“No!” he said, getting more agitated by the second. “What’s the fucking point?”
“Wow. Thanks.”
“You walked away from me, Cami.”
“I don’t deserve for you to talk to me, I get it. I’ll give Cal my notice tomorrow.”
Trenton’s face contorted. “That’s fucking stupid.”
“We’re both miserable. I don’t like it any more than you do, but what’s stupid is being around each other when we don’t have to be.”
“Fine.”
“Fine?” I wasn’t sure what I expected him to say, but it wasn’t that. I tried to choke back the lump that formed in my throat, but instead it just got bigger and tears began to form in my eyes.
He reached out for me. “Can I have my beer now?”
I laughed once, in disbelief. “You wanted a reaction when you kissed me and you got one.”
“If I’d known you were going to get on a flight to California and fuck someone else a few hours later, I might have reconsidered.”
“Do you really want to keep track of who’s fucked who lately?” I sat his beer down and began to walk back to my station.
“I’m trying to handle this!”
I flipped around. “Well, you’re sucking at it!”
Raegan was staring at us, along with everyone else within shouting distance.
“You saw Travis on Halloween! He’s out of control over this girl! She left the morning after he bagged her the first time without telling him good-bye, and he trashed his fucking apartment! Trust me, I would love to bash something or someone, but I don’t have that luxury, Cami. I have to keep it together! I don’t need you judging me about what I do to keep my mind off of you!”
“Don’t make excuses. Especially not stupid ones, it’s just insulting.”
“You . . . I . . . fucking shit lord, Camille! I thought that’s what you wanted!”
“Why would I want that? You’re my best friend!” I felt a tear fall down my cheek, and I quickly wiped it away.
“Because you’re back with Califucktard!”
“Back with him? If you would just talk to me, we could clear this up. We could—”
“Not that you’ve ever been with him,” he grumbled, swiping the bottle off the bar. He took a swig, muttering something under his breath.
“What?” I snapped.
“I said if you like being a backup plan, that’s fine with me!”
“Miller Lite, Cami!” the guy yelled again, this time less patient.
I glared at Trenton. “Backup plan? Are you fucking kidding me right now? All you deal in is backup plans! How many of those have you walked out of here with in the last month?”
Trenton’s cheeks flushed. He stood up, kicking the stool backward, sending it flying almost all the way to the dance floor. “You’re not a fucking backup plan, Cami! Why are you letting someone treat you like one?”
“He’s not treating me like anything! I haven’t spoken to him in weeks!”
“Oh, so now that he’s ignoring you, I’m good enough to be your friend?”
“I’m sorry, I thought we were already friends!”
“Miller Lite! Will one of you do your damn job?” the guy yelled again.
Trenton turned around, and pointed in the guy’s face. “You talk to her like that again, and I’m going to knock you the fuck out.”
Beginning with a wry smile, the guy began to say something more, but Trenton didn’t give him the chance. He lunged, grabbing the guy by the collar. They fell to the floor, and I lost sight of them. A crowd quickly formed a tight circle around the spot where they went down, and after a few seconds, Trenton’s audience flinched, covered their mouths, and shouted “Oh!” in unison.
Within seconds, Kody and Gruber descended upon them. Suddenly Trenton was standing and looking as if he’d never been in a fight. He wasn’t even breathing hard. He walked back to his beer and took a drink. His T-shirt was ripped a few inches at the collar, and his neck and cheek were spattered with blood.
Gruber wrestled Trenton’s victim out the side entrance, and Kody stood next to Trenton, out of breath.
“Sorry, Trent. You know the rules. I gotta ask you to leave.”
Trenton nodded once, took one last swig, and then walked away. Kody followed him out. I opened my mouth to call to him but wasn’t sure what else to say.
Raegan stood beside me. “Whoa.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
MY HANDS WERE SHAKING, AND WITHOUT ANY GOOD reason or excuse, I steered the Smurf into Jim Maddox’s driveway. The roads were thick with sleet and ice, and I had no business driving, but every turn I took brought me closer to Trenton. I switched off the lights before they hit the front windows of the house, and then killed the engine, letting the Jeep cruise to a stop.
My phone chimed. It was Trenton, wondering if it was my Jeep in the drive . . . as if it could be anyone else’s. When I confirmed his suspicion, the screen door opened, and Trenton walked down the steps. He was wearing fuzzy slippers and royal-blue basketball shorts, his arms crossed over his bare torso. Inch-thick, black tribal tattoos crawled over his shoulders and across his chest, and colorful, various tattoos overlapped one another as they traveled down both of his arms, cutting off abruptly at his wrists.
Trenton stopped next to my window, waiting for me to crank the window down. He readjusted his white ball cap and sat his hands on his hips, waiting for me to speak.
My eyes ran over the definition of his pec muscles, and then traveled down to appreciate all six of his beautifully protruding abdominals.
“Did I wake you?” I asked.
He shook his head. “Just got out of the tub.”
I bit my lip, trying to think of something to say.
“What are you doing here, Cami?”
Looking forward, I shook my head and pressed my lips into a hard line. “I have no idea.”
He crossed his arms over the edge of my door and leaned in. “Would you mind figuring it out? It’s cold as fuck out here.”
“Oh! God! I’m sorry,” I said, turning on the Smurf. I turned up the heater. “Get in.”
“Move over,” Trenton said.
I crawled over the gearshift and console, and bounced when I hit the passenger seat. Trenton hopped in, shut the door, and rolled the window up until there was just a crack.
“You got cigarettes?” he asked. I handed him my pack and he pulled out two. He lit them both, and then handed one to me.
I took a drag and blew it out, watching him do the same. The tension was thicker than the smoke swirling between us. Tiny bits of ice began tapping at the windows and the metal frame of the Smurf, then the sky opened up and the sound of ice tapping against the car intensified.
“You’re right. I did go home with girls,” Trenton said, raising his voice over the noise of the sleet. “More than just the ones you saw at the Red.”
“You don’t have to tell me.”
“I needed to get my mind off of you.” When I didn’t respond, he turned to me. “I would let a girl rescue me from that torture every night of the week, but even when I was with someone else, all I thought about was you.”
“That’s not really . . . a compliment,” I said.
Trenton hit the steering wheel with the heel of his hand, and then blew out another puff of smoke. “I’m not trying to compliment you! I thought I was going to go out of my damn mind thinking about you being in California. I swore to myself that I wouldn’t call you, and when you got back, I was going to accept your choice. But you drove to my house. You’re here. I don’t know what to do with that.”
“I just didn’t want to miss you anymore,” I said, not knowing what else to say. “It’s so selfish, I know. I shouldn’t be here.” I breathed out all the air from my lungs and sank back into the ratty passenger seat as far as I could. Being that truthful made me feel so vulnerable. It was the first time I’d even admitted it to myself.