“She did back away,” Bishop said. “I’m gonna bounce. Later.”
“Fuck off!” I yelled, throwing my entire organizer full of paper clips at him. I yanked on my coat and walked outside, but Bishop was already pulling out of the parking lot. Trenton came out, and I locked the door, turning it several times before pulling the key.
Trenton shook his head. “I’m done with this, Cami. I’m fuckin’ done.”
My chest tightened. “You’re done.”
“Yeah, I’m done. You expect me to keep putting up with this?”
Hot tears filled my eyes and ran down my cheeks in a continuous stream. “I didn’t even kiss him! Nothing happened!”
“Why are you crying? You’re crying over him? That’s just fucking great, Cami!”
“No, I’m not crying over him! I don’t want this to be done! I love you!”
Trenton paused, and then shook his head. “I’m not done with you, baby. I’m done with him.” His voice turned low and frightening again. “He’s done with you.”
“Please,” I said, reaching out for him. “I explained to him. He knows now. It was just closure, I think.”
He nodded, furious. “You think.”
I nodded back quickly, begging him with my eyes.
Trenton pulled out his car keys. “Is he still in town?”
I didn’t answer.
“Where is he staying?”
I pressed my fingers together at chest level, and then touched them to my lips. “Trenton, you’re exhausted. It’s been a crazy few days. You’re overreacting.”
“Where the fuck is he staying?” he screamed. His veins popped from his neck and forehead, and he began to shake.
“I can’t tell you,” I said, shaking my head.
“You won’t,” he said, breathing hard. “You just . . . you’re going to let him continue to fuck with us like this?”
I kept silent. I couldn’t tell him the truth, so there was no point.
“Do you love me?” he asked.
“Yes,” I cried, reaching for him.
He pulled away. “Why don’t you tell him, Cami? Why don’t you tell him you’re with me?”
“He knows.”
Trenton itched the tip of his nose with the back of his hand, and nodded. “Then it’s settled. The only way he’s going to stay away from you is if I beat his ass.”
I knew this was going to happen. I knew it, and I did it anyway. “You promised.”
“You’re going to play that card? Why are you protecting him? I don’t get it!”
“I’m not protecting him! I’m protecting you!” I said, shaking my head.
“I’m going to find him, Cami. I’m going to track him down, and when I find him . . .”
My cell phone buzzed in my pocket, and then buzzed again. I pulled it out to check quickly. Trenton must have noticed my expression, because he grabbed it from my hands.
“ ‘We need to talk,’ ” he said, reading the message. It was from T.J.
“You promised!” I cried.
“So did you!” he screamed. His voice carried across the night, echoing through the empty lot.
He was right. I’d made promises to keep T.J.’s secret, and to love Trenton. I couldn’t keep them both. I would meet with T.J. It was time to convince him to release me of that burden, but I couldn’t risk Trenton following me, and I couldn’t meet T.J. without making Trenton hate me. T.J. could be leaving the next day for all I knew. I had to go to him right then.
“I don’t understand you, Cami. Are you just not over him? Is that it?”
I pursed my lips. The guilt was too much. “It’s nothing like that.”
Trenton’s chest was heaving. He was getting emotional. He pitched my phone across the street, and then paced, stomping back and forth, with his hands on his hips. My phone landed in a patch of grass, just beneath the streetlamp on the other side.
“Go get it,” I said, my voice even.
He shook his head.
“Go get it!” I yelled, pointing toward the streetlamp.
When Trenton stomped off to find the small, black phone in the dark, I walked quickly to my Jeep and slammed the door. The engine sputtered for a moment, and then finally started up. Trenton was outside my window.
He knocked a few times, gently, his eyes soft again. “Baby, roll down the window.”
I gripped the steering wheel, and then looked over at him from under my brow, my cheeks wet.
“I’m sorry. I’ll find your phone. But you can’t take off in your car upset.”
I stared ahead, releasing the emergency break.
Trenton put his palm flat against the glass. “Cami, if you want to take a drive, fine, but scoot over. I’ll drive you anywhere you need to go.”
I shook my head. “You’re going to find out. And when you do, it’s going to ruin everything.”
Trenton frowned. “Find what out? Ruin what?”
I turned to him. “I’m going to tell you. I want to tell you. But not right now.” I stomped on the clutch, and shoved the gear into reverse, backing out of the parking spot. I lowered my chin and cried for a few moments.
Trenton was still tapping my window. “Look at me, baby.”
I took a deep breath, pushed the gear up into first, and then lifted my head, looking forward.
“Cami, you can’t drive like this . . . Cami!” he said louder as I pulled away.
I made it to the parking lot entrance when the passenger door flew open. Trenton hopped inside, breathing hard.
“Baby, pull over.”
“What the hell are you doing?”
“Pull over, and let me drive.”
I pulled into the street and headed west. I had no plan to get to T.J., and now that Trenton was in the car, I really didn’t know what to do. And then it hit me. I would just take him to T.J. Get it all out in the open. T.J. had brought this on himself. If he had left me alone, I wouldn’t be in this position. But I needed to give Trenton time to cool off, first. I needed to drive.
“Pull over, Cami.” Trenton’s voice had an edge to it I’d never heard before. He was anxious and calm at the same time. It was unsettling.
I sniffed, and then wiped my eyes with my sleeve. “You’re going to hate me,” I said.
“I’m not going to hate you. Pull over, and I’ll drive all night if you want. We can talk about it.”
I shook my head. “No, you’re going to hate me, and I’ll lose everything.”
“You won’t lose me, Camille. I swear to Christ, but you’re all over the goddamn road! We’re on the edge of town, and will hit dirt road soon. Pull the fuck over!”
In that moment, a pair of glowing lights converged into one. I barely caught a glimpse of it from the corner of my eye, and then my head hit the window, smashing the glass into a thousand tiny pieces. Some of the shards flew outward, but most fell into my lap, or floated in the cab of the Jeep as it slid across the intersection and into a ditch on the other side. Time stood still for what seemed like several minutes, and then we were airborne as the Jeep began to roll. Once. Twice. And then I lost count, because everything went black.
I awoke in a room with white walls and white blinds that kept the sunlight from peeking through. I blinked a few times, looking at my surroundings. A television was on overhead but was muted, playing an old Seinfeld rerun. Wires and tubes were strung from my arms to a pair of poles next to me, the monitors attached to them beeped softly. A small box was stuffed into a front pocket on my gown, the wires following one another to sticky circles attached to my chest. Bags of clear liquid hung from one pole, releasing a continuous drip through to my IV. The tubing ended with a few pieces of tape on the back of my hand.