by Dawn Martens
I turn on the TV and put on the latest news channel. As I start munching on my chips, an image of Cameron flashes on the screen, and standing next to him is that bitch, Becky, an obviously pregnant Becky. I grab the remote and turn the volume up.
“Spotted out tonight was business mogul, Cameron James, with his mistress, Rebecca Veldhuizen. When pressed with the whereabouts of his wife, the lovely Avalynn, he refused to comment.” I block out everything said after that.
Becky is pregnant? I feel sick. I should have known this marriage wasn’t real. Over the last couple of years, it sure as hell felt real, but I guess I was only fooling myself.
How could he humiliate me like this? After everything, I thought he would have the decency to keep their relationship private until after the divorce.
I shut the TV off and move from the couch. When I turn to walk out of the living room, Cameron’s mother, Jennica, is standing in the doorway, tears in her eyes. “Please don’t believe that gossip mess, Ava,” she says quietly.
I shake my head. “She’s pregnant,” I whisper, a tear rolling down my cheek.
She comes to me and cups my face, swiping at the tear. “Yes, she is, my dear, but I don’t believe Cameron is the father.”
“But why was he with her at all?” I ask quietly.
“Ask him, Ava. Please. Don’t jump to conclusions,” she urges me softly. “I know he loves you.”
I shake my head. “It’s almost time, Jenny. You knew what this marriage was. From day one, my time here was limited. I guess all I can do now is wait it out, wait for the bomb to drop, sign the papers, and move on.”
Over the years, I’ve become close with Jennica James. Most people have in-laws from hell, but I got lucky with a great mother-in-law. I never met my father-in-law, but that’s only because he died from a heart attack at only fifty-two. His will sure made me hear of him, though, especially since that will is the reason why Cameron married me.
“I’ll hold on, Jenny, for a little while at least, but the first chance that Cameron starts being different or whatever, I’m gone. Plus, in just a couple of months, I’m probably going to be gone anyway,” I tell her.
She grasps my hands. “Hang tight, baby girl. Trust me.”
I give her a sad smile, and we let it go. Later in the evening, Cameron comes home and barely looks at me. It’s starting. I should have known. I wish Jenny were here right now to witness this evening. He said hi, but then said he would be showering and hitting the sack. Said he was exhausted from meetings all day.
A lie. I saw him myself on the news, out to dinner with that cow, Becky.
Chapter 13
Present
Ava
I overheard my mom on the phone this morning, waking me up from my nap. I can’t believe she went behind my back and called up Cameron. It’s not that I was never going to tell him, because I knew I’d have to at some point, but I would have waited a while.
It should have been my choice on when I would inform Cameron of this child. I was also hoping like hell that it would be after the divorce was finalized.
After my mom hung up, I heard her talking to Dad, letting him know to make up the guest room and that Cameron would be arriving in a few hours.
Oh, hell no. I quickly go to my room and pack a bag. Snatching my cell off the nightstand, I scroll to Kristi’s number and hit call.
“Hey, Lynnie,” Kristi greets. She’s the only person in the world who calls me that. It also absolutely drives me nuts.
“You on break from school?” I ask. She mentioned something when I was up visiting her that she’d be spending a few weeks with her dad and sister since she’s out of school for a little bit.
“Yeah, I don’t need to go back home for another week. Things still not looking up for you yet, babe?”
“Would your dad mind if I hid out at your place for a bit? I have a photo shoot at six, but I need to get out of here now.” I don’t want to go into too much detail because that will happen later.
“Not at all. When will you be here?”
“About an hour, depending on traffic.” We say bye, and I grab my bag, storming past my parents and heading out to my car.
I ignore them calling my name, ignore my dad when he pounds on the window of my car, and I just about run my mom over as I pull away from the curb.
About forty minutes into my drive, when I’m just about to Airdrie, my cell rings. I reach over and grab it, checking the caller ID. Cameron. Ugh, why the hell is he calling me? I hit ignore and throw the phone in the back.
