Page 58 of Two Tickets to Paradise

No, not invisible.

She'd treated him like he was a big gaping hole on the other side of the table moving her gaze over and around him and patently ignoring his attempts to pretend he hadn't thrown her boyfriend out of the house.

His friends? His team?

Oh, they'd enjoyed the show. Buck had just rolled his eyes at the whole situation.

Cameron knew that he'd gone over the line when he'd gotten home. He just hadn't been able to stop seeing red when he'd seen his sister and her boyfriend... doing what they were doing.

He swallowed, tasting bile in his throat.

How was he going to talk about it when he couldn't even think the words?

The door to the lobby opened up and Cameron stood up from the couch.

Marikit smiled and gave him an approving look. When she stepped to the side, he saw Vince walk in through the door.

Cameron felt the muscles in his jaw clench, and he drew in a breath.

"Okay, here are the rules."

Her voice had a harder edge to it when he swung his gaze back over to look at her.

"I'm going to be behind the counter the whole time and if something happens, my first call is to Buck. And he'll call Pallas, so you behave."

He didn't miss the fact that her gaze never left his face as she was talking.

Cameron looked at Vince. "I'm not here to fight."

Vince nodded, just a little dip of his chin. "Okay."

Marikit reachedout and gave Vince's arm a gentle pat before she walked away.

Cameron gestured at the couch on the other side of the coffee table. "Thanks for coming to talk to me."

"I wanted to see how Cora was doing." Vince nodded and moved to the other couch and sat down. "I figured you could let me know."

Cameron nodded. "She's pissed at me." He chuckled but it died quickly, and he looked contrite. "She acted like I didn't exist all night."

"I was worried about her," Vince felt pain in his chest, but also a bit of relief. "Did she get more after sun lotion?"

Cameron's eyes narrowed. "What's that?"

"We both had sunburns from our day at the beach and Kawehi said she should get after sun lotion for the burn. Corasent the bottle we were using with Buck to give to me saying she was getting another one to use."

Cameron nodded, but he looked off to the side with what appeared to be a pensive expression on his face. "I noticed her face was red, but I guess... I thought it was because she was angry with me."

Vince's brows raised at that. "I don't want you to be upset with her. Things... got out of hand."

Cameron's eyes closed and a furrow developed between his brows.

"She loves you. She was really looking forward to this trip. I don't want to be the reason why things are difficult between you. That was never my intention."

"When I said she could bring a friend," Cameron let out a long, pent-up breath, "I never thought it would be a guy."

Vince smiled a little at that. "I was surprised by the invitation, but I couldn't turn her down." He shook his head. "She's... amazing."

Cameron shook his head. "I feel like... I feel like I've missed so much. When I signed up for the Marines, I knew it wouldn't keep me away from her and that was a given in my life. She's basically all I have left of our family. Then it seems like there were just so many things that made me feel like I was falling down on my responsibility, but Cora never blamed me."

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