Before You(85)

“If you cared about her, you wouldn’t have spent the last year lying to her. You would have actually made an effort to see her, to spend time with her, instead of making excuses to spend time with other women.” Jax was so angry that the blood pumping through his veins roared in his ears. He took a couple deep breaths, trying to suppress the urge to hit Cam. He didn’t want this to escalate in front of Bre, but he wasn’t going to let Cam manipulate Bre any longer.

“Oh, I get it now. You’re the one who told her I cheated on her with all those girls, hoping that she would fall into your bed.” Cam shoved Jax. “You bastard! I trusted you. You knew those girls meant nothing to me. I hardly knew their names, but you knew Bre was different. She means everything to me.”

“No, you’re wrong, Cam,” Bre interjected, placing her hand on Cam’s chest. “Jax never told me about any of them. It was all me. I finally pulled off my blinders and realized what you were doing. There were enough clues. I should have realized it a long time ago.”

Cam grabbed Bre’s hand, his expression desperate. “Bre, I love you. I know I screwed this up, but we have a history, and if you give me the chance, I’ll prove how right we are together.”

“Cam, it’s over. We both know we’re better friends than lovers.”

“No, Bre, that’s not true. I can do better,” Cam replied hoarsely, pulling Bre toward him. “I don’t care what happened between you and Jax. I forgive you and I know you’ll forgive me soon, too. We can fix this. This is just a bump in the road.”

Bre laughed bitterly, pulling her hand away from Cam and walked toward the living room. “Cam, I don’t want to fix this. We’ve been over for a long time. You know it, too. Even when I stayed in LA, the cracks in our relationship were pretty apparent. You aren’t in love with me. If you were, you would have never touched another woman.”

Cam’s face twisted with anger. “And you think Jax loves you? You actually think he’ll treat you any better? If you believe that, you’re seriously delusional. Jax goes through women faster than anyone I know. By this time tomorrow, Jax will probably be letting a new woman warm his bed. When all is said and done, you’ll be just one more woman who spread her legs for Jax Carmichael.”

Before Bre could respond, Jax grabbed a fistful of Cam’s shirt, his eyes blazing with anger, and punched him in the face. Then he shoved him backwards into the wall. Cam covered his bloodied nose with both of his hands. “You don’t know shit!”

“Jax, stop it!” Bre screamed, running toward Cam. “Cam, are you okay?”

Cam ignored her, his angry eyes trained on Jax. “What the hell, Jax?”

“Don’t talk to her that way.” Jax refused to allow Cam to twist this confrontation to make himself the martyr. If Cam had treated Bre like he should have, Bre wouldn’t have broke up with him or given Jax the time of day, regardless of their attraction to each other.

“I can talk to her however I want.” He wiped his nose with the top of his hand. “Bre, I thought you were unique, but when it comes down to it, you’re just as self-absorbed as your mother.”

Bre gasped and her face paled. Jax watched tears stream down her face. “Get out, Cam. If you wanted to give her another reason to hate you, you succeeded. After all the times you cheated on her, you actually think you have the moral high ground to say shit like that? You’re a joke.”

Cam stalked back toward Jax. “I’m a joke?” He shoved Jax in the chest. “You’re pathetic. What kind of guy sleeps with his friend’s girlfriend?”

“Don’t fight!” Bre shouted through her tears. Both Jax and Cam ignored her.

Jax returned Cam’s shove, his face only inches from Cam’s. “She’s your ex-girlfriend. You never got back together.”

“Oh, I get it. That’s why you offered to fly to Aspen to give her the plane ticket. You knew that we broke up, you saw your opening, and you decided to take it. I didn’t know you were so desperate that you had to resort to sleeping with my sloppy seconds.”

Jax opened his front door. “I bought a ticket to Aspen for her opening before you decided to bail on her. Unlike you, I understood how important the opening was to her.”

“Fuck you. You don’t know anything. You think you understand Bre? Well, you’re wrong. You’ll never understand her like I do. We have a history.”

“You may have her history, but she’s my future. Get out of my house before I hit you again, and this time I won’t stop,” he responded through clenched teeth.