She turned on her heel and marched toward the door, letting it slam shut behind her with a loud thud.
Once she was gone, there was no one for him to tear down except himself. Alone with his demons, he felt the anger consuming him. With a frustrated grunt, he yanked his suitcase off the bed and watched the clothing fly everywhere.
***
Cameron sat on the steps to the back porch, looking out across the yard as she smoked a cigarette. She had vague memories of playing in this very yard when she was a child. It felt like a lifetime ago.
Julian’s threat played in her mind on repeat. She knew if he took her to court for custody, he would destroy her and paint her to be the most thoughtless and heartless mother in the world. But she hadn’t given Brady up to be heartless. Even in her confused, emotional state, she knew she’d make a terrible mother. She could hardly get through the day without drinking, let alone take care of a child properly. Julian was in no better shape, he just didn’t have the sense to realize it.
As her gaze idly scanned the yard, her attention focused on Chad’s loft and the open front door. From her seat on the porch, she could see him coming down the stairs on the side of the garage. He looked like he was heading for the driveway, but when he saw her, he walked toward the house instead.
“Why do you look so bummed?” he asked as he sat down next to her.
“I’m not,” she said.
“Yeah right,” he said. “You’ve been out here chain smoking for an hour.”
She looked down at the cigarette in her hand, and then dropped it into the empty soda can she was using for an ashtray. “It turns out the divorce isn’t going to be as open and closed as Julian made it seem.”
“I knew it,” he said. “What’d he try to pull?”
“It doesn’t matter,” she said with a shrug. “I can’t win, no matter how hard I try.”
He nodded slowly, then said, “Is it time to beat him up yet? Cuz I’m ready; just say the word.”
She chuckled. “I don’t think that would help much.”
Shane rounded the corner of the house then and greeted them both with a warm, but cautious smile, as if he was assessing the situation. Seeing that everything looked friendly, he approached the two by the back porch. “Please tell me you guys have plans that I can tag along on tonight,” he said. “I’m bored out of my mind since Dad cut back my hours.”
Chad laughed. “You really would be lost without that garage, wouldn’t you?”
He shrugged, catching Cameron’s gaze. He let his eyes linger on hers a bit, until Chad started to notice and he quickly looked away. “So, what do you say? One of you want to go play a game of pool or watch a movie or something?”
“Yeah, sure.” Chad stood and headed down the steps. He paused on the last step, doing a half-turn to look at his sister. “You want to come with us?”
She hesitated, cracking a small smile. “Is Tequila off limits?”
“We’ll see,” he chuckled. He reached out and looped his fingers around her wrist to pull her to her feet. “Let’s go.”
Just as they were about to head off, a cell phone started ringing. Everybody checked their pockets and Chad discovered it was his phone. Once he answered it, his face fell in concern. “Sadie, slow down,” he said. “I can’t understand a word you’re saying.”
Cameron and Shane exchanged a worried glance and then continued to watch Chad listen to his phone call. Though Sadie sounded upset and barely comprehensible on the other end of the line, Cameron could make out the words “Julian” and “total asshole” and a few choice words she had a hard time picturing Sadie using.
From the sound of things, Sadie had finally caught a glimpse of Julian’s true colors. Cameron felt bad for the girl, but she’d tried to warn her.
“Okay, I’ll be right there.” Chad hung up the phone and turned back to Cameron and Shane. “It looks like you two are on your own. Apparently Julian broke up with Sadie and she’s a total mess.”
“Isn’t that what you wanted?” Shane asked.
“I didn’t want them together, sure,” he admitted, “but I never wanted him to hurt her. She said he called her ‘just a distraction.’”
“This is all my fault,” Cameron whispered to herself, but they heard her and turned to her with expecting gazes. “I think I might’ve…provoked him earlier,” she explained, and left it at that.
But Chad continued to stare at her, waiting for an explanation. “How?” he asked when she didn’t elaborate.
She bit her lip, trying to think of a way to explain without launching any more questions. “I didn’t sign the divorce papers.”
“Wait, what?” Chad looked completely confused now. “When you said it wouldn’t be open and shut, I thought you meant he was stalling. What happened? Did you change your mind?”
She stole a glance at Shane and saw he looked a little concerned. “No,” she assured them. “Of course I didn’t change my mind. I just couldn’t agree to the terms.”
“Like what?”
“Look, just go be with Sadie,” she said, motioning to the driveway where his truck was parked. “She needs you right now. The Q&A can wait.”
