Before You(51)

“Cam works a lot and manages the business side of the band. Jax doesn’t need to work and we’re friends.” Bre shrugged, hoping Sara would stop questioning her about Jax.

“Seems as though there’s more to it than that.”

“I can’t think about it right now,” Bre said curtly. “I have to finish this sale.”

Sara hesitated, a suspicious look on her face. “Maybe Jax has a thing for you.”

“What?” Bre replied, horrified by the direction of the conversation. “Jax and I are friends. That’s it. Why would he be interested in me when he has hundreds of girls waiting in line for a chance with him?”

“Because you’re smart, successful, funny, and beautiful. Why wouldn’t he be interested in you? After all, the simplest explanation is always the best explanation.”

“Mmm… maybe he couldn’t possibly be interested because I’m dating his best friend. Did you think about that?”

“You aren’t anymore. Besides, there are no rules in love and war,” Sara said with a carefree flip of her hair.

“Sara, don’t be ridiculous. Jax is the classic alpha male. He doesn’t do love. He charms, seduces, and discards women without blinking an eye and even a giant flashing neon sign warning women wouldn’t keep them away. Women gather around him like moths to flames,” Bre replied, rolling her eyes. Instead of sounding indifferent, her voice came out sounding jealous and uncertain. Feeling color starting to flood her cheeks, she stood up and walked out of her office without turning to look at Sara. She couldn’t help wondering how many lies she would have to tell about Jax before this whole thing became a distant memory.

“Bre,” Ellen called as she walked out of her office. “Todd and I are going to leave.”

Bre hugged Ellen. “Thanks for coming. I know art isn’t your thing, but I appreciate your support.”

“We wouldn’t have missed it. Everything was wonderful. We’re so proud of you. You may not be our daughter by blood, but we’ve always considered you the daughter of our heart.”

Bre swallowed hard. She prayed Todd and Ellen wouldn’t turn their back on her if they knew she and Cam were no longer together or if they found out about her and Jax. They were the parents she’d never had. She didn’t want to lose them. “Thanks. Your family means the world to me.”

When the gallery was finally returned to its pre-event state, it was past midnight. Bre had sent Michael and Sara home an hour ago in a thinly veiled attempt to dodge their questions about Cam and the plane ticket that Jax delivered on his behalf. Grabbing her purse and the flowers from her desk, she took one last look around the gallery that had become such an important part of her life and then she left.

Before crawling into her unmade bed, she noticed a couple more texts from Cam saying he was sorry, and he couldn’t wait to see her next weekend. Not ready to talk to him yet, she sent him a one-word response.



Forgiven.



Rolling to her side in the bed, she wrapped the pillow around her head in an unsuccessful attempt to block out her thoughts. She nearly jumped out of her bed when she smelled Jax’s spicy scent on her sheets. Guilt coiled around her like a snake, imploring her to rip off her sheets and wash them. Fleetingly, she thought it would be wonderful if washing them would remove the stain of guilt on her conscience. If it weren’t so late, she would have done exactly that. Realizing she was being ludicrous, she forced herself to close her eyes and stay where she was.

Early in the morning, she heard her phone vibrating on her nightstand. When she saw Cam’s picture on the screen, she wanted to ignore the call, but she knew ignoring Cam wouldn’t make the situation go away, it would only make him suspicious, and that was something she couldn’t handle right now. At the slightest inquiry, she knew she would crumble into a million pieces and confess. She had never told Cam a single lie, not when they were kids and not since they started dating. Whether by omission now and perhaps denial at some later date, she hated that she had decided to lie to him.

She constantly told people that she completely trusted Cam despite the groupies swarming around their band like a bunch of circling sharks waiting for a moment of weakness. It amazed her that even local bands had groupies, but she held to her belief that their lifelong friendship meant too much to Cam to jeopardize it with meaningless hookups. She couldn’t wrap her arms around the fact that she was the unfaithful one, the one to risk their friendship for a one-night fling with his friend.

“Cam,” she said, after pressing talk on the screen of her phone.