Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 79870 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 399(@200wpm)___ 319(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79870 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 399(@200wpm)___ 319(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
Cameron nodded and gestured for me to proceed.
“My boyfriend is in the public eye, so we’ve had to keep things quiet, you know? Well, I was pretty much living with him all summer, but then I had to come back to school. I got on the plane two weeks ago, and I haven’t heard from him since. Then a few days ago I found out he’s supposedly been engaged to a girl for about a month.”
“Wow, that’s harsh. No offense, but why are you still calling him your boyfriend?”
Tears burned at the back of my eyes, but I willed them away. “Because he said to trust him. That was one of the last things he said to me before I left. We got tattoos of each other’s initials, and we had a ton of great sex, and he said trust him. What can I do?”
Cameron pulled his phone out of his pocket, and I watched as he punched in *67. “Give me his number,” he said.
“What are you going to do?”
“I’m gonna find out if your number is blocked. If mine goes through, we know he’s got you blocked. I dialed star-sixty-seven, so he won’t be able to see who’s calling.”
I had to admit, especially in my half-inebriated state, it sounded like a good idea.
I gave him Kage’s number, and he entered it. Then he switched to speaker phone, and we listened to the ring tone. My heart was pounding. It rang five times, and then stopped.
“Hello?”
Kage’s voice. My heart stopped altogether.
“Hello?” Cameron said. I waved my arms wildly, silently begging him to stop, but he didn’t. “Hey, I was just wondering if you’d mind if I go out with Jamie.”
There was silence on the phone for a few tense seconds before Kage spoke again. His voice had taken on a darker tone.
“I dare you,” Kage said. “You think this is a game? Let me find out your dick has been anywhere near him, and I’ll give you gender reassignment surgery free of charge.”
Cameron and I just stared at each other with matching horrified expressions. Just when I thought Kage wasn’t there anymore, he spoke again. “Jamie, are you there?”
I opened my mouth, but nothing came out. Then I heard a text notification on my phone. No pretending I wasn’t there after that dead giveaway, because he knew my notification tone by heart.
“Baby, I know you’re there,” he said quietly. “You’re fucking up, but I forgive you, okay? I’ve been very patient with you since you left for school. I know this is hard for you being apart, but it’s just for a little while longer. Just please don’t do something that will be harder to forgive.”
“I haven’t done anything,” I blurted. “Cameron’s just a friend.”
Cameron’s eyes went wide, and his mouth dropped open, and he looked like I’d just ratted him out to the cops. He made frantic slicing motions across his throat, the universal sign for cease and desist, but in this situation, it might be what Kage was going to do to him.
“Just a friend. That’s good.” Kage let out a pronounced sigh. “Do I need to ask you to trust me again?”
“Yes.” I should have said no, but I couldn’t. I needed to know that he still cared enough to ask.
“Please trust me,” he said, and the note of pleading in his voice sounded genuine.
“Okay.”
“Now…” His voice switched from gentle to menacing. “Am I going to have to hurt someone?”
“No, I’ll be good. When am I going to see you again?”
“Baby, I gotta go.” He clicked off and left me alone in my bedroom with Cameron, who looked a little freaked out.
“Dude, you told him my name. Are you insane?”
I fell back onto the bed and sighed, feeling like one of those girls in the movies right after the dreamy guy finally asks her out. What had happened to me? I’d gone from unapologetically commit-o-phobic to rom-com heroine in a few months’ time. It was pathetic, and it made me smile.
“Don’t worry about it, Cam. He won’t mess with you now that I explained that we’re just friends. He can be reasonable.”
“Yeah, because threatening to castrate someone is so reasonable. I don’t know why I was ever worried.”
I laughed, unable to sustain a negative thought in my head after hearing Kage’s voice.
“Who is he, anyway?” Cameron asked. “You said he was famous or something.”
“I can’t tell you who he is.”
“Oh, so I’m not even allowed to know who’s going to give me a sex change? That’s really fucked up. He could walk up to me on the street, and I’d be like, Hey, what’s up? Then he’d pull out a butcher knife, and bye-bye dick.”
“He’s not going to hurt you. He was just being jealous. You know how jealous boyfriends get.”
He huffed. “No, Jamie, I don’t. But if you don’t want to tell me, that’s okay. It’ll just be on your conscience if I lose my manhood for no reason.”