Sweat dripped off his body onto the foam mats of the floor as he sent his fists flying into the heavy bag harder and harder with every blow. But it wasn’t doing a goddamn thing.

He’d been working the bag at full strength for over an hour, and it hadn’t even touched the fury racing through his veins. He’d busted through the tape on his knuckles a long time ago, but he was too fired up to quit.

After Sutton laid it all out, gutting him in the process, he hadn’t been able to leave her. He spent the night with her in his arms, unable to fall asleep as he replayed the entire goddamn night over in his head again and again. The look on her face, the fear in her voice. Camden wanted to find the motherfucker who hurt her and beat him to death.

When Saturday rolled around, she seemed fine enough, going about her morning with a smile that was a little smaller than normal but no less sincere. The pain was still lingering in those gold and green eyes, but she wasn’t drowning in it, at least not from what he could tell.

She reassured him that she was okay, but he couldn’t risk it. He’d kept a close eye, and he did so by refusing to leave. One night in Sutton’s bed had turned into two, and by the time Sunday came, he was pretty damn sure he’d never be able to sleep anywhere else.

He fought it when she finally put her foot down and insisted he go home, but Sabrina was done being deterred. The two of them needed to talk, and they needed to do it without him there, hovering over Sutton’s every move—no matter how badly he wanted to stay.

So here he was, in the gym of his godforsaken hotel suite, beating the shit out of a bag in an attempt to quell the worry and rage coursing through him.

The next blow split the skin of his knuckles wide open, but he didn’t stop, imagining the faceless son of a bitch who’d raped Sutton was standing between him and the punching bag.

Blood mingled with the sweat on the mat beneath his feet as he continued to punch, taking his anger out on the invisible man. There was no telling how long he’d have gone had it not been for the ringing of the phone hanging on the wall.

Dropping his exhausted, heavy arms at his sides, Camden stomped over and snatched the phone from the cradle, barking, “What?”

“Uh…,” the front desk clerk stammered through the line. “Mr. Knight, you have a guest.”

He hadn’t been expecting anyone, and the last goddamn thing he needed was to play nice when all he wanted to do was rip someone’s head off. “Who is it?”

He hesitated for a second. “She says her name’s Sabrina Markham, sir.”

Shit. “Send her up.” Camden snapped the order as fear made his body run cold, the sweat on his clammy skin causing a shiver.

Rushing through the hotel suite, he headed for his room and snatched a discarded gray tee from the floor, not bothering a sniff check to determine if it was all right before yanking it over his head.

The elevator right outside the door pinged, and a second later there was a light knock, informing him of Sabrina’s arrival.

He didn’t have the first clue what to expect. But when he pulled the door open and spotted her rid-rimmed eyes, his heart stopped beating.

“Hey, uh… sorry to just barge in like this. Can I, um… can I come in?”

He stepped aside to make room for her to pass. Meanwhile an icy fist was squeezing his lungs painfully, making it difficult to speak. It was only by the grace of God that he managed to eke out, “Is everything okay? Is Sutton…?” He couldn’t finish that thought as panic set in.

“She’s okay… I think. We’re doing football Sunday at my house. She’s there now. I made an excuse that I needed to run to the store—” Her words cut off on a hiccup just before her face crumpled into a sob that reverberated off the marble floors.

Before Camden could make a move, Sabrina launched herself at him, wrapping her arms around his waist and burying her face in his chest as she cried. “Th-thank you,” she whispered brokenly.

Unable to do anything but stand there, he lifted his arms and returned her hug. “For what, sweetheart?”

Struggling to compose herself, Sabrina pulled back and wiped at her eyes with the backs of her hands. “Y-you were there for her. She told me everything, and… and….”

Camden understood now why she’d shown up so unexpectedly, and why she was so upset. She knew the truth, and it devastated her.

“Shh,” he whispered, pulling her back into a hug. “It’s okay. It’s all gonna be okay.”

“I had n-no idea,” she hiccupped. “I’m her big sister. I was supposed to protect her. How could I not know?”

“You didn’t know because she didn’t want you too, sweetheart. It’s not your fault.”

Taking a step back, she sniffled hard. “Gah! I’m sorry. I’m a mess. I showed up on your doorstep like some fraught heroine. I just… she told me how she opened up to you, and how you took care of her. I just wanted to—” She stopped when her eyes darted down to his hands. “Holy shit! What did you do?”

