal. I need a favor.”
And while I feel a bit stupid for not pulling the trigger, I’m truly thankful that Quinn is my brother.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Cameron
“As we expected, the campaign blew up,” Nati reveals, not looking up from her computer. I sit across from her in her office in the marketing department. She’s a TA for a few classes, which is why she has an office. I’ve been offered the TA position for years, even as an undergrad, but when I’m not studying, I’m doing gymnastics. And when I’m not doing either of those, I’m creating content, which I’m running low on of Benson and me. I need to fix that, but that would involve seeing him without a piece of glass between us.
Not happening. Not yet, at least. I need some more time.
“What we didn’t expect was sixty-two thousand new likes on the school account, thirty-six thousand on the hockey, and fifty-four thousand on the gymnastics. Tagging all three accounts, along with yours and Benson’s was a fantastic idea, Cameron. I think we’ll do that for all future posts for everyone.”
If I weren’t avoiding Benson, I’d text him that the gymnastics team is doing better than the hockey.
I smile proudly. “I’m stoked for the results. They are banging.”
She mirrors my grin. “In my opinion, it has a lot to do with the raw chemistry between you two,” she says, looking back down at her computer. “We had over six thousand fire emojis posted on the photo of you and him. You two aren’t even touching—just him side-eyeing you with that little smirk on his face—and I mean, it really is fire. I knew you two would hook up eventually.”
I have to hold back my laughter. Or maybe a sob? I am fucked in the head. “Yeah, can’t deny that we look great together.”
“No one can. I mean, there are the haters. But fuck ’em, you know?”
The haters being the people who want to date us, and then we have the lovers who want to join us. “For sure. Like you said, though, we blew my last Beauty and Bull campaign out of the water.”
“Sure the hell did,” she agrees, grinning. “So next, I want to do posts of you doing his sport, and him doing yours. I already sent the email, and we’ll start shooting next week since it’s a bye week for both teams.”
I blink. Okay, this is okay. I can use that time with him to get more B-roll footage since I can’t tell her I don’t want to be around him. Everyone will be there, so it’s not like he can trap me to talk. Because I can’t handle talking to him, not yet. Especially when all I’ve done for the last week is think of him, miss him, and wish like hell I could lean into his chest, with his thumb stroking along my hip. Oh, how it’s torture to watch him on ice and not be able to touch him. Each time he texts me, I have to remind myself he only wants more footage. He posts more than I do, and I know he must be running low if I am. He probably needs more guidelines for the social media calendar I sent him. Or he’s lonely and has needs, and he figures since I’m his girlfriend, I owe him that.
God, I hate my brain. If there is a potential scenario for what he might want, I’ve thought it. But in a totally negative way. I have convinced myself that I’m not worthy of him. I don’t get that. I am a strong, confident, badass woman. Damn it, I roar! Yet I feel so unworthy of him, and it doesn’t make a lick of sense.
