by Wyatt, Dani
“I can’t just abandon them. The gym, everything. That’s where we grew up. It means everything to them. If I leave — “
Victoria cut herself off when she felt Cameron tense.
“Never mind.” Her voice suddenly sounded more like a spoiled brat than thankful human.
“Yeah, never mind is right. You’ve got a long way to go to dust out all the mess that’s left in your head. But, I’ve got all the time in the world, babygirl. And we are going to work that shit out.”
Cameron leaned sideways, pulled off toward the curb.
“You better kiss me before I start planning a one way trip south for your Dad.” His voice lightened, he gave her a crooked grin.
Victoria cocked her head and smiled.
“South? What, you’re going to send him to Florida?” She laughed.
“Nope. I mean the hot south. Like fire and brimstone and the seven layers of the damn inferno.”
The moonlight cast a shadow over half his face, but the light from his blue eyes shone like aqua diamonds under his dark, serious brow. “Now kiss me or I’m turning this car around and I’m going to finish what I started back there.”
Victoria exhaled as Cameron brought his lips to hers. His tongue quickly finding home and swooped into her mouth, lighting a fire south of her own border and wiping any other thoughts from her mind.
“Drive, you big jerk,” Victoria’s ears were ringing, and her heart was close to beating out of her chest as Cameron’s hand glided farther up her inner thigh.
“Don’t push your luck. You’re already in deep shit, little girl. You’ve got a punishment waiting for your ass. You earned it, so let’s get your stuff and get you back to my place because I’ve got a few hours of plans for you.”
28
She did a good job packing up quickly. The silence between her place and his gave Cameron a second to regroup. It could have been the middle of the day; his senses were acute, like he was on patrol in a war zone, looking for trip wires and IED’s in every corner.
Instead, he needed to bring himself back, the way her body warmed his hand as he rested it on her leg had other nerves in his body on a patrol serving the orders of his dick.
“What are you thinking about?” Victoria’s voice sounded like breaking glass.
Cameron licked his lips, then sucked in the air with a loud hiss, contemplating if he should tell her what was going on in that fucked up head of his.
“If I tell you what I’m thinking about, you’d want to call the fucking cops. So, let’s just enjoy the quiet until we get home. I’ve got some fucked up shit in my head right now, and I’m really in no mood for sharing.”
Cameron heard her little sigh but decided to let her pout for a few blocks.
I think her sole purpose in life is to torment my ass. If she’s not careful, she’s going to find out how far on lockdown she’s gonna be if she doesn’t start being straight with me about all this shit. She needs to realize I’ve got a big damn dog in this fight, and I can’t do my fucking job if she doesn’t keep me in the damn loop.
Roger cut her about as deep as a father could, and Cameron was only too sure there was far more to tell than the little bit he heard when he walked in.
There was no understanding those two fucked up monsters. They couldn’t have been this bad when they were younger. Shit, both Cameron’s mom — as much as he remembered at least — and Emily were both kind, honest, smart women. How could they have hitched their ropes to those two broken down manure wagons?
Obviously, there was more to them than Cameron could ever understand, but at this point, he had no desire to try to figure out what had turned them into two piles of stinking waste. He just needed to be sure she got off their shit train and found her way to the life she deserved.
She was the ultimate trifecta. How come women didn’t understand that men appreciated different sizes, shapes, and colors, each almost more magnificent than the last?
If women could only have a week inside a man’s head — shit, an hour — they would quit worrying so god damn much about comparing themselves to some photo-shopped fake on a magazine cover and realize the power they held.
Ninety percent of his brain power focused on every way he wanted to fuck her, to lick and taste every part of her simultaneously. He saw an amazingly beautiful woman, sexy as hell with curves that called out for someone to ravage.
Layer that with her strength, smarts, wit, and kind nature, there was not a fem-bot in the world that Cameron would look at twice now that he finally tasted what he had waited for all these years.
The angrier he got at the entirely fucked up situation, the more he wanted to fuck her. It was like there was some direct line of fire from his anger to his dick. He shifted in the driver’s seat, his dick already throbbing like a damn toothache.
Inside the house, Cameron carried her suitcases to the bedroom and organized her stuff in three drawers he quickly emptied. He lined up her girly shampoos and whatnot in the shower and let her take care of the other pink and purple lady supplies that filled her cosmetic bag.
Damn, my girl is low maintenance and she still has a lot of shit. She does have a glorious mane of hair, though, so whatever she needs, it’s all good with me. And she smells amazing, so I’m good with all these little lotions and potions. She’s got me serving her like a little bitch, putting her girly stuff on the shelf and folding her damn panties. My dick may be turning into a damn vagina. Jesus, what the fuck happened to me.
Cameron finished folding, stacking, and organizing everything to his satisfaction, and then he made his way back down the stairs to find her curled in the corner of the sofa, her breath coming light and fast.
She had let the dogs in, both mutts laying on the floor by the sofa, looking at Cameron like the cat that caught the damn canary.
“Yeah, you two can just forget about it. That’s mine.”
He leaned down and gave them both a scratch. Victoria’s hand hung over the edge of the sofa and rested lightly on Stoli’s cream colored fur.
