“Sure, as in he accidentally knocked over a tiki torch while he was accidentally slipping it to Olivia Maxfield,” he countered.

Yeah, I wasn’t about to go there.

“Regardless of how that fire started, it was Sullivan who left me in the bunkhouse and Cam who ran in to get me out.”

Pat startled, and I almost did, too. I’d never once laid blame at Sully’s feet for leaving me there.

“I never thought of it like that.” He glanced away. “God, you must have been so pissed at Sully.”

“Not really,” I answered honestly. “I was terrified for a minute, and the smoke was so thick…” I trailed off, feeling the heat of the flames ghost over my skin and dry out my mouth. “And honestly, if we hadn’t been asleep in that back room, we would have gotten out sooner. Sullivan would have gotten us out.”

“But he only got himself out.” Pat ran his hands over his red hair. “And you didn’t beat the shit out of him after? I mean, I don’t even remember you being angry. You just said something about getting separated, not him leaving you.”

I looked at Thea, and she lifted her eyebrows. There had been only one person truly privy to my feelings back then, and true to the code, she’d never spilled—even to her husband.

“Honestly, the support beam came crashing down between us, and when he saw that I was on the other side, he said he would go for help. I hit the floor to get to the good air. I saw Sully’s feet make it to the door, and yeah, I was a little…disappointed. But I also knew Cam would come for me, even if it was only for Sully’s benefit. Deep down, I knew.”

Pat blinked. “Willow, I love you. You know that. But you simply knew that the biggest asshole in Alba was going to risk his life to come help you? Cam never helped anyone…back then,” he amended with a tilt of his head.

“I knew.” My shoulders lifted in a shrug. “There are three things you can count on when it comes to Cam.” I held my fingers up as I began to list them. “One, his family is first. He always cleaned up Sullivan’s messes so nothing bad ever stuck to him.”

“Hey,” he snapped; then his focus went hazy for a second, as if he was thinking. “Huh. Okay, I’ll give you that one.”

“Two, he’ll self-destruct at the first opportunity. And three, he shows up for me. I didn’t always see it back then, but it’s true. There was no chance that he wasn’t coming in after me if he knew I was in there.”

Pat leaned back, absorbing what I said.

“Cam has saved my life four times and has always been there when I’ve needed him.”