“Well, this isn’t awkward at all,” Hailee whispered. And even though it was dark, and I could barely see her, I was aware of everything. The soft sound of every breath she took, the warm current flowing between us. The way my skin tingled, and my pulse raced at her close proximity, despite the fact I hadn’t even touched her.
Turning onto my side, I traced the profile of her face. “Get some sleep.” I choked out the words to stop myself from doing something stupid. Like telling her it didn’t feel awkward to me at all.
That it felt pretty damn near perfect.
“Night, Cameron.”
“Night, Sunshine.”
A beat of silence passed and then her sleepy voice cut through the quiet. “Cameron?”
“Yeah?”
“Thank you.”
As I felt the pull of sleep, my mind was a jumble of thoughts. Of me and Hailee. Of all the reasons why this was a really bad fucking idea. But one thought stood out above all the others. It was the first time I’d ever fallen to sleep with a girl in my bed.
And I liked it.
I liked it a whole lot.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Hailee
“Ameron, Ameron’s home.” The voice startled me, and I peeked open an eye, trying to get my bearings. Where the hell am I? I wracked my brain for an explanation when a dark-haired, chubby-faced boy filled my vision.
“You’re not Ameron,” he said, a cute little frown crinkling his face.
Ameron?
I groaned, pushing the hair from my face. What the hell—
Everything slammed into me at once. Homecoming. The party with Toby. Cameron holding my hair while I puked up everything but my soul in his toilet. The toilet in the bathroom next to his room.
His room.
Oh god, I was in Cameron’s bedroom.
In.
His.
Bed.
I glanced over and sure enough, there lay Cameron, on his front, arm tucked under his head, snoring softly.
“Who you?” the boy asked as he clambered onto the bed, settling between me and Cameron.
“I’m Hailee.”
“Ailee? I’m Ander.”
“Nice to meet you.” I gave him my best smile despite the panic rising in my chest “Hmm, Cameron?” I hissed. “Cameron, wake up. We have company.”
“Xan?” Cameron said, his voice thick with sleep. “Shit, Xander?” He bolted upright, rubbing his eyes. They flew to mine, wide with alarm, and I chuckled, ducking my head.
“You ot a irlfriend, Ameron?”
“What, I… uh, no, buddy. This is my… friend—”
“Ailee.” He nodded. “She pretty.”
“Okay, buddy, time for you to go.” Cameron scooped up the kid and climbed out of bed not bothering to pull on any clothes. “I’ll be right back,” he mouthed over his shoulder and I nodded, feeling my cheeks flush.
When they disappeared out of the room, I sank back into the pillows, groaning with mortification. I was in Cameron’s bed.
Cameron’s bed.
And we’d just been caught by the cutest toddler I’d ever laid eyes on.
Just when I thought my life couldn’t get any crazier.
Two minutes later, Cameron stepped back into the room, taking the air with him. “Sorry about that.” He ran a hand over his head, his eyes darting around me.
“Your brother is adorable,” I said, pulling the sheets up around my body, aware I was dressed in only his football jersey and my panties, and he was wearing nothing but his tight black boxer briefs. Keep your eyes on his face, Hailee. On. His. Face.
“Yeah, although he’s like a whirlwind.”
“He’s a cute kid.”
“Don’t be fooled.” He laughed and we shared a rare smile. “How are you feeling?” Cameron sat on the end of the bed, his eyes burning into me.
“I’ll be okay, I guess. I still can’t believe someone did that to me.” My head hurt and my muscles were like lead, not to mention the fact my stomach felt like something had died in there. But I had more important things to worry about right now, like the fact Cameron was right there, and he was almost naked; the hard planes of his body just begging to be touched.
God, I wanted to touch him.
What the hell was wrong with me?
“Yeah, well, people will do all kinds of crazy things in the name of football.”
“Does that include you?” My brow rose, as I lowered my face, looking up at him through my lashes.
“I’ve done some stuff I’m not proud of, yeah.” Cameron swallowed as if the words were hard to say.
“Well you came through last night, so thank you.”
“It was nothing.”
But it wasn’t nothing, it was something.
The events of last night were hazy. But I remembered with perfect clarity Cameron had come running after Flick’s SOS call.
He scooted closer, angling his body to me. I felt a little light-headed suddenly. “What can you remember about the party?” he asked gently.
“I...” A heavy sigh escaped my lips. “Not much to be honest. We left Homecoming and Toby came to pick us up. He said it wasn’t a football thing, so I thought...” My voice trailed off, my gaze dropping.
“Why’d you leave Homecoming?”
My eyes snapped to his, but I didn’t answer. What would I say? That I’d left because I saw him with a girl? Shrugging, I picked at his sheets. “I only went to keep Flick happy and she seemed upset about something, so we left.”
“Funny.” His brow lifted slightly. “Because she said you left because you were pissed with me.”
My cheeks flamed. “She needs to learn to keep her mouth shut.” I was going to kill her.
“I looked for you, thought I might cash in on that dance.” His lip curved. “But you were already gone.”
“Yeah, well, you seemed pretty busy to me, so I figured it was no big deal.” Wrapping my arms around my waist, I lowered my gaze again.
“Hailee,” his voice soothed something inside me. “What’s… Miley…” He let out an exasperated breath. “You saw me talking to Miley.”
“I didn’t see you talking to anyone, Cameron, just drop it.” I didn’t want to feel like this, all over him talking to another girl. It was irrational. Illogical. It was completely pathetic. But I couldn’t deny jealousy burned through me when he said her name.
“Miley’s just a friend, you don’t need to worry about her.”
“It doesn’t matter.” I couldn’t meet his eyes.
“Why are you being like this?” he asked.
I finally glanced up at him. “Like what?”
“A bitch.”
“Way to remind me that you’re not the good guy here.” I threw back the cover and leaped out of his bed. “I should go.”
“Whoa, slow down, Hailee. We should talk.”
“We have nothing to talk about,” I called out as I dove into his bathroom, hoping my dress was dry enough to wear otherwise it’d be awkward explaining to Mom and Kent why I was in just my panties and one of Cameron’s old football jerseys.
“Thank God,” I breathed as I found my dress mostly clean and dry. Throwing my dress over the towel rail, I splashed some water on my face and tried to tame my hair by running my fingers through it. It wasn’t perfect, but it would do. Then I stole a blob of toothpaste to freshen up my breath. But when I looked up in the mirror, I was met with stormy gray eyes.