About ten minutes later, sirens go off, and I look up, seeing a cop behind me. Yay, lovely. Great. Checking over my shoulder to make sure it’s safe, I slow down and pull over to the side of the highway. I grab my licence and insurance so they’re ready when the officer comes to my window.
“Mrs. James?” the officer asks when he gets to my window.
“Yes? Is something wrong?” I ask him, frowning.
“Need you to step out of the vehicle and put your hands behind your back,” he says sternly.
I’m so damn confused. What the hell is going on? Reluctantly, I get out of my car and do what he says. As he’s putting the cuffs on me, he reads me my rights. When he’s done, I look at him, completely confused. “What is going on?”
He looks at me for a moment before he replies. “You’re not really arrested. A favor was pulled in. Your husband wants you brought in.”
That no good piece of shit! “Where are you supposed to take me then?” I ask through gritted teeth.
“My partner here is taking your car back, and I’m taking you to the station. Sorry, ma’am, but Cameron said you are to stay locked up until he gets to town,” he informs me.
I’m gonna kill him. Tie him up and slice him open.
Cameron
Ava’s mom called me not very long ago, letting me know that Ava found out about me coming down and staying with them, and she took off. I called in a favor from a buddy of mine. I’m sure, once I make it down there, it’s not gonna be a fun time. I just got a phone call from Drew, letting me know they have her in lock up and she’s spitting mad.
Apparently, she keeps muttering about how she’s going to gut me and string me up. I grin as I pull into the Red Deer police station and get out of my car.
I try to wipe the grin off my face as I walk in, but then I hear Ava shouting at someone, and I can’t. It’s now a full on, huge grin.
“What can I do for you?” asks the bubbly blonde at the reception desk.
I smile at her. “I’m looking for Drew. He has something of mine,” I say, winking.
Her brows go up, and she looks amused. “I take it the spitfire back there is yours?” she says, her mouth twitching.
I chuckle. “You’d be right.”
“Hang on. I’ll go get Drew.” She gets up from her chair and walks down the hall. Not even a minute later, he comes out, shaking his head at me.
“Why didn’t you tell me she’s so wild? She bit me,” he tells me, stepping in front of me.
My eyes go wide. “She bit you?”
“Yeah, when I took her cuffs off, she started screaming about how mean I was treating her poor pregnant self, and when I went to tug her into the cell, she bit my arm. I think I might need a shot. She’s fuckin’ rabid, man.”
I can’t hold back my laughter at this point. I lose it. I can’t believe she bit him. That’s great. “Take me to her,” I say between laughs.
“Your funeral,” he mumbles.
We walk to the back where the cells are and stop in front of the one Ava is in. Holy shit, she is pissed. Not just pissed. Pissed. She directs her glare at me, and I notice she has hot pink streaks in her hair. Surprisingly, it suits her.
“You piece of shit!” She growls the word shit at me. “You flaunt your pregnant whore in my face, refuse to divorce me, and now, this bullshit! What the fuck is wrong with you?!” she screams at me.
I frown. “We’ll talk when we get to your mother’s.” I don’t want to
have this conversation in front of the entire police department.
“I was on my way to a fucking photo shoot, and now, you ruined it all! I am going to Kristi’s place. You can go to hell, for all I care,” she says, glaring, folding her arms across her chest. I’ve never heard her speak this way before. It shocks me yet turns me on at the same time. I also don’t plan to let her go to that shoot, no matter what. I saw the guy on social media, talking about who he was modeling for. No way is Ava getting near him. Why does she need male models? Her last few books had females or scenery on the covers.
“You didn’t need to be at the shoot. You just call your photographer and tell her what you want.”
Ava growls at me. “Fuck you! I needed to be there because they have no idea what I’m looking for. They don’t know my vision.”
I shrug. “Well, too bad. You aren’t meeting that guy in person. You’ll just have to live with it.” Do I sound like an overly jealous dick? Yeah, but I don’t care. She looks as if she’s about to turn into the Hulk and break through the bars of the cell. I turn to Drew. “Let her out, man. Did you get her car back to her parents?” I ask him.
