by Claire Adams
"I'm not quite out of the clutches of death and you're talking business," I laughed and then winced.
"Hey, like I said, pragmatic." Leo grinned as he leaned over and gripped my shoulder. The look in his eyes was serious as he said, "I'm glad you're okay, Cam. Don't ever scare me like that again, you hear me?"
I nodded and smiled up at him as I bent my arm and gripped his hand.
"I gotta run; I have a date with a girl I met at the Metzler shindig," Leo said smiling at Alex and I. "Maybe I'll get as lucky as you two seem to have gotten."
After Leo left, Alex busied herself with straightening my blankets and getting me propped up so that I could watch television. She'd brought her books with her and sat studying while I flipped through channels. Occasionally, she'd look up and smile at me, but neither of us said much. I wasn't entirely sure what to say, and I wasn't sure if she wanted to talk about what had happened.
Around dinnertime, Alex left to go check on Liz. They'd moved her to the detox unit so that she could get the drugs out of her system, but it was a slow painful process of withdrawing given the fact that Liz had been using incredibly potent drugs for quite awhile. When Alex returned, she looked pale and worried.
"How was your visit with Liz?" I asked. Alex shook her head and bit her lip. "Is she okay?"
"She's...struggling," Alex said as she sat down. "I didn't know things had gotten so bad. How could I not have known?"
"Addicts are good at hiding things," I said, reaching out and taking her hand. "You can't blame yourself."
"I do though," she said, looking down at the floor. "She can't go back to school after the cheating charges were found to be true. I feel guilty."
"Guilty that you weren't cheating?" I asked. "Liz made her own bed, now she's got to lie in it."
"Wow, harsh, Connor," she said with a look of surprise. "I'd have thought you'd be a little more forgiving after what's happened."
"Why should I be more forgiving? I'm the one who almost died!" I said, wincing as I felt the pull of stitches in my side. "And that asshole almost killed you, too. Don't forget."
"Like I would ever forget," she said, standing up and walking to the end of the bed. "Cam, he said that you'd treated him badly and humiliated him. That's why he wanted revenge."
"I didn't treat that asshole badly, he was a fuck-up who couldn't fit in!" I shouted.
"And you're such a choir boy, aren't you?" she said, shaking her head. "You're a bossy, know-it-all who thinks that he can simply buy his way out of problems and make people like him."
"What are you talking about?" I said, confused by the sudden shift in her attitude.
"You paid my rent and my tuition and you didn't even ask me if I wanted you to!" she shouted. "You had every opportunity to tell me what you were planning to do, and instead you hid it and just did what you wanted to without consulting me!"
"I was doing you a favor!" I shouted back. A nurse came and stuck her head in the door and asked us to keep our voices down. Sheepishly, I nodded and then looked back at Alex, who was standing at the foot of my bed with an angry look on her face.
"You treated me like I didn't matter," she said. "Like you could just buy me off and I'd be happy. Why didn't you talk to me about what you were planning to do?"
"Because you hate people with money!" I said, looking up at her helplessly. "And I was afraid that if I brought it up, you would dump me!"
"But you thought that paying my bills in secret was a good way to avoid that?" she asked incredulously.
"I didn't...I...shit..." I said, shaking my head as I looked away from her.
"You didn't what?" she demanded.
"I didn't want you to be mad at me and I didn't want you to leave," I said, looking up at her as the raw emotion spilled out. "I haven't felt what I feel with you since Quinn died, and I didn't want to lose you. I want you to stay, Alex. Please. I'm sorry."
Confusion flashed across Alex's face as she listened to me confess my feelings. I watched her as she wrestled with whatever it was she was feeling before she spoke again.
"I don't want to leave you, Cam," she said softly as she moved around the bed and rested her hand on mine. "But you can't buy me. I don't like what money does to people. I don't like the way it changes them and makes them forget what's really important, and I thought you'd forgotten. I thought you were trying to buy me."
"I was just trying to help out," I said as I took her hand. "I knew how worried you were about Liz, and I didn't want you to have to worry about getting kicked out of school or your apartment while you waited for them to find you innocent. I knew they would. Cheating isn't you, Alex."
