Page 141 of Already At Risk
He cut himself off again, making me feel like I was dangling on the edge of something. He liked to do that, didn’t he?
“Is there any chance you can come into the office tomorrow?” he asked instead of finishing his other sentence. “There are a few things regarding the case I’d like to go over.” He paused before adding, “Pertaining to my meeting with Korey today.”
I was tentative to reply. “Okay.”
“If tomorrow doesn’t work for you, we can find another time,” he offered, hearing my hesitation.
“No, it’s just…” I swallowed. “You’re making menervous, Cam. I’m so nervous about this entire thing. Can you just tell me whatever it is now?”
“Don’t be,” he insisted. His voice was tender and self-assured,everything I needed in order to believe him. “You don’t have to worry about a damn thing, Sunshine. But I’d like to…see you in person when we talk about this. Do you want me to come over tonight?”
I flung myself back in bed, biting my lip as I contemplated that. I badly wanted Cameron here. I missed his touch, his calming presence, his steadying words. But I was exhausted, and he was exhausted, and most importantly, we needed to be careful now. More careful than we have been.
“That’s okay,” I breathed. “But I do…miss you.”
“Oh,fuck.” The curse seemed to slip out of him, like he hadn’t expected me to say that, to speak with such raw honesty. But he also couldn’t seem to wait to follow my lead. “I miss you, too. I’ve been thinking about you all fucking day, Natalie.”
Flutters erupted in my stomach at the idea that he might think about me just as much as I thought about him. But I also suspected I knew the reason I was on his mind, and it probably wasn’t a good one.
“I’m sorry if I worried you,” I said, my voice quiet, full of guilt. “With the text.”
“Worry?” Cameron huffed a humorless laugh, and then his voice descended into something gruff, gravelly. Hurt leaked through his words. “Baby, I was in agony.”
A hot sensation expanded, pressing against the walls of my chest.
Agony.
It was exactly how I’d felt all day, too. The thought of being apart from him and cutting short the relationship that had begun to blossom was nothing short ofagony.
“I’m sorry,” I repeated, a whisper of regret.
“It’s okay,” he assured me, no longer sounding quite so pained. Instead, something else was in his voice, something I couldn’t quite place. “It made me realize something. We can talk about it tomorrow, alright? I know you had another long day at work.”
“Yeah, yeah, I did.” I paused, knowing I should say good night, let us both hang up and go to sleep. But the achiness from this morning returned, and I couldn’t get myself to put down the phone. Not yet. “Hey, Cam?”
“Hm?”
“Can we talk a little bit before bed, though? Just about…whatever. Not work or this.” I shrugged. “I don’t know.”
There was silence from the other end of the phone, and I started to feel silly. Until his voice broke through, and he sounded so content, sohappy, that I just wanted to bottle up the sound of his voice and keep it forever.
“I would love to talk before bed,” he said. “What’d you have for dinner, Sunshine?”
I turned onto my side and smiled into my pillow.
And then I told Cameron about my day.
And then asked him about his.
And fell asleep with my phone pressed to my ear.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
cameron
NATALIE HAD GONE QUIET. Her gentle breaths were the only thing coming through the speaker, but I couldn’t get myself to hang up.
It was soothing to me, to hear that she was sleeping peacefully.
