Page 61 of My Sweetest Obsession
Cam somehow helped hold those shredded pieces of my heart together.
His constant strength and unyielding presence gave me what I didn’t even know I needed in those moments—someone to share my grief with and who understood what I was suffering.
He gave me something to cling to when I felt like I couldn’t keep going.
But after everything that’s happened, that wound he helped heal has reopened.
It festers inside me the same way my grief and anger do.
And what just happened in that shower, what I’m staring at through my tears on this counter, only make the pain worse.
20
CAM
TWO DAYS LATER
Dale drums his fingers on the side of his coffee mug, his dark eyes locked on me where I sit across from him in the booth at the diner near my studio. The same place Ivy came after we spent our first night together—which seems fitting for why we’re meeting this morning.
And I know that look.
He’s given it to me before, times he thought I was making bad decisions that might lead me to pick up again.
But this time, it’s even more intense.
I should have expected it after the confession I just made.
Telling him what happened the other night with Ivy and explaining to him how badly it left me rattled after I walked away from her, soaking wet and confused as fuck, exposed something he’s been saying all along—she is my biggest trigger.
My sweetest obsession and what could be my biggest downfall.
I run my hand through my hair and release a long sigh to break the tension permeating the air. “Just say it.”
The corners of his lips twitch. “You already know what I’m going to say.”
“It doesn’t mean you don’t want to say it yourself, Dale.”
He smirks, relaxing back into the booth and sliding his arm across the red pleather. “I’ve been around the block more times than I can count, kid, and I’m going to tell you, whether you want to hear it or not, that what you are doing is incredibly dangerous to your recovery.”
I snort. “You think I don’t know that?”
A dark brow raises at me. “Then why are you still doing it?”
Fuck.
Because I’m a masochist.
Because I can’t imagine turning my back and walking away for good from the woman I love, who is going to give birth to my niece soon.
Because maybe I am still that selfish person I’ve been trying so hard not to be.
I bury my face in my hands and release a long, frustrated groan that I feel in every cell of my body. When I lift my head again, he’s still watching me, waiting for an answer. “Because what else am I supposed to do, Dale? Just walk away from her?”
His brow rises again, and he nods. “Yes.”
I throw up my hands. “I can’t fucking do that, Dale. She’s pregnant with my niece. My mom and I are the only people she has left to help her through this pregnancy and everything that comes after it.”
“What about her friends?” He waves a hand. “Uhhh…Marlo and somebody. Trina?”
