The Endgame Is You (Rixon Raiders #4) - L A Cotton Page 0,68
replenish myself. I think secretly she just loved having someone in the house to fuss over.
“Can I get you anything else?” she called, and I shook my head with silent laughter.
“I’m good, Mom, thanks.”
“Okay, baby. Holler if you need me.”
Our relationship hadn’t always been easy, but she was trying. And after Karen’s devastating news, I knew I probably needed to try harder.
I wanted to call Cameron, to see how his mom was doing, and to ask if they knew anything more. But I didn’t want to crowd him.
So, I opted for calling my best friend instead.
“Hailee, thank God,” Felicity said on the third ring. “I’ve been so worried. How are you? And Cam? And Karen. Oh God, Karen...”
“Breathe, Flick,” I chuckled softly, not that anything about this situation was funny.
“Seriously, how are you?”
“I feel a bit better now, but it wasn’t pretty.”
“I can’t believe you got so sick. Do you think it was something you ate?”
“I don’t know. But I feel okay now.”
“Well, that’s good. And Cam? He must be beside himself.”
“I don’t really know. He’s with Xander.”
“You mean you haven’t seen him today?” She sounded surprised.
“Well, no. My mom thought he should stay away until I knew it was only a twenty-four-hour thing.”
“Makes sense, I guess. But you’ve spoken to him, right?”
“I...”
“Hailee?”
“He needs to be with his family right now,” I said, unable to keep the sadness out of my voice.
“But you’re his family.”
I’d thought so too, once upon a time. But I wasn’t so sure about anything anymore.
“Has Jason spoken to him?”
“Yeah, they talked earlier.”
I sucked in a harsh breath.
“Shit, Hails, I didn’t mean to—”
“It’s okay. I’m glad he has Jason to talk to.”
If he wasn’t going to turn to me, he needed to turn to someone.
“I just don’t understand it. You’ve always been so good together.”
Her words made the knot in my stomach tighten. “He doesn’t want to choose,” I said quietly.
“But there doesn’t have to be a choice, does there?”
There did though. Or at least, I knew Cameron enough to know that’s what he thought. He was an all or nothing guy. I’d seen how much it had affected him not being able to be there for Xander. He’d persisted for me. He’d continued our life in Michigan... for me.
But I realized now, his heart wasn’t in it.
“He needs to be here with his family.”
“You really think he’ll quit the team? Leave college?”
I didn’t want to believe it when we’d first talked about it, but Karen’s diagnosis changed everything. And I knew…in my heart of hearts, I knew I’d already lost him.
Silent tears clung to my lashes.
“I’m so sorry,” Felicity said as if she’d worked it out too.
“It’s okay,” I choked out. “He needs to be here for them.”
Even though I knew the words to be true, it didn't make them hurt any less.
“Hailee,” Mom yelled. “Cameron is here. I’m going to meet Kent for dinner. We’ll be back later.”
“Listen, I’ve got to go.”
“Do you want me to come there? I can drive down—”
“No,” I said, drying my eyes. “I’ll be okay.”
“Well, call me later.”
“I will. Bye.” I hung up and took a deep breath.
“Hailee?” Cameron’s voice made my heart soar, but it quickly crashed back down to Earth.
“Come in.”
The second he stepped into the room, I saw my greatest fear etched into every single line of his face.
He looked at me with sad eyes and said, “I think we need to talk.”
Cameron
“It’s okay,” Hailee said, completely catching me off guard. I’d come here prepared for a battle. After spending the day with Xander trying to figure out how to tell the girl I loved more than anything that I couldn’t be the guy she needed right now, I still didn’t know how to say the words.
To tell her I needed to be there for my family.
Yet, she was sitting there, with nothing but resignation in her sad expression.
“You don’t need to do this, Cameron. I know what you came here to say, and it’s okay.”
I blinked, hardly able to believe my ears. “I— I don’t understand. What exactly are you saying?”
“I would never ask you to choose between me and them. You need to be here, more than ever. I get it, and it’s okay.”
Relief slammed into me. She got it.
Fuck, she got it.
“Thank you.” I went and sat beside her on the edge of the bed. “I need to do this, for Xander, for them.” My voice shook as I tried to find the words. “She’s terminal, Hailee. They can make her comfortable and