Before You(41)

“Fuck, Bre. Don’t make a knee-jerk decision. You’re angry right now, but don’t ruin everything before you’ve had time to think about it.”

“I’m not making a rash decision. This isn’t the first time I’ve had these thoughts. We’ve been on this path for a while.” Then, she lowered her voice. “Don’t deny it.” Saying the words calmed her fears. She could do this. She had friends that loved her. Breaking up with Cam didn’t mean she would be alone. She didn’t have to settle for a fractured long distance relationship any longer.

Cam didn’t say anything for a few moments. “Is this really what you want?” he asked, his voice soft.

“I think so,” Bre said, rubbing her forehead. “We can’t be together right now. I think we both could use some space.”

Cam sighed. “Are you breaking up with me because you want to see other people?”

Thoughts of Jax crossed through her mind, and she immediately felt guilty. She couldn’t be with Jax whether or not she and Cam were together. It would interfere with the band and hurt Cam’s dream. “No,” Bre responded, her voice louder than she intended.

“Fine, Bre. I’ll give you space, but it’s only temporary. I’m not giving up on us. In my mind, we’re still together—”

“No!” she interrupted. “I’m not letting you turn this break up into some gray area. We’re over. We’ll be friends like when we were kids, but that’s all we can be.” Her eyes swam with tears. For some reason, when she said it, she realized it was true. Cam may think it was a whim or that they would work it out, but she didn’t agree. She needed to let Cam go. If they stayed together, they would destroy each other.

“For now, but we’ll get back together. I’m sorry about your party. More than you know.”

“Bye, Cam,” Bre said softly, and she hung up the phone.

Cradling her head in her hands, she regretted not joining Michael and Sara for a drink. Maybe then she would have missed Cam’s text and enjoyed a few more hours of blissful anticipation. Now on top of the stress of pulling off a grand opening party, she had to explain Cam’s absence once again.

Over an hour later, Bre heard a knock at the door to her office. She wiped the tears from her face and wished she had some sunglasses to hide her red puffy eyes.

“Yes. Come in.”

An older gray-haired man stood at the entrance to her office. “We’re done cleaning. Do you want to lock up after we leave?”

“Sure,” Bre said, following the man to the front of the gallery. Locking the door, she grabbed a bottle of champagne from the break room in the basement. Opening it, she took a long drink from the bottle and placed it next to her on the floor of her gallery as she stared out the skylights.

When it was empty, she released the bottle from her fingers and let it roll across the uneven hardwood floors. She turned her head sideways, and speculated whether her head was spinning or if the bottle really was rolling away from her. She reached out to grab the bottle. When she realized it was out of her grasp, she decided she hadn’t drunk near enough because the bottle was moving, not her head. Besides, she spilled about a quarter of the bottle when she opened it.

As she pushed to her feet, she heard her cell phone ringing. She ignored it. There wasn’t one person she wanted to talk to right now. She needed to determine how she felt about her break up before other people started telling her how she should feel.

Making her way back to the storage room, she heard her cell phone ring again. “Leave me alone,” she hollered as she walked downstairs to get another bottle of champagne. It looked as though she needed to call a cab to take her back to her grandmother’s house. That wasn’t going to be cheap, but the damage was already done. Driving intoxicated on a snowy road was beyond stupid.

Stumbling upstairs again, she heard her phone ringing again and walked into her office to answer it. Maybe if they heard her voice they would leave her alone.

“What do you want?” Bre yelled into the phone.





Chapter Seventeen





“Hi, to you, too,” Jax said, setting his drink down on the bar.

“Jax?” Bre asked.

“Yes. Where are you?” Jax turned his body away from the couple sitting next to him.

“At the gallery.”

“Perfect. I’m across the street in the lobby bar of my hotel. Come meet me.” Jax hoped that he could talk to her before Cam called to let her know he wasn’t coming. When Cam told him he never booked a ticket and he didn’t plan to go, Jax was furious. Cam gave the same lame excuse about that Mia chick, but Jax knew that wasn’t the only reason. Lately, he had been seeing Anna. He claimed they weren’t serious, but Jax could tell he had feelings for Anna even if they weren’t permanent. Anna convinced Cam to go on a weekend trip to San Diego. Knowing what little he did about Anna, he thought Anna somehow found out about Bre’s opening and she was making a power play for Cam. Even if Bre didn’t realize she lost a battle in the war for Cam’s attention, Anna did, and that’s all that mattered to her.