“Yeah, I had one of the boys take it there.” He opens her cell, and she steps out, refusing to look at me.
“Let’s get going. You can rip my head off at home,” I tease her.
She glares but doesn’t say anything.
I get her into my car and start it up when she finally breaks her silence.
“Why won’t you just let me go? I don’t understand why you are doing this,” she says quietly. “It’s what you promised me. Six years, right? I gave you what you wanted and did as you asked, Cameron.”
My heart sinks. “You don’t understand why I’m doing this? Has it occurred to you that, two years ago, our marriage changed? Has it occurred to you that I love you, Ava? I want a family with you, a life with you,” I say to her as I grip the wheel.
“It doesn’t make any sense,” she whispers. She sounds so tired.
“Were you ever going to tell me?” I ask finally after some silence.
After a few moments, she finally responds. “Eventually, but I was hoping the divorce would be finalized first.”
I don’t even know what to say to that, so I just turn on the radio and drive to the Lyle’s home in silence. Penhold is only about ten minutes outside of Red Deer, so it doesn’t take us long to get here. I park behind Ava’s car on the street in front of her parents’ home.
Ava gets out quietly and shuts the door. Leaning against my car, she sighs before walking up the path to the house.
Her mom opens the door slowly and bites her lip, almost waiting for Ava to lose it on her. She doesn’t, though. Ava walks right past her mom without even glancing at her. Tears form in Loretta’s eyes as she looks up to me.
“Hey, Cameron,” she says quietly. “Jeff is in the office. You might want to speak with him. I honestly don’t know who he’s more upset with right now, me or you.”
I gulp. That’s one thing I’m worried about. I’ve always had Jeff’s approval, and I never wanted to let him down, ever. Now, I’m afraid I have. It was Loretta I had to convince I was good enough for her daughter, and I succeeded in that within the first year. Jeff, the second Ava brought me home, he gave me the, ‘Hurt my daughter, I’ll hurt you’ speech, and ever since, he’s been fine with me. We even went fishing together a few times, and I bought him season tickets to hockey games. I even tagged along a few times.
“I’ll go put my bags in the guest room and then go see him,” I tell Loretta.
She gives me a small smile. “I’m going to go bake some shortbread cookies for Ava. Maybe that will help.” I give her a smile. Ava loves shortbread cookies. She’d do pretty much anything to have them and hates that they only seem to come out around Christmas time.
Time to face the music.
Chapter 14
1 year of marriage
Cameron
This is hard, really fucking hard, being around Ava all the time and not doing anything about it. I lied, to both her and Becky. I don’t love Ava, but I do like her, a lot. More than a friend. I’ve never looked at this marriage as a way to keep my company. Mostly, it’s been my way of putting my claim on the girl I want, plus I’m hoping it’ll get Becky off my damn back.
I like Becky, I do, but as a family friend. Nothing more than that. I made the mistake a few years back of sleeping with her, and then we kept on with this whole ‘friends with benefits’ thing. Now, I can’t shake her off.
Becky is on this kick now, too, saying once I’m divorced, we can finally be together. What she doesn’t realize is, divorced or not, I’m not going to marry her. Ever.
Ava is in the kitchen chatting with Connie, smiling and laughing, and I feel as if I’ve been hit in the stomach. What I wouldn’t give to throw her over my shoulder and take her up to my room. But after I told Ava our marriage would be in name only, that we’d be best friends, that light, the spark she held for me, seemed to die out.
I lost my chance with her, and that fucking kills. My cell pings with a message, and I see it’s Kimber. I made a date with her last night. It’s not that I even like her, but using my hand isn’t doing it for me. I swear my right arm is going to be huge, while my left stays somewhat scrawny.
