Unforgiven (Wanderers #3) Read online

  There was just something about Cameron though. Something that made him want to change, but it didn’t matter. Being with her wasn’t an option he had. He was sure Cameron didn’t feel that way about him. He knew the tall tale signs when a girl was interested and from what he gathered she was not. Dean was the heartbreaker not the one who got his heartbroken and he had a feeling if he pursued her she would turn him down and he didn’t take rejection well. Not to mention she was also dating one of his good friends, Austin. Dean was many things, but stealing another guy’s girl was not in his repertoire. So for the time being, all he could do was sit back, and admire from a distance.

  “Sightseeing sounds like a great idea. What do you say?” Cameron asked Dean, plopping down on the couch next to him. He loved the way she looked first thing in the morning. The way her hair was just slightly tousled, the warm color on her cheeks, and the casual way she carried herself, as if she could care less what she looked like. Not to mention the short shorts and tight tank top she wears to bed make her –

  “Thinking impure thoughts again?” Cameron teased, breaking Dean from his daze. His cheeks flushed slightly. “I was kidding, relax. Why so tense?”

  “Don’t mind him. He always makes that face when he’s constipated,” Josie laughed, making Dean narrow his eyes at her. “I got some Miralax or maybe an enema if you prefer?”

  “Are you volunteering?” he retorted and Josie wrinkled her nose at him.

  “You know what, it is too early to be talking about bowel movements so how about we move on to a different subject?” Cameron suggested, not wanting to go down this road knowing full well Josie and Dean could go at it for hours.

  “Sorry and yes. Sightseeing sounds good, but after I check on Ella,” Dean said, moving so fast that Josie barely had any time to react.

  She blinked and was able to make it to the front door before Dean barged in. “Dean, if you insist on seeing Ella then at least have the common courtesy to knock,” she warned, prepared to do what she had to keep him from knocking down the door.

  Dean took a deep breath and raised his hand to knock, but before he even had the chance Ella swung the door wide open. “Thanks for attempting to knock. And yes I’m fine so you don’t have to worry,” she said, with her arms crossed, showing her annoyance at the disturbance.

  “How’d you?” Dean asked.

  “One, you’re my brother, I know better. And two, I could hear you. Not talking, in your head,” she clarified when Dean looked at her confused.

  “We were just coming to invite you to breakfast,” Dean offered, quickly closing off his mind.

  Ella narrowed her eyes at him not believing him for a second. It didn’t matter if she could read his mind or not he knew she could always tell when he was lying. “No you weren’t. Nice try. But since you brought it up I’ll take eggs, pancakes, waffles, French toast, and some O.J.”

  “All that for you two?” Cameron asked, stepping behind Dean.

  “Oh right, I guess I should ask Tristan what he wants, oops.”

  Josie and Cameron giggled. Dean was still on edge and not ready to just let this go. “Great, meet us in the Café in thirty minutes. They have a great breakfast buffet,” Dean said, vanishing again before Ella had a chance to say no.

  Dean hopped in the shower quickly before he had to meet them downstairs. He’d rather go back to bed. Back to where he had his arms around Cameron and the dreams he had about her. So vivid and so dirty that when he woke up he had to quickly turn the other way. He had hoped she didn’t notice, but if she did she didn’t seemed to be bothered by it. To ease his mind he flashed back to the dreams with Cameron, going over every little nasty detail. Envisioning all the naughty little outfits she was wearing until this no longer made him at ease. “Crap,” he said looking down. “Down boy.” That was not something he had time for. So as most guys do in these situations he thought of the one thing that is a guarantee mood killer, his grandma and her bunions.

  Yep, that did the trick. He finished up in the shower and got dressed to meet everyone downstairs.

  *

  Ella

  “Is everything okay?” Tristan asked as I joined him back on the bed.

  “Yes,” I sighed. “Just Dean being Dean.” I snuggled up close to him, laying my head on his chest. “We have to meet everyone downstairs for breakfast in thirty minutes.”

