Book 1 - Chapter One
Hey guys! Here is the first chapter of my first book. It was already posted on my other account, but for obvious reasons I am posting it here as well. Enjoy!
Cameron sat still, staring out over miles and miles of calm water. The air was crisp with the beginning of spring, but held the promise of better weather to come. A chill ran down her spine, but she didn’t move; this was her solace, her home-free zone, somewhere where not even the cold could interrupt her thoughts. Whenever Cam needed to get away from the daily grind, or her nagging parents, she drove to the secluded dock she and her best friend discovered on one of their many adventures so many years ago.
“So much has changed since then.” She hung her head and stared at her feet grazing the cold water below her, the hem of her white dress just barely avoiding an icy death.
A soft voice behind her approached almost unnoticeably, “I thought I would find you here …”
Still motionless Cameron inhaled deeply, “What are you doing here Avery?”
“I could ask you the same thing. Aren’t you supposed to be Mrs. Jarrod Walker by now? Off on her honeymoon, basking in all the glory of being a newlywed with the city’s most eligible bachelor?”
Silence was all he was offered as he moved cautiously to the edge of the dock and sat down next to her.
“I get it kid, marriage is a big step. But, don’t you think you should have considered that before it got this far?” Again, silence. Avery sighed and looked out over the water keeping the silence for a few minutes, “A lot of memories here, huh? Do you remember the day we found it Cam? God, you must have been what, ten? Eleven?”
“Nine.” She breathed.
“Nine?” Avery whistled, “That’s like, twelve years ago now. So I would have been eleven then, seems a lot longer than that.”
Cameron smiled despite herself, remembering the boy Avery used to be - a thin, lanky boy with messy black hair and the same dark brown eyes that capture so many girls’ hearts now. Of course now Avery stood at a whopping 6’5 with muscles no girl could wrap her hands around, Cam wasn’t even sure any man could.
“I saw that grin!” Avery nudged her and chuckled, “Come on sugar, tell me what happened.”
“What’s there to say? Everyone knew that marriage to Jarrod wasn’t what I wanted, and yet there I was standing in that claustrophobic room wearing this gaudy white dress and wondering how the fuck I ended up here after all the time I spent rejecting the very thought.” Cameron picked up a stone and threw it as far as she could into the ocean, intently observing the ripples it made when it fell.
“He’d be good for you kid, and he’s crazy about you.”
“You sound like my mother now.”
“Ouch! Don’t be so nasty! All I’m saying is he’s obviously got loads of cash and every other girl trips on their own feet to get a glimpse of those adorable dimples,” Avery mocked, “so why is it that you can’t even stand to look at the guy?”
Once again, silence greeted him as Cameron hung her head again and bit down on her lip.
Avery ran his hand through his tousled hair and leaned back looking up at the sky. The sun was setting and the air was getting colder every minute, “You’re going to get sick Cam. Here.” Avery slid out of his jacket and slung it over her shoulders.
Cameron muttered a quick thank you, and the two of them sat in peace for what must have been an hour before Avery got impatient.
“Come on Cameron! This is me we’re talking about. The same Avery you were bathed with for God’s sake! What aren’t you telling me?”
Cameron was startled by his sudden abruptness and shifted in her spot but still stayed quiet. How could she explain to her best friend that since that first day down at this very dock she fell in love with him and no man, no matter how rich and handsome, could ever compete with him and he was the reason she left her fiancé at the altar. It was cliché and over done in every movie and book, and she knew it but it was also the truth. So many times she had tried to tell him how she felt, that same day on the dock, her 16th birthday when her crush stood her up, at grad when they danced together, and even a few months ago when Jarrod proposed but every time the words got caught in her throat the second she thought of them. Cameron was a thin, pale brunette with freckles covering her entire body and flat grey eyes. She was far from ugly, but Avery was a player, he could get any girl he set eyes on, and did. There was no way he was going to settle on one girl, and if he did it wouldn’t be her, “Nothing.” She replied at last.
“Bullshit Cam! Bull. Shit.”
“Can we just drop it, please?” By this time, the sun had set and Avery was starting to shake. Cam didn’t know if it was because he was cold or angry, either way she didn’t want to argue with him. Not now.
“You know what? Fine! If you’re not going to tell me then I don’t care. You’ve been shutting everyone out lately Cam, and at first I thought it was just wedding jitters, but clearly that isn’t the reason, so maybe you just think you’re too good for everyone, now? Hot shot got into med school and now even Jarrod Walker isn’t good enough. Now, I’m not good enough?!” Avery stood up too quickly and slipped, landing a perfect belly flop into the icy waters below him.
Cameron couldn’t contain it. At first, she gasped and stood up, ready to jump in after him, but when he sputtered above the water screeching from the cold, all the day’s tension and frustration was released in a fit full of boisterous laughter.
