by Jenny Wood
“What about groceries or rent?” He asks. This is where things might get tricky. I know he’s prideful and I know he wants to make his own way. I respect that, but I also know there’ll be a time when he’ll have to do that, but for now, I want him to have it easy. I don’t think he ever has before. Therefore, I finish rinsing the plates and stack them in the dishwasher before I wipe my hands and turn to Jase.
“Thing is, kid. You’re going to have plenty of time of being independent and fending for yourself. While you’re here, you can buy things for yourself if you want; toiletries, clothes things that you might want; but we’re already paying the mortgage, it won’t change if you’re here or not, so don’t worry about that. One of us cooks dinner, whoever’s home first usually, so don’t worry about that. There’s always plenty, whether you eat or not, so….it’s all the same. For now, why don’t you just “be” for a little while. Let things be easy for a bit, yeah? Enjoy being a kid. Or, kiddish, you’re officially a man, tomorrow.” I grin, getting a giant grin back in return.
“Thank you, Jody. You don’t know what this means to me.” He says softly.
“I do, though, bud. I really do.” I tell him sincerely. He nods in acceptance and thanks me again before hopping up and putting his own dishes in the dishwasher. He goes to his room to get dressed for school as Kayson comes back out of his room, dressed and ready to go.
“Feel like a surprise party tomorrow night?” I ask.
“Does a bear shit in the woods?” He says in answer.
“I want to get Jase moved in and have him a party. He turns 18 tomorrow.” I tell him.
“Awesome, I’m not going in until four, want help?” He asks. I tell him I do and run it by Jase to see if he cares if we move some of his stuff while he’s at school. He assures us that he doesn’t have much, that it’ll probably just take one trip. He’s only got a few clothes and two pairs of shoes. He doesn’t have furniture or anything worth bringing and Kayson and I just can’t have that. So, since Kayson isn’t working until this evening and I’m not on until 11, we decide to take a trip to the mall and deck him out for his birthday.
“I can’t believe you got him his own game system.” I laughed at Kayson as we lugged our bags into the house from the mall.
“Dude, I just got one for the center and he’s not even had a chance to play on it. I have one in the living room, but you know I’m not good with sharing.” He admits. It’s true when Kayson gets playing his nerdy boy games, he doesn’t like to let others take a turn. He and Kingsley used to fight over it, constantly.
“Ms. Jay says that his favorite colors were blue and black, I hope they still are or he’s going to hate his new bed shit,” I commented, thinking of the new bedding and curtains we got for his room. Kayson also got him a few posters, a computer desk, a lamp and I got him a rug. He had several DVD’s that Ms. Jay said that only he watched, so she let us have them and we brought a couple books he’d had in his room. She and all the kids from the center were coming to his birthday party tomorrow at six, I knew he’d want to keep in touch with them all. Ms. Jay thanked us profusely for taking him in, but it wasn’t a hardship, we genuinely liked having the kid around.
By the time I had to go into work, Kayson was still hooking up the game system to the flat-screen we took from Kingsley’s old room and put it in Jase’s, which was our last guest room that no one had lived in yet. Kingsley and Jinx and Layla’s room were now guest rooms. Kady’s room was down the hall in the back of the house, Kayson and Morgan’s was on the other side of the house and mine was the first room off of the kitchen. Jase’s was smack in the middle of Kady’s and mine. I hope he loved it.
I wasn’t at work long, just getting the stencil drawn of a hummingbird, sitting on top of an angel headstone. It was black and white, but the hummingbird was bright blue. It was a beautiful piece. I had just got the OK from the man I was to tattoo it on when my phone rang. Normally, I wouldn’t answer it at work unless I was between clients, but when I saw Cameron’s name, I didn’t hesitate.
“Everything okay?” I asked. For some reason, I figured he’d never call me unless something was wrong. Especially after the “moment”, we had last night.
“Jody?” He whispered frantically. “Oh, fuck. Jody, I need help. There’s so much blood. So much.” He gagged.
