“It was a gift,” I said hoarsely, my heart aching for him. “From a friend.”
“A friend,” he said in a mocking tone. Full of self-hatred and blame.
It was dark now, and the stars had started to come out.
“We stayed a few hours in the maze, exploring, mapping. He was getting tired and he wanted to go home, but there was only one section of the maze left. If we kept going it would all be done. I told him I was staying until I finished it. And I knew he’d stay too. I knew he wanted me to be his friend enough that he’d stay.”
“And then what happened?” I asked when he stopped.
“We never got to finish it.”
“Why?”
“He found another exit. Another hidden door. The same one you and I came out of. At the time, I thought there was only one exit, which led to the lake on the other side of the property.” He rubbed his eyes. “We were excited. All these possibilities. Maybe there were more exits. He’d already found this one, the one behind us, so maybe we could find more.”
I nodded, picturing two young boys enthusiastically exploring and mapping a secret maze.
“He found the secret door,” he went on, “and I opened it. And here we are sitting right where it all happened.”
“What happened, Cam?”
“We found an abandoned car. It was just there in the middle of the damned field.” He gestured absently. He looked so alone. So lonely. So damn sad. An angel who’d lost everything he held dear.
“He didn’t want to explore it for some reason,” he went on. “He felt uneasy about it, but I dismissed his concerns. I’d driven once before, stolen my dad’s car, wrecked it even. My dad nearly killed me for that. Raven was on him before he could slap me. She hated anyone hurting me.”
Except for her, I thought bitterly. No wonder Cameron had his emotional scars. He grew up with a monster.
“We climbed inside the car to explore. There wasn’t much inside—no keys, so we couldn’t start it. But eventually, I did find something very interesting, a box of road flares in the trunk.”
My heart skipped a beat.
“I wish I’d never open
ed that trunk,” he said miserably.
“You were a kid. Any kid would’ve explored an abandoned car. I know I would have.”
He turned to look at me, and I wanted to kiss him so badly. I wanted to chase away the horrible memories in his eyes.
“Those kids that bullied him showed up, the ones I beat up. There were five this time.”
A chill went down my spine.
“They were still a few yards away when we spotted them. I wanted to go back to the maze. We knew that place inside out. We would lose them in there easily. We would be able to escape. But Pete was scared. He locked himself in the car.”
“Did you…did you leave him and go to the maze?”
He shook his head. “I stayed there, screaming at him to open the door so we could both go.”
I should have known he wouldn’t leave his friend.
“But he wouldn’t listen. He was paralyzed with fear.”
He stared at the spot where the car had been.
“What happened next?” I asked when he didn’t continue.
He shook his head to shake off the memories. “I fought them. I didn’t just do it for Pete. I didn’t want them to call me a coward if I ran away and left my friend in the car.”