Bender (34 page)

I tried to use my arms to bring them up and around to break his hold, but I should have known better. Camden was built like a brick house, and I didn’t stand a chance. He brought me in, locking me in a bear hug, and his face came down to mine. His eyes were deadly serious, and all I saw the black of his pupils. “Enough!” he commanded.

“Oh screw you! How long have you been cheating on me, huh? How long Camden? Or should I ask your little whore over there?”

I was still squirming, and I kicked him hard in the knee. He grunted but didn’t waver in his hold. Instead, he pushed me up against his car and wrapped one of his legs around me, preventing me from any further movement of my limbs.

“I said, enough,” he said through gritted teeth. “If you’d stop for one second and let me explain, you’d know that I’m not cheating. In fact it’s not even close.”

I was just starting to feel some pain in my hand, but I ignored it. “What in the hell are you talking about? I saw you! I saw you kiss her on the cheek, I saw you holding her hand.”

“Keegan, look at her.” I was glaring at him. “Look…at...her.” My eyes shifted to where she was standing in the crowd. “See her. Does anything about her look familiar?”

Of course she was familiar. She was the girl from the photograph, she was my worst nightmare come to life. I hated her. I hated her so severely that just seeing her made me want to bend at the waist and throw up. But for some reason Camden wouldn’t let me move until I gave him what he wanted. I eyed the girl, taking in her beautiful features. The black hair, and striking sea green eyes. She was watching me as though she were willing me to make a connection, to see something that was right in front of my face. And then it happened. The face, the chiseled cheeks made more feminine because she was a female, the hair… I glanced back at Camden in confusion.

“Do you see it now?” he asked, his tone softening.

I shook my head. “Who- who is she?”

I saw her step forward out of the corner of my eye, and she came to stand beside me. “Keegan this is my half-sister, Breslin.” He told me in a way of introduction.

“Half-sister,” I said as a statement, rolling the words around on my tongue, tasting it and letting it sink in.

“Yes.”

“But you don’t have a sister,” I nearly whispered.

“I do. And I swear I’ll explain everything to you, but can I trust that you won’t go beating the shit out of something else if I let you go?”

Wait, what? Of course I wouldn’t hit anything, I didn’t do that. Okay, well actually it seemed that I did, but this wasn’t normal behavior. My adrenaline was fading, and my emotions were sweeping through me.

“Okay.” I told him even though it didn’t really answer his question. I was staring at Breslin, and my brain was trying to make the connection. “Sister,” I repeated like it would make more sense if I said it again.

“Do you think she’s in shock?” I heard Dodger ask.

“I don’t know, but we should go somewhere where we aren’t being stared at,” Camden replied.

“Right,” Dodger responded. “Let’s go.”

And just like that we were on our way back to the apartment. I barely remember the car ride, or how I got in the vehicle. I just know that I never once took my eyes off of
her
, the one who made my heart feel fractured.

“K
EEGAN
I’
M
SORRY
THAT
YOU
WERE
MISLED
into believing that I was someone else,” Bree told me. “Seriously Cam? You didn’t bother telling your girlfriend?”

He glared at her. Jesus their features were similar. “You told me not to talk to anyone about it. What the hell did you want me to do?”

“Oh I don’t know, maybe let her in on it so shit like this could have been avoided?” she replied sarcastically.

I sat on the couch still somewhat confused as Camden was cleaning my knuckles of blood and dirt. I’d apparently done a number on them, and they were swollen and split open.

He was squatting in front of me as he glanced up at her and said, “Bree, you didn’t want me to tell anybody about your situation, not even Dodge. Except now you’re telling me I was supposed to explain to someone that didn’t even know you existed, ‘hey, my sister that you didn’t know about called me in a panic because she got knocked up by some random guy and I need to help her out of that mess’.”

She threw her hands up in the air. “Argh! You’re impossible you know that?”

Bree walked into the kitchen to talk to Dodger who was currently icing his shin. Hmmm…I didn’t think I kicked him that hard.

I was looking down at what Camden was doing, my eyes refusing to meet his even though I knew he was watching me. “So a sister? Care to tell me how that happened?”

He shrugged. “My dad had a long-time girlfriend throughout high school and college. His junior year she got pregnant. At first she wasn’t going to keep it, but my dad’s really against abortion, and he felt like he should have a say in keeping it. Before they split up, she told him she’d have the baby but she didn’t want any responsibilities. Of course as she went through her pregnancy she ended up changing her mind and wanted to keep her. My dad was able to get partial custody of Bree, and then two years after she was born, Dad met my mom.”

Wow! That wasn’t the story that I was expecting. “So why the secrecy then? Are you two close?”

“Sort of. Out of all my brothers, it’s me who she comes to. Bree has always struggled with where she fits in with my family. My dad has always been there for her, and he took part in raising her. My mom treated her like she was her own daughter. And of course, we all grew up with her during the summer months and some holidays, but for whatever reason, Bree stopped coming around. She knows that we do family dinners, and that she is always going to be a part of that. I just think she’s trying to find where her place is. Her mother isn’t always there. As far as the secrecy goes, well I was going to try and handle this without anybody knowing, but Dodger somehow figured it out and demanded that he come with me so Bree knew we were here for her.”

It made sense, it really did, but I was dumbfounded as to why he never even mentioned Bree before now. Why I had to find out about her like this, instead of me acting like a psycho in the middle of Athens and making a scene.

I flexed my hand, pain running up my arm. “You should have told me.”

