Page 5 of Keep Me

Great.

They’re nice, don’t get me wrong. But I’m not exactly looking to add more people into my life. I’d rather it just be me, my mom, Theo, and baseball. But my mom said yes to Aurora’s dad’s proposal, making us soon-to-be siblings once they get married next summer.

“And her friend Jasmine, who’s also my bestie now too. You’ll like her. She’s witty. Oh, and Camille will be there also,” he continues on as if her name didn’t make the digital pen fall from my hand and to the ground at the mention of it.

Camille.

The one woman in this world who stirs something in me. Annoyance for one because of her damn overly bubbly personality. But if I’m being honest, most of that annoyance comes from the fact that I think she’s the most striking thing to walk the earth.

I hate it, and her, for it. What business does she have being that fucking beautiful?

She also makes me fucking stressed. The moment I saw her at the gala last year, I nearly stopped breathing, not just because of how pretty she is, but because of the primal feeling that throttled my veins.

Something inside of me yearned to protect her. From what, I don’t know, yet I felt this overwhelming need to look out for her. It might be possessive and overprotective of me, but these are two things I can’t feed.

Because if I have something to protect, it also means I have something to lose.

I can’t control it when it comes to her, and it drives me fucking crazy. I haven’t slept with anyone since the gala last year because every time I even consider it, I see her in my mind.

Then I saw her at that club a few weeks ago, and I nearly lost it when that guy put his hands on her, even more so when she reacted the way she did. The minute her eyes widened, her skin paled, and her spine went ramrod straight, I knew I had to step in.

Maybe it’s the glacial, nearly silver hue of her eyes, the dimples in her cheeks, or the silky champagne hair that I want so badly to run my fingers through.

There’s something vulnerable about her that I’m drawn to. She comes off like the sun radiates through her, yet I can see something more beneath the surface. And I want to dig through her barriers until I find out what it is and hurt whoever is responsible for it.

After our time outside the club, I found myself wanting things I couldn’t have. Things I know I shouldn’t want. Like pushing her up against a wall and kissing the hell out of her. Or spreading her thighs, lifting her skirt, and tasting what I know will be heaven. Even simply feeling her arms around my waist while she sits on the back of my bike.

I went for a long ride on my bike once I saw her walk back in to meet Jasmine, needing to clear my head.

I don’t believe in that fairytale crap. And she’s too good for me.

It’s what I told myself over and over again on that ride, promising myself I’d let the rush of unwarranted feelings go. They’re temporary. That’s all.

Yeah, right, my mind chimes in.

It’s been two weeks since that night, and as much as I try to ignore it, I keep thinking of her. Wondering what she’s doing or if I’ll run into her again. I truly don’t know anything about her, other than her name, that she speaks French, and that she likes baseball.

Spring training is so damn far away, but maybe that’s what I need. More time for these persistent thoughts of her to fade. Because they will. There’s no reason they shouldn’t.

Or maybe I need to see her again, scratch the itch, and see if it goes away.

At least, it’s what I tell myself when I tell Theo I’ll meet him there later.

Why the fuck I agreed to come out tonight is slowly fading from memory. There are people everywhere at Beers n Cheers, making it more overcrowded than usual. Don’t even get me started on the costumes.

There’s not a single original one in sight.

I lift a bottle of beer to my lips, savoring the crisp orange flavor on my tongue. Theo and I have been sitting at a high-top table for the last hour, waiting for his friends to arrive.

We’ve actually been having a good time, catching up on our lives and all things sports. But with each minute that passes, I get more and more agitated. Do I really need to be spending the night with her when I already can’t stop thinking about her?

As if on cue, Camille enters the bar. I barely register anything around me once I see her costume. She’s dressed as a mermaid—correction, she’s dressed as the sexiest fucking mermaid I’ve ever seen.

Her bikini top is shaped like starfish, a pale pink that meshes with the iridescent blue scales on her long skirt. There are pearls wrapped around her neck, and it nearly undoes me.

Because I’d rather give her a different kind of pearl necklace.

I shoot up from the table, startling Theo before he can grab her attention. “I need to go. My mom needs help at the house.”

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