by M. Robinson
And without a moment’s notice, I leaned forward and threw up. Silently praying to God he’d left and didn’t hear me throwing up what felt like my insides.
“Argh…”
Someone knocked on the door.
Please let it be Curtis.
“You alright in there?” Dr. Pierce hollered.
Ah mierda. Ah shit.
“I’m fine! Go home!”
Backing away from the door, I swear he growled.
I threw up a few more times, and finally, when the water turned cold, I felt a million times better.
Stepping out of the shower, saying to myself, “I’m never drinking again.”
I wrapped a warm towel around my shivering body and wiped the steam off the mirror with my hand. Looking at a girl I barely recognized in the mirror. Dark circles formed beneath my bloodshot eyes, my face a combination of flushed and pale.
I shook it off again, drying my body, quickly realizing I didn’t bring any clothes in the bathroom with me.
“Shit.”
I opened the bathroom door, letting the steam seep out, ready to call Curtis to bring me some clothes.
“Curt—”
“No such luck,” a booming voice sliced through the fog.
I almost fell on my ass when I saw Dr. Pierce was standing in front of me with my clothes already in his hands. He grabbed my arm, holding me steady, and for a very brief moment our eyes locked.
Gasp.
The simple touch of his grasp sent my body into a whirlwind of emotions. Before I could give it anymore thought, I felt the loss of his touch when he let me go. Handing me my clothes, he eyed me one more time with a flicker in his tantalizing stare.
“You felt that, ri—”
Sternly, he turned. Walking back into my living room.
Telling me over his shoulder, “Breakfast is almost ready, hurry up.”
My mind instantly registering the smell of bacon and coffee made my belly grumble and my heart drop.
Is he cooking me breakfast?
There was no way, I thought to myself. I didn’t have the fancy kitchen he was used to by any means. He didn’t know how to work his way around my world. Having to turn the stove on with a match, make coffee through a mesh over it. Use the microwave to cook bacon and sometimes the eggs too because the gas in the building was in and out.
I couldn’t change fast enough, needing to know what was going on out there. I opened the door again, closing my eyes for a second, welcoming the cool air on my face.
My mind was blown as soon as I saw my boss had indeed cooked me breakfast. A plate of bacon and eggs sat next to a fresh cup of steaming hot coffee on the table in front of the couch. He and Curtis sat beside it on the sofa, eating the breakfast he cooked for them as well.
It was as if we were one, big, happy family going about our normal routine, except there was nothing normal about this situation.
“What the hell?” I whispered, unaware of what was more shocking.
The fact he had made all of us breakfast in a kitchen he apparently knew his way around, or that my suitcase was on my bed with my clothes and belongings already packed in it.
Oh my God, that means he saw my vibrator… he touched my panties.
He didn’t, did he?
I rushed over to my luggage, taking a quick peek, mortified. Sure enough, there they were in all their glory right on top. Except, my vibrator…
Maybe he didn’t see it?
The nerve of him. God please take me now.
Embarrassment was an understatement.
“Bastard,” I muttered under my breath.
“You think Tyga is gonna take the Masters this year?” Curtis asked him while they watched ESPN on my old ass television.
“I think he has a great chance,” Aiden replied, not paying any attention to the woman freaking the fuck out.
Me.
“You like golf?”
“I do what I can.” Curtis nodded. “You think next time you could cook my bacon less crispy?”
“Curtis!” I reprimanded, bringing both of their attention over to me.
“What? Just sayin’. He should know how I like my bacon for next time.”
I ignored the sly smile on the bastards face next to him, knowing what he was thinking. “Next time?”
“Yeah. Aiden said he was gonna have me over to his crib. Ya know, now that you live there.”
“I don’t li—”
“Cami, we can do this the easy way or the hard way, but either choice you make you’re coming home with me,” Dr. Pierce stated with a stern expression on his face.
Before I could snap, Curtis chimed in, “Uh oh, I know that look.” He stood up, throwing the last bit of food in his mouth. Grabbing his plate, he walked over to Aiden. “I’m gonna go.” Laying out his fist, he added, “Knuckles.”
They bumped fists.
“Catch ya later, Aiden.”
“You have my number, kid. Use it if you need it.”
“I can hold my own. Take care of my woman, alright?”
Aiden gave him a curt nod, while I just aimlessly stood there dazed and utterly confused.
I leave for thirty minutes and my whole world turns upside down. Like, what the fuck?
Curtis announcing, “I like him,” shifted my stupefied stare to meet his eyes. “Bye, baby.”
Usually I would have corrected him, but I was so shaken up. I couldn’t get the words to leave my tongue as I watched him walk out, shutting the door behind him.
It was only then my mind decided to say, “I’m not moving in with you.”
He didn’t hesitate in arguing, “I didn’t ask.”
“What on earth makes you think I would be okay with this?”
“I packed your bag,” he gestured toward my now made bed.
He made my freaking bed too?
“We can go as soon as you eat your breakfast, Cami.”
