“Everyone’s staring,” she whispered, her posture tense. I leaned forward, brushing the shell of her ear, and replied, “Let them look.”
I had no problem with everyone knowing she was mine. In fact, if I didn’t think she’d kick me in the balls, I would have kissed the crap out of her, giving them the show they were hoping for.
“I hope this is okay?” Tate said as we stopped at the last booth removing the handwritten ‘reserved’ sign. It was as private as it was going to get, but Flick had shot down my first suggestion of asking Tate for exclusive use of the place. ‘Do you know Hailee at all?’, she’d asked me with an air of amusement before proceeding to tell me I just needed to be myself—not Raider Cameron, but the guy underneath the bravado—and nothing else.
“It’s great, thank you.” I held out my hand and he shook it before leaving us to it.
Hailee stuttered, her eyes moving from the booth to me. “What is happening right now?”
“We’re about to eat dinner and then I’m going to kick your very cute ass at bowling.” I took her hand and gently nudged her into the booth, sliding in opposite her. “So, what’s good here?” I picked up the menu.
“I can’t believe you had Tate reserve us a table.”
“It could have been worse. I could have booked out the whole place just for the two of us.”
I’d expected to see her nose wrinkle at the obscene over-the-top idea, but it didn’t. Instead, her pupils dilated, that sexy-as-fuck blush spreading up her neck. “Would you have wanted that?” I asked.
“Maybe.” She chewed her bottom lip, desire simmering in her eyes.
My brow rose. “Yeah? Here?” I scanned the place quickly, imagining all the places I could lay her out and—
“Hailee?” A dark-haired guy approached the booth, his eyes darting between us.
“Hey, Toby.” Her expression fell.
Toby.
My spine went rigid as I sat up straighter.
“Sorry, I didn’t want to interrupt, I can see you’re... busy.” He swallowed thickly. “I just wanted to apologize for what happened. You didn’t text me back and I...”
“You need to leave, now.” I ground out, my fingers curled around the Formica table.
“Cameron,” Hailee said gently. “It’s okay. Toby, this is Cameron, my—”
“Her boyfriend.” I locked eyes on him, sending him a silent message. Hailee’s foot kicked me under the table and I jerked in my seat.
“Behave,” she mouthed. “I’m sorry I didn’t text you back, Toby, but it didn’t feel right, not after...”
“Yeah, I get it.” He ran a hand through his hair. “I just felt bad about what happened, and I wanted you to know I had no idea Thatcher was going to pull that shit. He might be my cousin but that was not cool.”
“Are you done?” I said coolly.
Credit to him, the guy looked me right in the eye as he said, “Yeah, I’m done.” His gaze slid back to Hailee. “And I’m sorry again. I guess I’ll see you around.”
She gave him a little nod and he left, and I breathed a huge fucking sigh of relief.
“You didn’t have to be so rude.” Hailee scolded, trying, and failing to keep the amusement out of her voice.
“Rude? That was me being polite, Sunshine.”
“Cameron, come on...” She gave me a pointed look, but I wasn’t about to waiver. Not on this.
“Hailee.” I leaned forward, lowering my voice. “He took you to a party where you were drugged and...” The words lodged in my throat. “I’m never going to be okay with that.” He was lucky I hadn’t introduced my fist to his face.
“I know, I just... You did some pretty shitty things to me too, Cameron.”
Her words cut like a knife and my eyes shuttered as I inhaled a deep breath. “You’re never going let me forget, are you?” My stomach sank as I met her eyes once more, scared of what I might find there.
“I’m sure there are ways you can make it up to me.” Lust dripped from her words and my eyes snapped to hers.
“Yeah?” I practically panted, and her smirk grew.
And just like that all thoughts of Toby and Thatcher evaporated.
An hour later, stuffed full of Alley burgers and milkshakes, we’d attracted quite the audience. But I only had eyes for the girl opposite me. With every question I asked, every graze of my fingers against hers, Hailee relaxed. We’d talked about everything: her mom, her dad, how she got into art, her plans for after graduation.
“So, Stamps is an art and design school?”
“Yeah,” she said helping herself to a big spoonful of the sundae we’d decided to share. “It’s part of the University of Michigan.”
“You don’t say.” My heart picked up speed; a plan—albeit a crazy one—unfolding in my mind.
“What will you do if you decide not to play college football?” Hailee turned the spotlight on me.
“Honestly, I don’t know. I’ve always liked numbers, so maybe business or finance or something.”
“And you can do that just about anywhere,” she said. “So you can stay local if your family needs you. Crap, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean—”
“Hailee.” I covered her hand with mine. “It’s okay. I’m okay.” Was I terrified about what next week would bring? Yes. But I had to trust the doctors knew what they were doing. And with Hailee by my side, everything seemed that much easier to process.
“Have you figured out what you’re going to tell Coach?” She changed the subject.
“Not yet. But I can’t think about the team until after the surgery.”
Giving me a reassuring nod, Hailee smiled. “She’ll be okay, Cameron.”
“I hope so.” I suddenly didn’t feel hungry anymore. Because the reality was, I wasn’t thinking past the surgery. The ‘what ifs’ or maybes. Because Hailee was right, Mom would be okay.
She had to be.
After beating me at bowling, twice, I drove Hailee back to my house. The tension between us was almost at breaking point. All night, Hailee had teased me with little kisses and subtle touches. I was surprised how tactile she was with me, given the constant stares and whispers aimed in our direction. But we were both too drunk on each other to care.
When I pulled into the driveway and cut the engine, Hailee turned to me. “Thank you, for tonight. It was perfect.”
“No.” I leaned over, capturing a strand of hair between my fingers. “You’re perfect.”
Hailee lowered her eyes, blushing. But I gently gripped her chin, forcing her to look at me. “Whatever happens next week, it won’t change how I feel about you. I want you to know that.”
“Cameron, I—”
“Wait, just hear me out, okay?” I needed to get this off my chest. “I might get angry and confused and I’ll probably screw this up, but just know that I love you and I’m so fucking relieved I have you by my side going into this.”
Hailee climbed across the console and onto my lap, slipping her legs over mine and looping her arms around my neck. “I’m not going anywhere. You should know by now, I don’t break easily.” She leaned in to kiss me, teasing me with her tongue.