The Men Next Door

Ch 25 - Campbell

"Are you ever going to tell me why you're so nervous?" Brooks asked, leaning back against the kitchen counter. He looked like a businessman with a million dollar deal on the line — arms crossed, brow furrowed — and it made me want to run and hide.

"I'm not nervous," I lied, taking a few small steps toward the balcony door. There had to be a fire escape out there, right? A way to disappear into the chaos of the city?

"Mhm," he said unbelievingly. "You've touched your hair three separate times since you started looking out that window." I dropped the strand I was fiddling with. "And you haven't come within five feet of me since you first got here."

I wasn't sure what he expected me to say, but the way his eyes locked onto mine made me feel like a little field mouse preparing to plead its case to a hungry barn cat. Was he going to chew me up and spit me out, just like Luca did when he compared me to Addy? Get bored of me now that the chase was over? Find some other all-too-willing girl to toy with?

Did I really want to leave my fate in his hands?

"I've just had a lot on my mind," I explained, drifting toward his desk like the distance could protect me from his expectant stare. In true Brooks fashion, his pens were arranged from lightest to darkest, and I ran my hand over the top of the colorful caps while his eyes bored into me from behind.

He huffed like I said something funny. "Me too."

I glanced at him over my shoulder, and he pushed off the counter to prowl toward the dining table. A little closer to me; a little closer to the truth. Maybe that's what had me so jumpy, but either way, I flinched when he scooted in a misplaced chair with a grating screech.

"Like what?" I asked, turning my attention to his house plants. One of the vines twisted and turned and swooped to the floor — just like the anxious butterflies in my stomach — and I wondered how it still kept growing when its path was so warped.

Maybe the synchronicity said a lot about me.

"You, Cam. Us." His hands disappeared into his pockets as he stalked toward me from across the room, and my heart thumped in time with his footsteps like an anxious metronome.

1, 2, 3, 4...

"What about us?"

5, 6, 7, 8...

"You're acting like you're scared of me," he observed, coming closer still. "And Luca hasn't talked to me since Thursday. And your phone went straight to voicemail yesterday, and I'd rather you just tell me if—"

"No," I interrupted.

Brooks froze a few steps away from me. "No?"

"No. It's not that."

"Then what is it?" he questioned. "Because it really seems like—"

"I ended things with Luca," I blurted. The choice, which had always been mine, was suddenly his to make — and I wasn't quite sure if he would throw me to the wolves or protect me from myself.

"What?" he breathed.

"I ended things with Luca," I repeated, swallowing down my nerves. "And I just... I guess I've been scared that... you wouldn't want me anymore."

"What?" he asked again. It was much more incredulous this time.

"After everything I've put you through... I mean, I wouldn't blame you if—"

"I could never not want you, Campbell." He closed the remaining distance between us and tilted my chin up so I would meet his eyes. "Never. You understand me?"