"You should have talked to me," she said.
"I know, I promise it won't happen again," I said, squeezing her hand. "Please stay."
Alex smiled as she leaned over and kissed me, then nodded. I wanted to pull her into my arms, but the minute I stretched out to her, I felt a sharp pain in my side and winced. Alex stood up and slid onto the bed next to me so that I could wrap one arm around her without having to stretch.
"Is this better?" she asked, looking up at me with a smile.
"Indeed it is," I said as I kissed her forehead. "We'll always find a way."
Chapter Forty-Two
Alex
It was a long road to recovery for both Cam and Liz, but by the time the spring flowers were blooming and the trees were turning green, both of them were out of the hospital and on their way to being well at last. Without her scholarship, Liz had been unable to afford her apartment. Cam had offered to pay her rent, but she’d refused, so I'd had her move in with me to share my place. She went to meetings or therapy every day, and managed to maintain her sobriety after being released, but her lies had caused a deep crack in our friendship.
I wanted to believe that she was on the road to recovery, but I no longer trusted her to tell me the truth. It created a stressful living situation and one that put both Liz and I on edge. I knew it couldn’t last for very long.
Liz found a job working at the diner where we'd spent so much time studying, and she loved being able to shoot the breeze with the wide range of customers. The constant movement helped her stay focused on what was important and her co-workers knew her challenges, so they treated her like a family member and kept a close eye on her. It wasn't perfect, but it was better than she'd been in a long time.
We'd talked about what had happened at the apartment the day Victor had almost killed us both, but Liz never wanted to talk about what had happened before that, and I didn't ask. I figured that she'd talk about it when she was ready. She did, however, tell me about the day she cheated and how she'd unintentionally implicated me when she'd done it. She'd apologized, and once I'd accepted the apology, we tried to move past it, though it was hard for me to trust her.
Once cleared of any wrongdoing, I moved forward with classes and my internship. Violet and the girls backed down and left me alone once they knew that Cam and I were a couple, and that his firm was running her father's security detail. I'd graciously thanked them for their kind thoughts after the incident, and then proceeded to do what I'd always done -- ignore them.
Mrs. Rikka watched me like a hawk when I returned to my rotation. I think she thought I was going to have a breakdown or something, but Leslie assured me that she was simply trying to ensure that I didn't get overwhelmed or overly stressed as I processed what had happened to me. I was required to attend counseling sessions to deal with the stress and process what had happened, but overall, I hadn't been traumatized by the incident. The therapist was not surprised, and told me that I might have some issues later when other stresses in my life surfaced. She let me go after ten sessions with the reminder that if things got stressful or overwhelming, I should come back and talk with her.
I passed my final exams with straight As and prepared to graduate. We would be walking across the stage at the Chicago Theater, and I wanted everyone who'd supported me to attend, so I asked for extra tickets and handed them o
ut. Cam wanted to include Danny and Leo, so we invited them as well. Liz and I shopped for a dress for me to wear under my gown and finally found one in Nordstrom's on Michigan Avenue where we also let a pretty young woman do our makeup and convince us to buy the products she'd used. All in all, it was a time of celebration.
The only downside of things was when, two weeks before graduation, Cam, Liz, and I were called to testify in Victor's trial. It was unsettling to see him again after all the damage he'd done, but when the verdict came down and the judge sentenced him to life in prison for kidnapping and attempted murder, we were all relieved. I watched him being led away in handcuffs and felt sad that he hadn't been able to find another way to deal with his rage and frustration.
"You okay?" Cam asked as I stood in the doorway of the courtroom staring at the empty stand.
"Yeah, fine." I nodded as I took his hand and turned my back on the past.
Chapter Forty-Three
Cam
It took me until Alex's graduation to make it through rehab, and even after the physical therapist pronounced me in tiptop shape, I wasn't sure I wanted to return to the fire department. I had developed a new perspective on life and I wasn't sure I wanted to spend my days running into burning buildings anymore. It was hard to admit, but once I told Alex how I felt, she encouraged me to explore other options.