  “I was kind of hoping to have breakfast in bed,” Tristan said, nibbling on my neck.

  We heard Josie clear her throat. I turned around to scowl at her. “Josie!” I yelled.

  “Sorry but Dean’s hogging all the hot water and all my stuff is in here.”

  “You still could have knocked,” I scolded, annoyed at the interruption.

  “What fun would that have been?” she giggled. “Morin’ Tristan,” she winked and skipped over to the bathroom. “I won’t take long I promise,” she sang, closing the door.

  I rolled my eyes and got up out of bed. “Hey, where are you going?” Tristan asked, pulling me back down.

  “We have to get ready,” I said, pulling away.

  “What’s the rush?” He smiled, running his hands under my shirt. Before I could stop him there was a knock at the door. I groaned and walked over to answer it.

  “Hey Billy, what’s up?”

  “Is Josie in here?”

  “Shower,” I said, pointing over my shoulder.

  “Is Tristan…” he paused, unsure how to word it, but I knew what he was thinking.

  “He’s fine. Good as new, well he could use a shave and a haircut, but besides that he’s pretty much back to his old self. You can come in and talk to him if you want?”

  “I don’t want to intrude,” he said sheepishly.

  “Nonsense, join the party.” I waved him in.

  Tristan was now up and out of bed and when he saw Billy he froze. Billy stood there not sure how to react. “Tristan,” he nodded and Tristan did the same. “How are you?”

  “Better now, thanks.” They stood still for a moment, not saying anything. “Ella told me what you did, how you helped her. Thank you, for everything.”

  Billy took a step closer to Tristan and then another, slowly, until they were face to face. Billy looked Tristan dead in the eye and for a second I thought he was going to hit him, but then Billy smiled. “Welcome back Brother,” he said, picking Tristan up in a giant bear hug. Tristan hugged him back, grinning. I couldn’t help but smile myself.

  “We have a lot to talk about,” Tristan said after Billy put him down.

  “Yes, we do.”

  Josie popped her head out of the bathroom. “Hey Ella can I borrow your…Billy,” she squealed. “Hey babe, how about you come in here and help me wash my back,” she smiled.

  “Josie, we don’t have time for that,” I argued.

  “Actually we will be saving time by us showering together…unless you want to join me?”

  “I think I like that image,” Tristan said, pushing me toward the bathroom.

  I smacked him. “Nice try.”

  “Billy,” Josie whined. “I’m waiting.”

  He turned to us. “Sorry guys,” and with that he was gone, making Josie giggle and squeal.

  “I so don’t want to be in here for this. Let’s just get dressed and we can shower later,” I said, grabbing my clothes.

  “I think I like the sound of that,” Tristan said, kissing my nose.

  Tristan and I arrived at the Café to find Cameron sitting by herself. “Where’s Dean?” I asked.

  “Still getting ready,” she said.

  “I should have known better,” I moaned. Cameron’s eyes darted to Tristan and she shifted uncomfortably in her seat. “Oh yeah, Tristan this is Cameron.”

  He extended his hand to hers, but she hesitated. “I promise I won’t bite,” he winked. Her expression clearly said that did not make her feel any better.

  “He’s kidding.” I smacked him. “You can sober him up but you can’t take him out.”

  �
�If this is him sober I think I liked it better when he was drunk and passed out,” she glared.

  “Give me a few minutes and I can make your wish come true.” He signaled for a waiter and ordered a mimosa. I gave him my ‘I do not approve’ look and he just smiled. “I do tend to be at my best when I’m drinking.”

  “I beg to differ,” I complained.

  “Is he always like this?” Cameron asked. She had her arms crossed in a guarded pose.

  “Unfortunately yes,” I replied.

  “You know you love it.” Tristan leaned down to kiss me. I pulled back. Not because I was annoyed with him like normal, but because I felt like being affectionate in public was like I already dismissed Roman and it just felt wrong.

