When Cami moves in with the 2 most popular guys in school in a new foster home placement, she realizes that her tragic past just might make it so that she will stay lonely forever.
***
Cami has...
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It only took ten seconds.
Her eyes were silver lined and filled with unshed tears.
But that wasn't the only thing that I noticed about her.
She was absolutely terrified, and I wasn't sure if it was for the fact that I'd almost died—twice, or because she was feeling things she didn't want to feel...but it only took ten seconds.
One.
Her head popped up as soon as my eyes met hers, and the relief that filled through my veins with undiluted joy was something I wasn't expecting to feel.
Two.
The smile stretched over her features. It was shaking and filled with fierce emotion that I would have to be in denial to try and explain away. The smile—it was the one she only used with me.
Three.
I let out a breath quivering with anticipation as I tried to sit up in that damned hospital bed—but that was when she broke her gaze and took in the wires and the IV pole and the bandage around my neck and—
Four.
She sucked in a sharp breath that forced a lone tear to slide down her face.
Don't cry...please, don't cry, not for me. I wished I could've told her that. I was okay, I was alright. Why wasn't she coming forward, why was she still rooted in place in the doorway, like she was nothing but a stranger here, to me?
Five.
Somehow, I knew this was coming. I knew I wasn't good enough for someone to stay for me. I knew my family was only there because they were blood. I knew...I knew this was too good to be true.
She took a step backwards, hands searching for the doorjamb while her eyes flitted around the room in what seemed like a blind panic.
She was having an anxiety attack.
Six.
More tears slipped down her cheeks, and my mother took a step toward her to help steady her, but she put a hand up to keep her at bay. Her eyes met mine once more, and what I saw in them devastated me.
She couldn't do it. I knew it the moment we locked eyes the first time, but it still felt like an anvil dropping on my heart.
I almost died, and she was bailing. This was it. It was over.
Seven.
But—no. Those were bruises around her neck. There was something wrong. Something that I couldn't ask because I still couldn't fucking talk!
