Page 106 of My Sweetest Agony

About the future that seems so uncertain and complicated.

But he said he wanted to show me something about him.

This is it.

Cam gives me a sad smile and returns his attention to the painting. “I guess I feel like I understand him, his pain, how he suffers. Even more so now than I did when I first fell in love with it.”

His enigmatic words move through me like a tsunami rolling across my heart. I can feel the agony in them, but I don’t understand it. Can’t understand the enigmatic man standing beside me. Because he won’t let me in, not really.

He keeps so many things locked away, so many secrets that I know he hasn’t told me. Things that go far beyond what he revealed about that night four years ago, and I want to know them.

I want to know him.

I want to understand what makes him tick.

What made him so different from his brother.

Why he turned in on himself when their father died, while Drew sought out others for comfort and became that comfort for other people—including me.

I want to know why Cam always looks so haunted.

But I’m afraid to ask, afraid I’ll send him running if I probe too hard.

Deep down, I’m afraid of him and what his answers might hold.

I ask anyway. “Why?”

He stares at the painting for a while, long enough that I don’t think he’s going to answer, but he finally does, never tearing his eyes from the gruesome display. “He thought he was doing the right thing…”

“Who did?”

“Prometheus.” He tilts his head slightly, taking it in at a different angle, even though I have no doubt he has every single brushstroke memorized. “A lot of people consider him kind of a god of unforeseen consequences. It’s something that, the older I get, the easier it becomes to recognize in my own life.”

Unforeseen consequences…

“Like what happened with us.”

It isn’t a question.

He slowly turns to face me, his eyes hooded, that darkness overtaking them as he examines me. “One example in a long line and many years of them, Ivy. It isn’t just about you and how badly I fucked things up.”

I open my mouth to ask him what else it’s about then, but the clicking of heels and a gasp cut through the noise around us.

“Camden?”

The woman’s voice floats over us, and my back stiffens as we both turn toward her.

Cam’s eyes widen slightly at the stunning woman standing to our left, red hair floating down over her shoulders, tight black dress hugging every curve of her body, and bright-green eyes locked squarely on him.

“It is you!” She rushes forward and throws her arms around him, giving him a hug that says they are definitely well acquainted.

He returns the embrace, pulling away from her slightly to look her up and down. “What are you doing in Philly?”

She smiles brightly at him. “I work here now.”

His brows rise. “Seriously?”

Her head bobs enthusiastically. “I got the job almost four months ago. I’ve been meaning to call you this whole time since I knew you had moved back a while ago, but I got distracted. You know…” She waves a hand toward the gallery. “It’s a large collection to keep track of.”