A Promise Gone Wrong

Chapter Eighteen: Thank You

[Warning: Features Mature Content]

++
+++Cameron+++
++

Keys jingle as they unlock the kitchen door leading to Rebecca's garage which paints a look of panic all over her face.

"You have to hide!" she exclaims, grabbing my wrists and yanking me so hard from the couch that I feel like a cape flowing behind her as she flies us up the stairs and straight into a bedroom.

Her bedroom.

My eyes squint the moment we enter as sunlight shining in through a bay window illuminates her white walls and polished wood floors. Blinking a few times, my vision adjusts and I'm able to take in her high, pointed ceiling which has decorative bulbs stringing down to the queen sized headboard of a bed coated in puffy, white and gray sheets.

Artwork of mountains and the animals which inhabit them hang from her walls, and a desk beside her bed lavished with textbooks, framed photos, trophies, and other trinkets. I find myself so caught up admiring how clean and dreamlike everything looks that I don't realize she is still tugging at my arms until I stumble onto a rug that looks soft enough to sleep on.

"In the closet," she whispers, dismissive of the trance her bedroom has put me in.

Next thing I know I'm being crammed into hangers, clothes and a pile of shoes.

"Ow," I whine, brushing her forceful hands off of my chest. "What's the rush? They're not even--"

Suddenly her bedroom door opens in the same moment she slams me shut inside absolute darkness.

"Hey, your mother and I need your help unloading suitcases from the car," a deep, masculine voice resonates through air making goosebumps tickle my skin.

Damn, that was close.

"Okay, I'll be right down," she mutters softly and then there is a short silence before her floor creaks. "I was just putting away some laundry."

Did he come in?

Shit! Maybe I should hide behind her clothes? She has so many it could work.

No.

If I move he might hear me.

"Hurry up," he yawns, his voice thankfully at the same distance as before. "The sooner we get unpacked the sooner we can have our talk."

The door shuts and I catch the faint sound of a short sigh. Then, my eyes are again temporarily blinded as she cracks open the closet door.

"I'm sorry," she whispers, "I forgot their flight was early."

She's apologizing? I'm the one who showed up on her doorstep.

"It's not a big deal," I offer reassurance and chuckle with a thought. "Besides, this isn't my first time hiding from someone's parents."

Even in such a fragile state, her downcast expression twists to a scowl as she shakes her head.

"Man-whore."

Biting my lip, I resist an urge to laugh at the insult.

"You better go before he comes back. Don't worry about me," I say as I glance around the small space and find a clear part of the wall to lean against.