Wicked in Love

Chapter 26 - but you are

Cameron

It was the last day at the job site. After clean-up, I had sent the crew home, gave them the rest of the day off.

It got dark faster now. The weather couldn't seem to decide whether it was going to freeze my balls or make them sweat. Right now, it was the former. The breeze blew cold, making me put on the jacket I removed when I got hot from pulling old, warped wood.

I stayed away from Kara. It seemed that was what she wanted. So, I just looked. I still got eyes. And it made the day bearable every time I saw her. Pretty pathetic existence, but it was all that I got.

I knew she still had strong feelings for me. It was the uncertainty of whether she wanted to keep them or throw them away that scared the hell out of me.

Sure, she didn't look at that guy at the restaurant the way she looked at me, but that didn't mean that couldn't change. She didn't look at me like that in the beginning either. If she asked me to let her go again, could I? What would I fucking do if she decided she was really done with me? Fuck.

She didn't drop by today. Before Mike left for his church meeting, he said Kara was helping her cousin with an emergency at the gift shop. What gift shop? I wanted to ask more but stopped myself.

Dylan was usually home at this time, and I was planning on talking to him, repair what I could between us. It wasn't only Kara I had hurt when I left. I fucked up a lot, but I was willing to put in the work to fix it.

I drilled holes in the concrete, blew the dust off, cursed when I got some in my eye, thought for a moment whether to get my safety goggles or not, then kept drilling again.

I noticed that day when I followed Kara at her dad's house that the stairs were creaky and old, the railing loose. I had leftover materials from other projects, some wood, some steel, and used that to fix their front stairs. Mike was getting older and didn't need to break his hip climbing up and down the stairs, especially when it was getting colder now. Snow would cover everything soon enough.

I looked up to the trees, appreciated the sound they made when a breeze passed, the scent they brought in the air. We still got time for warm weather, but not too long now. Fall was coming so soon, then winter where everything would be cold and looked lifeless. I lined up the railing, screwed it in, wiggled to test it. Good. Done.

The other day I saw Kara climbing the stairs in a hurry and nearly falling on her face. Maybe I shouldn't have finished it all in one shot. What kind of excuse could I pull out of my ass to see her again?

I rose, dust myself off, reached for a bottled water and drank. I looked at the shiny railing and the new wood stairs, wondered for a second if I should pull some out so I could have an excuse to come over tomorrow.

Like I said, pretty pathetic existence. I let out a loud sigh, put away my tools. If she wanted to come to me she would. I was sweeping the dust off the stairs when my phone rang. I answered without looking.

"Saint Laurent."

"Cameron?"

I looked at my phone. It was Dylan's number, but it didn't sound like him.

"Who is this?"

"It's... It's Thomas. Kara's friend."

Shit. I scowled. "Is Kara okay?"

"Yeah, no, I mean, Kara's fine. Dylan isn't."

The fear in his voice came through the speaker.

"What happened?"

"I didn't know who else to call. Damon isn't answering. I can't call Kara or Mike. They can't know. Please," he begged. "I need your help."

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