“Looks like we’re going to keep our 24-hour promise after all.”
It was damn near 2:30 in the morning and his girl needed to sleep. Sure, if she blinked at him the right way, he was ready to carry out her punishment then quickly turn around and give her another round with his mouth on that sweet pussy, but she was out.
“Come on, babygirl. Let’s get you tucked in.”
Cameron swooped her up like a doll, her arms instinctively wrapping around his neck, her face falling into the hard angle of his collarbone. Both dogs looked up.
“You two stay here.”
Stoli and Samson tucked their heads back between their paws.
Her warm breath shook Cameron’s dick awake, but she needed this night. The fact that she was already asleep meant she felt safe, and that was his number one priority.
He didn’t dare try to strip her out of her clothes before tucking her into the stark white sheets and pulling the comforter up around her chin.
There were limits to his control.
“Good night angel babygirl.” Cameron brushed her long chestnut hair off her face as he kissed her forehead.
He lay down on top of the covers, afraid if he slipped between the sheets and felt the warmth from her body, his already weakened resolve would crumble like the walls of Jericho.
He looped his fingers together and settled his hands behind his head, watching her sleep while the minutes ticked by. Finally, he let his eyes close, the ultimate prize asleep in his bed.
29
There was no Christmas morning that could compare to what it felt like for Cameron to open his eyes to see her laying there next to him.
His finger tips traced a line from just behind her ear, down the softness of her neck and he paused to feel the rush of her blood in her jugular.
He chided himself. The way he felt with her they could have been together for decades already. Cameron blew a deep breath out staring at the first-morning blush on h
er cheeks.
“Hey.” Her sleepy whisper sent a jerk right down south of the border.
Jesus, God, give me strength. My dick is in its morning wood glory – busting out the damn gate already.
“Hey back.”
She looked as beautiful first thing in the morning as ever. Beautiful wasn’t quite the right word, though, more like hot as fuck. Sensual, sexy, and every other word he could think of that set his cock on edge.
His wayward thoughts would have to wait. She needed to learn her lesson before he ravaged her little sore kitty cat again.
Cameron’s skin warmed as her hand peeked out from under the covers and moved like a tentative child reaching for something they shouldn’t have. Finally resting on the crook of his arm, then slowly working up onto the ink of the tattoos that covered his bicep.
Victoria’s eyes followed her hand, then fluttered with a moment of doubt before catching his gaze, sending another heat wave from the top of his head down to his toes.
“It still feels so strange to be here.” Her fingers played under the arm of his t-shirt, exploring the hard indents and broad curve of muscle. “It took me a second when I woke up to believe where I was.”
“Believe it, because this shit’s about to get real, babygirl.”
“Oh yeah? What’s that supposed to mean?”
Her morning smile and the way her hair tousled over her neck had Cameron doubting he could get through her punishment before his dick overrode the program.
“You know what it fucking means.”
He kept his voice quietly but commanding.
She didn’t need another vicious tyrant in her life, but she did need a hand willing to guide her even when it hurt. “You’ve got a punishment waiting for you. Don’t — don’t open your mouth like you don’t remember. I know all your tricks. I’m no freshman when it comes to you.”
“Right — I wonder what it would be like to be with someone you didn’t know almost better than yourself? Where’s the mystery? The nuance in figuring each other out —” Her cute, coy routine didn’t fly, and she quickly gave it up, took a deep breath and examined the ceiling.
“Stop fucking wondering, because that is something you won’t need to worry about. You’re here, and this is us and us ain’t going to change, got it?”
Cameron knew he barely had a foot out of the cave, but he didn’t give a shit, she needed this.
“Come on, no more putting it off, you’ve got your first spanking ready and waiting. You fucking earned it too.”
“Cam — come on —”
“Stop, right there, right fucking now. First of all, there are no secrets, right? And, second of all, there are no fucking secrets. You kept something from me that is so fucked up; I want to fist fuck both those assholes and that fucker Topher. Don’t you ever, ever keep shit like that from me again.”
She shrunk back into the pillow, and her hand began to pull away, leaving a spot on his arm that tingled. Cameron clamped his hand over hers, holding her attached to him.
“Don’t shut down. Listen, you’re going to tell me everything you know about the debt — what Topher the mother-fucker offered. Then, you’re going to climb over my knee and take your first punishment like a good girl, got it? Are we clear?”
She made a little ‘hmrphf’ noise, but she shifted and lifted her head and Cameron let it go.
“All I know is that they owe Topher around $80,000. I don’t really know exactly how much. He’s going to take the gym. Or hurt them and then take the gym.” Her voice stopped, but Cameron knew sure as shit there was more to say.
“Keep going.”
“But, he told Roger —” She examined the ceiling again before taking a faltering breath and blowing it out like a kid about to get a shot. “He said something about taking me — like a night with him or whatever.”
Victoria spat the words out fast like a foul tasting spoonful of medicine — they sounded like one long, multi-syllable mouth diarrhea.
If he hadn’t known better, Cameron would have looked around to see who sucker-punched him in the gut.
