Page 11 of Camera Stays On

With my head hung low, I asked the hotel desk clerk if they knew someone who could take me to my truck. I had no idea how far I was from the bar.

“The county bus will be here in about half an hour,” the clerk said, so I went outside to smoke a cigarette and wait. This hotel was busy, and every time someone came in or out the glass doors, I whipped my head around, hoping it was Andi. Each time it wasn’t, my disappointment grew. She really ditched me.

Was I that bad?

I reflected on the details of the night. Despite being drunker than shit, I’d been on my game. She’d come so many times. My mustache still smelled like her, for Christ’s sake.

What was so bad about me that she had to run?

The questions racked my brain as I rode the bus to Tilly’s bar, and then on the way home in my truck. It was early, and Sawyer’s car was still in the drive. I said a silent prayer that he was still asleep, but the strong smell of coffee when I went inside told me otherwise. Deciding just to play it off, I shut the door like normal and strode into the kitchen. The dogs leaped off their beds and followed me.

“Morning.” I went straight to the cabinet, pulling out a coffee cup and reaching for the pot. He straightened his posture, his shoulders back and chest out.

“Where were you?” Sawyer asked, his tone clipped. I forced myself not to react and finished pouring my coffee before going to the fridge for creamer. Even if my heart hadn’t just been ripped from my chest, I was too hungover to deal with his shit.

“I found myself over at Tilly’s. Ended up leaving with someone.” I turned, took a sip, and smirked. He studied me, looking for some clue that I was lying. The hot liquid soothed my brain instantly.

“Why didn’t you come here?” He narrowed his gaze.

“Her place was closer.” I shrugged. Another sidestep. “I was so tired after we fucked, I just slept over.”

My cock pulsed as a flash of my mouth on Andi ‘s beautiful pussy popped into my mind. She’d tasted so good. I inhaled deeply, wishing I could never wash my face again.

“Why, what’d you do last night?” I asked, acting as if I couldn’t see how tense he was.

“I came home. What else was I supposed to do? The dogs needed to be fed, and you were MIA. I took the whole day off to see Andi, and...”

She wasn’t interested.

The thought brought me a small joy.

My aloofness paid off, and his tense stance relaxed.

“Did Purdy get back to her hotel?” he asked, passing me to feed the dogs breakfast. My eye twitched at Andi’s now-abandoned nickname. She didn’t like it anymore. I bit back the urge to correct him and took a sip of my coffee.

“Yeah, walked her to the door myself.” I hid my smile behind my cup. Something about this felt wrong, but the stance he’d had when I walked in pissed me off. What had he planned to do if I’d confessed how I really spent my night?

The competitive brother in me was coming out. It wasn’t in my nature to get so defensive, but Sawyer always knew how to piss me off.

“Did she say anything about me?” His question was desperate, almost laughable. I stared at him for a beat. He was delusional. Andi had never loved him. She was lucky to have gotten away. Like it’d been many times before, it was on the tip of my tongue to tell him so, but I bit back everything I wanted to say about their relationship and gave him a clipped response.

“Not really.”

I tried not to think of how stupid it sounded to call him delusional when she’d run out on me too.

He stood, waiting for me to elaborate, but I didn’t. Sawyer didn’t need to know anything more about Andi than she’d given him. When he saw I wasn’t going to continue, he spoke.

“She wasn’t happy to see me yesterday. I think she was jealous about Carly, at the bar. You shouldn’t have told her about us.”

I rolled my eyes.

“Carly was being a bitch, dude.” I kicked off the cabinets and sat down at the table. “Andi already has enough hang-ups about herself. She didn’t need another one just because you whored around after she left.”

“What was I supposed to do?” he snapped. “I found out on the morning of my wedding that my girl was a whore. When I confronted her, she left. Should I have ran after her?”

I would have.

Confronted was an interesting word choice, I noted. I wouldn’t have called it that, but Sawyer always recalled his actions differently than everyone else.