“Are you not hearing me? I’m not going with you. I sure as hell am not one of your kids, Dr. Pierce. You can’t just order me around like a child.”
“Speaking of kids,” he said nonchalantly, leaning back into my couch, “what exactly do you think my kids would say to me if something happened to you?”
“You’re pulling the kid card on me? That’s bullshit!”
“No, it’s the truth.”
“What truth? Nothing is going to happen to me. You know nothing about my life outside of your kids. I’ve been living in this world for twenty-eight years, and I’ve done a damn good job at it. Yes, Journey would miss me, but Jackson and Jagger couldn’t care less that I’m there, so don’t pull the kid card on me now that you feel like an ass.”
“It bothers me that you think so lowly of your place in my home.”
“Coming from the man who said I was nothing but a glorified babysitter who does a shitty fuckin’ job cooking and cleaning his home, that doesn’t mean much.”
He winced. The apology written all in his gaze.
I waited.
“You know my kids need you. You’ve been exactly what they need.”
It wasn’t the apology I was looking for, but I’d take it.
“Besides, do you have any idea how many times your sorry excuse of an ex, drove by your apartment last night?”
“I—”
“No, you don’t. You were too busy blacked-the-fuck-out drunk. I’m the one who carried you out of the club and into my car, drove you home, carried you into your apartment, checked your vitals to make sure I didn’t need to take you to the hospital to get your stomach pumped. Then I spent the night on the couch, making sure you were safe from the danger you obviously allow into your life.”
“I… I… I… don’t normally do that.”
“So I’ve been told.”
“Told? By who?”
“Your best friend Danté and your boyfriend Curtis.”
“Very funny.”
“I’m not laughing.”
“So what? Because you played hero for
one night, I’m just supposed to move in with you?”
He crossed his arms over his chest, causing his muscles to intensify.
“Stop staring at his body, Camila. You’re supposed to be fighting with him, not admiring him.”
“Admiring, huh?”
“Goddamn it!” I stomped my foot. “I can’t be around you right now. I keep thinking out loud, and it’s making me look like an idiot.”
“I’d say entertaining.”
“Can you please just go?”
“Not without you.”
“Fine. I’ll meet you in the middle, okay? You didn’t fire me, and we can go back to the way things were. I’ll take care of your kids, and you pretend like I don’t exist.”
“That’s going to be hard, considering you live with me.”
“Ay Dios mío,” I rasped, “Oh my God.”
“Unless you want me to assume you’re saying, ‘I’m right,’ I suggest you speak English.”
“Listen, Dr. Pierce—”
“Oh, it’s Dr. Pierce now?”
“Yes. That’s your name.”
“It wasn’t last night.”
“Last night I was drunk and didn’t care.”
“No shit, you passed out in my arms.”
“Can you just stop being so… so… so…”
“So what?”
“Annoying! Now I know where Jackson gets it from.” I shook my head, trying to stay focused, but it was hard when he was looking at me so profoundly. Giving me his undivided attention was something I wasn’t used to or prepared for.
As a result, I simply acknowledged, “As I just said, I’ve been taking care of myself for a long time. I can handle Sean. He won’t hurt me.”
“You wouldn’t be saying that if you remembered how he was treating you last night.”
“I do remember. That’s just typical Sean.”
“I don’t know what’s worse, him treating you like a whore or you defending him for treating you like one.”
I jerked back, realizing he was right. I was defending the piece of shit and that was hardest pill to swallow.
“My kids love you. They would never forgive me if something happened to you. Take a look around, Cami. Your home isn’t exactly what dreams are made of.”
“I’m not ashamed of where I live, Dr. Pierce.”
He narrowed his eyes at me, leaning forward to place his elbows on his knees. He countered, “Then why not disclose your current living conditions during the interview with Skyler?”
“You watched my interview?”
“Answer my question,” he stressed, ignoring mine.
“I did, my address was on my resumé.”
“Try again.”
It was as if this man could read right through me, and there was no getting around it.
Was I being that transparent?
“Because I wanted to get hired. You know nothing about this, Dr. Pierce, but being raised in the south side doesn’t exactly qualify you for anything more. There, happy now?”
His eyes glazed over, and he didn’t try to hide it. He wanted me to see something behind his guarded stare. A deeper connection happening between us as though he knew precisely what I was talking about.
Jackson’s words from the previous night popped into my mind, recalling what he revealed like he was retelling it in this moment.
“After everything you promised Mom, Jagger, me, your family… you’re just like them. You’re exactly like the men who didn’t give a shit about you. How’s it feel to turn out to be a piece of shit like them? Huh? How’s it feel to lose everything you worked so hard for?”
Once again reading my mind, he pointed out, “You know what they say about people who assume don’t you, Cami?”
“So what? You were raised here too?”
“You could say that.”
“Were your par—”
“I’m not here to talk about my past. I’m here to talk about your future. If we go back to the old arrangement, Sean could follow you to my home. Not only would your life be in danger now, but also my children’s lives. So the position you were hired for just changed to live-in nanny, end of story. I have to be at the hospital in four hours, we need to go.”
