Page 76 of Most Valuable Player
When I look at your future, all I see is loneliness.
My father’s words strike me painfully deep. I stare down at the sand absorbing my shoes, the aquamarine necklace jabbing into the slick skin of my collar.
I’m interrupted from my contemplation when a heavy weight slams into my side. I stagger with a surprised gasp as two bulky arms fly around me, wrenching me between them, flattening me to a broad chest cloaked by a thin windbreaker jacket.
“I’m sorry you’ve suffered so much,” Cameron whispers, his voice sharp in my ear despite the thunderous hiss of rain.
I stand limp in his embrace, cheek nestled into his shoulder. It’s fine. It is what it is. I chose this. I could’ve said no when Liam asked me out. I could’ve walked away the first time he lashed out. I could’ve found ways to distance us before it reached the extent that it did. But I didn’t, because I still can’t function without him.
“It’s not your fault,” he says, like he can read the thoughts sewn into my veins and lingering cancerously in my bone marrow. “He manipulated and controlled you. It’s not yourfault, Mason.”
He already said that in the car. Hearing it doesn’t change anything. But if it makes him feel better about everything he ingested, I’ll let him hold me.
I’m about to tune out, but he suddenly snags my face and pulls me off his shoulder, lifting it so he can stare directly into my eyes, water dripping from his thick lashes. “That man at the gallery,” Cameron snaps. “Was that him?”
Oh. I nearly forgot he was there. “Yeah.”
“I won’t let him touch you again. I promise.”
He sounds so sincere that my eyes boil hotter. “Thank you,” I say, smiling weakly. The sheen of rain is so heavy now I can barely see him, despite our proximity. “But you shouldn’t worry about me,because no matter how hard you try, he wins. He always does. He always will. Don’t make promises you can’t keep, okay?”
I curl my hands around his, both of which are still sprawled around my face, and lower them to his sides. He looks like he wants to say something else but can’t find the words. His jaw trembles with strain.
I step around him so I can ascend the slope and return to his car. His fingers catch my wrist, tugging me to a gentle stop.
“Then,” he says, “I’ll never let you be alone.”
My muscles stiffen.
“I won’t let you suffer by yourself,” Cameron says, his voice ringing along Lake Evergreen, cutting through the howl of rain against the steely water. “Maybe he’ll keep coming back, over and over, and you’ll have to try to heal yourself that many more times. And maybe he won’t give up on you. But neither will I.”
I stare at the muddy sand caking the bottoms of my shoes, dazed.
“I won’t leave you,” he continues, his grip sliding down my wrist, touch skimming along my palm and unfurling my fingers so he can slip his own between them. “If I can’t stop him from pushing you down, I’ll be there after to pick you up. If he makes you cry every week, I’ll make you smile every day. Because that’s what you deserve.”
His words strike a chord so deep within my soul that it reverberates through my entire body.
What I…deserve?
The shock wave is so intense that it shatters every inch of ice within me, from my achy joints to the veins in my heart, and suddenly, for the first time in days, or months, or years, I feel alive.
What I deserve.
Cameron’s touch burns my hand, and despite being ravaged with tremors, heat flourishes through me, causing my pulse to quicken and my stomach to tingle.
I always assumed Liam was the only one who could care about me because he had the exact right personality type that would make me tolerable. He fell for me before my appearance became more enticing, so I believed his love was genuine.
But it’s not gentle. Or kind. Maybe it was at first, but I’ve long forgotten the feeling of his authentic desire for me. I tolerated his treatment because I didn’t deserve anything better.
But I do. Right? I deserve a gentle love. And kindness. I’m worthy of something better.
Cameron Morelli wants to give that to me. Maybe I’m allowed to take it. This kind, gentle love.
I spin toward him, sand slipping beneath my heel, and grab his jacket, hiking him closer.
I kiss Cameron like I’ve been waiting for him for seventeen years.
Chapter Twenty-Four
