Page 83 of Look What You Made Me Do

Ella stood her ground. Two years ago, the expression he was sporting would have had her backing down, not wanting to push him too much. But she was a lot surer of their relationship now.

“I don’t give a good goddamn what you want. Where the hell have you been all day?”

“Places.”

“Who were you with?”

“No one.”

Ella curled her fingers in her palms in case her temper got the better of her and she wrapped them around his neck. “Have you forgotten your promise to Jake when he put you in the team? What about your practice session today? What about your teammates?”

Yeah, she was pushing him but the adrenaline that had been pumping through her system needed a release somewhere.

“Jeez, Cam, I thought you’d moved past thinking of nobody but yourself? What about the Demons, about Deluca?”

Cam rounded on her then, his face red, his eyes bulging. “What about them?” he roared.

Ella startled at his sudden vehemence. His anger pulsed toward her on a hot cloud. But there was a crack in his voice and tears shining in his eyes.

“They don’t give a shit about me,” he yelled. “Jesus, Ella, why’d you have to go and open your mouth to that reporter? For the first time in my life, I was living someplace where no one knew all my dirty secrets.” He thrust his face right up in hers. “And now the entire school does. Fuck, the whole country knows that my mother was a whore.”

Ella gasped as he spat the word with such contempt it blew her hair back. She was pretty sure not only Daisy and Iris had heard it but the entire neighborhood had as well.

“Don’t say that.”

Cameron blinked as tears spilled down his face. “For fuck’s sake, Ella, I’m not some kid you have to protect from the truth.” His breathing was choppy as he struggled with his emotions. “I knew who she was two years ago. I knew who she was from very early on. You can go on saying things like, oh Rachel liked to entertain or Rachel had a lot of men friends, to protect me for as long as you like, but I’m not an idiot.”

He was right, she had done that – made excuses for their mother. Tried to pretend she wasn’t who she’d been. Ella had tried to protect him from the truth, just like she had tried to protect herself for so many years.

“And now the whole world knows. How could you?” he demanded. “How could you?”

Cameron whirled around and stormed out of the house as she called, “Cam,” after him. “Cam, wait!”

But the gate opened then slammed closed, the metallic scrape like a rusty nail down a pane of glass.

He was right. How could she? It didn’t matter that she had no idea the sequence of events it would unleash. That talking to one local paper would lead John Wilmott to Trently and their sordid past.

Daisy appeared in the back doorway, her gaze locking with Ella’s. “He’ll cool down,” she said.

Ella nodded through a blur of tears. Daisy had always been the tough-love aunt, Iris the softie, but there was empathy in her gaze and she appreciated that it was coming from Daisy.

“Yeah.” She nodded and sniffled. “I’ll just…” She held up her cell. “Call Jake.”

“Okay.”

Daisy departed and Ella let the tears flow as she scrolled to his number. But she was shaking all over and crying so hard she could barely see the screen and she had to pull herself together to make the call, to be composed enough to speak.

He answered on the third ring. “Did you find him?”

The fact he asked about Cam first had Ella crumbling. “Yes but… we… we y… y… yelled and… and C… Cam was so… so mad… and he was cr… cr… crying… and?—”

She choked up then, emotion completely overwhelming her, a huge lump in her throat rendering her incapable of coherent speech. Her nose was running like a tap, so were her eyes. Her ribs were tight around her lungs, biting into them, making it impossible to grab enough air.

“Ella?” Even through a telephone line, Jake’s voice was thick with alarm and when she didn’t answer – couldn’t answer – his alarm intensified. “Ella? Where are you?”

“At h-home,” she wailed.

“I’ll be there in ten.”

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