Reclaim - Aly Martinez Page 0,33

didn’t matter if he was a twelve-year-old boy who had spent a summer catching worms with me and she had been a grown woman who was supposed love and protect me until her dying day. Nope. None of that mattered.

The only thing I knew for certain was he hadn’t chosen me.

But what if he had? What if Thea had been right and he was just a kid who didn’t get to make choices?

Maybe he was selling me a dream of lies, but I needed to know what he’d done with the choices he could control.

“Camden, wait!”

He stopped only a few steps away and turned around, planting both hands on his hips. “What?”

God, he had changed so much. Not only was he a giant now, but he had a jawline and little muscles under his shirt. Yes, it was a button-down with the sleeves rolled up, and he was wearing boat shoes, but Freaking Camden Cole was pulling it off.

“Why did you keep that?” I squatted and picked up the money off the ground. “Why not spend it? There must have been something you wanted over the last year.”

“There was a lot of stuff I wanted, Nora. Almost all of them involved being here with you though. That ten was as close as I could get. Maybe it was stupid, and I should have bought a dozen slushies or something. But I didn’t because I thought we were friends.”

“We are friends,” I whispered.

He shook his head. “Doesn’t feel like it right now. You know, I was so excited about getting here today. I was already sitting in the car when my dad’s alarm went off this morning. I had it all mapped out. If we got on the road by six, I could beat you here and surprise you. But then he wanted coffee and breakfast and we had to run by the papermill, where I sat in the car for a million years. Then we had to run back past the house. And then it was lunchtime, so we had to stop for that.” He shuffled his feet. “Anyway. You get the point. I got here as quick as I could.”

Oh, God. That was sweet. Rambly. But sweet.

Then again, Camden had always been sweet—and, yeah, rambly too.

“What happened? That night when you didn’t show?”

He scratched the back of his neck, a ghost of a smile pulling at his lips. “I got in a fight with my cousin. He was being a dick, so I punched him.” His grin stretched so wide I feared for his lips. “Knocked him clean out.”

“What?” I gasped, trying to wrap my mind around the idea of Camden knocking anyone out. Last year, he hadn’t been what I would have considered a fighter in any capacity. Though he did look like he’d be able to take care of himself now.

“Yeah. I wasn’t thinking about all the trouble I’d get into. My temper just got away from me. I never would have done it if I’d known I wouldn’t be able to see you again. I spent all year doing chores, working out, making good grades—anything to get on my parents' good side just so they’d let me come back here. You’ve gotta believe me.”

Trust. That wasn’t my strong suit.

But if it meant being able to keep Camden, I’d risk it all to try.

Talk to him, I heard Thea’s voice say in my head. It would mean exposing myself and hoping he wouldn’t run for the hills all over again, but if I didn’t say something, I was going to lose him no matter what.

I swallowed hard and crossed my arms over my chest, faking an attitude to cover the tears welling in my eyes. “You can’t do that to me again. Do you hear me? You can’t just leave and expect me to assume it’s because you got into a fight with your cousin or tripped and fell into a ditch. My brain doesn’t work like that. I freak out and panic. And…I don’t know. My mom left when I was seven. She met a guy and moved to Texas. If I can’t get my own mom to come back, if I wasn‘t good enough to make her stay, what reason do I have to expect that you would, either?”

“Because I will,” he promised. “It might not be right away and you might have to wait for a while, but I’ll always come back.”

“You say that now but—”

“But nothing. We’re friends, Nora.” He took a giant