“Get Kayson over here, now!” I yelled at Layla. “He’s got to cover me,” I yelled, already up and moving to the door. “Cameron, where are you? Are you at home?” I asked, jumping in my truck, putting my phone on speaker and punching an urgent text to Conner for Cameron’s address.
“Yes. The Bainbridge apartments, C4, please come.” He tells me and I hear him whimpering and gagging yet again.
“What happened? Are you hurt? Is it your blood? Talk to me, Cam.” I urge. I can hear him sniffling and whimpering and every few seconds he’ll sob, but just slightly.
“I don’t know, there’s so much blood. My head, I think my head is bleeding. It’s coming from my head.” He sounds frantic again.
“Okay, calm down. Head wounds bleed a lot, don’t they? Are you alone? Is anyone there with you?” I asked, hoping his dickhead boyfriend wasn’t there.
“No, he left. I hit my head, the blood and he left.” He says.
“You fell?” I ask to confirm.
“What?” He asks, softly.
“You said you fell, is that how you hurt your head?” I ask softly. He gags again and asks me to hurry. I’m a few minutes away and I want to keep him talking. He does, though a lot of it doesn’t make sense. I’m betting, if he actually hit his head, he’s probably got a concussion. When I pull up to his apartment, I jump out, still talking to him on the phone.
“I’m here, can you let me in?” I ask, but when I make it to the door it’s opened just slightly. I hang up and walk in.
“Cameron! It’s Jody, where are you?” I yell from the front door. I hear him drop something down the hallway and I follow the sound of him being in distress. When I walked in, I wasn’t at all prepared to see what I did.
Cameron was sitting on the floor, trying to put on bright lip gloss. He had blood, pouring from a wound in his head as well as a battered and bruised face and neck. That was all I could see, but I feared by the way he was sitting that he’d have bruises elsewhere. Especially given the state of his ripped and stretched shirt.
“Hey,” I said gently, slowly coming toward him. One of his eyes was almost swollen closed. “It’s Jody, can you hear me?” I asked. His head snapped towards the sound of my voice but I kept my distance.
“I need to put this on.” He lifted his lip gloss. His pupil was huge in the eye that I could see.
“I think we need to get you to a hospital, okay? Does anywhere else hurt, besides your head?” I ask, looking at the dried blood on his clothes and face.
“I think I might puke.” He tells me. “I need my lip gloss.”
“Can you stand up with me?” I ask, grabbing a rag from a rack above the toilet. I wet it with warm-ish water and start to wipe around his eyes, gently. Trying to get as much blood off as I can.
“Jody will see me and he’ll think I’m ugly. Ugly and weak. I need the lip gloss!” He says, bordering on hysterical. I take it from his hand and apply it gently to his lips. I do a terrible job, I’ve never applied lip gloss, to myself or to anyone else. He visibly relaxes.
“Come on, let’s get you up.” I help him stand and he leans heavily into me. I spy his wallet on the table beside the front door and I grab it before I lock the door from the inside and close it shut, hard. I’ll worry about getting him in, later; for now, I need to get him to the hospital. I help him into my truck and rush to my side and buckle us in. While I’m driving, I call Conner and tell him what’s going on. He says he’ll call Kayson and let them all know and someone will meet us at the hospital. I don’t know near enough information about him or what happened so I figured I’d better ask.
“Cameron, can you open your eyes for me?” I ask and he does
. He looks dazed as he stares out the front windshield.
“Cameron, can you tell me what happened?” I ask, hoping he can tell me anything about who did this.
“He was so mad.” He says.
“Asher?” I guessed. I knew there was something fucked up about that man.
“He was waiting for me when I got home last night. In my cuddle chair.” He says. What the fucks a cuddle chair?
“He hit you?” I ask for confirmation.
“Hey always hits me.” He whispers, closing his eyes again.
“Eyes open, baby. Keep em’ open.” I tell him, patting his arm that’s resting against me. “Why’d he hit you, Cameron?” I ask.
