I push that thought right out of my head as soon as it arrives and I let my hands trail down ReeAnn’s back to her hips. I feel her fingers dive into my hair and she leans into me, rubbing her lower body against mine. I think to myself that I could probably get into this if she keeps doing what she’s doing.
That thought stops in its tracks when I look up and my eyes crash into the violet ones I’ve been seeing far too often. Cami and her friend, Jenna, are standing not ten feet away, underneath the Lucky’s sign. They must’ve just arrived. Cami’s staring at me like I have two heads.
Right on cue, ReeAnn wiggles in my arms like she’s trying to remind me I should be thinking about her, not someone else. I look away from Cami and try to focus on the girl trying to crawl inside my shirt. But it’s no use. Suddenly, ReeAnn’s perfume is suffocating me, her skinny arms are choking me and her sexy-little-kitty noises are just plain annoying me.
With a sigh, I loosen my hold. I finish the dance with ReeAnn, but only just. All I can think of is getting away from her, getting out of this bar and getting into a nice, warm bottle of tequila. I know from experience there’s a special kind of oblivion at the bottom of the bottle and that’s just what I need on a night like tonight.
CHAPTER ELEVEN - Cami
The sun is streaming through the window right into my eyes. Normally, I wouldn’t mind waking up to that, but today…not so much. Like unwanted flashbacks from war, the scene I stumbled upon last night won’t leave me be. Even when I squeeze my eyes shut, I can’t seem to stop seeing Trick and that girl all wrapped around each other.
Makes me sick!
I refuse to consider why it bothers me at all or how pathetic it must’ve seemed when I left Lucky’s less than thirty minutes after arriving. I should’ve known the night was gonna blow. Jenna didn’t even want to go to begin with. Me and my bright ideas.
That’s what you get for going to a place like that when you’ve got a boyfriend anyway. You wanted to run into him and you got what you asked for.
I roll over and pull my pillow over my head. I’m not ready to face the day yet.
“Cami! Cami!” It’s Drogheda and she’s shaking my shoulder. Something must be wrong for her to be in my room waking me up.
“What?” I ask, sitting straight up in the bed, startled.
“You sleep like the dead this morning, chica. I’ve been banging around in the kitchen for over an hour and still, you sleep.”
“Sorry. I didn’t get much rest last night and I’m still tired.” I must’ve dozed off after I woke up the first time, because I didn’t hear all of Drogheda’s finely-honed skills of annoyance.
“What’s the matter, mi Camille?”
That actually makes me smile. Drogheda is the only person in the world who can get away with calling me Camille, and only because she makes it sound like an endearment rather than the name I hate so much.
“Nothing,” I reply with a shake of my head. I don’t look her in the eye. Drogheda’s got some kind of crazy sixth sense and she can tell when I’m lying to her. I’ve learned it’s best to avoid eye contact.
She stares at me, moving her head when I move mine until I’m forced to look at her.
“You tell me now, missy!” Drogheda can be very no-nonsense when the occasion calls for it.
I sigh. “It’s nothing really. Just this guy.” I sit up and tuck my hair behind my ears. “And I mean, I’ve got a boyfriend, which makes the whole thing just really stupid.”
“What whole thing? Tell me from the beginning.”
So I do. I tell Drogheda all the not-so-sordid details. It surprises me when she grins. And, for Drogheda, it’s a pretty devilish grin, too.
“What did I tell you? That boy is not the right one for you. Didn’t I tell you you’d find the right boy?”
“Drogheda, Brent is a great guy. Didn’t I tell you that?”
“Aye-aye-aye! That’s all I hear for years now, but this is what I want to hear. I want to hear you tell of a boy who gets in your head,” she says, tapping my temple with her finger, “and in your heart, too.” She taps my chest over my heart.
“But Brent—”
“Pssssh,” she says, waving her hands at me. “I don’t want to hear any more excuses, mi Camille. Keep that boy around if you must, but don’t turn your back on this new one. You have to give love a chance. When it’s real, it will find a way.”
My laugh is short and bitter. “Can it find a way around Jack Hines?”
“Have faith, chica. Love can even find a way around your father.”
Drogheda’s smile is sweet and encouraging, just what I needed this morning whether I knew it or not. Impulsively, I lean over and wrap my arms around her neck.
“What would I do without you, Drogheda?”
“You’d be lazy all day, that’s what.” She slides off the bed and swats at me with the dishtowel she’s still carrying. “Now, come eat your breakfast so I can clean up the kitchen.”
“I’m coming, I’m coming! Give me a minute,” I complain good-naturedly.
Drogheda rolls her eyes in exasperation and walks away, muttering something in Spanish that I can’t understand, but sounds awfully cute.
Somewhere between my bedroom and the kitchen, I decide to go see the only person I can think of who might know more about Trick than I do, which isn’t much.
My father is sitting behind his desk when I walk into his office. This is the first time I’ve seen him since I got home. I notice a little gray at his temples that wasn’t there at Christmas. Otherwise, he looks the same—short, dark hair, tan skin and sharp blue eyes that see right through me when he looks up.
I smile brightly. “Morning, Daddy.” I lean against the door jamb and yawn.
“I was beginning to wonder if I was going to get to see you at all,” he says with a smile, laying his pen to the side. He leans back in his chair and steeples his fingers as he watches me.
“Sorry. I’ve been with Jenna the last few days and I guess you’ve been…what? Checking out new horses?”
He shrugs. “Nothing you need to be concerned about.”
“What if I want to be?”
He frowns. “What’s the supposed to mean?”
I walk on into his office and sit down in one of the big leather armchairs that face his desk. “Daddy, I’m thinking of spending the summer learning more about the business.”