Leo was adamant that I come work at CSC and help him deal with the surge in new business. I agreed to try that for a while, but I wasn't sure that's where I wanted to spend the rest of my time. Yet, I wasn't sure what other options I had. I'd spent the past decade running from what had happened to Quinn, so much so that I hadn't spent much time focusing on doing what would make me happy.
"You should think about doing home renovation," Alex said two nights before she was to graduate. "You did such an amazing job with this place and there are tons of homes that need updates and overhauls. This neighborhood alone would give you enough business to keep you hopping for the next five years!"
"I'll have to consider that," I said as I poured her a glass of wine and handed it to her. I raised my glass and toasted, “Here’s to you and your nursing degree!"
"It's hard to believe it's over," she said as she sipped her wine. "But it's nice that I'll be working at General in the ER. I like it there."
"I like having you there, and I'd like to have you here, too," I said as I looked at her. I reached into my pocket and pulled out a small box that I'd been saving for the right moment, and this felt like it was it. I dropped to one knee next to her chair opening the box and said, "Alexandra Pierce, would you do me the honor of becoming my wife?"
"Cam?" she said, completely caught off guard. "What? Oh my God! Yes!"
"Hmmm, interesting response. Not exactly the one I was expecting, but the affirmative will work." I laughed as I pulled the ring out of the box and placed it on her finger. It fit perfectly, and she stared at it for a moment before she threw her arms around me and kissed me.
I pulled her to me and kissed her deeply. It had been a long time since we'd had sex even though the doctor had cleared me for it a month before. We were both a little scared of what might happen.
Alex pulled back and looked at me expectantly, and I nodded. Taking her hand, I led her to the bedroom where I slowly removed her clothing stopping to kiss every inch of bare skin that I exposed. When I finally pulled her lacy panties down to her ankles, I looked up at her in wonder. This beautiful woman had agreed to marry me, and I wanted to show her just how happy I could make her.
I gently pushed her back onto the bed and spread her legs as my fingers traced a path around her nipple down to the warmth between her legs. She moaned softly and pushed her hips up as I teased her outer lips before sinking my fingers between them and stroking a path from top to bottom.
"Cam..." she moaned as I found the center of her pleasure and pressed on it before letting up and circling it over and over. "Oh my God..."
"Mmm, feels good, doesn't it?" I whispered as I leaned down and kissed her lips while my fingers dove deeper and stroked her inner walls. Alex lifted her hips and moved to the rhythm of my long lazy strokes while I used my other hand to unzip my own pants. I let them drop to the floor as I pulled my fingers out, much to Alex's chagrin.
"Don't stop," she whispered as I moved on top of her and slid my swollen shaft up and down coating it in her slick warm wetness. And then, in one swift thrust, I was inside her, feeling the tightness and heat encircling me as I slowly pulled back and then thrust forward again.
Alex moaned more insistently as she gripped my shoulders and pushed her hips up to meet my thrusts. I could feel her naked skin sliding against mine as we climbed higher and higher searching for the release we'd been aching for. I braced myself as I felt a twinge, and when Alex saw the brief wave of pain cross my face, she pushed me sideways and rolled me onto my back so that she could straddle me.
I held my breath as I watched her move on top of me. She looked so beautiful rising above me like a nymph as she moved her hips back and forth. I held my breath as I tried to stave off the inevitable climax, but it had been too long to wait, and in an instant I felt it all come crashing down on me as I came, crying out her name. Alex kept moving as she raced toward the same conclusion. She leaned forward and ground herself against me as she found her own orgasm. I watched as she fell forward burying her face in my neck as our bodies jerked and moved in the throes of intensity neither one of us could deny.
I held on to her tightly as we waited for our breathing to return to normal and felt like I was the luckiest man in the whole world.
Chapter Forty-Four
Epilogue
"No, no, no! Do not pull the doggy's tail, Cassidy!" I said as I moved across the patio to where the two-year-old with sticky hands and face was yanking on Tesla's thick tail. The big, yellow lab turned and began licking her face as she screamed with delighted laughter. I couldn't help but stand back and laugh as the two of them enjoyed each other's company.
