by M. Robinson
“I—”
“And wow!” She clapped her hands like she was applauding me, driving her point home. “A nine-month-old called another woman, who has been her everything, ‘Ma’! Of course, why wouldn’t she think that? Camila takes her to the park down the street all the time. She hears other kids. In her little baby brain, she probably thinks she’s her mom since she’s with her all the time. Day in and day out while you are nowhere! But riddle me this, Dr. Pierce.” She stepped toward me, getting right up in my face. “What if Journey had called me that? Huh? Would you have gone all beast mode on me too? Probably not. Why? Because you want what’s best for your daughter, and Camila is the best for her. The woman is best for all of you. She makes them happy. Sure, her and Jackson have had their ups and downs, but Jackson’s been a little shit to Harley too since they were born, and we all know what’s going to end up happening there.”
“Cutie…”
“Oh, come on, Noah! We all know they love each other.”
“The fuck they do! Where is she?”
“No! You leave them alone. She’s comforting him because this man took it too far.”
“Took it too far? Jesus Christ, did you hear the way he spoke to me?”
“Yes,” she simply stated. “But he’s hurting as much as you. We all are. I know you have been here the only way you’ve known how, but they don’t know that. They have no idea you check on them every night after they’re sleeping. In their eyes, you have abandoned them. How else are they supposed to feel? No one, not even their mother would have been a substitute for you. Do you remember how much Jackson looked up to you? I know you do. You were his everything. You were his person, like Camila is Journey’s. And if you don’t bring her back, they will never forgive you.”
I opened my mouth to reply but nothing came out, I had no argument. She was right. I was fucking up and I had no idea where to start fixing things between us.
“I’d die for my kids.”
“I know. But your actions need to match your words. I imagine it must have killed you to watch your wedding video, but she wasn’t lying. She didn’t go in your safe, Jagger did.”
“What?”
“Yeah. I watched him on the footage. He even put the tape in the Beauty and the Beast case and placed it with Jackson’s movies.”
“Why?”
“Your guess is as good as mine. Jagger barely speaks, who knows with him.”
“Did Jackson know it was in there?”
“I don’t think so, but that’s beside the point. Aiden, you have to go find Camila. I have a really bad feeling, okay?”
“Where? Where am I going to find her?”
“She went to some club where her friend works, Havana. Go there and bring her back. Beg if you have to, Bailey would want her here for your kids.”
Skyler was right again. I needed to do what was right for our children, nothing more, nothing less.
At least that’s what I needed to keep telling myself.
Because at the end of the day, I wanted her here…
For me, too.
“Will you stay—”
“Of course, go!”
I nodded. “I know I don’t say it often but thank you. For everythi—”
“Jackson Pierce!” Harley screamed from somewhere inside the house, interrupting me. “I can’t believe I wasted my time coming here for you! I hate you!”
“Good! Cuz I can’t fuckin’ stand you!”
Skyler rolled her eyes. “Go!” She waved me off. “I’ll handle it.”
Noah was already storming his way inside before she got the last word out.
I jumped in my car and typed the name of the club into my GPS. Driving toward Camila in a much different state of mind than the one she left me in. I went over the words in my head I would say to her and how I would say them as I sped over the old, broken down bridge over the Cape Fear River. Through Oak Island to Selma, South Carolina where she apparently lived.
I’d been watching this woman from my office in the hospital for the last three months as if she was my favorite television series. Glued to the screen in front of me.
Unraveling.
Day after day, I witnessed something new about Camila that captivated me. I observed her through fascinated eyes, waiting on her every word, her every move.
She was like a light waiting to break through all of the sadness and despair. All the things that ate away at me, which only added to the complicated emotions that were placed in between us once we came face-to-face.
I needed her light.
Her goodness.
I needed something to bring me out of this darkness. To keep me from spiraling down this dark hole of misery.
If I was being completely honest with myself, she was the reason I drove home tonight. I had no idea I was going to walk in on her watching our wedding video, throwing me for a fucking loop.
After finding out she was at my hospital yesterday, ready to put me in my place because of the shitty father I’d become, there was no way I could continue doing this.
I was selfish bastard.
Like a moth drawn to a fucking flame, I drove home…
For my kids.
For her.
I groaned at the thought, feeling it deep within my soul. As though she was the blood running through my veins.
And here I was, driving to her once again.
I’d never felt an instant connection to another woman who wasn’t my wife. From the moment I first saw Cami walk into my home for her interview, I couldn’t for the life of me stop watching her.
Thinking about her.
The emotions she stirred within me were crippling in ways I hadn’t expected. The intense anguish overwhelmed my body and mind, an ache resonated in my fucking soul. Awakening a part of me I thought died long ago.
The closer I got to the club, the more evident it became that Skyler was right when she said south side. All the rundown buildings were on the verge of collapsing, squatters and bums taking up residency within and on the streets.
The town was fucking filthy.
Several houses were boarded up and half burnt down. Others had people hanging out on their porches, drinking, smoking, music blaring from their decked out low riders.
