Page 59 of The Long Game

“Matthew,” Cameron murmured. “Is that yourdaddy?”

That stung more than I expected. Not because Cameron had implied more than once that I was spoiled, but because I didn’t think my father would answer if I texted him. All I’d gotten from him in the last days was a message from his secretary to confirm the energy drink issue was being looked at. Not even a quick check-in. “He’s my best friend.”

It was stupid to ask Matthew, but I was trying to prove a point.

Cameron exhaled noisily, his whole body moving with the release of air. The side of his quad pressed against the side of mine. “Adalyn, I—”

My phone pinged.

“There you go,” I said. “Quick. Efficient. Always willing.”

Cameron grumbled something I ignored in favor of reading Matthew’s texts out loud.

MATTHEW:WTF

MATTHEW:EXPLAIN.

I let out a quick celebratoryHa. “See? Now this is exactly the involvement I was looking for. Passion for discussion.”

But then I scrolled down and I…

MATTHEW:Is that who I think it is?

MATTHEW:WHAT IS HE DOING THERE?

MATTHEW:Is this today????

MATTHEW:WTF ADALYN

MATTHEW:I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU ARE WITH Cameron Caldani (!!) and you wouldn’t tell ME.

MATTHEW:What is he even doing in NC? What—

I immediately locked my phone.

For good measure, I brought it to my chest. Hid it. How had I— The pictures. Cameron must have been in them. God. My fingers clasped the device even tighter. I didn’t want Cameron to believe I was going around giving away where he was.

I looked over at him, coming up with ways to explain myself, but Cameron was engrossed in my binder. The red one.

I blinked.

Take it as a win, Adalyn.

I shoved my phone into the depths of my bag and cleared my throat. “Yes.” I scooted closer to him. Which I realized was a mistake, because all I could feel and smell was Cameron. I scooted back. “I think we can move on to strategy, good idea.”

“Already on it,” he said without looking at me.

A little passive-aggressive but I’d averted a crisis, so I’d give him that. “How’s that looking?” I asked. “What do you have in mind in terms of game plan? We’re playing against—”

“Rockstone,” he finished for me. “It’s here in your little binder.” It wasn’t little, but I let that go, too. “And my plan is for the kids to point at the right side this time.”

“That’s a good start,” I admitted genuinely. “But we should probably start tracking something more specific. Like training plans for every player to cater to their individual needs.” I stretched a hand over his lap and turned a few pages, getting to the individual cards I’d prepared. “Maybe if we—” I felt the weight of his stare on my profile. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

Cameron’s head tilted, and when he spoke, thanks to my leaning in over him, his words fell on my temple. “You’ve got a section for me in your binder of hell?”

I did. But filed away in a box in my head. Something else in my head right now? How close his face was to mine. I jerked back. “Don’t speak like that about my binder” was all I could say.

A deep chuckle rumbled off Cameron, as if I was this amusing thing he could poke.

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