"Cam, are you keeping an eye on those burgers?" I yelled through the open door as I smelled the scent of burning meat wafting from the other side of the patio.
"I'm on it!" he shouted as he barged through the door carrying a tub of beer. "We still need ice, though."
"I called Leo and let him know," I said as I grabbed the small person who had pulled off her shirt and was now running toward the yard, ostensibly to roll in the grass just like her buddy, Tesla, was doing. I looked down at the curly haired little angel and said, "What are you doing, missy?"
"Esla!" she shrieked as she ran toward her four-legged playmate. "Doggy!"
"Yes, she is a doggy." I laughed. Cassidy was the spitting image of her father with the curly red locks and bright green eyes that flashed with mischievousness more often than I liked to acknowledge.
"What are you doing, Peanut?" Cam asked in a deep booming voice that never failed to send her into shrieking laughter. We stood and watched as the two friends rolled on the lawn enjoying the coolness of the grass on a warm summer evening.
We were celebrating our fifth wedding anniversary with a barbecue for all of the friends who had been in our wedding party, and a few other people who'd become integral to our life. The memory of our special day was on display all over the house, and Cam had built small replica of the gazebo we'd stood on when we'd said our vows. The wedding had been a small affair because we hadn't wanted to draw a lot of attention to ourselves and because I was in the middle of starting my new nursing job.
Cam had promised that we'd make the celebration of our anniversary a yearly event, and so far he'd made good on his promise. I looked over at my husband who was laughing loudly as he watched our two-year-old rolling on the lawn with his beloved dog, and I wondered how I could have ever doubted his sincerity and love.
He'd retired from the fire department not long after I'd graduated from nursing school. He'd said it no longer made sense to him to spend his time running into burning buildings when he could be at home
with me. I knew his reasons ran much deeper than that, but I never pushed him for them. After all, I'd been there that fateful day, and I knew the price he'd paid for coming to my rescue. I was just glad we'd all survived it.
"Hey there, minion!" a familiar voice called to Cassidy. "What are you doing?"
"Tee Tee Izzy!" Cassidy yelled as she popped up off of the lawn and went running on chubby legs toward her favorite aunt, Liz. Liz met her halfway and swept her up into a big hug as she kissed every inch of the baby's face, making her laugh wildly before setting her down so she could run back to where Tesla lay in the grass.
"She's getting so big!" Liz said as she grabbed me and hugged me tightly. "I can't believe she's two now."
"I know, it's crazy, isn't it?" I said, as I held tight to my friend.
The past few years hadn't been easy for Liz. Losing her place in the nursing program had been a blow that she'd had a hard time recovering from, and while she'd come out of rehab strong and determined, she'd relapsed twice and now was living in a group recovery home where she found that the order and rules helped her manage her addiction. I knew she was going to have a lifelong struggle ahead of her, but I wasn't about to abandon her.
Cassidy's first birthday seemed to have been a turning point for her since she'd been sober ever since. I crossed my fingers and hoped that Liz would be able to maintain her sobriety and that someday she'd be able to have a family of her own. Maybe someday our girls would become lifelong friends like their mothers were.
Leo showed up a short time later with more ice than we knew what to do with and a surprise for Cassidy. When he led his gift in on a leash, I looked at Cam, but he grinned and shrugged letting me know he'd approved this. I rolled my eyes and chuckled as I raised a fist at my secret-loving husband, but I also knew that he'd thought about this long and hard because Tesla was starting to show signs of senility and we knew she wasn't going to be with us forever.
Cam had worked with Leo at the office for several years after we got married as he started his new business, a home renovation company called CAC Designs. He and Danny Newsome worked together flipping houses and doing renovations for folks who had more money than they knew what to do with. Cam had used our initials as the acronym for the company, but when Cassidy had come along he'd started to claim that it was Cam Alex Cassidy Designs. I asked him what he was going to do when the family expanded, and he told me that he'd have to start another business venture to accommodate the new child. I'd rolled my eyes and laughed knowing that there was no stopping him if he decided to do it.
