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CHAPTER THREE

Cameron

“Yes, Mason, I made sure to swap out the scratchy blanket he fell asleep with to the soft one from his bag.” I prop my phone between my shoulder and ear, shoving my textbooks in my bag and setting it on the counter.

“You act like this is my first rodeo. Little D and me are like best buddies at this point.”

“I know, but?—”

“But for some reason, he likes the scratchy one and fights his sleep without it. Again. We’re best buddies.

I know all the things.” I laugh, waving at Junie, my boss—or, I guess, professor—at the child development center on campus.

“He’s good. I’m God given, and you and Payton are so lucky to have me here with him for two hours a day. I know. You don’t have to say it.”

He chuckles and my smile blooms wide. “All right, all right. I’ll leave you alone.”

“Until Monday, you mean,” I tease. My phone beeps and I reach up to pull it back and check the screen. I sigh, fighting a grin. “Well, gotta let you go, whipped boy. The one who holds your leash is calling now.”

“Don’t tell her I called again?—”

I hang up on him and answer his girlfriend’s call. “Well, hello, Payton. Your son is sleeping like an angel and had a fantastic day, and I just reported to Daddy Mase.”

Hauling my backpack onto my back, I snag my watered-down iced coffee and head out the door .

“Have I mentioned how amazing you are lately?” she sighs.

“Literally every day, but as I told you guys a thousand times, it’s no big deal.

I have a million hours to put in for here, and doing a little each day is so much more manageable than two or three full shifts.

Honestly, it’s the best change I could have made to my schedule.

I ended last year with double the hours I had my first year. ”

“Thanks, Cam. I don’t know if I could have committed to moving here full-time without someone I trust being there with him.”

“Uh, yes, you would have. And the reason is a six-foot-ish, dark-haired quarterback who would have probably talked his mom into moving here to be your sitter just so he could have you and little man with him.”

“Yeah.” She lets out a second happy sigh. “That sounds about right.”

Laughing, I head for my girl, who’s waiting for me outside the lecture hall building. “K. Gotta go. There’s a super-stimulating lecture about the effects of backward thinking waiting for me.”

“That sounds…”

“Like a shit way to end the day?”

Payton chuckles. “I’ll talk to you later. I still have to help break down the set before I can pick up Deaton.”

“Love you, bye.” I hang up, jogging over to Ari and bowing when she holds out a fresh iced coffee. “Thank you, bestie.”

She takes the old one from my hand, tossing it in the trash before tugging the door open. “How was baby Deaton today?”

“Cute as ever. I can’t believe he’ll be two soon.”

That familiar wave of longing weaves through me, but I force it away.

You aren’t ready to worry about what the future might not bring yet anyway, Cam.

“Stop trying to speed up time.” Ari nudges me. “It’s only August. ”

“And November before we know it. You know how football season is. Our lives are a rat race for the next few months, even more so now that we’re not only trying to make all the boys’ games here at Avix but as many of your superfamous fiancé’s NFL games!”

“Cam,” she hisses, head whipping around.

“What?” I grin, glancing her way. “Afraid the world will find out what literally everyone is waiting for?”

“We’re not engaged.”

I cock my head, blinking hard at her, and her cheeks pinken.

She looks away, whispering as we enter the giant room. “We’re not engaged as far as the rest of the world knows. You know The Avix Inquirer is on a crazy kick right now. It’s gone from a fun school page to a damn gossip column. All we need is for them to start spreading rumors.”

“Not a rumor if it’s true.”

She snaps her mouth shut, fighting a grin as she shakes her head. “You’re annoying, and if we were engaged, we sure as hell wouldn’t want our friends to read about it on social media.”

“So tell us.”

“Oh my god,” she laughs, letting me go and moving ahead of me.

Smirking, I follow behind her, dropping into the seat on her right.

“Like I’ve told you a hundred times.” She leans in close so only I can hear. “We want to keep it to ourselves until I graduate and can be with him full-time.”

“That way, the pro huntresses don’t go hard on him?”

“Pro huntresses?”

I shrug a shoulder. “Better than football groupies or cleat chasers, don’t you think?”

She scoffs, grinning as she opens her book bag.

We pull out our materials, and I scroll on my phone as we wait for class to begin .

A few minutes pass when she nudges my elbow, and I follow her gaze.

My eyes land on a blond head at the front of the room, a white slip of paper in his hand.