“I know.”

“No, I don’t think you do.
You should have told me
.” I tried my hardest to emphasize that statement.

“Keegan,” He tipped my chin up. “I know,” he said looking me straight in the eyes.

My vision clouded over and tears welled up. His face softened, and he could see that I was about to break down. Instead of me doing it in front of Bree and Dodger, he gently picked me up and carried me upstairs. Taking me into the bathroom he set me down on the counter and went to the faucet to start the shower. Coming back over to me, he lifted the hem of my shirt, raising it over my head and tossing it aside. He tugged off my shoes and socks and gasped when he saw my swollen ankle. His eyes shifted to mine, and I simply shrugged.

Shaking his head he said, “When you kick ass you don’t just beat up what’s in front of you, you do a number on yourself too. Jesus, look at your toes, they’re red.”

Sniffling I told him, “I was imagining it was your face.”

He smirked. “Nice, but seriously, I’m going to have to teach you how to throw a punch. You could have broken your hand hitting the way that you were. And so you know, we’re going to have to talk about my car too. I’m not going to just forget about it or sweep it under the rug.”

Sighing I told him, “Whatever. I’ll give you money to fix it when you find out how much it costs.”

Camden mashed his teeth together. “No, you won’t. But that’s not what I’m concerned about. Blue, I’ve never seen you so worked up over something, and I’m not sure how I feel that you went haywire on my vehicle instead of approaching me at the restaurant.”

I closed my mouth, refusing to give him an answer when I didn’t even have one myself. Helping me down from the counter, he quickly stripped his clothes off, and we climbed into the shower. The heat on my skin made me hiss. The pain was overwhelming and my head wouldn’t let go of the fact that he hid something that was important from me.

“I looked at your phone,” I announced.

“What?”

I met the brown of his eyes. “Earlier, I saw the texts while you were in the shower. That’s how I knew where you’d be.”

He regarded me for a moment before he said, “I’d like to say I’m upset about that but, I’m not.”

“You should be.”

“Why?”

“Because Camden, it was an invasion of your privacy, and I had no right going through your things. If I had a question, I should have come to you, and talked to you about it.”

“I’m not saying I appreciate you doing it, but I’m not angry with you for it. I should have told you about Bree right from the start.”

“Yes, you should have, but stop giving me the easy out, it’s pissing me off!”

He ran his hands through his damp hair causing it to stick up every which way. “What do you what me to do, huh? Yell at you, scream at you, tell you that you obviously don’t trust me? Because I’m not going to do that. Keegan, what was your gut telling you?” I looked down. “No, you don’t get to close up on me. What did your gut tell you?”

My breathing had picked up, and I clenched my fists despite the pain. “It told me that you were hiding something, okay? That’s why I looked.”

“And is that something that you normally would’ve done?”

“No.”

“Then I’m not mad at you for it.”

“Argh!” I threw my hands up in the air. “That’s partially why this is all so fucked up.” I turned away from him and faced the showerhead. The spray was beating down on me, and I closed my eyes while I let the water wash over my body. He remained quiet, letting me work out whatever was in my head on my own. “I lost it today, completely lost it. I’ve never felt so out of control before in my life. Do you know what that feels like?” My words came out as barely a whisper.

I heard him breathing behind me. “Yes.”

“I don’t even know how to make sense of what’s going on in my head. Camden, until today, I didn’t realize how much you have come to mean to me, how much I
really
care for you.”

“Keegan, believe me I know.”

I shook my head again, turning around to face him and wiped away the water that was mixing with my tears. “No, I don’t think you do. Until today I’d pushed aside any feelings that were more than just ‘like’. I thought that if I didn’t allow myself to feel how I really do, it wouldn’t affect me. Ignorance is bliss, right? But then I saw you. I thought I was seeing you with another girl, and it broke me. I couldn’t stomach the idea of it but that’s when it happened.”

His eyebrows etched together and he was solely focused on me. “What happened?”

Swallowing hard and threw my cards on the table. “I realized that I am head over heels in love with you, Camden. I know I shouldn’t be.
And that you’re not the type to have a serious relationship like that. To tell you truthfully, I don’t even know how long I’ve actually been feeling like this, but now I’m aware, and I don’t think I can ignore it. I’ve let you put yourself in every little crevice of my heart, and I couldn’t stop this even if I tried.”

So many emotions flitted across his face, and I attempted to read every one of them. “Why would you?” His voice sounded timid, which was completely out of the norm for him.

“Because I’m spinning toward the ground and I’m twenty thousand feet up with no safety net. This is not the kind of control that I’m willing to let go of. Today showed me something that’s been blaring in my face for weeks now and just when I’m finally seeing it, I can’t process it. I need a little bit of time.”

“Blue, what do you mean by time?” He reached up and cupped my cheek. I placed my hand over his and felt his compassion seeping into me. Why did he look like I was about to crush
him
?

Tears were streaming down my face, and I let out a small sob. “You kept something important from me Camden. Honesty could have prevented this whole thing from happening. Not just what you did, but what I did too. I love you, and there’s nothing I can do about it. But I need to take some time to figure out how this makes me feel, how all of this can even work.”

He leaned forward and put his forehead on mine. “We can talk this out, time isn’t necessary.”

“It is.” I had nothing else to say. Stepping away from him, his hand dropped from my face, and I opened the shower door. Getting out I wrapped myself in a towel and walked to my room, retreating into my own space.