“I know about all the things you used to get into,” he says. “But I can’t understand why. You and Megan have the same exact background, yet she’s trying to make something of herself, and you want to tear all of that down. You could have easily gone to school and gotten a degree if Megan was doing that.”
I stare at him, chewing slowly. So he wants to go there?
“Oh wise, Kameron, how did I not think of that? Because with the little time I have, of course, I’d want to be locked up in a classroom learning shit I’d never need to work a job I’d never have a chance to keep that would most likely be shitty anyway. I’m not an idiot, nor am I delusional. Tell me how far school has gotten Megan? She only did it to feel normal, whatever the fuck that is. Which is why she’ll always be devastated when life doesn’t turn out to be the perfect little fucking fairy tale she thinks it should be.”
Some of the frown dissolves from his face as he stares at me perplexed; he probably wasn’t expecting such a straight answer from me.
“How do you know any of that if you never tried to live a regular life before?”
I glare at him for a moment before I say, “Nothing about me, nothing about Megan, allows either of us to live a regular life.”
His eyebrows furrow, masking his face in confusion.
“If all of that is true, why did you want a life, to get…married.” He spits out the last word as if the thought of Ian and I disgust him.
“Because Ilovehim, Ian. I really truly love him in a way I never thought was possible. He made me want to try to do what I could to give him the life he made me believe I could have, that he deserved.” I pause, feeling my throat start to burn, emotions begin to course through me, and I refuse to let this jerk off see me cry.
“People who love each other find ways to make even the crappiest situations work; you didn’t,” he declares like he knows what he’s talking about. I have to swallow down my anger. He’s so self-assured and entitled. It’s what he and Megan’s downfall will ultimately be. The fact he’d even imply that I didn’t love Ian enough to fight. Fighting is easy. Walking away for another person’s good is what kills you, even when you know it’s the best thing to do. He really does think that what he’s doing is love.
“No, what you’re trying to do is make what will always be a shitty situation be perfect, and this will never ever be perfect,” I say, almost feeling sorry for the delusions he’s believing.
“Tell me,Kameron,” I start. “What happens if this baby comes out with blonde hair?”
His jaw clenches, and his face goes hard at my word. His face goes pale, and it makes me keep going.
“If this baby isn’t yours, you’re telling me that you will be a healthy co-parent with Ian?” I laugh at the ridiculousness of it.
“It’s not Ian’s.” He says firmly, and I laugh.
“That’s what you want to believe, isn’t it? You think if it’s not Ian’s that I’m just going to go away, and you and Megan will live happily ever after?” His eyes avert mine.
“I tell you what, you better fucking hope so, because if this is Ian and I’s baby, you haveabsolutelyzero fucking hope, Kameron. I will fight with everything in me to stay. I will never allow you or Megan a moment’s happiness raising our baby, and Ian, Ian will destroy you.” I say with a deadly grin. He takes a deep breath, and I have to give him some credit, he really is holding it together as best as he can, and he hasn’t walked out yet.
Good for him.
“I love Megan, and regardless of what you say or try to do, I will never stop loving her or give up on us.”
“Yes, I love her with everything in me,” he says; his voice is strong and unwavering, but his eyes are wide, and his expression is manic.
I can’t help but laugh. “Love, you call this love?” I say dismissively.
What little control he was holding onto flies right out the window, and he glares at me, his blue eyes going ice cold and his body going rigid.
“Because it is,” he growls at me. “You wouldn’t recognize real love if it was wrapped around your neck.”
I let him stand there with his statement hanging between us as I push the soup away to pull my legs up to sit cross-legged facing him, and he watches my every move.
“ I know crazy shit when I see it,” I tell him, once I’m situated. “And you, Kameron, have lost it. You’reobsessedwith Megan. You have to control her. You’re not a man in love. You’re a man who can’t let go and just wants to possess her, to win!” I tell him with a chuckle, and that’s when I see his coolness break under his now red-tinged skin.
“You’re a fucked up, twisted person. You don’t know what it’s like to love someone so much you’d do anything for them. And you can see Megan and I have something real and you’re fucking jealous of it. That’s why you ran off and slept Ian that night, so you could destroy what we have, and now you’re bitter because it didn’t tear us apart.”
I just glare at him with a smile. It’s funny how this is the best he’s got to say to me.
“I have her best interest at heart,” he continues, his livid eyes boring into me. “I’ve seen the kind of life you lead. It only leads to bitterness, loneliness, and misery, and you’re already all three, Alana. That’s why you try to bring Megan down with you. Even Veronica wasn’t cruel and nasty like you. So what’s your excuse, huh? You had the choice to live a better life, but you chose your own path. You can’t take your anger out on Megan because you regret the choices you made.”
By the time he’s done talking, his face is red and his voice is loud, and to another woman, it may be perceived as threatening, but Kameron's all bark.
“You feel better after getting that off your chest?” I ask, my voice nonchalant but dripping with mockery. “How long have you been waiting to say that to me?” I smirk, taunting him.