The Truth Within (Pelican Bay 3)

“Don’t!” I practically yelled as I took a few steps forward. “Don’t call yourself that!”

Cam seemed startled by my outburst, but it didn’t take long for the disdain to return. “So you’re one of those,” he murmured.

“One of what?” I asked. I felt sick to my stomach, but I didn’t know why.

“Never mind,” Cam muttered.

I was frustrated enough that I almost asked him again what he was talking about, but he’d turned his attention back to the pan. I realized he was making a grilled cheese sandwich. My stomach rumbled in appreciation.

“Look, Sheriff, I have somewhere I need to be.”

“I know.”

“No, you don’t. I made a commitment—”

“Yeah, Sawyer told me,” Cam cut in. “You’re supposed to help him at the sanctuary over the next few days while Maddox, Isaac, Nolan, and Dallas take Newt to one of those indoor water park resorts near the city.”

“You talked to Sawyer?”

“I called him to check on Puddles. Alex told him about what happened to you and Walter when he took the dog over to Sawyer’s place. Sawyer told me to tell you not to worry about helping out today… that he can handle it. Puddles is fine, by the way. Sawyer is going to bring her by here tomorrow and I’ll keep an eye on her until Walter’s out of the hospital.”

I was relieved Walter’s little dog was okay. The man absolutely adored the feisty little mixed breed that he’d rescued from a neglectful owner a few years earlier.

“So you didn’t bring me here because you were worried about what the hospital said about me leaving against medical advice?”

I didn’t even realize I’d asked the question out loud until Cam shot me a look I couldn’t identify. He held my gaze for so long that I felt my traitorous body responding. When he didn’t answer, I was actually disappointed.

But why?

Had I wanted him to have brought me here because he was worried about me? Because he’d needed to be sure I was okay?

“I brought you here because I knew if I took you home, you’d go to the sanctuary anyway,” Cam said coolly. “You’re no good to Sawyer or any of those guys if you end up doing something stupid because you were too pigheaded to take a doctor’s advice.”

I wasn’t sure what hurt more… the thought that he really didn’t give a shit about me or the fact that he thought I’d be a liability to the sanctuary I’d been volunteering at off and on over the past few weeks.

I’d first started helping out at the Lake County Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation Center after I’d met the owner’s brother, Maddox, and his partner, Isaac. I’d actually met Isaac first, though we technically hadn’t met. He’d just been another one of Jimmy’s potential victims. Fortunately, I’d managed to distract Jimmy long enough that Isaac hadn’t been seriously hurt, but my act of rebellion had come at a steep cost.

It’d been shortly after Christmas when I’d approached Maddox in town to tell him some news about a guy who’d been asking questions about Isaac. That, coincidently, had been the same day I’d met Cam for the first time, and all those feelings I’d thought Reverend Page and his teachings had managed to preach out of me had come roaring back.

I’d offered to help out that same day when an emergency had befallen Maddox, Isaac, and little Newt. Fortunately, everything had turned out for the couple and the little boy, but when I’d been given the opportunity to keep working at the sanctuary while Maddox’s brother – Dallas, the owner of the place – recovered from surgery, I’d jumped at it. I’d told myself at the time that it was just part of my desire to try and undo some of the harm Jimmy had caused Dallas and his partner, Nolan, both when they’d been kids and in recent weeks, but I’d long since faced the truth.

I liked the sanctuary. The animals, working outdoors and with my hands, the physical nature of the hard work… all of it.

But most of all, I liked the little group of men and watching how they became more and more of a family with every passing day. Even Sawyer, who wasn’t related to any of them, had been accepted into the fold like he shared their blood. There were so many days where I’d catch myself watching them from afar as they joked or laughed about something or argued about who was making what for dinner. And I couldn’t get enough of four-year-old Newt loving the soft-sided helmet I’d made for him based on a design Maddox had approached me with, though he hadn’t actually known who I was when he’d been looking online for an artist to bring his concept to life.

I’d made the helmet to look like a race car driver helmet using the logo and theme from the Cars movie that little Newt was so enthralled with. The child, who suffered from epilepsy, hadn’t wanted to wear a helmet because he’d known it would make him look different than all the other little kids, but Isaac had told me that now he couldn’t get his little brother to even take the new helmet off at night when he went to bed because he loved it so much.