  Tristan looked at me funny and I didn’t know what to say. I opened my mouth but no words came out. I think he assumed I was just mad at him for his comment and let it go. He pulled out my chair for me and suddenly I felt like the worst person in the world. I already cheated on Roman by giving in to temptation last night and it finally hit me how wrong it was. “Ella, are you okay?” I looked up at Tristan and forced a smile. I nodded and took a seat.

  Tristan went to hold my hand and I pulled away, looking guilty at Cameron. Tristan leaned in closer to me and whispered, “Did I do something wrong, because I’m sensing something isn’t right here.”

  “No, everything is fine.”

  “Ella, I can feel something is wrong. I feel…guilt,” he said, eyeing me.

  “What do you mean you feel guilt?” I asked.

  “I don’t feel it, but…” he looked at me. “You do…why?”

  “I…I…” I had no idea what to say.

  I looked at Cameron again. She sighed, dropping her guard. “Look Ella, I knew from the beginning what you were coming here to do and at any time I could have called Roman to let him know but I didn’t. It’s not my business. I told you I’m here for you and whatever you do is up to you. I don’t judge,” she said, giving me a kind smile. “So you two don’t have to hide anything around me or feel guilty.”

  “Who’s Roman?” Tristan asked.

  “You didn’t tell him?” she said, trying to hide her smile.

  Once again I was at a loss for words. Josie and Billy showed up then and paused when they got to the table. “Okay, what did I miss?” Josie asked, sensing the tension.

  “Who’s Roman?” Tristan asked again.

  “He’s…um…maybe we should talk about this later,” I tried, not wanting to explain this in front of everyone. The look on Tristan’s face told me that this was going to be a long and awkward breakfast. I sat up and cleared my throat. Dean arrived and took a seat next to Cameron. “I think we should order now,” I said, hoping he would drop this. Tristan gave me a side long glance, but didn’t say anything.

  I looked up at Dean who was glaring at Tristan. “You still on a murderous rampage or you better now?”

  “Dean!” I yelled.

  “Ella, it’s fine,” Tristan said, not even bothering to look at me. “I understand your need for concern,” he began, addressing Dean. “But you don’t have to worry. I would never do anything to hurt Ella.”

  “It didn’t seem that way last night.”

  “Last night I wasn’t myself and I apologize for that. You have my word that I would never do anything to hurt Ella and I will do whatever I can to protect her.”

  “Say whatever you want, but hear this. You do anything to hurt my sister or harm her in any way, I will make you wish you were never born,” Dean hissed.

  “Are we done now?” I glared at Dean. He didn’t say anything else. Instead he just picked up his menu.

  “Now that that’s out of the way, let’s talk about the real hurt he was giving you last night,” Josie winked.

  “Josie,” I chastised.

  Dean looked at her appalled. “New subject please.”

  I was so embarrassed I knew my cheeks had to be bright red. “I prefer to talk about how you were spying last night,” I said, narrowing my eyes at Josie.

  “I wasn’t spying. I just popped in to make sure you were okay,” she smiled sweetly.

  “And let me guess you just so happened to pop in when?”

  “I think you got a few moves you could teach me,” she said, wagging her eyebrows.

  “Next time you pop in you should stay,” Tristan said to Josie with his cocky smile.

  “Gross,” Josie and I both said.

  “You wouldn’t mind Billy, would ya?”

  “Just as long as I can borrow Ella,” he smiled.

  “Okay, you know what,” I started.

  “Seriously dudes, that’s my sister and I don’t want to hear this,” Dean said, making us all laugh, breaking some of the tension. I had a feeling that Tristan’s sudden mood change was to hide the fact how really pissed off he was. I knew the second breakfast was over he would demand to know who Roman was and I would have to tell him.

  Chapter Ten

  After breakfast, we all went our separate ways. Billy and Josie went with Dean and Cameron to go sightseeing. I could tell Dean wasn’t thrilled but he went along anyways. I would have traded spots with him at the moment if I could. I was dreading talking to Tristan and I knew he wasn’t too thrilled either. By the way I brushed it off at breakfast and made it a point not to talk about it then I knew he knew this was serious.