After grabbing my coat by the front door, I walk back to the kitchen to say bye to Ava and Connie. “Ladies.” I nod at them when they turn to me with smiles on their faces. “I’m heading out for the night, but if you could both please make some of that homemade ice cream you made me last week, that would be the best thing ever,” I say with a pleading grin.
Ava rolls her eyes at me. “Have fun on your date. But just so you know, if we make that ice cream, it will probably be gone before you get home.” She sends me a smirk. Something about the way she mentioned my date doesn’t sit right with me.
I wish she never overheard Becky and me talking that day. Things would be different. She’d never know about the marriage terms, and she could be under me, or over me, any time I wanted. But when she heard what we were saying, all of the hopes I had with her died.
I just wish I could make her see that I really do want her, and not just in name only.
Chapter 15
Present
Ava
It feels like everyone is against me right now—my parents calling up Cameron, him not giving me a divorce, and then the bastard having me arrested. I don’t understand why this is happening. Does he think he can keep stringing me along while he has Becky, too? Does he get some kind of happiness out of ruining my life?
While lying in bed, I hear movement around the house and the smell of cookies in the oven. Great. Now, Mom is going to try to bribe me with my favorite cookies. Why does she suck so hard right now! Ugh. She knows I can’t pass up cookies, especially her homemade shortbread cookies.
My cell rings, and I grab it out of my purse that’s sitting at the end of my bed. Pulling it out, I see it’s Kristi. I groan answering it. “Hey, Kris.”
“Where are you, chick? You should have been here, like, four hours ago,” she says, sounding confused.
“Yeah, well, there was a problem.” I tell her how Cameron got me pulled over and had me sitting in a jail cell until he picked me up. She bursts out laughing.
“Maybe he’s not the dick I thought he was. Love this.”
My eyes narrow. “Whose side are you on?” I demand.
She laughs. “At the moment, I don’t know. I need more answers to my questions before I make up my mind,” she says. “Shit. Emma just got home, and she’s screeching at Dad about something. I’ll talk to you later, Lynnie.”
I toss my phone on my bedside table. What a traitor. I’ve always taken her side through everything, including when her mom left and when her dad made stupid ass rules about dating. I was with Kristi through her major rebellion, when she wanted to pierce and tattoo every blank spot on her body and dye her hair crazy whacky colors. Yet she’s taking Cameron’s stup
id side right now.
Some friend. I grab my phone again and shoot her a text.
I’m pregnant – A
She’ll see that and flip out. I know she will.
I shut my phone off and toss it on my bed. Just as I’m about to lay down for a nap, I smell the cookies again. I get up and go downstairs to the kitchen.
When I see my mom plating some shortbread cookies, I groan. “Are you going to frost those?” I ask her hopefully.
She chuckles. “You know it.”
“I need, like, all of them,” I inform her.
“I know. I made them just for you,” she says, smiling. “Well, have you and Cameron talked yet?” she asks.
“Not really. The big jerk got me arrested. Well, not officially, just held in a holding cell until he got me,” I tell her.
She lets out a snort. “I like him.”
I narrow my eyes at her. “I thought you didn’t. Heck, you even tried to tell me not to marry him.”
Mom sighs and turns to me. “That is true. However, over the years, I’ve seen how he looks at you and you him. I’ve gotten over everything I’ve thought about him in the past. He’s ‘it’ for you, Avalynn. You just need to open your eyes and see it.”
“How can you say this? You’re supposed to be on my side, not his. He got his mistress knocked up, and he only married me for his stupid company shit, anyway,” I spit out at her.
“Ava, open your eyes. You’re only seeing what you want to see, hearing what you want to hear. I thought I raised you to be smart.” She shakes her head.
Ouch.
“Just don’t shut him out completely, not yet.”
I grab the plate of cookies after she frosts them and take them up to my room. Seems like the only person on my side right now is Daddy, and I doubt that will last long once he and Cameron talk, since he’s always liked him.
Cameron
I shut the guest room door after putting my bags away and walk toward where Loretta said the office was. I knock and wait until I hear him say to come in.
