Page 8

CHAPTER 8

JENNER

T here was something wrong with me.

This woman—my best friend’s sister—hated my ass so badly that she didn’t want to be near me. Yet seeing her hold that baby after Brooks had finished changing her diaper had me in a swarm of new feelings, most of which I didn’t want to label.

I closed my eyes briefly as I took a couple of breaths while a familiar weight settled in my chest. It was like time stopped or passed so slowly that I didn’t notice it as Camden held the baby to her chest and smiled. In the past, there’d only been one way to forget that I’d never have her and since every woman in this house other than Camden was there with her boyfriend, I was out of luck.

Camden beamed as she held the baby while I grew hot and my body started to tingle.

Fuck this. I needed to break this damn spell she had over me.

In my head, there was a flash of what I wished could happen. Camden by my side… in the future holding our baby. That was snatched away by the appearance of her impaled by that fucking tree, fear in her eyes as tears fell.

All at once, the feelings that had been building in me were washed away by how scared I was at twenty-one, watching her try to breathe through the pain .

The knowledge of just how close to death she’d come still weighed on me. That and the fact that she hated me for causing it to happen was the main reason that I stayed clear of her. It had nothing to do with feelings.

I guessed her being Silas’s sister didn’t hurt in making me keep my distance, either. Guys knew too much about each other’s… lives . None wanted their sister with a friend. I wouldn’t have if I’d had a sister.

We grabbed sandwiches and moved into the living room, where Brooks turned the baseball game on. Other teams played today and we tended to watch whatever game was on.

Overall, it was a good way to spend the afternoon before we had to leave.

Harlowe crossed in front of the TV to put Kelsie in the bassinet but didn’t tell us to keep our voices down. Instead, she pushed it to the other side of the room, where the baby wouldn’t be too near us or the TV. Then she disappeared up the stairs. Camden hadn’t come out, which meant she must’ve still been in the dining room or the kitchen.

I needed a refill on my water, anyway, so I headed in there.

Camden was there alone, cleaning up from us making sandwiches. Not something she needed to do, as Brooks would’ve made sure it was done before he left, anyway, but we would’ve come in and cleaned up after ourselves. Things had been left out in case we’d wanted another .

She glanced up at me, those hazel eyes turning from kind to… I don’t want to say kind… maybe guarded, as I entered the room but didn’t acknowledge that I was there. We were both quiet as I went to the refrigerator and used the dispenser to fill my glass with water. Camden was going about her business as if I weren’t even there and it was irritating. If nothing more, she should want to get along for the sheer fact that I was around. I never ignored her. Maybe because I couldn’t, but I did my best to treat her the way I had when we’d been kids.

“So you’re just straight-out ignoring me now?” I asked.

Camden stopped wiping the marble countertop down and turned to me, her hazel eyes finally meeting mine like they hadn’t once since I’d gotten here. Both her and Harlowe had hazel eyes, but gold flecks highlighted Harlowe’s. Camden’s had a blue sunburst around the pupil as well as a blue ring around the edge. It gave her an ethereal look, which was fitting because Camden Briggs was too perfect for this world.

“No one’s around,” she said as she glanced across the room to make her point. “There’s no reason to talk to you.”

“God damn, you’re stubborn,” I muttered. She snorted, but I didn’t stop. “You’re so unwilling to trust anyone, aren’t you?”

Her spine stiffened. “I trust people, Jenner. Just not you. I trust my brothers. I trust Harlowe. They’d never hurt me. ”

Her words stabbed at my gut, feeling like she was wielding the knife herself.

“I wouldn’t hurt you,” I said. She cocked her head and narrowed her eyes. “Not on purpose and you know that. How the fuck was I supposed to know you’d go running off, Camden? In the woods at night, no less.”

Anger flared in her eyes. “I may be stubborn, but you’re still the same cocky, self-centered baseball player who thinks he’s a god you were before. One who would send a seventeen-year-old girl running from the pain he’d caused.”

She ignored the fact that I hadn’t known she’d run after I said what I did. So I moved closer to her, making her tense. There was no fear there… she wasn’t scared of me. Her tension was coming from somewhere else and being this close to her, I’d bet so much that it was the same place mine was.

My body reacted when she wasn’t close, so the rush of warmth that spread to my dick now was hard to ignore.

“People change, Camden. I’m not that same kid.”

“It was only five years ago.”

“And I was a damn kid. Too old for you, but still a damn kid. I thought I was doing the right thing. You’re still judging me ”

This was an argument, no doubt, but we were both doing a good job of keeping our voices down so that everyone else in the house wouldn’t hear this. That’d need a lot of explaining.

Camden turned to me. She wasn’t tall, by any means. Maybe five-feet-three inches. She’d tuck right against me perfectly where my head could rest on top of hers. But I couldn’t think about that for too long.

Her jaw was tense and her face serious. “You dismissed my feelings right away when I was seventeen. It was so hard for me to even confess them. I hadn’t told anyone else and you… you told me I was a kid and it’d never happen. Among other things that I don’t want to repeat right now. Just like my brothers, you’d always prioritize your career and image over any real connections.”