  Inside the room, Tristan automatically went to the couch and took a seat. “Want to tell me what’s going on?” he asked. His mood changed from soft and light to hard and guarded, not making this any easier.

  I took a breath, letting it out slowly. I knew there was no point in trying to lie. So I decided I was just going to come out with it. “Roman is…my boyfriend.”

  His face dropped and he leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. He covered his face with his hands and then ran them through his hair. “Is it serious?”

  “Yes…but I’m not so sure anymore.”

  “What makes you say that?”

  “Our last conversation didn’t go so well.” He looked up at me waiting for me to explain. Knowing this might take a bit, I sat down on the bed so I could brace myself if my legs gave out. “I kind of left in a hurry when I came to find you. I told no one what I was doing or where I was going. I left a lot of worried and pissed off people back at school.” I looked down at my thumbs, digging into my over picked cuticles. “I didn’t tell Roman, well, because how do you tell your boyfriend that you find out your ex-boyfriend is still alive and you have to go find him because you have to tell him you love him because the guilt of not admitting when you should have was eating you up inside.” I bit my lip and looked up at the ceiling. I could feel the tears start to pool in my eyes and I was not going to let myself cry, not this time.

  Tristan looked up at me, his eyes filled with sadness. “You feel guilty for not telling me how you felt?” I nodded, afraid my voice would betray me. He got up and sat next to me on the bed. I looked into his eyes and thought I might lose it. He slipped his arms around me and I leaned into his chest. “Ella, there’s no reason to feel guilty. I don’t ever want you to feel that way.”

  “Easier said than done,” I mumbled into his chest.

  He let out a breath. “Does he know?”

  “He called several times since I left. I avoided his calls at first not able to explain it to him, but after a while I knew he deserved the truth. So I told him.” I pulled back to see his expressionless face.

  “And he broke up with you?”

  “I don’t know exactly. He said he understood, but…I told him…” I had to look away. “I told him I loved him, but he didn’t say it back.” I could feel my lip begin to tremble. Tristan dropped his arms. “Do you hate me?”

  “No Ella, I could never hate you. Why would you think that?”

  “Because I lied to you.”

  He placed his hand gently on my cheek and pulled me forward so he could kiss my forehead. “Ella, no. I understand why you didn’t tell me and I’
m not mad at you. I should have known someone as beautiful as you would have been snatched up by now,” he winked, trying to force a smile, but I could tell he was hurt.

  I threw my arms around him needing to feel him against me. I could feel his hesitation to hold me back which hurt more than I thought it would. “Do you love him?” he asked, making me stiffen.

  I tried to blink away the tears, but a few managed to escape hitting Tristan’s shoulder. “Yes,” I whispered.

  He let out a breath but didn’t pull away. I could tell he was conflicted. His mind was a jumbled mess of confusion and I couldn’t get a clear read. “Stop that,” he said, pulling away.

  “Stop what?” I asked confused.

  He stood up abruptly. “You don’t get to do that. You don’t have the right to get inside my head.”

  “I…I wasn’t…”

  “Yes you were. I could feel it. That’s not fair Ella.”

  “I’m sorry. It was an accident. Sometimes I can’t always help it and I...I just wanted to know what you were feeling.”

  “You want to know what I’m feeling? Feel this.” He placed my hand over his racing heart and held it there. “This is what I feel every time I’m with you. Every time I touch you,” he reached up and cupped my face. “Ella, you make my heart beat ten times faster just by being in my presence. I wish you would just trust in this,” he said, hitting my hand where it lied on his chest. My shoulders started to shake as the tears spilled down my cheeks. Tristan lifted me up off the bed and wrapped his arms around me tight. “Ella, I don’t know what’s going on inside your head right now, but whatever you’re feeling, just know I’m right here.” I pulled back to look into his beautiful blue eyes that I missed so much. “And I’ll always be here,” he said, placing his hand over my heart.

  “Tristan, I’m so sorry I didn’t tell you from the beginning. I was just so happy I found you I didn’t want to ruin it and I guess I was being selfish.”