Strings of Fate by Kit Bryan
Chapter 278

Strings of Fate 

Cam 35- Boundaries and bragging 

I’m lying in bed and theoretically I’m relaxing but I just can’t sleep. I find myself just scrolling through the messages my mother sent me earlier. I sort of want to ignore them, but that doesn’t line up all that well with my whole ‘setting boundaries‘ thing. I can’t expect my family to pull their heads out of their asses if I don’t make it clear when they’re doing things that make me uncomfortable. If I’m not willing to completely cut ties then I need to try to stand up for myself, right? I take almost an hour to compose the text I send to my mother. 

Cam- I would like to start by pointing out that I am an adult and I in no way ‘owe‘ you an explanation however as you are my mother and did raise me I respect you enough to provide one regardless. I understand that you do not agree with my decision, however I have made it clear several times now that I have no interest in meeting with Simon. I will not ever develop a relationship with him and I find it very disturbing that you consider a man who is literally. stalking me as a viable option. The Incubus in that photo is a good person and I am disappointed with your judgemental attitude considering that you have not even met him. He and I are in a relationship and I have no intention of cutting ties with him so I suggest you get over whatever your problem is. I want to make something very clear to you. You have no say at all in my relationships and I will spend time with whoever I choose, with or without your approval. This message isn’t intended as an explanation, a justification of my behaviour or an attempt to gain your approval. Rather it is the opposite. This is the last time I will explain or justify my behaviour to you and while I would love to have your approval, I will not let a lack of it stop me from living life as I see fit. My life is good and I am happy with it. I love my job and I am happy with my relationship. If you can’t accept that… well that’s your problem so stop trying to make it mine because I am done with your attitude. Unless you intend to apologise and are ready to move on from this, don’t bother answering this message. You will always be my mother and I will always love you but I can’t keep having this 

conversation. 

I hold my breath as I hit send, then within moments the exhaustion that has been trying to claim me for hours finally wins. I wake up to my alarm, feeling groggy and trying to work out why I set it so early. Oh, right. I have a date with Harry. I might not be expecting this to go especially well, but he always looks so much better than me, I want to put in some effort. I don’t want to look like some Incubi fangirl that he’s using. I want to look like someone an Incubus would want. Feeling motivated, I turn off the alarm and roll out of bed. I check my phone. I have two messages. One from my mum and one from Harry. I figure I’ll start with 

the more difficult one first. 

1/4 

Cam 35- Boundaries and bragging 

Mum – Your grandmother is heartbroken, I can’t believe you would speak to us this way. I 

then thought I raised you better than this. Give it a few weeks, the Incubus will screw you screw you over and you’ll come crying back to us. We will be waiting. 

Yep, that’s about what I expected. I fight back tears as I open my messages from Harry, hopefully this cheers me up and so help me if he is cancelling on me I might have to kill him. 

Test Subject 01–Good morning beautiful, I can’t wait to see you today. I’ll be on your doorstep 

at 12 on the dot! 🙂 

I shouldn’t have worried. I can always count on Harry to provide a well timed, if sometimes inappropriate, distraction. With that in mind, I change his name in my contacts.” 

Cam- Good morning, I’ll be ready. Are you sure you won’t tell me where we’re going? 

Distraction- Not telling, if nothing else I figure that your curiosity will stop you from 

cancelling on me. ;) 

Cam- I already told you that I’m not cancelling. 

Distraction- I’ll believe it when I see it. 

Cam- Eye roll. Whatever. 

Cam-… I messaged my 

mum. I tried to set some boundaries. I don’t think it worked though. 

She didn’t react well. I think it might have made things worse. 

Distraction- I’m sorry it didn’t go well but I’m proud of you for standing up for yourself! If she can’t see how perfect you are, that’s her loss. You are intelligent, capable, beautiful, kind, sexy, gorgeous, attractive, hot… Wait, what was my point again? 

Cam–You’re ridiculous. 

Distraction- Ridiculously handsome. 

Cam- And oh so humble. 

214 

Cam 35- Boundaries and bragging 

Distraction- Hey I know what I look like, I’m cocky not blind. 

Laughing to myself, I throw my phone onto my bed. I think a hot bath is in order. I’ll need to get moving if I want time for my hair to dry properly. I prefer not to use hair dryers, they make my hair go frizzy. It looks so much better if it has time to air dry. 

At five minutes to twelve, I’m pacing the living room wearing my new green sundress and a cute pair of black flats that do nothing to make me taller but at least they’re comfortable. It’s not like the couple of inches of height a pair of heels might give me would make all that much difference. Harry is so much taller than me. Unless I walk around in a pair of stilts I have no chance of balancing out our heights. I could cut him off at the knees but that just sounds messy. I wonder if I could make a potion that could temporarily change someone’s height? I suppose it would be theoretically possible but I suspect it would be super painful to use. I doubt it would be worth the effort. I take a moment to double check my reflection in the little mirror I keep hanging by the front door. My hair is sitting in perfect waves, my eye makeup is natural but pretty and the green of my dress really brings out my eyes. I’m fairly satisfied with my appearance, although I’m also annoyingly nervous. This is stupid, Harry hast seen me in my comfy, lazy clothes and he still asked me out. I check the time, three minutes. to go. I rush to the bathroom, I suddenly need to pee and I just know that he’s going to knock on the door and I’ll be stuck in the bathroom. I rush to empty my bladder feeling paranoid and wash my hands, drying them on my skirt as I dash back to the living room to wait. I check the time again. Still two minutes to twelve, I probably didn’t need to hurry so much. But what if he was early? Ugh, this is stressful, although I guess sort of exciting too. It’s been ages since I’ve been on a proper date. Finally Harry knocks. I make myself count to three before answering the door so that it isn’t completely obvious that I’ve just been standing around waiting for him. Harry’s eyes practically glow with approval as he looks me over. 

“If I expressed how stunning you are and how it makes me feel I’m pretty sure you would shove me down these stairs, lock the door and refuse to go anywhere with me so I’m just going to say you look lovely.” He says with a charming smile and I can’t help but roll my eyes. 

“You look good too.” I tell him grudgingly. He hands me a bouquet. I expect it to be flowers. so I’m surprised to find it’s a collection of individually sealed little bottles of different alcohols and mixers strategically wrapped and placed to make them look like flowers. It’s actually adorable. 

“Thanks, I guess I don’t need to put these in water, but I will put them away.” I joke. 

3/4 

Cam 35- Boundaries and bragging 

“Yeah, that’s probably for the best.” He agrees. Five minutes later I’m sitting in the passenger 

seat of his car. It’s weird, I’ve never seen his car before. 

“If 

you 

have a car, why do you always walk to my work, and why always walk me home when you could drive?” I question. Harry grins. 

“Well, I don’t drive because I never know what your drinks are going to do to me so I figure it’s better not to risk it. As for driving you home… That would make the night end faster.” He answers. Oh. That’s actually kind of sweet. I blush and clear my throat, looking out the 

window as he drives. 

“So where are we going?” I ask again. Harry just grins. 

“To test a theory I have.” He answers vaguely. I cross my fingers and hope for the best. 

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