Page 36 of Best Laid Plans (Rock Harbor #1)

When Cam got back to the apartment, following Wyatt inside, his plan was to shoot the breeze for a little while–he almost hoped that Elle stayed in her bedroom–and then slip out with as little fanfare as possible.

In life, he’d learned to leave no trace, and being able to escape his childhood home without attracting attention from either of his parents had been a skill he’d honed over the years.

Now, he was putting it to good use, planning his exit strategy as Wyatt made his way to the kitchen to make them both protein shakes.

While Wyatt and Elle had been out at lunch, he’d changed Wyatt’s sheets, emptied the trash, and removed any traces of himself from Wyatt’s bedroom.

Briefly, he’d considered trying to find some sage to burn given the thoughts he’d acted on inside that bedroom, but he highly doubted Wyatt kept any on hand.

Jade, one of the sous chefs at Gossamer, had sworn by a good sage cleanse.

And as Cam had thought back over the last few weeks, he felt like it would have been the least he could have done for Wyatt.

He traveled lightly–always had, a single duffel bag to his name that he’d already packed. Only, as he scanned the entryway, his duffel bag wasn’t where he’d left it near the door.

Cam cocked his head to the side. A commotion was coming from the room situated between Wyatt’s room and the guest room that Elle was using.

Generally, it was part office and part home gym, though Cam knew that during football season, Wyatt typically lifted and worked out with the team.

Something about ‘leading by example’ which was so painfully Wyatt that he cracked a smile, in spite of his mounting confusion.

He wondered, regardless of knowing it was a bad idea to even think about, if Elle was in there working out.

Flushed. A little sweaty. A look of focused determination on her face that he’d already had the pleasure of seeing before.

It would be the same look she had whenever she set her mind to something–and most recently, that something had been him .

And fuck if he didn’t love it whenever she bit her lip and looked at him like he was a present that she wanted to unwrap.

The ill-advised fantasy made his shorts grow a little tighter. He quickly cleared his throat and started moving in place to get his blood flowing to the rest of his extremities.

Like she’d summoned him with his fantasies, her head popped through the gym’s doorway.

Her face, as imagined, was flushed, little wisps of hair floating around her head like a halo.

Her ponytail bounced as she walked into the living room, looking at him with bright eyes and a mischievous smile. “You’re home.”

And weren’t those the best fucking words he’d ever heard from a woman like Elle Pierce. Ones that he had no business being on the receiving end of.

Except that Wyatt was in the apartment with them, which Cam was realizing maybe Elle didn’t know. He nodded toward the kitchen. “Wyatt and I just got back from our run.”

Elle nodded at the same time she pouted, but she recovered quickly. “You boys have fun?” she asked, eyeing Cam up and down in a way that he could only describe as hungry.

He felt that look through his entire body. But there wasn’t time to eyefuck Elle with Wyatt fifteen feet away. “Your brother’s getting old.”

Wyatt dipped his head down so that he could look through the opening between the cabinets and the counter, pausing the blender. “I heard that. And I am deeply offended. Only one of us spent the last two weeks doing two-a-days with teenage boys.”

If Wyatt only knew the exercise that Cam had been getting up to lately…

But Elle seemed to already have other things on her mind, namely teasing Wyatt, one of her favorite pastimes. “People with integrity do what they say they are going to do. Others have excuses,” she said, dropping her voice lower in a hilariously terrible impression of Wyatt.

Wyatt ignored the taunt, even as he gritted his teeth at being called out. Guess he’d done a good job fortifying himself at football camp against immature jabs. “What were you doing in the office? I keep all my documents locked up, so there’s no point in trying to steal my identity.”

Elle rolled her eyes. “Impersonating an uptight high school football coach isn’t exactly on my to-do list if I’m going to bother committing a felony.”

Wyatt walked around the counter and held his hand to his chest. “I am a gainfully employed, home-owning, upstanding member of society. You could do a lot worse.”

Ouch. Even when it wasn’t directed at Cam, that one stung a little bit. Because if those were Wyatt’s standards, he was never going to make the cut.

Elle gave him a strange look, then, like she’d seen him wince. He really needed to get out of here.