He lifted his hands, the tape looking torn and tattered around his bleeding knuckles. But he didn’t feel it. All of the pain had centered in his chest. He couldn’t feel anything physical when his heart ached so badly for Sutton.

“You have your way of handling what Sutton told you, and I have mine,” he answered with a shrug.

Sabrina’s disapproving gaze shot back up before she grabbed his fingers and lifted them for closer inspection. “So you got in a fight?”

“With a punching bag, darlin’. Not a person. Don’t worry.”

“God, they’re a mess,” she breathed with a wince, pulling the tape away to get a better look.

“They’ll be fine. Don’t worry about me. Come on, let’s go sit down.”

She followed him into the room, taking a seat on the edge of a chair and folding her hands in her lap as her gaze darted around the space. “Wow, this is….”

“Impersonal and cold?” he provided.

Her eyes came back to him and she smiled, her face looking so much like her sister’s in that moment. “Sutton told me she went house hunting with you.”

“Yeah,” he answered, sitting on the couch across from her and slugging back a bottle of water he’d just gotten from the fridge. “But it was a bust. All those places were worse than this.”

Sabrina let out a half-hearted giggle and fidgeted in her seat. And Camden knew there was more to this visit than her need to thank him.

“What’s on your mind, Brina?” he asked, though dreading the answer.

With a heavy sigh, she turned to the floor-to-ceiling windows of the living area that looked out over the lake. The view was usually stunning, but something told him she wasn’t really seeing it at the moment.

“You two are getting close,” she murmured softly to the lake. “I can hear it in her voice whenever she talks about you—which, surprisingly enough, is a lot.”

The hairs on the back of Camden’s neck stood on end. “You make it sound like that’s a bad thing.”

Her head turned back, her eyes pinning him in place. “It is when what’s happening between you is fake.”

His muscles locked, and every bit of air expelled from his lungs. His voice came out in a craggy croak when he asked, “What?”

“I know the truth,” she confessed. “Sutton and I don’t have any secrets. Well….” Pain slashed across her face. “We didn’t. But she told me about you two, and what you’re doing to get the media off your back.”

All of a sudden her ominous comment from the first time they met made sense. She’d known from the very beginning that their relationship was a sham, and in spite of her protective nature, she’d been nothing but accepting of him whenever he was around.

That spoke volumes to her character. And if he hadn’t already understood what a laid-back guy like Bryan saw in her before, he definitely got it now. High maintenance or not, Sabrina Markham was a class act, full of love for those around her.

He’d wondered how two people so opposite made a marriage work.

Now he knew.

And he found himself opening his mouth and saying the words he’d been denying to himself since that first date with Sutton. “It’s real, Brina. I promise you that. It may have started off as pretend, but it’s very, very real now.”

Her head jerked back and her eyes widened in surprise. “Since the club? Because Sutton will never agree to being a pity—”

He cut her off before she voiced her incorrect assumption. “Since our first kiss. It just took me a little longer to figure it out.”

“Does… does she know?”

“Not yet,” he replied. “But she will. What I feel for your sister is unlike anything I’ve ever felt with a woman in my life. And all the other night did was solidify that. I want to take care of her, Sabrina. I’ll break my goddamn back to take care of her.”

“My god,” she breathed, her expression growing tender. “You’re serious.”

“As a heart attack.”

Something flickered across her face that he couldn’t quite place, at least not until she spoke again with intense determination. “Then you need to push her, Cam. She told me about the assault, but she needs help. She needs to talk to someone who actually knows how to help her cope with this.”

He knew that, and his stomach twisted violently at the realization that the steps she’d finally taken the other night were only just the beginning.

He nodded resolutely. “I’ll do my best.”

Sabrina’s head cocked to the side and her eyelids narrowed as she studied him intently. “I know you will.” Never in his life had a person’s approval ever meant so much. “I really think you can be good for her, Camden. But she has a nasty habit of sabotaging her own happiness. I never understood it until now. You have your work cut out for you. But I promise, there’s no woman on the planet more worthy of the effort than Sutton.”

He didn’t have to tell her that he already knew as much. He got the impression that his eyes said it all.

Sabrina left a few minutes later, and as soon as the door clicked shut, he was off the couch and on the move. He needed to shower the morning’s grueling workout from his skin and get dressed. She might have been spending the day with her sister and her family, but she’d have to come home some time.

And he was damn sure going to be there when she did.