Beautifully Destroyed(42)
“If you let this one go you’re a fucking fool, you hear me, Cameron?” Scott says, and I wonder how he gets away with being so blunt with him when he doesn’t usually let people tell him how to be.
His hand comes under my chin, bringing my face up so I am looking into his eyes. “Don’t I know it? Never going to happen,” he says, and I just smile. “Well, time to get my girl home to bed,” he says with a wink, and I hear Cecilia and Scott laughing behind me.
Playfully smacking him, I just laugh. “Keep dreaming, McAlister,” I say, pushing away from him.
Grabbing my waist, he brings me back against to him, and I stop. “If you keep calling me McAlister I won’t have to dream, McKenzie.” He’s sexy and he knows it. He uses it against me often, so I turn the tables on him. Sliding my finger down his chest, I feel him shiver beneath my touch and that gives me the power to continue my tease.
“Well, if you keep calling me McKenzie we might just have to figure something out,” I say, giving him a wink before I push away from him, walking over to the door. “Bye, guys.” I wave to Cecilia and Scott, but I notice Cameron is frozen in the same spot I left him.
Cecilia bends over in a fit of laughter, and Scott just chuckles, shaking his head. That snaps Cameron out of it and he just looks at me with so many questions in his eyes. “Damn, my girl, Fate, has better game than Cameron. I never thought I’d see the day,” Cecilia says when she finally stops laughing.
“Coming, Cameron?” I say.
“Almost.” He shakes his head, and I hear him, but I don’t think he intended for me to. This only causes Scott and Cecilia to start laughing again. I wait for him to come to the door and hold my hand out for him to grab. He does without hesitation. He is quickly learning what I can and cannot handle. That’s what makes him Cameron. We walk the whole way back to our apartment holding hands. When we get to the lobby, we still have people gawking at us, but a few have become used to seeing us this way.
Once inside, I tell him I’m going to get changed, and I go to my room. I want to try something tonight, but I’m not sure how it will work. We have been able to sleep on the couch together but never in a bed. It’s my forbidden zone, but I’d like to change that. I know I’m not ready to invite him into mine. That would be too much, too soon. Putting on a pair of pajama shorts and a tank top, I walk out of my room and see him sitting on the couch, waiting for me.
He watches me approach and he’s wearing his usual pajama pants and a T-shirt. He could be in rags and he’d still be the most beautiful person in the world to me. Not because he’s gorgeous but because of his heart. His understanding and patience with me make him completely beautiful to me.
“I’m like a moth to the flame when it comes to you, Cameron. I’m just praying I don’t get burned,” I say as I take my place next to him on the couch, waiting for him to say something.
“You act as if you’re the only one who could be hurt by this. Do you not realize I’m the one who’s all in? I’m in a sea of fish but they’re all in black and white. You’re the only fish that’s in color, my beautiful girl.” To many people, his words wouldn’t mean anything. But to me, this is everything. He understands me in every way, my struggles and the crazy way I talk about things in relation to marine life.
“Why me? You’re a freaking rock star. You could have anyone you want, girls far more your caliber than me.” For some reason I just can’t look at him. I put my hands in my lap and just watch them. I see his hand slide across, and he places it over mine.
“Fate. I know I don’t know everything you’ve been through. If I never know the full extent of it, I’m fine with that. As long as I have you, whatever piece of you that you can give to me, I will damn well take,” he says, and he uses his other hand to turn my face toward him. “You are like nothing I’ve ever seen before. You give me hope in a world that had become so fucking dark to me. You are my light. Nothing makes me feel more complete than you letting me get you through this darkness.”
His thumb slides across my bottom lip and I tremble. “Don’t let my confidence fool you. I’m worried as shit, that once you’re ready to take the world on by yourself you won’t need me and I will lose my light and fall back into darkness. A world without Fate, well, that’s just something I’m not interested in.”
“I’m just as worried that once you put me back together again I will be just another girl to you and you will go off to save the next girl,” I say honestly.