Page 3 of Dr. Brandt
“You and I are taking the master bedroom tonight,” Tania said as she grabbed my crotch. “We can share it with the others. You want it, Cammy. Stop playing around.”
“Cammy?” Jessa seemed to bite back her smile.
If Jessa had ever prayed for my ass to be punished for hurting her, she was watching the answer to those prayers come true at this moment. I was miserable, trying my damndest to focus, and Jessa seemed to find it all extremely amusing. That’s what this was all about, right? Karma biting me in my ass like I deserved.
If that wasn’t enough, I was now fighting off this bridesmaid like a rabid spider monkey. “I’m getting another room, and you’re going back to that wedding party. I’m done with this shit.”
“Why don’t I leave you two alone?” Jessa said with a curious smile. “It was nice to see you again, Cam.” She looked at the woman who was hanging like a drunken idiot on my side. “Enjoy your wedding festivities, or whatever it is you’re doing here.”
“This isn’t what it seems.” I tried to smile while refraining from throwing a bridesmaid off my ass. “Trust me.”
“Have a good one.” She laughed and grinned at me.
“Jessa, can we talk?” I looked like an idiot with a drunk woman trying to lick me as she stumbled over her own feet. “I mean, do you have a minute or two?”
“I think you might be the busy one,” Jessa chuckled, watching the bridesmaid that I was unsuccessfully trying to keep at arm’s length.
“You think this is funny?” I grinned back at her, hoping I could get her to agree to meet with me.
“I’ve never seen anything like this before.” She looked at the girl, who was now sitting on the ground, holding onto my shorts like a toddler would cling to their parent.
“Neither have I,” I said as I looked at Tania in disbelief.
“I really have to go.” Jessa seemed weirded out about what was happening to me, and I couldn’t blame her. I’d never been in a more ridiculous situation.
“I’ll try to catch up as soon as I secure another room. The one I have now isn’t working out.”
“You do that.” She winked before she turned and walked away, and I was instantly brought back to better days with my first and only love.
Thirteen years of college and med school taught me that resilience and good focus would get you what you want if you worked hard enough at it, and what I wanted now was Jessa. I hadn’t seen her since I left early for med school, and I couldn’t help but wonder what she thought of me after witnessing this scene.
I stood there—with an intoxicated, groveling bridesmaid holding onto my leg—and watched Jessa walk away. I’d had a lot of girlfriends and flings since Jessa, but no one had ever measured up to her. Now, I felt desperate to explain things to her and right all the wrongs I’d ever done. All I could do was hope to find her again and pray that she’d want to hear me out.
Chapter Two
Cam
After a night spent searching the resort for Jessa, she seemed to be nothing more than a phantom after our shit-scramble of a run-in. There was no other way of looking at it. That fucking bridesmaid, clinging to me like a child with her tits falling out of her shirt—Jessa had seen it all.
Maybe Jessa was just a ghost. That was it. She had to be a hallucination brought on by my lack of sleep, some liquor, and profound frustration at my current situation. Why else would I dream up the woman I never stopped loving, the woman I hurt most selfishly?
I sat in one of the empty cabanas, staring at the stars glittering in the night sky. It was hours before the sun would make its appearance, and I was trying desperately to convince myself that our interaction was a figment of my imagination. It wasn’t working, though, and this weak-ass coffee wasn’t working either.
For the hundredth time, I pinched the bridge of my nose, knowing that I wasn’t a man who created scenarios that didn’t exist. I didn’t live my life in frustration either—a trait handed down to me by my father. I was patient yet thorough in everything I did. Could I be pushed to my limits? Absolutely. Did this trip suck worse than I could’ve ever imagined and make me want to throw myself into the sea? Hell yes. However, despite my dismal circumstances, they weren’t bad enough for me to hallucinate my long-lost love.
I’d seen Jessa, and she’d seen me, so however unfavorable the situation might’ve been, it happened. No such luck deluding myself tonight.
I leaned forward and rubbed my forehead. “Jesus, has it really been sixteen years?” I whispered to myself.
“Since when does the confident Cameron Brandt talk to himself?” Jessa’s voice rang with humor.
My head snapped up to see her eyes glistening in the light of the full moon that rested peacefully above the ocean before me. I grinned, unable to withstand her beautiful smile and the reminder of the way I always loved hearing laughter in her voice when she talked.
“I’ve certainly turned into the worst version of myself, and here you are to amuse yourself with that,” I said, turning and placing both feet in the sand to face the lounge chair she took next to me.
She arched her eyebrow while she pulled her long, blonde hair casually into a ponytail. “Of all the people in this world who know,” she grinned playfully at me, “or should I say knew me so well, I could never amuse myself with anyone having so rough a time.”
“Not even the man who promised never to leave you, yet that’s exactly what I did?” I answered without hesitation.
