Page 51 of The Wrong One

The look on his face told me I had gone too far.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I didn’t mean it like that. That’s not who I am. You’re not a coward. I’m so reactive. It’s a consequence of my time with Patrick.”

He nodded. “I understand.”

“I don’t get it,” I said. “You totally shut down. I was feeling very hurt and confused, and to be honest, I felt misled. We had such a good time that night. I’m not talking about just the sex. I really enjoyed hanging out with you. I thought you did as well. I thought we stepped into something together. It didn’t feel like a one-nighter for me. If that’s what you wanted, I wish you would have told me from the beginning. You could have told me about the morning after. Maybe you tried to at breakfast, but then that day, well, you weren’t giving off one-nighter vibes.”

He shook his head. “That’s not what I wanted.”

“Then what the hell happened?” I asked. “I don’t understand. How do you go from being my friend to being the guy who doesn’t want anything to do with me? You couldn’t even look me in the eyes all last week. Whenever I got ten feet in front of you, you took off in the opposite direction. I get it if you don’t want to touch me again. I’m not begging you for anything. I just need to know. We’re supposed to work together, but I can’t work around someone who can’t be in the same room with me or even look at me.”

He took a deep breath. “That’s not what I wanted,” he said again. “It’s this whole Ramsey thing. It doesn’t sit right with me. I don’t keep anything from him. I hate going behind his back and doing something I know he would be really pissed about. I don’t want to risk losing him as my friend. My brother.”

I loved that he loved my brother so much. It was very endearing. “I understand to a degree,” I said. “But I also feel very deeply that this is not my brother’s business. I’m an adult. He is forever going to see me as a little girl, but I’m not. I don’t need his approval. I don’t have to ask his permission to date anyone.”

He looked at me, rubbing his eyes. “If you would have listened to Ramsey last year when he told you not to go through with the engagement to Patrick, you might be happier right now. You wouldn’t be in this position. He wouldn’t be so damn worried about you. He wouldn’t have such a short fuse when it came to you.”

My mouth dropped open. I couldn’t believe he just accused me of disobeying my brother like I was a child. I took a deep breath. “I think you’re confused,” I said in a low voice. “I don’t have to ask for permission. Ramsey isn’t exactly an ace at picking the right women.”

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean it like that.”

“Oh no,” I said sharply. “That’s exactly what you meant. You and Ramsey think you’re older and wiser and silly little Izzy couldn’t possibly know any better, right? You guys are so much smarter than I am.”

“I didn’t mean it in a bad way,” Cameron said. “I only meant your brother has always had your best interests at heart. He has a sixth sense about these things. He is an excellent judge of character. He can see through a lie a mile away. I know he’s going to know something happened between us. He’s going to find out on his own. That would kill him. Assuming he doesn’t kill me first.”

“I don’t know why you think Ramsey is some love guru,” I scoffed. “Seriously, look at his own love life. He’s been single forever. He chases anything in a skirt. I don’t think he’s the guy I should take all my dating advice from.”

“Keeping this a secret from him is not going to do us any favors in the long run,” he said. “He’s going to find out.”

“I don’t care!” I snapped. “I’ll tell him. If that will help you get over this, I’ll do the hard job. I’ll tell my brother I jumped you in the backseat of your car. Would that make you feel better?”

“Not even a little,” he said. “You know what I’m saying. You know I’m right.”

“Bullshit,” I muttered. “You think you’re right. That doesn’t make you right. Ramsey doesn’t know everything about me. I haven’t lived around him in a long time. I’m not the same teenager I was when I moved away. I did a lot of growing up all by myself without Ramsey telling me what to do.. I’m not a fucking child!”

“Trust me, I’ve noticed,” he said.

“Ramsey is treating me like I’m Lily’s age,” I said. “I’m a grown-ass woman who has to answer to her brother. This is not medieval times. I can decide who I want to date. I can decide who I want to sleep with. I can decide where I do it. I don’t need anyone telling me what to do! I’m a professional with a degree. Back in California, I was respected at work. I made good money. Just because I chose to come back here doesn’t mean I was coming home to be coddled. I came home because I was hoping to get some support.”

“And you have it,” he said. “Everyone supports you, but we’re also worried about you.”

“Well, stop! Stop telling me what to do!”

“I’m not!” he shot back. “I’m not bossing you around. You seem to forget I’m the other half of this little equation. It isn’t just your life you’re fucking with! I get a say in how this goes down. You’re bitching about someone trying to make decisions for you while you’re trying to make decisions for me.”

“Are you saying I forced you to fuck me?” I hissed.

“Stop fucking talking like that,” he growled. “It cheapens it. You’re still Izzy and I hate hearing that. It’s disrespectful.”

I rolled my eyes. “Now you’re going to tell me how I can talk?”

“When it involves me having sex with you, yes!”

“I don’t need you or Ramsey or anyone else telling me what’s best for me,” I said. “I don’t need to be told who I can and cannot date. Ramsey has been running men off for as long as I can remember. I’m over it. He needs to stop it. I am sick of him trying to control me.”

“I’m not trying to control you,” he said. “I’m trying not to hurt your brother. Yes, we want each other. Yes, we had great sex and I have not stopped thinking about it, but that doesn’t mean we can just do what makes us feel good. We’re being selfish by not considering what Ramsey might think about all of this. I know he’s always had an input about who you can and can’t see. I know that and I can’t say I would like it, but I know why he says what he does. I know how much he loves you and how much he looks out for you. I’ve heard him talk about his fears about you. I’ve been the guy he’s talked to when he was worried about you. I just feel like I’m betraying the guy because I should know better.”

ChapterTwenty-Two

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