Into You Series: The Complete Collection

38. Cameron

CHAPTER 38

CAMERON

I feel like I’m being reprimanded by my parents. They always said very broad, threatened statements, but then never went on to take any disciplinary actions. They were all bark and no bite—like Ian is.

“I know you guys are together,” Ian says. “And honestly I should tell.”

Grace stands next to me, her arms crossed, and mouth pursed.

“And why do you think that?” she snaps, narrowing her eyes.

“Cameron suddenly can’t go to bars as much because he’s staying later at the office,” Ian says. “Ramona tells me that you’re too busy with work to hang out with her and Wes.”

“That’s all true, though,” Grace says. “What’s your point?”

“Also I saw your tits,” Ian says, rubbing his fingernails on his shoulder.

Grace’s eyes widen, and I feel my heartbeat in my chest. He saw Grace naked ? When the hell did this happen? Grace’s glare feels hot enough to burn straight through Ian’s head.

“Genius here showed me pictures of his hotel build,” he continues.

My chest puffs out a bit. I’ve admittedly been trying to draw more. I was proud of a mock-up I made and showed it to Ian. But then it suddenly hits me what else was on that camera roll, and I deflate.

“Oh … wait …”

“Yep. Next in line was you, Grace. Right on display.” Ian shoves his hands in his pockets and raises his eyebrows. “If you weren’t my sister’s best friend, I’d say those were wonderful breasts.” He whistles low and I inhale sharply as a warning to him. He holds up a hand. “Relax.”

Grace narrows her eyes. “Maybe you shouldn’t snoop on someone else’s phone. I’m sure whoever was actually in the picture would be very upset.”

I commend her for trying to cover this up, but I know exactly what picture he’s referring to, and there is no denying it is her.

She sent it to me from her bathtub. The suds filled everywhere except on her chest which floated atop the water. Apart from her ocean blue eyes staring directly at the camera with a “please come over and spank me” look (which I think was the exact text she sent with the picture), her bright red hair would have given her away easily.

“Maybe don’t send naked pictures to each other,” Ian says with a shrug.

“How do you know that was me?” Grace asks, crossing her arms. She’s not letting this die. “Maybe he just has a thing for redheads. In which case, thank you for the warning, Ian. Now I know to avoid him.”

“Hey!” I say.

“I refuse to be fetishized by my hair!” she says back, sticking out her tongue.

She can be fetishized for much more than the color of her hair.

“This is fun and all,” says Ian, “but I know you guys are together, so just stop it.”

I run my hands through my hair, flopping it to the side. The humidity, combined with my own rising anxiety in being in this whole situation is doing me zero favors.

“Okay, sure, yes,” I say.

Grace gasps, her hand slapping to her heart.

“Betrayal,” she breathes out.

I hold back a smile.

“It means nothing,” I lie to Ian. I don’t like lying to my best friend, but this is the only way I can protect us. “We did it once, we’ve been thinking about it since, but it’s strictly been about the project.”

Yep, more lies.

I’ve been seeing Grace’s bare ass regularly for a little over a month now. She has this habit of walking around the apartment nude with her wide, freckled hips swinging side to side. She sends sassy little insults my way every chance she can get. Nothing has changed since the day we met. She’s still a firecracker in my eyes. And yet now I get the added bonus of seeing her naked while we banter.

I look over at Grace, and her eyebrows are stitched in toward the middle. I throw a grin at her, hoping to ease her concerns, and she gives me a slow smile. I know she has her worries. I know her career means the world to her. But Ian is not going to be the person who pulls the rug out from under us.

“For the record, I don’t believe you’ve only slept together once,” he says, staring at the both of us. “But that’s because I’m a lawyer and you two are horrible liars. Just … be more careful.”

There’s a moment of silence and then Grace half-heartedly laughs.

“My tits are pretty hot, right?”