I glanced back at Cameron and he dipped his head, capturing my lips in a soft kiss. “I apologize now for anything that might come out of his mouth.”
“I heard that,” Asher grumbled.
“You were supposed to.”
“Not that I’m not happy for you,” he went on. “I am, but does Jase know about this?”
Cameron’s arm tightened around me as he said, “It doesn’t matter.”
Asher looked past me to his best friend. “There is so much I want to say but, oh... speak of the devil.”
We all turned in the direction he was looking to find Jason walking toward school with some of the guys from the team. As if he felt us watching, his eyes found us across the lawn, locking on me and Cameron. Everything slowed down: the stream of kids walking into the building, the incessant chatter and laughter, the oxygen filtering around my body. I’d known things would be awkward, but I hadn’t expected it to feel like a new line was being drawn between us. I could practically feel the shift in the air, the invisible wall being erected between us. Me, Flick, Cameron, and Asher one side; and Jason on the other.
I shuddered at the realization.
“Hey,” Cameron’s voice anchored me back to him. “It’ll be okay; he’ll come around.” He kissed my cheek.
Flick glanced at me nervously and I offered her a weak smile. But it was Asher who broke the stifling tension. “Well,” he said. “I guess it’s you and me, Fee, baby.” He slung his arm around my best friend, who shot me a ‘help’ expression. A smile tugged at my mouth. It was a shame she had friend-zoned him for her mystery guy because despite Asher’s manwhore tendencies, they made a seriously cute couple. But I had enough to worry about without getting involved in my best friend’s love life.
“Are you ready?” I asked Cameron quietly, but of course Asher overhead.
“Ready? Ready for what?”
Cameron’s expression fell as he said, “I have to talk to Coach.”
We survived the day at school. After the rumor mill almost exploded with news of me and Cameron, things settled down. But I was going to have to get used to my newfound popularity now I was with a Raider.
With a Raider. There was something I never thought I’d say.
“What are you smiling at?” Cameron asked me as he met me outside class.
“Oh nothing.” I smirked, letting him take the pile of books from me. “But having a boyfriend has its uses.”
We stopped by my locker and I traded the books I needed for homework with the ones in Cameron’s arms. When I was done, I found myself crowded against the locker bank, stormy gray-blue eyes fixed right on me. The hall was emptying, but a few kids watched us with mild curiosity and amusement.
“We have an audience.” My hands slid up his chest as I flicked my head to the group of junior girls openly gawking in our direction.
“We should probably give them something to talk about then.” Cameron closed the distance between us, fixing his mouth over mine, his tongue slipping between my lips. “God, I love you,” he breathed, pulling me closer.
“I love you too,” I said a little louder than I intended earning us a round of hoots and hollers from a few of Cameron’s teammates who passed us. “I’m in love with you.”
It was the truth, I was completely and utterly in love with Cameron Chase.
“Yeah?” He pulled back. “You’re not just saying it because you want my body or to say you bagged a Raider?”
I reached out, tweaking his nipple before drifting my hand down his solid chest, mentally counting off the ridges of his abs. “Well, this is definitely an added bonus…”
His smooth laughter washed over me, giving me a warm squishy feeling inside. “Fuck, we waited too long for this. You know that, right? It should have been me and you all along.”
“I…” I didn’t know what to say to that. But I didn’t have to say anything because Cameron slanted his mouth over mine again. I was so lost in the kiss, in the rightness of his lips moving against mine, I almost didn’t hear someone clear their throat.
But Cameron heard it and he pulled away, expelling a long breath.
“So, the rumors are true then,” a girl with long dark hair said. “Cameron Chase is finally off the market.”
“Miley, this is my girlfriend Hailee. Hailee this is Miley.”
Miley.
I knew this girl. It was the same one from Homecoming, and I was pretty sure she was the girl from the night of Asher’s party when I tagged Jason’s car. “Hi.” I lifted my hand in a small wave.
“Hey.” Her cool gaze swept over me, but it didn’t seem scathing like some of the girls in our class. “A little heads up would have been nice.” She was staring at Cameron now, hurt lingering in her eyes.
“Give me a second,” he said to me before guiding Miley down the hall just out of earshot. My stomach knotted as I watched them talk. They stood close, him staring down at her, her gazing up at him. She was gorgeous, lean and toned, an athlete for sure. And for as much as I didn’t want to feel jealous, it burned through me like acid.
After a minute or two, Miley nodded and turned on her heel and walked off down the hall. Cameron approached me slowly, his eyes drinking me in. Trying to tell me things I couldn’t quite decipher.
“So that’s Miley,” I said. “She’s pretty. Were the two of you, like, a thing?”
“Hailee, don’t do this.” He let out a heavy sigh. “Miley is not important to me.”
“But she was someone to you?”
Cameron crowded me against the locker again, cupping my jaw, angling my face to his. “Listen to me when I say this. It’s you, I want. You, I need. Miley was someone to fill the void for a little while. But that’s all. Me and you, this, it’s real.” He lowered his head to mine. “I need you, Hailee. I need you so much it fucking terrifies me.” Vulnerability glittered in his eyes like stars across the night sky.
Lifting my hand against his cheek, I breathed him in, and said, “You have me.” Every single piece. “Now take me home and show me just how much you need me.”
Cameron didn’t come to school again after that. He wanted to be there for his mom’s appointments and to help with Xander. So I was surprised when he asked me to go to the game with him Friday night.
“Are you okay?” I squeezed his hand as we watched the Raiders run out onto the field below. We were in the family section, using his two tickets reserved for his parents, and Asher had been kind enough to let Flick have one of his tickets since his parents were out of town.
“I’m okay.” Cameron nodded before leaning down to capture my lips in a slow kiss.
“Hmm, guys, right here. I’m right here.”
“Sorry.” I peeked around Cameron and pouted at my best friend.
“You’re so cute I can’t even stay mad at you, ugh,” she groaned, readjusting her Raiders ball cap. “I need a man.”
“What about Ash—”
I clapped my hand over Cameron’s mouth. “Don’t put ideas into her head.”
“He’s nice and all,” Flick said completely ignoring me and Cameron. “But he’s not my type.”