, fixing his mouth over mine, his tongue slipping between my lips. “God, I love you,” he breathed, pulling me closer.
“I love you too,” I said a little louder than I intended earning us a round of hoots and hollers from a few of Cameron’s teammates who passed us. “I’m in love with you.”
It was the truth, I was completely and utterly in love with Cameron Chase.
“Yeah?” He pulled back. “You’re not just saying it because you want my body or to say you bagged a Raider?”
I reached out, tweaking his nipple before drifting my hand down his solid chest, mentally counting off the ridges of his abs. “Well, this is definitely an added bonus…”
His smooth laughter washed over me, giving me a warm squishy feeling inside. “Fuck, we waited too long for this. You know that, right? It should have been me and you all along.”
“I…” I didn’t know what to say to that. But I didn’t have to say anything because Cameron slanted his mouth over mine again. I was so lost in the kiss, in the rightness of his lips moving against mine, I almost didn’t hear someone clear their throat.
But Cameron heard it and he pulled away, expelling a long breath.
“So, the rumors are true then,” a girl with long dark hair said. “Cameron Chase is finally off the market.”
“Miley, this is my girlfriend Hailee. Hailee this is Miley.”
Miley.
I knew this girl. It was the same one from Homecoming, and I was pretty sure she was the girl from the night of Asher’s party when I tagged Jason’s car. “Hi.” I lifted my hand in a small wave.
“Hey.” Her cool gaze swept over me, but it didn’t seem scathing like some of the girls in our class. “A little heads up would have been nice.” She was staring at Cameron now, hurt lingering in her eyes.
“Give me a second,” he said to me before guiding Miley down the hall just out of earshot. My stomach knotted as I watched them talk. They stood close, him staring down at her, her gazing up at him. She was gorgeous, lean and toned, an athlete for sure. And for as much as I didn’t want to feel jealous, it burned through me like acid.
After a minute or two, Miley nodded and turned on her heel and walked off down the hall. Cameron approached me slowly, his eyes drinking me in. Trying to tell me things I couldn’t quite decipher.
“So that’s Miley,” I said. “She’s pretty. Were the two of you, like, a thing?”
“Hailee, don’t do this.” He let out a heavy sigh. “Miley is not important to me.”
“But she was someone to you?”
Cameron crowded me against the locker again, cupping my jaw, angling my face to his. “Listen to me when I say this. It’s you, I want. You, I need. Miley was someone to fill the void for a little while. But that’s all. Me and you, this, it’s real.” He lowered his head to mine. “I need you, Hailee. I need you so much it fucking terrifies me.” Vulnerability glittered in his eyes like stars across the night sky.
Lifting my hand against his cheek, I breathed him in, and said, “You have me.” Every single piece. “Now take me home and show me just how much you need me.”
Cameron didn’t come to school again after that. He wanted to be there for his mom’s appointments and to help with Xander. So I was surprised when he asked me to go to the game with him Friday night.
“Are you okay?” I squeezed his hand as we watched the Raiders run out onto the field below. We were in the family section, using his two tickets reserved for his parents, and Asher had been kind enough to let Flick have one of his tickets since his parents were out of town.
“I’m okay.” Cameron nodded before leaning down to capture my lips in a slow kiss.
“Hmm, guys, right here. I’m right here.”
“Sorry.” I peeked around Cameron and pouted at my best friend.
“You’re so cute I can’t even stay mad at you, ugh,” she groaned, readjusting her Raiders ball cap. “I need a man.”
“What about Ash—”
I clapped my hand over Cameron’s mouth. “Don’t put ideas into her head.”
“He’s nice and all,” Flick said completely ignoring me and Cameron. “But he’s not my type.”
“There’s another type beside cocky arrogant jock?”