Fucker, mother fucker.
Cameron steadied his own breath, he could see how embarrassed and disgusted she was having to tell him, but he needed more detail.
“And? Tell me everything, every word you heard. What did Roger say?”
“Ummm, well, when Topher left that day, I really thought it was a joke. But, then Roger came back in the office and sort of asked me if I would go with him. Like, if I would do it — I didn’t know what to say. I remember looking at the computer screen, then I started crying and he shook his head and stomped out of the office like he was mad. I guess I just wanted to pretend it never happened. I mean, it can’t be real right? My own dad asking me to do that? He was just desperate, I know he would never really expect me —”
Cameron felt his hands ball into fists as her eyes glazed over and her voice shook.
“Jesus, Victoria. You can’t fucking keep shit like that from me. FUCK.”
Cameron hurdled off the bed, banging his fists into the wall leaving two indents in the plaster that just lost him his security deposit.
What the fuck was she thinking? Jesus, fucking Christ.
“I’m sorry, I just wanted it to go away. I mean, we can’t lose the gym. We can’t.”
“FUCK, so does that mean you were going to do it?”
“What else was I going to do? We don’t have the money, Roger —”
“If you fucking say his name again, I fucking swear, I am going to lose my shit right here. Don’t ever say his name again.”
“What do you want me to say? YOU WERE GONE! Rog— I mean Dad said it would be just one night, and it would clear everything. I didn’t WANT to, but I didn’t know what else to do. Where was I going to go? I can’t leave the gym, I told you. I have no money, no job. If I —”
“NO, I told you, I fucking told you before I left you needed to get out. I told you I’d help you find another job. Figure out how to get out of there. You chose them — I couldn’t stick around and watch you take their shit anymore. I gave you an out.”
Cameron saw red, but deep down, he knew he needed to chill the fuck out. Roger held some crazy power over her. He snatched her by the short hairs and manipulated her every second of her life until she barely knew the sky from the sea. Fucking fathers had no idea how much power they wielded over their little girls.
She sat up in the bed, wrapped her arms around her legs and hid her face. Cameron felt an ache in his chest like someone had reached inside and squeezed his heart in their fist.
“Did I not fucking tell you something bad was coming? I’m no fucking fool, Victoria. I know the signs, I’ve been around them enough. You didn’t want to listen, you thought you knew better. Well, whatever, I’m going to have a little chat with our friend Topher and let him fucking know you are off-fucking-limits. Then, I’m going to fuck up both those men that don’t deserve to be called fathers.”
“NO, don’t. He’s not kidding, you know something bad is going to happen if we don’t pay him. If you go — he’ll — God, Cameron, he isn’t going to just back down. He makes people disappear.”
“You let me fucking worry about this shit. I’ve got it from here on, you hear me? You don’t talk to any of those fucks about this, understand? Anyone brings up this shit; you get my ass on speed dial. If you can’t get to me, you get your ass in your car, and you end up right here on lockdown. Understood??”
“It’s complicated —”
“Did you just tell ME it’s complicated? Like I’m some pussy chump who doesn’t understand? Really?”
“No, not like that — “
“Victoria, fuck. You are going to be the death of me; I get that. But, honestly, I didn’t think it would fucking be TODAY.”
The thought of that fat, greasy fuck putting his hands on her in lieu of her own father figuring out a way to pay his own rightful debt was more than Cameron could fathom.
“Okay, list
en.” He needed to take a breath and pivot before he broke his hands making fist holes in the wall. “It’s not fucking complicated. It’s simple as shit. I don’t want you even back there until I get a grip of what to do.”
“I have to work — Cameron, please, I have to work. Don’t do that — I promise, if anything comes up, I’ll call you if you’re not there. And, I’ll leave if I need to. But, please, that gym is my life, I don’t know what I would do if I didn’t go there everyday. I mean, I hate it, but I need it. I — I don’t understand, but I have to work. I can’t let everything fall apart. I’ve been holding it together for so long, it’s like a part of me.”
“You can take pictures and be the fucking artist you want to be without them dragging you down.”
She bobbed her head softly, banging it onto her knees.
“Stop that.” Cameron settled onto the edge of the bed, his hands lifting her face to look at him.
“I need to work. I hate it, but I can’t leave. Please, if I’m not there, the gym won’t survive. I just can’t take it if that happens. I can’t.”
This fucked up sense of responsibility she had was beyond Cameron’s reasoning, but the hilt in her voice told him how desperate she was.
“Fine. You work, but I’m going to be there with you unless I’m training, fighting, or figuring this shit out. You keep that phone on you, charged every fucking second unless you are attached to me somewhere. And you better fucking answer when I call. And, I’m telling them you’re staying here, and don’t even give me that look.”
“God, don’t I get a say in anything? I’m not a kid, Cameron. You can’t just bark out all your orders, and I fall in line.”
She was pushing back; Cameron felt Stan the Caveman taking over. It was bad enough he had to stand here and imagine that disgusting prick with his hands and mouth on her body to pay some fucking debt like she was a soulless object. The thought that her own father could condone that shit was almost more than anyone could handle.