“Coincidence?” I whisper.

In my peripheral, Ari shakes her head. “I’m going to go with no.”

Alister stands at the front of the class, chatting with the professor.

A class I’ve already attended twice, seeing as it’s the second week in the fall semester, so I know for a fact he’s most definitely not in this class—at least not at this specific hour.

I try to remember if I saw his name in the queue on the online hybrid portion, but I don’t think I would have forgotten if I had.

Alister shakes the professor’s hand and turns to walk away, but before his feet move a single step, his eyes lift, instantly locking on mine.

I give him a blank expression, and he smirks in response, winking my way before exiting. “Jackass,” I mutter.

Ari chuckles beside me, and we all face forward when the professor speaks.

“Just a reminder, everyone. Two missed classes across the first three weeks and missed log-ins to our online blackboard, and you will be dropped from this course. If you’re on the wait list, you should not be seated in the class.

We’re a full bunch this semester, so only those registered are permitted. ”

“He’s trying to get into this class,” I whisper.

“Seems like it.”

“Why would a business major want to be in Instructional Design class?”

“I’m going to ignore that because there is no way you’re actually asking that question.”

I glare at my best friend, who hides her smile by sucking on her straw .

The professor starts his lecture, and I do my best not to die of boredom.

It’s easier said than done.

Just like ignoring the existence of Alister freaking Howl.

Why is he being so…I don’t even know what to call it.

I mean, the guy pretended to be into me, followed me around like a little lover boy for weeks.

I laughed him off at first, assuming him to be like Brady—a massive flirt by nature—but then, I don’t know.

At some point and without my own knowledge, I realized I looked forward to those random pop-ups across campus.

It wasn’t long after that we started hanging out.

Hanging out led to hooking up, and hooking up led to a boatload of self-pity.

Considering my obsession with Dateline , I should have caught on sooner. I mean what are the chances the superhot football player just so happened to be in the quad, café, and gym at the same time as me nearly every day?

I squish my lips to the side.

Okay, well, it’s not exactly uncommon. I see a lot of the same people every day because anyone who has classes related to mine is on a relatively similar schedule. But still.

He was outside the damn child development building when I was headed in and near whatever building I was headed to on my way out, but now that I think about it, it was only when I was alone.

Never in front of my friends.

Because he was using you.

I sigh, propping my chin on my palm.

Like I said, I should have known, but at the end of the day, I enjoyed his attention. I needed it, having been in a funk since the first guy who made me feel more than attraction left me for something bigger, as he should have.

My heart aches a little at the thought of the boy—no, the man I met the summer before my first year of college.

Little did I know he’d be in the same school come that fall.

Had I known, I probably wouldn’t have gone full summer fling with him but rather taken things slow out of fear of what might happen once we had to see each other around campus.

A small smile graces my lips as I think of Trey Donovan.

Maybe one day I’ll find my way down south, catch one of his prime-time games. Last I heard, he was already breaking records as a rookie in the NFL.

I couldn’t be prouder of him. He had a dream, and he made it come true.

He’s exactly where he’s supposed to be.

We can’t all live the Hallmark movie plot. Sometimes people really do have to go their own ways in the end.

This time, I hold back the sigh desperate to escape.

I’m over this pity-party shit and ready to move back into boss-babe mode.

Which is why the second class ends and we’re clear of the building, I spin and walk backward in front of my bestie, my hips rolling from side to side in my best attempt to be Shakira.

“Uh-oh.” Ari teases with a small smile.

“Uh-oh is right.”

The words register just before heavy arms come around my shoulders, and I reach up, locking my hands on Brady’s forearms. Tipping my head to the side, I look up at him.

I’m not short, standing a whole-ass heel higher than Ari at an easy five ten, but Brady is beastly, so I still have to lift my chin a bit to meet his eye fully.

“I take it we’re going out tonight?” He lifts a brow.

“Aw, cute. You think you’re invited.”

“Aw, cute.” I face forward as Mason steps up, Chase at his side. “You think you girls are allowed to go anywhere without one of us.”

“Us?” I scoff playfully. “Please. Like you won’t be knee-deep in baby shit by seven. You wouldn’t know if we did or didn’t go out. ”

Mason grins. “Why do you think I said one of us?”

Ari laughs, and when she looks my way, it’s written across her pretty, little face.

My shoulders fall. “You have a date with a hot jock, don’t you?”