“Cut it out Cam, its fucking cold in here.” Avery stuttered as he swam closer to the dock.
“I’m sorry!” She exclaimed in between fits of laughter, she clutched her stomach sore from laughing so hard, “Do you need help out?”
“No. Don’t strain yourself any more than you have. I got it.” He snapped sarcastically, pulling himself back on the dock.
“Oh come on Avery, if it were me you would have pissed yourself by now!” Cameron bent down and wrapped his jacket around him.
“Yeah, yeah. Come on, let’s get out of here and get us both changed. How’d you get here anyway? I didn’t see your car.”
“I ran.” Cameron shrugged point blankly. The dock was about a twenty minute drive from Jarrod’s parents’ place, that would mean an easy hour of running, and that would be pretty fast.
“In a wedding dress? You’re lucky you didn’t fall on your face!” Avery looked down at her feet where the two inch heals used to reside, “You lost your shoes.”
“No. I threw them off just outside his parents’ property.”
“Classy.”
When they got to the car Cameron paused with her hand on the door handle, deep in thought. Avery had already opened the driver door and laid his jacket out in an attempt to save his seats from his soaked clothes. When he straightened out to get in the truck, he saw the worry and dread that was written all over his friend’s face and again he found himself wishing he could read her mind.
“Come on kid! I’m freezing! The sooner we get this heat blasting the better!”
“I don’t want to go home Avery. Please, don’t make me go home.”
“Cam … “ His voice trailed off when he saw her wince as if she was in horrible pain, he sighed, “You can’t run forever you know.”
“I can’t face them all yet Avery. Please. I’m begging you, I can’t do it tonight.” Cameron looked up at the man she admired, the man who was once the boy she always counted on to look after her. In a weird way, he was always the brother she never had, but considering him that was wrong because he was so much more than that.
“Alright Sugar. You can come home with me tonight. But you’re going back tomorrow. You have to face them eventually.”
Cameron nodded, “Thanks Avery.”
The drive home was quiet while the two stayed lost in their own thoughts. Every once and a while Cameron would catch him looking over at her from the corner of her eye, but she kept her eyes on the road ahead of her, unsure of what else could be said. Though she contemplated many different times just announcing her love and then running away in case he rejected her, there was no escape from the truck and the circumstances were not right - at least that’s what she kept telling herself every time she chickened out from her own thoughts.
Avery cleared his throat, “I uh - I didn’t mean what I said about the medical school thing. You know I am proud of you right?”
Cameron nodded, “I know.”
“It was a stupid thing to say. I know you don’t think you’re better than anyone. You’re definitely not the self-righteous type…”
“It’s okay Avery. I know you didn’t mean it. I know it’s not easy for you knowing that I will be gone in a few months.”
Avery grabbed her hand and squeezed tight then kissed the top of her hand, “I don’t think I’ve spent more than a weekend without you being less than a 5 minute drive away.”
Cameron smiled, “You’ll be alright Ave; you’ve got tons of ladies to keep your bed warm at night, no need to have me around.”
“Ha ha! Very funny Cam! You know you’re my best girl! None of those chicks mean a thing to me; it’s you that’s held my heart. Always have.”
Cameron’s face flushed. She knew he meant what he said, but not in the way it sounded or how she wanted it to mean. Yeah, she has his heart but not the way he had hers - to him she was just a little sister, a best friend, and a confidante.
“I wish you wouldn’t say things like that Ave. That’s such a loaded statement.”
“It is not! I mean it Cam. You’re the only girl in my life that’s ever meant something to me. When my mom left I was so sure that all women were the same, you proved me wrong over and over again and I can’t begin to thank you for putting up with every ounce of my crazy.”
“The only reason that’s true is because you haven’t slept with me. If you had, I’m sure that would change things.”
“That can be arranged!” Avery winked and then laughed at Cameron shift uncomfortably in her seat and shot him a dirty look, “Seriously! Relax kid; I’m only busting your balls.”
“And that’s exactly why it could never work between us, you think of me as another one of your guy friends, balls and all.”
Avery burst out laughing for what seemed like a good ten minutes before he finally calmed down enough to nudge Cam in the shoulder, “You looked beautiful today kid. Not at all like a guy with balls.”
Cameron’s cheeks heated up again and she stared down at her hands in her lap, “Thanks Ave. That means a lot.”
Avery took his eyes off the road; there was something about her in the white dress that captivated him. He meant what he said, she was the only girl that had a piece of his heart, no matter how big that piece is or isn’t. He kept glancing back and forth from the street and her, and smiled every time she caught him.
“You should be focusing on the road Avery. It’s not safe to take your eyes away from it, driver’s ED 101!”
“I can’t help it, besides …” Avery cleared his throat and felt his heart race, it was now or never, “Cam, I -“
Before he could collect his thoughts and get the words out, there was a scream, and Cameron grabbed his leg, “Avery!! Watch out!”