“I’m just a temporarily embarrassed millionaire, ass,” she said to her brother before shooting a smile in Cam’s direction. “And if you must know–”

Wyatt cut her off. “In my own home, I must.”

Elle scoffed, and Cam tried not to smile. Except then she started speaking, and he felt the strangest sensation welling up inside of him. “I was setting up your air mattress for Cam in the office. I figured I’d be helpful.”

Elle was met with Wyatt’s quizzical stare. “This doesn’t sound like my darling sister at all. Whose identity did you already steal? Cam’s?” Wyatt looked over at Cam, who held up his hands in confusion, trying to make sense of everything that was happening.

Elle, by hook or by crook, was orchestrating a situation to keep him here. Did she want him to die a slow, painful death at her brother’s hand when this all inevitably came tumbling down? Because now, they were playing with a flamethrower instead of a match.

He’d been minutes from escape. In a perfect world, maybe he and Elle could have snuck around for a few more weeks before she headed back to Boston, and no one would have ever been the wiser.

She’d get her high-paying, stress-inducing life back, and this would all be a (hopefully) fun summer memory for her.

And Cam would…

Wyatt’s voice broke through his thoughts. “Why aren’t you staying at Mom and Dad’s?” he asked, his question directed at Elle with a mischievous grin.

“Why aren’t you?” Elle batted back at him. Not her strongest argument, and Cam laughed along instead of acknowledging the solid, uncomfortable feeling that had taken up residence in his chest.

Because one way or another, this would all be over soon.

There was no other way this should go, except with Elle getting back to the life she’d been working to build for the last decade.

Cam had already been gone when Elle had gotten to high school, but from the time he’d come into the Pierce family’s life, Elle had been driven.

Smart. Talented. Too curious for her own good.

Her life wasn’t meant to be settling for big dreams in a small town, where she was always just scraping by.

And Cam didn’t want that for her, either. It bred discontent, like he’d seen in his mom. He knew how that story ended already.

“You okay, man?”

Cam looked over to see Wyatt, arm outstretched with a smoothie that Cam hadn’t taken from him yet. There was genuine concern in his features, and if Wyatt was looking at him like that, he couldn’t even imagine the look that was on Elle’s face right now.

He cleared his throat and accepted the drink.

“Yeah, sorry. I think I went a little too hard on our run. Just spaced out for a second,” Cam lied, wishing that Wyatt would stop looking at him like that.

It was one thing to want support and acceptance, but it was an entirely different beast to stare it in the face when he felt like he wasn’t being a very good friend.

“Grab the first shower. Then you can chill out since…” Wy att looked at Elle then, shrugging his shoulders. “Since your mattress is already set up.”

Elle smiled, triumphantly, even as Cam could still see the hint of seriousness on her features. “I knew you’d come to see it my way.”

Cam took a long drink of the smoothie, downing most of it in a single gulp. “Are you sure it’s okay that I stay here?” he asked Wyatt.

“Absolutely, man. I’ll be at football practice most of the time and then school starts in a week. I meant what I said, you’re welcome here as long as you need. Though,” he added, shooting a look in Elle’s direction, “I do wish that I could offer you a real bed.”

Cam knew, on an instinctual level, that Elle was working so hard to resist the urge to tell Wyatt that she and Cam could just bunk together.

Elle loved nothing more than to rile her brother up, even if the offer would come so far out of left field on Wyatt’s side that he’d likely be more confused than anything.

Cam shot her a warning look, which seemed to do the trick. He couldn’t take that chance.

“Well, now that sleeping arrangements are all settled, my work is done,” Elle said before disappearing into her bedroom, like once again, she hadn’t just thrown his life into chaos.

Wyatt, too, walked toward his own room. “I’m going to unpack. Yell when you’re done in the shower.”

Cam nodded dumbly, suddenly left alone in the living room. He looked toward the room that he’d be able to call his own for the near future, situated directly between his best friend and the woman who continued to occupy more and more of his energy.

He groaned quietly, feeling like he was the definition of being between a rock and a hard place. As he walked to the shower, he knew for certain that he had to figure out what he was doing with his life before it all blew up around him.