Silence.
Then his sharp intake of breath fills my ears. He slowly comes to a stand and raises a hand. I flinch and shut my eyes tight, waiting for the impact of his fist on my face.
It never comes.
When I open my eyes, his smile is tight.
"Shake his hand," Lucy whispers.
My gaze moves to his outstretched, waiting, hand. I stand and shake it.
"I'm Tom," he says, and then turns to Lucy. "Could you give us a minute?"
"Dad!" Lucy whines.
"It's okay, Luce," I assure, releasing his hand.
He waits until she's out of the room before speaking. "Lucy describes you as fierce."
I grimace. "Because I punched you? I'm sorry about that."
"No," he says shaking his head. "She says you're fierce in the way you care about her. And the way you protect her."
"I guess." I shrug.
He lets out a heavy breath. "She's right. It's not hard to see that. It's also not hard to see that the boys like having you around. To be honest, Cameron, I'm not really happy that she has a boyfriend. And I'm not happy that said boyfriend has such a big presence in her life. But I'm not going to stop it. It's not to say that I don't like you, I just don't like it. But I'll tolerate it. That's all I can offer for now."
I jerk my head in a nod. "And that's all I can ask for, sir."
***
She walks ahead of me, through the woods behind her house, laughing the entire time. "You should have seen your face!"
"Dude, your dad's huge. A hurricane couldn't move him. I got scared. I'm allowed."
She stops in her tracks and faces me. "Did you have that speech prepared?"
"What speech?"
"Everything you just said back there."
I shrug. "It wasn't a speech, I was just talking."
Taking my hand, she walks us past the woods and to a clearing that opens up to a lake. My eyes soak in the scenery. "Holy shit, this is on your property?"
"Yup." She tugs on my hands to get my attention. "Thank you, Cam."
"What for?"
"For saying what you did. For knowing that he needed help and giving him that piece of mind. He has enough to worry about at the moment, and you, saying what you said, it gives him one less thing to worry about. He appreciates that... even if he never tells you."
I move in to kiss her but she steps back, then slowly starts to lift her dress.
My eyes go wide.
I'm about to have sex.
She's wearing a bikini.
Holy shit.
She shoves my chest. Hard. "Quit staring!"
But I can't. My mouth's dry. I try to swallow. I fail.
She laughs.
My breathing stops.
My dick—I have no idea what the hell it's doing.
She walks to the end of the dock and dives in. "Coming?"
Yeah. In my shorts. Right now.
I'm ruined.
Ruined.
CHAPTER NINE
-CAMERON-
It took me two weeks to convince Lucy to sit with us at lunch, and another week for her to be comfortable with it.
Her dad came up with a few more rules after he had some time to think about it. He asked for my phone number, which I was more than happy to supply. Schoolwork came first, which was fine, because she ended up helping me study anyway. And the main ones; doors to remain open if we were in a room together, and never, under any circumstance, ever, am I allowed to step foot on the stairs leading to the bedrooms. Ever. For that last one, he made a point of showing me his shotgun. It was meant to be a threat, but when I asked him if he could teach me how to use it, his eyes lit up.
A scrunched up napkin smacks my forehead, pulling me out of my thoughts. My gaze lifts to Logan sitting opposite me. His brows are furrowed as he jerks his head toward Lucy sitting next to me. I turn my attention to her; she's focused on her e-reader, her eyes wildly moving from side to side. She uses a fork to pick at her fruit salad, but she doesn't eat it. Actually, she hasn't eaten anything on her tray.
I switch back to Logan. "What's with her?" he mouths.
I shake my head, telling him to leave it alone. Then her cackle of laughter interrupts us. She laughs so hard her eyes start watering.
The sound of it's so infectious I find myself smiling down at her. "What happened?"
"The guy..." She stops to take a breath. "In this book..." We all wait for her to calm down. "Came in his pants while they were dry humping!"
"How awkward," Jake states.
Logan watches her with amusement in his eyes. "What the hell do you read, girl?"
She shakes her head and wipes her eyes. "Oh man, that was good."
-LUCY-
"I have to talk to you about something," he says.
My body immediately tenses. I try to hide my reaction and finish watering the plants on the porch.
He takes a seat on the steps and motions for me to sit next to him. "I don't know how to bring it up and I'm scared that it's going to upset you."