Page 66 of Deceit

“Get away from him!” Mills is propelled backward by small hands and replaced with a sleepy-looking blonde that’s been back in my life for less than a week and made me feel more worthless than anything in the world.

“It’s alright, Cam,” I soothe, feeling my face and body begin to bruise. “We do this all the time.”

“Fight?” she asks through knitted brows. “They were all ganging up on you and—“

“They’re friends.”

“Friends don’tdothings like that.”

“Kyson and I fucked around all the time.” I wave my hand dismissively in the air.

“You were teenage boys.”

“And now there are two more added to the group who are still teenage-minded.”

“Kace—“

“They’re my family, Camilla,” I ground out. “I don’t give a shit if you like it or not.”

“Awww,” Mills coos. “You finally admit it.”

I look past Cam’s shoulder to glower at him, to which he smiles at me like he didn’t just flip the script on my ass.

I jerk my head towards the trailer. “Go on ahead and get back inside. It’s cold out here.”

“But—“

“I’ll make you some breakfast. We have a lot to talk about.” Sadness clouds her features, but she does what I ask her to do anyway, rounding my body and taking off back inside.

Kyson, Mills, and Marty circle me as we watch her close the screen door behind her.

“She was an old girlfriend,” Marty exposes at my side. “And she went down a dark path that you couldn’t save her from. It’s what you’re trying to do with Emmy. Keep her not as fucked up as we are.”

“And not as dependent,” Kyson states. “Camilla needed Bish like air, then she replaced him with drugs, leading him and I to a crossroads.”

“What crossroads?” Mills asks.

“Choosing between Kyson and her,” I tell him because they should know, I guess. “He was going to take off from this shithole either way but waited until after he graduated high school for me to go with him. But I was so…in love with Camilla I didn’t want to leave.”

Marty turns to look at me. “What made you go then?”

“Family.”

“Hi, can I help you?” I stare at a beautiful woman with medium-brown hair, stunning blue eyes, and the bone structure of a goddess.

Her smile is infectious, warm, and kind as she patiently waits for me to speak.

Thing is, my jealousy is clogging my throat.

I’ve never seen jeans and a white top with ugly maroon buttons that go down the middle look so good on someone. The unheeding factor that she probably just threw that outfit on and looks like a million bucks makes me feel self-conscious that I spent way too much time in the mirror this morning trying to pick out the right thing to wear.

All over someone who doesn’t want me here in the first place but, alas, my dumbass is here again.

“Hi,” I manage to force from my lips. “I’m sorry, is Bishop here?”

“Should be back soon,” she replies cheerily. “He ran to grab some lunch.”

Right.

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