Cameron sat still, staring out over miles and miles of calm water. The air was crisp with the beginning of spring, but held the promise of better weather to come. A chill ran down her spine, but she didn’t move; this was her solace, her home-free zone, somewhere where not even the cold could interrupt her thoughts. Whenever Cam needed to get away from the daily grind, or her nagging parents, she drove to the secluded dock she and her best friend discovered on one of their many adventures so many years ago.
“So much has changed since then.” She hung her head and stared at her feet grazing the cold water below her, the hem of her white dress just barely avoiding an icy death.
A soft voice behind her approached almost unnoticeably, “I thought I would find you here …”
Still motionless Cameron inhaled deeply, “What are you doing here Avery?”
“I could ask you the same thing. Aren’t you supposed to be Mrs. Jarrod Walker by now? Off on her honeymoon, basking in all the glory of being a newlywed with the city’s most eligible bachelor?”
Silence was all he was offered as he moved cautiously to the edge of the dock and sat down next to her.
“I get it kid, marriage is a big step. But, don’t you think you should have considered that before it got this far?” Again, silence. Avery sighed and looked out over the water keeping the silence for a few minutes, “A lot of memories here, huh? Do you remember the day we found it Cam? God, you must have been what, ten? Eleven?”
“Nine.” She breathed.
“Nine?” Avery whistled, “That’s like, twelve years ago now. So I would have been eleven then, seems a lot longer than that.”
Cameron smiled despite herself, remembering the boy Avery used to be - a thin, lanky boy with messy black hair and the same dark brown eyes that capture so many girls’ hearts now. Of course now Avery stood at a whopping 6’5 with muscles no girl could wrap her hands around, Cam wasn’t even sure any man could.
“I saw that grin!” Avery nudged her and chuckled, “Come on sugar, tell me what happened.”
“What’s there to say? Everyone knew that marriage to Jarrod wasn’t what I wanted, and yet there I was standing in that claustrophobic room wearing this gaudy white dress and wondering how the fuck I ended up here after all the time I spent rejecting the very thought.” Cameron picked up a stone and threw it as far as she could into the ocean, intently observing the ripples it made when it fell.
“He’d be good for you kid, and he’s crazy about you.”
“You sound like my mother now.”
“Ouch! Don’t be so nasty! All I’m saying is he’s obviously got loads of cash and every other girl trips on their own feet to get a glimpse of those adorable dimples,” Avery mocked, “so why is it that you can’t even stand to look at the guy?”
Once again, silence greeted him as Cameron hung her head again and bit down on her lip.
Avery ran his hand through his tousled hair and leaned back looking up at the sky. The sun was setting and the air was getting colder every minute, “You’re going to get sick Cam. Here.” Avery slid out of his jacket and slung it over her shoulders.
Cameron muttered a quick thank you, and the two of them sat in peace for what must have been an hour before Avery got impatient.
“Come on Cameron! This is me we’re talking about. The same Avery you were bathed with for God’s sake! What aren’t you telling me?”
Cameron was startled by his sudden abruptness and shifted in her spot but still stayed quiet. How could she explain to her best friend that since that first day down at this very dock she fell in love with him and no man, no matter how rich and handsome, could ever compete with him and he was the reason she left her fiancé at the altar. It was cliché and over done in every movie and book, and she knew it but it was also the truth. So many times she had tried to tell him how she felt, that same day on the dock, her 16th birthday when her crush stood her up, at grad when they danced together, and even a few months ago when Jarrod proposed but every time the words got caught in her throat the second she thought of them. Cameron was a thin, pale brunette with freckles covering her entire body and flat grey eyes. She was far from ugly, but Avery was a player, he could get any girl he set eyes on, and did. There was no way he was going to settle on one girl, and if he did it wouldn’t be her, “Nothing.” She replied at last.
“Bullshit Cam! Bull. Shit.”
“Can we just drop it, please?” By this time, the sun had set and Avery was starting to shake. Cam didn’t know if it was because he was cold or angry, either way she didn’t want to argue with him. Not now.
“You know what? Fine! If you’re not going to tell me then I don’t care. You’ve been shutting everyone out lately Cam, and at first I thought it was just wedding jitters, but clearly that isn’t the reason, so maybe you just think you’re too good for everyone, now? Hot shot got into med school and now even Jarrod Walker isn’t good enough. Now, I’m not good enough?!” Avery stood up too quickly and slipped, landing a perfect belly flop into the icy waters below him.
Cameron couldn’t contain it. At first, she gasped and stood up, ready to jump in after him, but when he sputtered above the water screeching from the cold, all the day’s tension and frustration was released in a fit full of boisterous laughter.
“Cut it out Cam, its fucking cold in here.” Avery stuttered as he swam closer to the dock.
