Page 120 of The Backup Plan

“Why? What are you going to do, start swinging?”

He opened his mouth to retort and closed it without speaking.

“Now you’re just mad, and I ruined a nice night,” she said, clutching a pillow. “Please forget I said that.”

“Avery, I—you’re shaking.”

“I’m a little cold.”

Cam scooted against her and curled around her body, drawing her to his chest. The heat in her skin only moments before had already vanished. “Something’s wrong. If it’s not about what Gia said, then what?”

Her pulse quickened beneath his touch.

“Everybody saw me with Isaac and then two weeks later, they saw me with you. I know I don’t owe anyone besides you an explanation for that timeline.”

“Why would you owe me an explanation? You guys weren’t together when we got together. Were you?”

She shook her head, tickling his bare chest with her hair. “We weren’t. And the thing is, we never were.”

Cam’s breath hitched. “You and Isaac were never dating?”

“Never.”

“Then why did you tell me you were?”

“I didn’t. And when you said you could suddenly trust me and talk to me because I was one of the good guys if I was with him, I couldn’t bring myself to tell you the truth. I thought you wouldn’t talk to me anymore. I know Isaac and I were a little snuggly, and I asked if we could just do that for a few more weeks so I could see if there was something between me and you.”

“And he agreed to this?”

“He did. We knew right away we didn’t have anything romantic going on. So he agreed to play along for a few weeks as long as I promised I wouldn’t flirt with you and put you in a bad position thinking your friend’s girl was coming onto you. He liked the idea of me with you. Justin did too, so he agreed to play dumb.”

“Avery.” He shook her shoulder. “Come here. Roll over and look at me.”

She shifted in his arms but didn’t meet his eyes. “I’m so sorry, Cam. I never lied to you, and neither of them lied to you, but I wasn’t open. I did this all wrong. I shouldn’t have tried to rush anything. I rush everything, and it always goes wrong, and I?—”

He kissed her forehead to silence her. “Why did you do all that when I was so rude to you before? You should have written me off as a complete jerk. That’s all I ever showed you I was.”

She glanced up with damp eyes. “It’s so stupid.”

“I need to know.”

“I liked being quiet with you. That very first day, I don’t know what stopped me from leaning over your couch and demanding your name and the reason you were so unhappy. I always just barge in. But there was hurt all over you and I just… I knew that hurt, and I had tried to talk through mine for so long. It was sort of nice to have someone to share it with and not talk.”

“I was sort of glad we didn’t talk. It was good to have a quiet place and not be alone.”

“I’ve never held back from breaking a silence until I got lost in yours. I ruined so many friendships by being overbearing and needy and just too much. When we finally did talk, you said you felt safe with me, and I thought maybe the bright side of having to sort of weasel my way into your life was that if I could force myself to slow down, even for a couple of weeks, I could be the kind of person who doesn’t scare people when I get too close.”

Cam stroked her lower back. “Avery. You never scared me.”

“See? I didn’t even have to do this whole act.”

“Breathe. I’m not going anywhere. Slow down your breathing, and we’ll work through this.”

“I may not have lied to your face, but I lied by omission, and that was wrong. That’s the kind of thing that breaks people’s trust in each other.”

“Avery, nothing’s broken. I mean it.”

“You should be mad. This isn’t okay.”