The further I drove, the worse it got.
On the main strip where the club was, there were prostitutes on every corner. Flagging down cars, trying to find someone to occupy their time with sex, booze, or drugs for the night.
It made me sick to my fucking stomach, knowing she was living around this. She deserved more, like Bailey and I did. Which only stirred up memories of my fucked-up childhood, hating it as much as I did back then.
Watching a drug deal go down in plain sight didn’t help my troublesome state. Along with two guys beating the shit out of each other.
A crowd surrounding them, jumping up and down. It brought back even more memories of finding Noah in the exact same situation’s years ago.
My chest seized with every unforgiving thought that crossed my battered mind, going full speed with memories, regrets, and all the mistakes I’d made.
“Aiden, I’m sorry,” Bailey rasped, looking at me with so much sadness in her eyes.
“It’s not your fault, Bay.”
“It’s not yours either. Maybe God wanted it this way.”
“Your destination is on the left,” the voice of my GPS announced, drawing me back to the present.
Pulling into the parking lot of the club, I quickly stepped out of my car before I had the chance to change my mind. Feeling the weight of my wife on my shoulders, like she was just another demon on my back.
The smell of stale beer, cigarettes, and urine filled the air, becoming more potent the closer I got to the entrance.
In hopes that he would actually use it for food, I threw a fifty to the homeless man on the corner, strumming a guitar with his dog by his side. Knowing he’d probably use it for alcohol or drugs instead.
“Hey, baby, follow
me and I’ll make your wildest dreams come true,” a prostitute propositioned me, strutting her ass my way.
“I’m good.”
“Come on, handsome. For a hundred bucks, I’ll let you stick it anywhere.”
“You heard the man! Go be a whore somewhere else!” A skinny man hopped up on God-knows-what intervened, trying to sell me a bag of pills.
I shoved his arm away without saying a word, needing to get Camila out of this place.
“Fuck you! I should put a cap in your ass!” he shouted behind me.
I didn’t pay him any attention. This wasn’t my first fucking rodeo in a town like this and around people like him. I was used to threats, spending years avoiding following the same path he was on.
As soon as I walked inside the club, the music changed over to this seductive, alluring beat. The dance floor was packed, undoubtedly over max capacity. People were everywhere, dancing, hooking up, having a great time without a care in the world. Drugs flowing through their veins as fast as the alcohol was being served.
What the fuck was she doing in a place like this?
I gazed around the open space, narrowing my eyes. Trying to find her. My focus suddenly stopped on a petite brunette, the way she was dancing caught my attention from across the room. I’d recognize her moves anywhere. All the men’s gazes were on her, including mine.
I hated it.
The attention she was getting.
The stares that were suggestive and not subtle in the least.
The way she seductively moved without even trying.
But mostly, I hated the way she made me feel…
Alive.
For what felt like the hundredth time that night, I couldn’t move. I stood there wanting, needing, to watch her dance. I leaned against one of the standing tables, sliding my fingers against my mouth. Mesmerized by the vision in front of me. Watching her on camera for the last three months didn’t do it justice.
She was goddamn breathtaking.
I stood there amazed and in awe of the woman in front of me. Unable to tear my eyes away from her. When her hands slowly worked their way up her body I almost lost my shit, but it wasn’t until I saw a man wearing a leather jacket approach her that I really did lose it.
I couldn’t remember the last time I was in a club, let alone feeling the way I was about a woman who wasn’t Bailey.
Possessive.
Jealous.
Angry all at once.
My temper was looming, ready to drag her out of this piece of shit town if I had to.
Her feisty Latina heat didn’t intimidate the big bad wolves, it attracted them. She was in danger and she didn’t even realize it.
Instantly, I pushed off the table. My feet moved on their own accord with each step that led me closer to her.
“Go away! Just go away!” is what I heard before I saw nothing but red.
Bright. Fucking. Red.
Not thinking twice about it, I raged, “Get the fuck off her!” Ripping the guy from her.
Being raised in foster homes taught me one thing and one thing alone, how to defend myself. I didn’t need to hear Camila’s warning to know this son of a bitch was reaching for his gun.
I intercepted it, grabbing ahold of his arm. Yanking it as far as I could up his back before slamming his face against the concrete wall.
“What the fuck?!” he bit.
“Make a habit out of fucking with women who don’t want to be fucked with?”
“Fuck you!”
“I’m sorry, what?” I shoved his face harsher into the wall.
“What the fuck?! Camila, who is this pussy?!”
I slammed it harder. “What was that? Can’t hear you when you’re fucking the wall. Who’s the pussy now, bitch?”
“Aiden, I mean, Dr. Pierc—”
“Ohhh, you’re the fuckin’ doctor!” he laughed me off. “Did you see how fast she ran back to a real man tonight?”
“Sean, that’s—”
My eyes snapped to her. “You know him?”
“Know me? More like fucks me. I’m her man.”
Camila argued, “You’re not—”
I let him go, but not before grabbing his gun by the barrel and snatching it from his hand.