I scoffed. That was what I’d wanted her to think back then. It had been the best way to keep her away. I was different now. Everything was different. For starters, I was a grown man, not a kid being drafted to his dream job. If I would’ve admitted how I’d felt then, she would’ve ended up being hurt back then in a much more permanent way—I’d thought. I hadn’t factored in her being impaled by a tree.

“Do you really think that?” I asked with a new urgency. “Your brothers have very real connections now.”

“ You don’t,” she countered.

Which was true. But that was because I couldn’t have the person I wanted. Instead of saying that, I lost my mind, reached out and cupped her face then kissed her before she could respond.

The moment my lips touched hers, I was lost. This was no longer just about making her see me differently so that we could be in the same room. I wanted her. I wanted to be with her and until she told me that could never happen, I wouldn’t stop trying .

I’d expected Camden to push away. Slap me, maybe. Call her brothers. Something other than the reaction that I received. She melted her body against mine so that I could wrap one arm around her waist to hold her to me. As if she was going anywhere. Her hands slid up until they rested on my shoulders and best of all…

She kissed me back.

When my tongue touched hers, she made a little squeak that I caught with my mouth.

Then just as quickly as it had begun, she pushed me away and wiped a hand over her mouth, but her cheeks were flushed and I imagined that flush went everywhere.

“Are you serious?” she yelled, but in a whisper so no one else would hear her. “My brothers are on the other side of this wall.”

I shook my head and ran my tongue over my bottom lip. “I’m not scared of your brothers.”

Her eyes widened. “You should be. There’re a lot of them.”

Now I chuckled. “Camden. I’ll go out there and tell them right now that I kissed you. That I want you.”

Her eyes widened again and her mouth fell open. “Don’t you dare. That’ll just cause problems for no reason.”

Was it that or was she afraid that she wanted me too?

Clearly, she did, but that stubbornness I’d thought about earlier would always stop her because of what had happened when she’d been seventeen .

Harlowe came in right then, so I grabbed my water and headed back out to the living room. By the look on Harlowe’s face—raised eyebrows and slight movement of her eyes, like she was having a silent conversation with Camden—clearly, she thought something had happened.

It had.

Just the best fucking kiss of my life. Made better by the years that I’d fantasized about it happening.

“It’ll be Jenner,” Silas said as I came back into the room.

“What will be Jenner?” I asked because clearly, I’d missed something in the time I’d been gone.

“We’re talking about who will be next to have a kid,” Cobb offered. “Silas says it’ll be you.”

“Fuck that,” I countered. “Not me, man.” Harlowe and Camden joined us in the living room. The pink was gone from her cheeks and now I was on a mission to make it come back. “Anything I’ve done was just for fun. Not for making babies. I think it’ll be Silas.”

Camden was right there so I knew she’d hear me. But I wanted to get a rise out of her. Even if she got pissed, it still was a reaction.

“Pass,” Amity called out. “I have some say in that and while I want kids one day, now isn’t the time.” Silas shrugged, like he was letting me know she was in charge of that. I’d already known that, though.

Silas and Amity had taken a while to get here and now that he had her, he wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize their relationship .

But Camden’s face pinched up as she sighed heavily. All right. She wasn’t happy with my comment, but it was true and I’d never hide the truth from her again.

“Have any of you considered that maybe your girlfriends aren’t all that comfortable hearing all this?” Camden asked. “Like maybe they don’t want to know how against having a kid you are. Like it takes away the idea of any permanence to your situation.”

“Very good point,” Monroe agreed.

“Hell no, I didn’t consider it,” Cobb told her. “Because you know damn well I’ll take you upstairs and get you pregnant right now.”

Monroe cringed while Brooks shook his head.

“No, thanks,” she said.

“Especially not in my house,” Brooks added.

Cobb threw his hands in the air. “So you’re the only one who can get a woman pregnant in your house?”

“Yeah.” He chuckled. “Pretty much.”

“Damn, you’re strict.”

We all laughed except Camden.

Cobb would’ve gotten Monroe pregnant if she’d wanted that, but right now, she was about to graduate just like Camden and clearly wanted to wait. It was smart. Kelsie might’ve been an accident for Brooks and Harlowe, but they were in a different place than the other brothers.

“On another topic,” Brooks said, “do you know what you want to do after graduation?” That was for Camden .

“Doesn’t your mom have that all figured out?” I asked, though could’ve kicked myself right then and there for how it sounded. Camden scowled immediately. “I—”

“You can fuck off,” she said, bringing a round of ‘ ohhh s’ from the crowd. “My mom doesn’t figure things out for me because believe it or not, I’m not a kid anymore.” Then she turned to Brooks and said, “But yes. I do want to see if there’s something open with the team. Mom being the boss might give me an in but she doesn’t decide for me.”

Then she turned and stormed back out of the room with Harlowe right on her heels.

If only I’d kept my mouth shut.

Brooks came over to me and patted my shoulder. “I don’t know what you did to make her hate you, but you should fix it.”

Which wasn’t really a suggestion coming from him. He didn’t want someone irritating his little sister.

“I’m working on it,” I told him, but when I glanced at Silas, he was watching me a little too carefully.

Eyeing me like he knew something more than what I’d said out loud.

If any of them were going to pick up on something, it’d be him.

Either way, I had to make things right with Camden, even if it didn’t end up with us together.