“I’m sorry!” She exclaimed in between fits of laughter, she clutched her stomach sore from laughing so hard, “Do you need help out?”
“No. Don’t strain yourself any more than you have. I got it.” He snapped sarcastically, pulling himself back on the dock.
“Oh come on Avery, if it were me you would have pissed yourself by now!” Cameron bent down and wrapped his jacket around him.
“Yeah, yeah. Come on, let’s get out of here and get us both changed. How’d you get here anyway? I didn’t see your car.”
“I ran.” Cameron shrugged point blankly. The dock was about a twenty minute drive from Jarrod’s parents’ place, that would mean an easy hour of running, and that would be pretty fast.
“In a wedding dress? You’re lucky you didn’t fall on your face!” Avery looked down at her feet where the two inch heals used to reside, “You lost your shoes.”
“No. I threw them off just outside his parents’ property.”
“Classy.”
When they got to the car Cameron paused with her hand on the door handle, deep in thought. Avery had already opened the driver door and laid his jacket out in an attempt to save his seats from his soaked clothes. When he straightened out to get in the truck, he saw the worry and dread that was written all over his friend’s face and again he found himself wishing he could read her mind.
“Come on kid! I’m freezing! The sooner we get this heat blasting the better!”
“I don’t want to go home Avery. Please, don’t make me go home.”
“Cam … “ His voice trailed off when he saw her wince as if she was in horrible pain, he sighed, “You can’t run forever you know.”
“I can’t face them all yet Avery. Please. I’m begging you, I can’t do it tonight.” Cameron looked up at the man she admired, the man who was once the boy she always counted on to look after her. In a weird way, he was always the brother she never had, but considering him that was wrong because he was so much more than that.
“Alright Sugar. You can come home with me tonight. But you’re going back tomorrow. You have to face them eventually.”
Cameron nodded, “Thanks Avery.”
The drive home was quiet while the two stayed lost in their own thoughts. Every once and a while Cameron would catch him looking over at her from the corner of her eye, but she kept her eyes on the road ahead of her, unsure of what else could be said. Though she contemplated many different times just announcing her love and then running away in case he rejected her, there was no escape from the truck and the circumstances were not right - at least that’s what she kept telling herself every time she chickened out from her own thoughts.
Avery cleared his throat, “I uh - I didn’t mean what I said about the medical school thing. You know I am proud of you right?”
Cameron nodded, “I know.”
“It was a stupid thing to say. I know you don’t think you’re better than anyone. You’re definitely not the self-righteous type…”
“It’s okay Avery. I know you didn’t mean it. I know it’s not easy for you knowing that I will be gone in a few months.”
Avery grabbed her hand and squeezed tight then kissed the top of her hand, “I don’t think I’ve spent more than a weekend without you being less than a 5 minute drive away.”
Cameron smiled, “You’ll be alright Ave; you’ve got tons of ladies to keep your bed warm at night, no need to have me around.”
“Ha ha! Very funny Cam! You know you’re my best girl! None of those chicks mean a thing to me; it’s you that’s held my heart. Always have.”
Cameron’s face flushed. She knew he meant what he said, but not in the way it sounded or how she wanted it to mean. Yeah, she has his heart but not the way he had hers - to him she was just a little sister, a best friend, and a confidante.
“I wish you wouldn’t say things like that Ave. That’s such a loaded statement.”
“It is not! I mean it Cam. You’re the only girl in my life that’s ever meant something to me. When my mom left I was so sure that all women were the same, you proved me wrong over and over again and I can’t begin to thank you for putting up with every ounce of my crazy.”
“The only reason that’s true is because you haven’t slept with me. If you had, I’m sure that would change things.”
“That can be arranged!” Avery winked and then laughed at Cameron shift uncomfortably in her seat and shot him a dirty look, “Seriously! Relax kid; I’m only busting your balls.”
“And that’s exactly why it could never work between us, you think of me as another one of your guy friends, balls and all.”
Avery burst out laughing for what seemed like a good ten minutes before he finally calmed down enough to nudge Cam in the shoulder, “You looked beautiful today kid. Not at all like a guy with balls.”
Cameron’s cheeks heated up again and she stared down at her hands in her lap, “Thanks Ave. That means a lot.”
Avery took his eyes off the road; there was something about her in the white dress that captivated him. He meant what he said, she was the only girl that had a piece of his heart, no matter how big that piece is or isn’t. He kept glancing back and forth from the street and her, and smiled every time she caught him.
“You should be focusing on the road Avery. It’s not safe to take your eyes away from it, driver’s ED 101!”
“I can’t help it, besides …” Avery cleared his throat and felt his heart race, it was now or never, “Cam, I -“
Before he could collect his thoughts and get the words out, there was a scream, and Cameron grabbed his leg, “Avery!! Watch out!”