He whipped around, immediately eyeing me up and down with a menacing regard. Quickly realizing I was holding his piece at my side.
“Ya think I’m fuckin’ scared of you cuz you holdin’ my gun? Motherfucker, please. I got more bullet holes in my body than I fucked in hers, and we fucked a lot. Right, baby?” He nodded toward Camila, and for some reason, that comment made me want to take his head and slam it into the bar, just to shut him up.
“Well, what’s one more to each head then?”
“Ah, shit…” he hissed. “You tryin’ to be gansta up in here! Who the fuck you think you are?!”
I stepped up to his face, not backing down. Although I was a doctor, a professional, it was second nature for me to fall back into that hood mentality. My expensive clothes, house, lifestyle didn’t change who I was inside. I grew up in this shit.
You fought to survive, end of story.
I dealt with men far worse than the piece of shit in front of me, labeled “foster dad”. Sean didn’t know who he was fucking with.
I sized him up, spewing, “I’m the man that’s going to take her home, that’s who.”
He grinned before looking over at her. “Camila, let’s go. Now!” Wanting nothing more than to prove me wrong.
There wasn’t a chance in hell I would let her leave with him, but thankfully she stepped back like I hoped, almost losing her footing in the process. I didn’t hesitate, snatching her up before she fell to the ground.
Was she shit-faced?
Instantaneously, I felt this jolt of a spark between us, and all I did was grab ahold of her by her waist. Tugging her into my body, she gasped as her hands collided with my chest.
Her breathing hitched.
Her lips parted.
Our mouths were suddenly inches apart as her dilated eyes locked with mine, feeling it too.
She breathed out, “You felt that, right?” Narrowing her eyes at me.
The strong scent of whiskey, and her assaulted my senses.
“You’re drunk.”
“Yeah, but I still felt that. Did yo—”
“Camila, I said let’s go! Now!”
In one second flat, she was pulled away from me and I immediately felt the loss of her touch, her scent, her everything…
“No!” she panicked, tearing me away from whatever the hell had just happened between us. “I don’t want to go with you! Let me go!”
I didn’t hesitate, stepping out in front of her. Crudely shoving him off as hard as I could. I placed her behind my back, shielding her with my body.
“Touch her again, and I’ll make sure you can never fuck again!”
His eyes went exactly where I wanted them to. The gun that was still at my side, fully aware of what I was implying.
He was about to get in my face when someone shouted, “Sean! You ain’t wanted here! Leave before I call the cops!”
I didn’t take my eyes off the son of a bitch in front of me, not for one second. I knew better.
He snidely smiled at me and then to the man I sensed coming up behind me. That was the key to altercations similar to these. No matter what, always be aware of all your surroundings.
“Danté, even you know you can’t keep her from me.”
“Sean, just go,” Camila slightly slurred, pitifully trying to remain upright.
Without thinking, my arm wrapped around her waist and she shuddered in my protective embrace. That goddamn spark making itself known again.
“I’m gonna make you pay for this, Camila. Remember, I know where ya live, I know how to get in, I know everythin’ ‘bout you. They can’t protect you all the time.” Sean shook his head, backing away. “This ain’t over. She’s my queen. I fuckin’ own her. Watch your back, motherfucker! Cuz I’
ll come for you next if you keep her from me!” With that he turned and left.
“Camila,” Danté chastised. “Why did you date him again?”
Until I saw that Sean was truly gone, I didn’t look away or at either of them.
Needing to make sure she was no longer in danger.
“Aiden…” Camila mumbled, bringing my intense stare over to her. “I mean… Dr. Pierce… can you… make… the room… stop… spinn—”
I caught her in my arms.
Because my nanny, just blacked the fuck out.
Chapter 5
<>Aiden<>
“Woo-eee, Doctor Daddy to the rescue,” Danté chuckled, as I strapped an unconscious Camila into the passenger seat of my car. “You know where she lives, Prince Charmin’?”
I shut the door and leaned against it, rubbing the back of my neck. “I’m too old for this shit.”
“Honey, you like a fine wine. You only gettin’ better with age.”
“She could be my daughter.”
“If you had her at like what? Seventeen, eighteen? How old are you?”
“Old enough to know better.”
“Camila ain’t normally like this. The last time she was this drunk was probably her twenty-first birthday.”
“And how long ago was that?”
“Seven years. She’s old enough to know better too. My General Manager called me when he saw her dancin’ wit’ Sean. Ain’t nobody like Sean. She’s too good for him, always has been. That son of a bitch is a hustla, runs the area, wheelin’ and dealin’ whateva he can get his hands on. He preys on the weak and has had his eyes set on Camila since we were kids. For some reason her stupid ass saw good in him, and after realizin’ she fucked up, he won’t let her go.”
“So what you’re saying is she has the worst taste in men?”
“I don’t know.” He crossed his arms over his chest, bobbing his head. “You tell me?”
I growled, pushing off the door, rounding the hood of my car. “It’s not like that between us.”