“I’m not going to win this, am I?”
“Good to see you came to your senses.” He stood. “I need to make a call.”
“To who, your wife?” I blurted, shocking both of us. “Is she okay with me moving in?”
He was over to me in two long strides, declaring, “My wife would have my balls if she knew where you were living, and I didn’t do anything to help.”
I swallowed hard. “If she knew… does that mean she doesn’t know?”
“Wherever Bailey is, I can say with certainty she knows and would want it this way. But let me make this crystal fucking clear, you’re not moving in for anyone other than my kids.”
“I know that.”
“Great, I’ll be outside.” With that, he grabbed my suitcase off the bed and left.
I deeply sighed, unable to control the emotions wreaking havoc on my mind. One thing I was sure of, I had no idea what to expect from this point forward.
Aiden…
His kids…
Sean…
Sean wouldn’t hurt me.
Would he?
Chapter 7
<>Aiden<>
We rode the two hours home in silence. She didn’t say a word and I refused the urge to speak to her. Telling myself over and over again that there wasn’t anything left to say between us, fully aware it was just another lie.
One I wasn’t ready to confront.
A familiar aura filled the atmosphere, remembering a time when it was Bailey I was bringing home instead of a woman who wasn’t my wife.
“Are you going to tell me where we’re going?” Bailey questioned, scooting closer to me in the front seat of my Lincoln Continental.
“Where would the fun be in that?”
“Dr. Pierce, why are you surprising me? You’re the one who just graduated from medical school, I should be surprising you.”
“Mrs. Pierce, you can surprise me later when you get on your knees.”
She smiled, blushing. “On my knees, huh? That’s quite cocky, even for you.”
“Oh, Beauty, trust me, you will be sucking my cock in every room…” I pulled into a gated community. “Of our new house.”
Her eyes darted all around her.
“No… you didn’t… can we afford this Aiden? I don’t make that much money at my internship and neither do you.”
“I do now. I accepted a residency. You’re looking at the newest resident doctor in the ER at Docher Memorial Hospital.”
Her mouth dropped open. “What?! Aiden! Oh my God! How in God’s name did you manage to make all our dreams come true?”
I parked in our new driveway and pulled her into my lap.
“For you, Bay. I’ve done everything for you.”
“What about this tattoo?” She gestured toward the three crosses on my neck. “Did you get that for me too?”
“No, I got that for me.”
She wasn’t happy with my decision to permanently ink my skin, but it held so much meaning, signifying the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit which descended down my left arm. I wasn’t a religious man by any means, but I wanted a reminder of how easy it was to walk down the wrong path in life. The only foster parents that gave a damn about me, Mario and Eva, taught me that. It upset me we lost track of each other over the years.
“Well then, what am I supposed to do for you?”
“You have the most important job, baby.”
“I do?”
“Yeah. You’re going to quit your position at the advertising firm, and you’re going to make me a father.”
She smiled, beaming bright and beautiful.
“I can do that.”
“Good.” I kissed her. “Let’s start now.”
“I thought you wanted me on my knees.”
&nb
sp; “Later. Right now, I want to make love to my gorgeous wife in our new driveway.”
“Hey, where’d you go?” Camila asked, bringing my attention back to her. “It’s like you were here, but you’re not. Are you okay?”
“You really need to learn how to mind your own business.”
The hurt expression on her face made my chest ache, but she quickly recovered.
She didn’t waste a second, putting me in my place, spewing, “I’ll tell you what, I’ll learn to mind my own business when you learn not to be an asshole.”
“Cami—”
“Camila!” She opened the door to my car, making me realize we were sitting in the driveway.
How long had we’d been here?
“My name is Ca-mi-la, it’s actually really simple to pronounce. Maybe you should start there. Learn my name first, it might help with the process of not being an asshole.” She got out, slamming the door behind her.
I scoffed out a chuckle, shaking my head. There was no denying the fire that lived inside of her, and now it lived inside of my house as of today.
How long until it exploded? Burning us both alive.
I shoved away the thought.
She’s here for your kids, Aiden.
For. Your. Kids.
By the time I had my shit together, she was already inside. I grabbed her suitcase, making my way behind her. Instantly, I was slapped in the face with my baby girl who was beyond happy seeing Camila walk toward her from her play pen.
“Ma! Ma! Ma!” she shouted, bouncing up and down against the side. Holding onto the railing for balance. “Ma!” she repeated, so fucking excited. Engraining the word deep into my heart.
Where all I could see…
All I could feel…
Was the family I’d always wanted.
“Hey, Little Miss.” She picked Journey up, placing her on her hip to bounce some more. She wrapped her chubby little arms around Camila’s neck, clinging onto her like she never wanted to let her go. “I’m not your momma. My name is Ca-mi-la,” she emphasized each syllable the same way she had just done for me in the car.
Journey pulled away, and grabbed onto her face, once again repeating, “Ma!”
“Okay, we’ll work on my real name later.”
