The Real Me (How to Tame a Heartbreaker Book 4) (15 page)

"I am
so sorry," he said slowly. "I liked getting to know you without the fact that I was famous getting in the way."

"
So you thought it was a good idea to lie? I can understand letting it play out for a few encounters, but I felt like I
knew
you—had gotten close to you, and I didn't even know your real name. Now it's over."

"Please don’t say that."

She opened her car door. "Don't follow me," she said. "I seriously know how to use this knife and I'm not afraid to."

He was hurt that she felt
threatened enough to make a statement like that. Had he scared her? He hated the thought—hated himself for not telling her sooner.

"I'm gonna
get you back," he said with an unreadable expression.

"No you're not, so please don't try," she said.

"Please don't do this, Jax. You're the only girl I've ever wanted like this."

"You know what? I thought I felt the same about you, but that was some guy named Cole who
doesn't exist
."

Chapter 16

Jax backed out of her parking spot and drove out onto the street before Cam could do anything to stop her. He stared at the back of her little white hatchback feeling like the biggest idiot on the face of the earth. He'd just lost the only girl he'd ever truly wanted and he was standing in a parking lot wearing a fake beard. He was usually very careful with taking off the beard—Macy told him it would hold up a lot longer if he took care of it and normally he did.

Tonight was different. As soon as he sat in the truck he pulled the beard of his face from the left side to the right in one not-so-gentle motion. He adjusted the rearview mirror so he could see himself, and proceeded to rip the extra little hairs out in clumps. His face was completely clear of all hair within seconds of him sitting
down. The only thing he could think to do was yell out and bang the steering wheel with his fists. He put his face in his hands, feeling like he'd just destroyed the best thing in his life.

He sent a text to her immediately.

Cam: "Please hear me out."

Jax heard the text come in and read
it when she got to a red light. She blinked away the continual tears in order to be able to focus on the screen. Part of her still wanted things to work out and was glad the text was from him, but she saw the name Cole instead of Cam on the text, and knew things couldn't work out with them—not after the way it all started. She pushed the button to edit contact information and scrolled down to the red bar that read: delete contact. She almost pressed it but instead decided to edit the contact. She erased the name Cole and started to replace it with the name Cam. Just then, the car behind her honked to let her know the light turned green.

She sat the phone in the cup holder without finishing typing his name. By the time she got home, she decided to delete the contact altogether instead of changing
the name. She also deleted every text they'd ever sent to each other. She couldn't believe that the
first
guy she was stupid enough to fall for had been lying to her the entire time and she was too stupid to see it. It was like a practical joke. She goes her whole life being guarded and skeptical about love and the
one time
she let her guard down, the person completely and utterly deceived her. The only thing that would've been worse was if he were married.

Jax cried all night. She cried herself into a big,
heaping, mess with a headache. She got a text from her sister asking how things had gone with Cam, but she didn't respond. She absolutely hated herself for breaking up with him, but she didn't know if it was because he was famous or that she was just plain miserable without him.

****

Cam got a text from Macy two days later asking if she could come by and get the beard so she could have it prepped for the next time he needed it. He text her back saying he lost it but that was okay because he was done with it anyway. She wrote back saying he knew where to reach her if he ever needed her services again. Cam put the phone onto the bed thinking he never wanted to see Macy again. She was a nice girl and everything but screw fake facial hair.

Cam'
s phone lit up again as it hit the bed. It was an incoming call. He only answered it because it was Jason. He'd already checked in with Neil and didn't want to talk to anyone else.

"What?" Cam asked.

"You okay?" Jason asked. "Neil called me worried about you. He said you called and told him you were sick, but sounded more like you were drunk. He tried to come check on you."

"I'm not receiving guests," Cam said,
slurring his speech.

"Shit dude, what's the matter with you? It's two o'clock in the afternoon."

"Fuck two o'clock."

"Oh that's
a good one," Jason said dryly. He was quiet while he tried to think of what he should do. It was obvious by Cam's voice and he was in rare form and needed to be checked on. "Call the desk and tell them to let us up," Jason said. "Hannah's with me. We're in Nashville. We'll pick up some food and come hang out for a few."

"I'm sick."

"Are you sick for real or are you just drunk?"

"No, I'm sick. Like for fake. That's what I told Neil. I had to cancel some appearance. So he thinks I'm sick."

"Are you telling me not to rat you out that you're not really sick?" Jason asked laughing.

"Shut-up. Just if you talk to Neil, tell him I'm sick."

Jason was still laughing when he said, "Call the desk and tell them to let us up. We'll be there in thirty minutes."

They disconnected and Cam called Brian at the door to let him know Jason was stopping by.

"Why is it so dark in here?" Hannah asked as they walked in.

"Because I have the blinds closed,
and I want to keep it that way," Cam yelled drunkenly from across the huge living room when they came in. He was flat on his back, sprawled out on the couch.

"What happened to you?" Jason asked. He and Hannah were inspecting the array of microbrew bottles scattered on just about
every surface in the kitchen, and knew very well the answer to that question.

"How long have you been in here?"

Cam sat up. "What'd you bring me to eat?" he asked, ignoring Jason's question.

"Chinese."

"Thanks." Cam moaned and flopped back onto the couch.

Hannah had a hard time seeing him at first because of how dark it was
, but now that her eyes had adjusted, she could see how pitiful he was. She crossed to the couch to sit next to him. Cam was normally larger-than-life and seeing him in his current condition made her feel sad.

"What happened?" she asked. She sat near his head and touched the top of his head in a comforting gesture. Cam didn't flinch when she touched him even though he wanted to at first.

"She found out," he said, without opening his eyes.

"Who found out?"

"Jax."

