Page 25 of Reign

“You’re family, Camila.”

She scoffs at this. “You don’t have to remind me. Cousins.” She smiles sadly and raises her glass in my direction.

I see the tears well in her eyes as she looks away from me, toward the ocean. I struggle with whether or not to comfort her. It’s been hard setting the boundary lines and if I break them now, all hell will break loose, but she has no one left.

I push myself out of the pool and grab a towel. I shake my wet hair out as I stand over Camila, slinging water all over her, trying to get her out of her own head.

“Ohmigod, Dom!” she squeals, rolling on her side, trying to get out of the line of fire.

“It’s Casandro or Cas, Camila,” I remind her gently, although even I have to admit, with Nikita knowing our real identities, it’s getting hard to keep up and I’m not even sure it matters anymore.

“Sorry. I’ll try to remember. You’ll always be Dominic to me though. In my head at least. And my heart.”

I stand above her, toweling off and notice as her exhales get harsher. Her chest rises and falls rapidly and her pupils are blown out.

Time to go.

“I’m going to go across the street and have a little chat with our neighbor. Keep your phone on.”

“Cas,” she whispers, as she stands, setting her iced tea on the small table between the chairs. Alarm bells are going off in my head as her eyes trail down my torso to the muscles in my thighs.

“Camila, don’t,” I warn. I’m still fighting to get Isabel on the path of forgiveness for the first time. I’m confident I wouldn’t be able to do it twice.

Camila holds out a hand and trails her fingertips down my arm, exhaling raggedly. “I don’t know how to get over you,” she confesses. Her shaking hand fans out as she comes up my shoulder and down to my pec.

Enough.

I gently grip her wrist and pull it from my body, denying her access, as her first tear falls. I fucking hate hurting her. I owe her for so much, including my life, but this isn’t how I can repay her.

“Camila, you’ll find someone who erases me from your heart. Someone who can give you everything you deserve.”

She huffs out a short, sad laugh. “I don’t want to find someone else. I wantyou. It’s always beenyou. Every other man gets compared to you and falls drastically short.”

It’s out before I can shut my stupid fucking mouth, betraying the jealousy I tried to hide upon learning they were together. “And Luis?”

She looks me in the eye. “Isn’t it obvious? He was the closest I could get to you once you’d left but even your own brother was a let-down compared to the real thing.”

I feel several things at once. The selfish bastard in me is gloating. The more reasonable side of myself is dumbfounded. Although I know how to please a woman, I can’t honestly say I’d ever thought myself such a catch as to make it impossible for another man to follow my act.

While I’m lost in thought, Camila steps closer and has managed to get both hands on me this time.

Before I can react, my phone rings from the table. “Whole Lotta Love” by Led Zeppelin blasts through the speaker.

“That’s Isabel. I’ve got to go.”

“I hate her, you know.” Her hands slide from me and she turns back to the lounge chair she’d been sitting in.

I swipe my phone off the table.

“Isabel?” She answers in the phone and tells me she’s ready for me to come get her. “I’m on my way.”

I look back at Camila. “She doesn’t deserve your hatred, Cam. She’s strong and brave and she brought me back to life when I thought my heart would never beat again. I’m sorry it hurts. I want you in my life but you have to respect that I’m in love with her. I’ll always love you, but Ineedher.” She’s chewing her bottom lip, staring at the pool.

This feels like closure on a chapter she still wants to read. I lean in and place a chaste kiss on her cheek, inhaling all our memories and exhaling our past as I step away from her to get dressed and pick Isabel up.

I swear I hear her whisper, “But what ifIneedyou?”

~

---