Page 31 of Hiding Hollywood

“Cameron, either watch the video or I’ll delete it.” Her voice sounded calm under the circumstances.

He pushed away from the table, holding out his hand. “Can we watch it now?”

He’d made it impossible to stand up from the table without directly ignoring his outstretched hand. Both his parents watched the interaction, Mrs. Dempsey with completely unashamed interest and Sheriff Dempsey with impatience. No doubt he wanted to see the video as well.

She accepted his help but snatched her hand away as soon as possible before leading him down the hallway to the computer. She flicked on the power button and sat down. She’d never had anyone watch her work before. All she had to do was pull up her server on the cloud and show them the video. That was it. Her hand hovered over the mouse with a little tremor. Why was this so hard?

She twisted in her seat. He looked like a GQ model standing there with his shoulder leaned against the wall beside her and annoyance written all over his face. His shirt sleeves were rolled up to the elbows, revealing tight arm muscles. Her eyes betrayed her, scanning down to his work boots and back up.

“Addie?” His green eyes narrowed a tad like he was trying to figure out her hesitation. He shouldn’t bother. She didn’t know what her problem was either.

She huffed out a breath. “Fine.” This was the moment she’d dreaded. Showing him her skills, demonstrating that she could do more than pick out a cute outfit. She wanted to trust him.

She turned to face the computer, ignoring how delicious her name had sounded coming from him.

His dad and mom came into the room, standing on the other side of her. She pulled up the server where she’d saved the video. Typing in her password, she shifted to the side to give them room to view the screen.

Her phone rang in the other room. Cameron left before she’d even asked him to get it.

With his eyebrows drawn tight, he looked ready for a fight. He shoved the phone in her direction. “It’s Brian.”

“Oh.” She took the phone, sending it to voicemail. He’d have to wait until she could switch her brain over to deal with that drama.

Cameron exhaled and crossed his arms, looking thoroughly pissed that she’d done that. “Why the hell didn’t you answer? He has to clear your name, Addie. You need to talk to him.”

“Cameron—” Mrs. Dempsey started.

“I’ll call him back later.”

“And then he won’t answer again. Call him back now.”

“Later.”

“Now.”

She sat up straighter at the loud demand. “I’m sorry I didn’t jump when Brianfinallydecided to give me the time of day since you’re the one that wanted to see the video. Brian can wait a few minutes since he’s made me wait this long.”

“Yeah,” Cameron said, shaking his head. “You picked a winner with that one. Maybe this situation will teach you not to date guys like him. Unless you enjoy being treated like dirt.”

What had gotten into Cameron?

“Cameron,” Mrs. Dempsey quietly scolded. “Mind your own business.”

But Addie didn’t care. He’d manage to redirect all the resentment she had aimed at Brian back at him. She stood up and waved her phone in his direction. “So, it’s my fault I’m in this situation? I’m the reason the car that he gave me to drive was reported stolen?”

“I didn’t say that.”

“But you implied it. Do you think I’m an idiot?”

Sheriff Dempsey placed a hand on Addie’s shoulder. “I’m sure Cameron didn’t mean it like that.”

Cameron’s face turned a molten shade of red. His dad stepping in to try and rescue him was everything he was trying to get away from. Addie wanted to shove his face in it. Tear a hole in his ten-mile-wide ego. Show him how it felt to be belittled.

She couldn’t.

“No offense, Sheriff, but if Cameron wants to get his foot out of his mouth, then he needs to figure out a way to do it. You don’t need to apologize for him.” She spun around, leaned over and clicked through the screens, typed in a few more passwords before the video appeared. She directed her comment at Sheriff Dempsey. “Here’s the video. Please don’t navigate away from this page while I’m logged into my server.” She walked right past Cameron and out the kitchen door. How could he make her so flippin’ mad?

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