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Rival's Contract Marriage 145
I slid into my chair, my hand tightening around the pen they’d placed at each setting. He didn’t glance at me, not once. Not when I sat down. Not when I said, “Hey.” Not even when I leaned slightly closer and muttered, “Guess they ran out of places to hide me from you.”His only reaction was this tiny twitch at the corner of his mouth. Could’ve been annoyance. Could’ve been… something else.The keynote speaker started, but I wasn’t really listening. I could hear Cameron’s breathing. I could see the way his fingers tapped lightly against his notepad when he was trying not to fidget.I leaned back, whispering just low enough for him to hear. “You look good.”His pen froze mid-word. He didn’t look at me. “Don’t.”“Don’t what?” I asked, even though I knew exactly what.“Don’t do this here.”I smiled, even though my chest hurt. “I’m literally just sitting.”He finally turned to look at me, and wow, bad idea. His eyes were sharp, all control and ice, but I caught it—the flicker. The one tha
Rival's Contract Marriage 144
Brandon’s POVI didn’t even want to come to this convention.Like, at all.But Coach said it would be “good exposure” for me and the team. Networking, PR photos, the whole fake-smile package. And here I was — wearing a stupid badge with my name in bold letters like anyone needed a reminder of who I was.The ballroom was huge. Too many people, too much chatter, and the kind of hotel carpet pattern that made you dizzy if you stared too long. I was halfway through a lukewarm bottle of water when I saw him.Cameron.It was like the air shifted. My grip on the bottle tightened, and my pulse did that annoying jump it always did when I wasn’t ready to deal with him. He was across the room, talking to some guy in a navy suit. Sharp jaw, perfect tie, hair done like he had a personal stylist — which, knowing him, he probably did.And then, like the universe hated me, the event organizer appeared beside me with a clipboard.“Brandon, right? You’re at Table 14. Oh! And you’ll be sitting next to—”
Rival's Contract Marriage 143
Cameron POVDad’s home office still smelled like him.That mix of old leather, expensive cologne, and the faint tang of ink from his fountain pens. The heavy curtains were half-drawn, muting the late afternoon light into a dim gold. Dust motes floated in the air like the room was holding its breath. Everything was still in place—his glasses next to the ledger, a pen left uncapped, the coffee cup with a faint ring of dried black at the bottom.It felt wrong being here without him.Like I’d stepped into a shrine.I was flipping through the latest reports, trying not to let my eyes glaze over, when the door burst open.“Why haven’t you canceled your engagement with Brandon?”Drake’s voice cut through the room like a knife. No hello. No knocking. Just him, storming in like he owned the air I was breathing.I didn’t even look up. “Nice to see you too, Drake. How’s your day going?”He ignored that, striding up to the desk and planting both hands on it. “I’m serious, Cam. This should’ve been
Rival's Contract Marriage 142
Brandon’s POVI didn’t even realize I was pacing until Mom leaned against the kitchen counter with her arms crossed like I’d just told her I got someone pregnant or something.“Brandon,” she said slowly, like I was some bomb she didn’t want to set off, “you’ve been wearing a hole in my floor for the last ten minutes. Either sit down or start paying rent.”“I can’t just sit down,” I muttered, running my hand through my hair for the hundredth time today. “He won’t even talk to me, Mom. He just… looks at me like I’m the enemy.”“Maybe because you’re acting like a stalker?” she suggested, raising her eyebrows.I flinched. “I’m not— okay, yeah, maybe showing up outside his apartment every day wasn’t… ideal.”“Not ideal?” she said, tilting her head. “That’s what you call camping in front of someone’s place like you’re auditioning for a bad romance movie?”I groaned and dropped into the chair, my knees bouncing. “It’s the only way I can see him. If I don’t show up, he disappears. He moved ba
Rival's Contract Marriage 141
Cameron POVI thought moving back home would fix it. Or at least numb it.But it didn’t.The first morning back, I dragged myself to the bathroom, still half-asleep, toothbrush dangling from my mouth as I stared out the window.I could feel my heart pounding against my ribs and I just wanted it to stop.And then I saw him.That stupid fucking Brandon.I choked on the foam and nearly spat toothpaste all over the glass.What. The. Hell.There he was. Right outside our fucking gate. In the pouring rain. He had his hoodie up and his legs were crossed like he had every right to be parked there, like this wasn’t the tenth day in a row he had been trailing me.Just sitting on the hood of his car, headphones in, like he lived there.My blood boiled at his audacity . My hand shot up and I yanked the curtain shut so hard the rod almost came off the wall.What was his problem?Was this some kind of punishment? Some slow-burn, wet-sock, freezing-core-of-my-soul kind of apology?I stormed out of t
Rival's Contract Marriage 140
Cameron The storm didn’t wait.By the time I left the office that night, the sky was already the color of bruises, clouds heavy and swollen, like they were just waiting for the right second to fall apart.I pulled my hood up and walked fast, ignoring the way the rain started spitting in my face. The streets were loud—honking, people shouting, taxis splashing through puddles—but it all felt far away.I needed quiet.I needed space.I ended up at the hospital.Don’t ask me why. I just… needed to see him.The elevator ride to Dad’s floor felt like forever, the fluorescent lights buzzing overhead like they were annoyed I was there. When I finally stepped into his room, it was dim, just the soft beeping of monitors and the slow rise and fall of his chest.He looked smaller somehow. Like the bed had swallowed him.I sank into the chair by his side, pulling it closer.“You missed a hell of a day,” I said softly. My voice sounded stupid in the quiet.I leaned my elbows on my knees, staring a
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