Page 22 of Wild and Bright

Will that night always haunt us?

“I wasn’t planning on being with anyone else.” My voice is so small, it brings me back to childhood when my mom would talk about me to my Aunt Lisa right in front of me.

“I worry about her,” she’d say while she did something affectionate, like stroke my hair. “She’s defiant.”

“She’s strong-willed like her Aunty,” Lisa would say. “She’ll be the president someday. Or she’ll be a female Steve Jobs.”

“Or she’ll…” And then my mom would mouth something to Lisa, something I couldn’t understand even as I saw the words on her lips, but I knew it was bad.

It scared me.

“Yeah, well, the problem with your plans,” Cam says, “is that they can get derailed on a whim. I want you to take this seriously. I won’t deal with your bullshit. I’ve put up with enough already, but I’m willing to put the past behind us.”

Rage flares, making me feel bigger and more powerful. “Obviously, you’re not. Obviously, you’re not willing to put any of it behind you if you don’t trust my word that I’ll be faithful to you.”

He scowls. “Would you trust your word if you were me?” He looks away, shaking his head. “It’s insane that I’m even doing this.”

“Why does some impulsive thing I did when I was eighteen have to define me in your eyes? And you never even…”

I can’t finish, because he won’t like what I have to say.

You never even told me why you were so upset.

I wasn’t his girlfriend. I owed him nothing. Even if I had gone through with having sex with Hunter—and I never would have—it wouldn’t have technically been wrong of me. The only rational reason Cam would get so upset—upset enough to avoid me for five years straight—is that the moment in his car must have meant much more than he admitted.

“Either take it or leave it,” he says. “If you’re too insulted by my condition, we can go back to the sixty grand I originally offered.”

“I’ll take it.” My voice is small again.

Triumph flashes in his eyes. “Good girl.”

My bravado returns at his smugness. I shoot him a lazy smile. “Oh, do you like it when I’m weak and submissive? Should I start calling you, ‘Sir?’ Or what about, ‘Master?’”

His dark brows snap together. “Can you not with Chris here? You’re making him uncomfortable.”

“I’m fine.” Chris’s voice is strained, as if he’s holding back laughter.

“What’s the other condition?”

Cam glances at Chris and then back at me. “You won’t be allowed to enter into a similar situation with Hunter. Ever. And if you ever try it, I’ll sue you for all the money I gave you.”

My jaw drops, my eyes darting frantically to Chris. “Can he do that?”

Just as Chris opens his mouth, Cam interrupts. “Why are you asking him questions? He’s my lawyer, not yours. And if you’re asking what legal grounds I’d have to take the money back, the answer is none. But I’ll still do it. And good luck dealing with the legal fees on your influencer salary.”

I scowl at him. “You’re a fucking terrible person.”

He only shrugs, but I can see from the set of his jaw that his teeth are clenched.

My stomach sinks when a thought occurs to me. “What if you suspected I was cheating on you, but I wasn’t?” My eyes dart to Chris. “Could he not pay me, even with zero evidence?”

Chris starts to speak, but I can’t hear what he says because Cam’s deep voice booms over his. “None of this is legal, Lauren. Do you not understand that? This is all under the table. Neither of us has any contracted obligation to the other. You can stop working for me at any moment, and I can arbitrarily decide not to pay you at the end of this.”

When his gaze roams my face, his expression softens. “But I think you know me better than that.”

I lift a brow. “I know you’re such a control freak, you would sue a single mom to get your way.”

His mouth tightens, and his shrug is jerky. “Well, it’s up to you. You can always walk away and get substantially less from Hunter.”

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