Page 46 of Unstoppable Love

Which was awesome. Because I’ve always wanted private time with Cam at the creek, and now there we were. Doing it while I had an ache in my chest the size of the Kelleys’ ranch caused by him. So much fun.

I rubbed that aching spot as I closed my door and kept my back to Cameron while I waited for him to meet up with me. He parked behind my car at an angle, no doubt trying to block me in and make it harder for me to turn around if I decided to get back in and flee.

“It’s a good thing I know you don’t carry,” he drawled, and if I turned and looked, there’d no doubt be a smirk on his face. “Pretty sure that look says you want to shoot me.”

“I wouldn’t shoot you,” I sniped right back. Now, shoot at him to scare him a little—that was a different story.

“Come on.” He reached the path first and waited. “Not gonna hurt you, Ava. Lead the way.”

Ha. I reached him and stomped right past him. “You already have.”

A heavy sigh fell from him along with his heavy footsteps that followed me. I shoved brush out of the way, kicked at rocks in hopes it’d scare any hidden snakes and make them flee.

There were a lot of things I was used to, what with growing up on a farm and running wild through the land. Snakes were never something that I grew accustomed to.

We were silent on the walk, but the tension was building. A growing, billowing storm cloud in the space between us. Cameron didn’t know the definition of patience, and I had no doubt the remaining thread he bothered to hold on to was close to snapping.

The creek came into view, and I stomped right to the edge of the water. I still hadn’t checked to see where Cameron was, but he was everywhere. At least, his family was. We’d entered Kelley land back at the dirt road, and across the creek from us, their cattle often roamed. They must have been moved to another area, because as far as I could see, there were rolling hills and the Rockies, far off in the distance.

Cameron came up to my side, breathed in deeply, and exhaled, and this time it wasn’t from tension or whatever was about to come next. It was the sound of a man who’d grown up on this land, treasured it with everything he had, and that stupid, small little part of me that didn’t currently hate him grew.

He was looking at me, his face angled. I could make out the fullness of his lips through his beard out of the sides of my sunglasses.

I turned away and headed to the closest, and largest, tree. The rope swing hung there, and the land around the base of the massive oak was smooth from hundreds of bare feet climbing to this spot over the years. Resting my back on it, I kept my gaze on the calm water and crossed my arms over my chest.

Thankfully, Cameron didn’t follow. Didn’t get in my face. He settled down on the grass and dirt, feet propped up in front of him with his knees bent. With one arm draped across one of his knees, he picked at the dirt next to him, found a stone, and skipped it into the water. Even from up here, he was a master, and the stone skipped at least seven times before sinking.

The skip of the stone on the water created multiple ripples, and my ire spiked. “I always hated that you could do that so well.”

“It’s probably the smallest thing about me you currently hate me for.”

Damn him. Damn him for going straight to my heart. There was no smirk on his face this time, only sadness.

The look of a man who regretted much.

I slipped out of my sandals and shivered as the cool sand beneath my feet cooled my toes. I’d thought about that night so many times over the years, and it wasn’t until recently I’d realized, or at least admitted to myself, my own fault in it.

“I never should have gone to your room that night,” I admitted.

Cameron swallowed and cleared his throat. “Why did you?” He grabbed another handful of dirt, let it slip through his fingers until he was left with another flat stone in his palm. “I mean, other than for what ended up happening.”

He flung the rock, and I flinched as it skittered across the water. Cold ice dripped down my spine as I so vividly remembered the fear from that night. The way Jimmy had grabbed me. The fact no one stopped him or noticed. I shook my head, shook away the memories of how terrified I’d been of what could have—would have—happened to me if Jimmy hadn’t tripped.

“Something happen that night to you?” Cameron asked, and he was no longer sad or full of regret, but worried. “You said when you were screaming at me yesterday that you chose to give that to me rather than wait for it to be taken.”

His jaw worked. I stared at the dirt beneath my feet until my eyes burned and blinked.

“You were with Jimmy. Saw you with him. Thought you were flirting with him.”

“I wasn’t.” It’d seem like that, but only because I’d already learned that with Jimmy, being friendly and laughing with him and pretending to like him went easier than being outright rude. That he didn’t handle well.

He climbed to his feet and slammed his hands to his hips. He was no longer staring at the water but at me. “You said yesterday you were scared that night. Who scared you? Jimmy?”

I shook my head. “It doesn’t matter.”

“The fuck it doesn’t. Did he hurt you? Swear to God, I’ll kill him.”

“It doesn’t matter,” I snapped again, and this time there was anger in my tone. Because okay, yeah, I’d been hurt and scared. “The reasons why I went to you that night aren’t the problem, even though I’ve felt like shit for taking advantage of you like that. I shouldn’t have done that, and that’s on me. But the reason we’re here, right now, is because you snuck out and slept on the front freaking porch and told your brother, told me, you didn’t remember a thing about that night. I’m not the one who lied. I’m not the one who got in your face for years after. Why? Tell me that, at least. Tell me why you made the effort to come to me, get in my face, force me to remember, and be an absolute jerk to me, knowing you’d lied to my face.”

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