"What'd she—oo
oooh," Hannah said, as if she were just putting all the pieces together. Cam put a hand over his face and Hannah took her hand from his head.

Jason came over and sat on a nearby ottoman listening to their conversation. "Seems like maybe she didn't take the news too well,"
he said.

Cam sighed. "She said I lied about everything which is totally untrue."

"Does she not want to talk to you anymore?"

Cam let out a humorless laugh. "She pulled a fucking
knife
on me."

"She what?" Jason asked.

"I tried to kiss her after she confronted me with it and she put a knife to my throat."

"Are you serious?" Jason's tone was jovial.
"Are you sure she knew you were
Cam Bishop
?"

"It's not fuckin
' funny, dude. She knew
everything
—read that magazine article. She cut me with a knife and then left me standing there with a fake beard looking like an idiot."

Jason laughed again and Cam sat up and pushed him. "It's not fuckin' funny. Do you see me laughing here?"

Jason regarded his friend who was clearly not in good shape.

"Just go get her back," Hannah said. "From what you've said, you guys had gotten close. I'm sure she doesn't want to throw it away any more than you do."

Cam wished that were the truth. He thought about getting his shit together and going to win her back, but had no idea where to start.

"How do I get her back?
" He looked at Jason. "How'd you do it? Didn't you have to plan something? Oh yeah, you bought her a car. Maybe I should buy her a car. Maybe I'll give her that Chevy."

"It wasn't the car that won me back," Hannah said defensively.

"What was it?"

"Jason planned an elaborate series of
phone calls, but that wasn't really it either. I think it just came down to knowing that I wouldn't be as good without him."

"I don't think she knows that right now," Cam said. He picked at the tiny dot of blood on the bottom of his chin. "She put a knife to my jaw when I tried to kiss her."

Jason laughed a little at the thought, and Cam cut him a warning look. "I'm sorry, I just can't believe she did that." He paused. "Didn't you just tell her you're rich and famous and most girls would kill for a little of your attention?"

"That doesn't work with her. I think if anything
it works against me."

"
Have you thought about trying to forget about her and move on?"

"Of course I have," he said, still slurring.
"It's fucking all I've thought about for the past two days. I
can't
forget about her no matter how hard I try. I think she's the one dude. I have to figure out how to get her back."

Jason was tempted to give
Cam a hard time for saying she's the one because he gave Jason such a hard time about Hannah, but he decided not to since Cam was so torn up.

"That's not something we can help you with. Only you know her well enough to know what she needs to hear."

Cam finally decided to stand up and make himself a plate of food. His head was swimming and he absolutely didn't know which way was up.

"What makes you like her more than other girl
s you've been with?" Hannah asked. It wasn't the type of question Cam would normally answer, but she figured she'd give it a shot since he was so very inebriated.

"Everything," he said
, exasperated. "I just love
everything
about her. We can start with the way she looks, which is hot as hell. But she's also smart and sweet and funny. She's exactly what I want—looks and personality." He paused, staring at the fried rice in the little paper box. "I have to get her back. That's all there is to it."

Jason decided to stay at Cam's
when Hannah left. Partly because he knew Cam needed a friend, and partly to make sure he didn't do anything stupid like try to drive anywhere in his current state.

Hannah took Jason's car and told him she'd pick him up later that evening.
It was Friday, and Hannah thought she might just go to Bing's to see if Jax was working. She contemplated calling Taylor or Molly to ask if one of them wanted to come with her, but decided to go alone. She got there at eight o'clock in the evening and there was already a pretty nice crowd. She went straight to the bar.

Jax was working and Hannah took a seat as close to her section as she could get.
She saw Jax catch a glimpse of her, but the eye contact was broken as soon as it started, and Jax never looked in her direction again. She watched as Jax served other customers and then pulled a fellow bartender aside to speak with him for a minute. Not long after they spoke, the bartender walked up to Hannah and put a coaster in front of her. "I'm sorry I missed you over here," he said smiling. "What can I get you?"

"I'll have a Coke," Hannah said. "I mostly came to talk to Jax."

He gave her in regretful smile. "She's pretty slammed right now."

"Can you ask her to give me two minutes of her time?"

"I can ask but I'm not sure if she'll be able to." He set the glass of Coke in front of Hannah and walked over to talk to Jax. "Jax is having a rough night," he said, coming back to stand in front of Hannah. He leaned over the bar to speak to her conspiratorially. "Seriously," he said, shaking his head. "She's not doing well tonight. It's been like this since she came in. I think she might be sick or something. She's scheduled to work tomorrow night. Maybe she'll be feeling better by then and you'll have more luck talking to her."

"I know why she's not feeling well and that's what I'm here to talk to her about." 

He shook his head slowly. "I just don't think she wants to talk tonight."

Hannah
didn't know what to do. It surprised her that Jax wouldn't even talk to her. She sat there and drank her Coke. Then she ordered another one and drank it too. She'd been there for the better part of an hour when Jax finally walked over to stand in front of her.

"Heyyy," Hannah said, brightening when she noticed Jax.

"I can't really talk. I just came over to see why you're here."

"W
ell, I'm here to talk about Cam obviously."

"There's nothing to talk about. He's not who he said he was. He's not who
you
said he was either. You and the rest of your friends let me believe that lie. Joke's on me. I got tricked. It was a good beard."

"It's not like that.
None of us meant for you to get hurt."

"T
hat's too bad because I
did
get hurt. I'm officially hurt. I am in love with someone who doesn't even exist."

"Y
ou
love
him?" Hannah asked excitedly, focusing on the entirely
wrong
part of that information.

"I don't love
him
. I love the guy I thought he was—a guy who doesn't exist."