The Thing About Trouble (Crystal Lake 1)

“Go on. Put them away in your bedroom and go wash your hands.”

Tawny gave them each one last look and then scampered off to do his bidding. Once she’d grabbed her stuff off the island in the kitchen and headed for her room, he turned to Blue.

“What the hell is going on?” He frowned darkly, and when she would have turned from him, he grabbed her chin and forced Blue to look up at him. “I don’t like this, Blue. Tell me what the fuck is up.”

She held his gaze and opened her mouth. “I can’t do this.”

“Can’t do what?” Confused, he stared down at her.

“This. Us.” She licked her lips and shrugged. “I don’t want this, Cam.”

“What the hell are you saying?” His voice rose, and he was loud, but he didn’t give a rat’s ass.

“I’m saying that I did a lot of thinking this afternoon. Us, you and me and Tawny… We are moving way too fast and—”

“Unbelievable. You’re not making sense.”

“I am. You need to listen to me.” She paused. “I don’t think I’m ready to be a mother. Especially to a girl who isn’t mine. She’s cute, and yes, she’s adorable, but she’s not mine. It’s hard for me to explain.”

His face was like granite, and the anger in him was consuming. Fierce. “When did you come to that realization? You were all over this, this morning.”

She didn’t look like the Blue he knew. She looked like a cold paper version of the flesh-and-blood woman he loved.

“I told you. I sat down and thought about it this afternoon, and I need to back away from this, Cam. Don’t take it personally, but…” She gestured with her hands. “I could never live here.” She made a face. “For God’s sake, my garage is bigger than this house.” She paused. “No offense.”

“None taken.” His voice was clipped and sharp.

“I’m used to a certain lifestyle, and while this, you and me, has been fun, it’s not my reality. I was taking a break from life. Looking for a distraction from the mundane.”

“Distraction?” His eyebrow rose dangerously.

She shrugged. “I was bored.”

Cam took a step back. He was so angry, so pissed off, that he wanted to hit something. “You’re telling me that the last few months, you’ve been soothing your boredom by hanging out with Tawny and me.”

“Pretty much.”

Her attitude was driving him nuts. “What the hell?” He lost it and didn’t care that he was shouting. “This morning, you were in my bed.” He leaned forward, and she shrank from him, but he didn’t care. “I was inside you. You told me that you loved me. You made me think we were a family. You come back here, into my home less than twelve hours later, and tell me it was a lie? That you were fucking bored? Is that what you expect me to believe?”

“I’m sorry,” she said, her voice low, as her eyes slid from his. “I never meant to hurt you, Cam. But I have to be honest, not only with you but with myself. I got caught up in it with you. The sex was amazing, and I confused sex with love.”

She took a step back. “I know my limits. I know what I can handle, and this”—she glanced around his home—“isn’t something I can handle. Tawny isn’t something I can handle. She’s cute and all, but on a permanent level? She’s not my blood. I didn’t carry her for nine months. I didn’t give birth to her. For me, that matters.”

Shocked, Cam was speechless. He stared at the woman across from him. At her eyes that showed no expression. At the rigid set to her shoulders. The arrogant tilt to her jaw.

He couldn’t look at Blue anymore. “Get out.” He managed to spit the words out through clenched teeth.

Blue didn’t hesitate. In fact, she was already opening his front door. She quietly slipped outside, and he was alone for a few moments.

“Where did Blue go, Daddy?” Tawny asked.

He turned around and pasted some kind of smile on his face. “She had to go.”

“But I had a picture for her.” Her disappointment was evident, and Cam crossed the room. He scooped her up and gave the kid a big hug. “We’ll give it to her some other time. Right now, we should eat.”

They headed for the table, and as Tawny hopped onto her seat, she pointed to the extra setting. “We could ask Mrs. Eddy to come. She likes spaghetti too.”

Cam grabbed the bowl of sauce and set it on the table. He eyed up the wine and headed to the cabinet instead. He had a big bottle of Jack Daniels, and that more than suited his mood. He didn’t want to think about what had just gone down. Didn’t want to make the night shitty for Tawny.