“He says I’m girly. My hair, my makeup, my panties He used to like it but now he doesn’t.” He tells me. There’s a lot to go over there, I’ll have to remember that later.
“You aren’t girly and your hair and makeup are nice. I like pretty.” I try to comfort him, I sidestepped the panties because…well, I don’t know about those. The thought is intriguing, though. The thought of seeing Cameron in them, even more so. I shake that off, now isn’t the time.
“In another life, Jody Mars. In another life, I’d be pretty for you.” He says, wistfully.
“Can you stay right here and wait for me to come around? I’ll help you out, okay?” I tell him, grabbing his hand and giving it a squeeze before getting out. He doesn’t know what he’s saying right now, he’s confused and concussed. I shouldn’t bank on anything he’s saying. I can’t help it, though, I really want to.
I get us out and Cameron into the emergency department. Nurses come out to get Cameron right away. One of them recognizing him immediately.
“Cameron, what happened? Who did this?” She asks him, eyeing me skeptically. I can feel myself scowl at her assumed accusation. I’d never do this shit.
“Asher was waiting on me last night.” He tells her softly just before throwing up all over her shoes. They get him in a wheelchair and wheel him off to an exam room.
“I want to be told when he can have visitors. Nobody sees him but me!” I demand to the lady in charge at the front desk. She blinks but nods.
I go out to move the truck and dial Conner.
“I’m on my way there, what happened?” He asks in a panic.
“Asher, what’s his last name?” I demand to know.
“Johnson. Asher Johnson. Did he do something?” Conner asks, voice shaking.
“Yes, he did something. He completely fucked Cameron up. He’s got dried and fresh blood all over him, his face is blue and his eye is swollen shut. I don’t even know about under his clothes, I didn’t look. We’re at the county, where he works. Emergency department.” I tell him and hang up. I pull into a parking spot and take a deep breath before dialing the non-emergent police. I only have it memorized because of a popular jingle on the radio that plays when Kady is over. It’s on a kids station and they have the dumb song in a memorable jingle so kids will remember it if needed.
I report everything that was said from the last half an hour- well, ok not everything. They say someone will be down to take a statement, soon. I get back into the waiting room and Conner meets me there, shortly after. I tell him everything that happened and what he’s said about Asher and of course, he looks surprised.
“Asher hurts him?” He asked, confused.
“He did this time,” I tell him honestly. Had Kayson been here, he might’ve sugar coated it, but I’m so pissed than anyone overlooked this and didn’t help him sooner. I know it isn’t anyone’s fault but Asher’s but I’m pissed that no one paid enough attention to stop it. Within the next hour, Kayson came after he finished the hummingbird tattoo. Jase came and we’d still not heard from a doctor. Another half hour after that, a police officer came and took a statement from me and then went back, no problem and talked to Cameron. I wondered if he pressed charges. I wanted him to because I didn’t want that asshole, Asher to get away with it.
It was another hour before the nurse that recognized Cameron when we came in, came out to get me.
“Jody?” She asked. I wasted no time in meeting her halfway. “He’s asking for you now.” She started walking and I followed without looking back at my family who had been waiting with me. Not that I didn’t want to, but my mind was only on Cameron.
“He’s banged up, pretty good but he’s more lucid now. He does have a concussion and he did give the police a statement.” She said that last bit heatedly. I sensed a story there. When we got to his room, she knocked once and peeked in. I heard Cameron mumble what I assumed was confirmation and she held the door open for me but then left.
“Hey.” He croaked at me when I came into view. He looked terrible. More cleaned up than when I saw him, though. I was grateful for that. His eye was still swollen although not as bad, he had an ice pack on his tray in front of him. He also had a clean scrub shirt on.
“Hey, you,” I say, taking the seat next to his bed. “How ya feelin’?” I asked.
“I won’t lie… I’ve been better.” He tried to smile. I took his cold hand between my bigger, warm ones and hoped he’d be serious for a second. “I’m so embarrassed.” He whispered. Eyes shining with unshed tears, the second I grabbed his hand. “I can’t believe I called you. This is humiliating.”
“What? Why?” I asked a little louder than I intended to. I didn’t want him to be embarrassed, this wasn’t anything for him to be embarrassed about.
“He’s never done anything like this before.” He said. I didn’t believe that for a second. He must’ve read that on my face because he amended that statement, really quick. “Not like this, I mean. He was so mad that I’d been out with you and Jase Sunday and then, at your house last night.”
“How did he know all that? I mean, I assume that asshole from the restaurant probably clued him in the other night; but how’d he know that you were at the house, last night? Did you tell him?” I asked. He didn’t look at me for a couple, hesitant seconds before he shook his head, no.
“Did you press charges?” I asked softly. I had to know, it was driving me crazy.
“Yes, but… I don’t think it’ll do any good. He’s a lawyer, a high-profile lawyer. Nobody will go against him, they’re all friends.” He says, defeated.
“Will you do me a favor?” I used my gentle voice again. I liked the way his eyes went soft when I spoke softly. “We have a really nice guest room at the house, not in use. I want you to stay with me until they pick him up. I don’t want you going back to your house, alone.” I try. He picks at his fingernails for a minute, seeming to think of my proposal before he answers.
“I can get a hotel; I don’t want to put you guys out. I know Jase is going to start staying there. That’s a lot of change at once.” He says.
“We moved Jase in today, he doesn’t know it yet. We still have a spare room available. Please?” I wasn’t going to give up until he was under my roof where I could keep a close eye. Crazy? Probably. Did I care? Not for a second.
Chapter 7: Cameron
When I’d gotten home from Jody’s, my apartment had been locked and dark. I never imagined anyone being inside waiting on me; least of all, Asher. He didn’t have a key to my place. I walked in, took my shoes off and was confronted by his dark silhouette the minute I walked passed the living room. It was like something straight out of a scary movie. At first, he was just loud and accusatory. He demanded explanations of where I’d been, who I’d been with and why his friends were telling him I was out with another man. Apparently, Mike had left out that I was with a man and a teenage boy. Either that or Asher had ignored that part and formed his own, made up version of my activities.
I tried to tell him about Jase from the center and how I was helping him apply for college, but he wasn’t hearing any of it. For some reason, being around the guys maybe, made me feel safe, untouchable or something. I don’t know, I can’t explain it. I just wasn’t scared of him. I should’ve been because when I told him that I thought he s
hould leave; he lunged. I don’t remember a lot. I remember trying to get to the bathroom so I could shut the door and him flying through it, making me fall back and hit the back of my head off the bathtub and splitting it open. That didn’t explain the swollen shut, black eye or the numerous shoe prints in my right side ribs. The police had to take pictures and it was humiliating. I felt like a battered wife and they treated me as if it was my fault. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t feel like a victim, but I certainly didn’t ask for this.
“Cameron, please. I don’t want you to be home by yourself if he comes back.” Jody says again, after offering me a place to stay while they look for and question Asher. I’m not getting my hopes up because I know that nothing will be done about him. If they can find him, they’re going to issue a temporary restraining order until we go to court. I want a real one, an effective one and I want people to take it seriously. Just because he’s a fancy attorney should not give him the opportunities to get away with such terrible things.
“Are you sure? What did the guys say?” I asked, still skeptical. I didn’t want to be a burden and I was nervous about being around Jody so much. I’m pretty sure I had white knight syndrome, where I was falling in love with him because he saved me, or some shit like that. That’s a thing, right? Anyway, I was worried about it almost as much as I was about Asher coming back after me.
“The guys will tell you themselves that they’d rather you’d be safe. Conner especially, he’s very worried about you. I thought he was going to tackle me for coming back here before him.” Jody tried to smile, but I saw the tightness behind his eyes. I knew he was anxious for me to give in.