He sighed in aggravation and brought a hand to his head. “You’re right.” He headed toward the driveway, calling over his shoulder, “You know I don’t understand you at all, right?”
“You’ve mentioned it a time or two.”
Sam’s squad car pulled in and jerked to a stop, catching everyone’s attention. When he got out of the car, he was obviously pissed. Rage filled his eyes as he stormed up to her, looking intimidating in his navy blue uniform with all the patches that endorsed his authority. “You just keep lying, don’t you?” he demanded. In his hand, he held a white slip of paper and she wondered which one of her secrets was printed on it. “I’m starting to wonder if you have an honest bone in your body.”
Stunned, Cameron just stared at him, acutely aware of Shane and Chad’s gazes on her as they listened like onlookers to a brutal crash. “What’s going on?” she asked, finally finding a temporary reprieve from the embarrassment.
“I found this,” he said, his voice still alarmingly angry. He handed over the piece of paper and watched as she read it.
“My marriage license,” she said, still confused. “So what?”
“Look at the date,” he said, but he didn’t give her time to before he continued, “July 24th. That’s two days after Allen’s body was found. So tell me, if the fight that killed him started over this spontaneous wedding, then how did the wedding happen two days after he died?”
Staring down at the paper, she felt a mix of shame, betrayal and fury. “You said you would stop digging,” she whispered, fighting to keep her voice controlled. “You promised me you would leave it alone.”
“And you promised you were done keeping secrets.”
Her emotions were running higher and higher. At this point, she couldn’t even form words. Instead, her mind swirled with a thousand angry and spiteful thoughts.
“What are the two of you trying to cover up?” Sam demanded. “And what the hell kind of mess did you get yourself into?”
Fed up, she pushed past him. “I don’t know how many times I have to tell you that this is none of your business. Some things are just private, Sam!”
“There’s privacy and there’s obstruction of justice,” he called after her. “Which is exactly what you’re doing every time you refuse to talk about what happened that night. There’s also fleeing and evading the police, which you’ve also done.”
She spun around to face him. “Are you seriously threatening to slap me with those charges?”
“Is that what I have to do to get a straight, honest answer out of you?”
“Oh my God, I’ve had enough of your talk about honesty and secrets,” she cried, throwing her hands in the air in frustration. “You have no right to act like you care. You don’t get to ‘be here now,’ Sam!”
Bela came out of the house then.
“What’s going on?” she asked as she rushed across the yard. “I can hear you guys yelling all the way upstairs.”
Cameron didn’t answer her; instead she kept a venomous glare on her older brother. Everything she’d kept inside started spilling over and she couldn’t stop it. Her voice quivered as the pain broke through. “You left me there to rot, both of you did. And you only came to visit once or twice, barely even called. I guess you were too busy saving Shane or being the hero cop, or putting poor tortured Amy back together!”
“Hey,” Chad shouted in warning.
But she just shook her head and glared to keep the tears from falling.
“Don’t let her rile you up, Chad,” Sam said, keeping his gaze on Cameron. It was clear by the look in his eye that she hadn’t stirred any guilt. Instead, he still looked at her like she was a suspect. “You’re only bringing all of this up to avoid answering my question. That’s what you do, Cam. You manipulate and you pull away and lie constantly—”
“Okay, just stop. Stop!” Shane blurted out, bringing the shouts to an end. “Just stop yelling at her.”
In the chaos, Cameron had forgotten he was there. Sam glanced over his shoulder, muttering, “Shane, this doesn’t concern you.”
“Or you,” she said, shooting a glare at her oldest brother.
“He’s right,” Bela said, giving Sam her ‘be rational’ look. “All this yelling isn’t solving a thing.”
“Neither is the lying,” Sam snapped.
“Of course she’s been lying,” Shane exclaimed. “But you guys have no idea what she’s been through.”
Cameron stared in dread and disbelief as her brothers turned their attention to their long-trusted friend. After how hard Shane had worked to gain her trust, he wasn’t going to blow it all now, was he?
Shane stepped up next to Cameron, glancing nervously at her as he said, “She has her reasons. And they’re good ones.”
“What do you know?” Sam turned his attention to Shane now. His eyes were piercing and intimidating, and his tone was still stern and demanding answers. “You know what’s going on here.”
“Spill,” Chad said, reaching up to shove Shane’s shoulder and urge him on.
Seeing the way her brothers were looking at him, Cameron knew Shane was going to crack. It felt like water was rising up her lungs, keeping her from breathing and leaving her with a winded, panicky feeling. “Shane,” she said, her voice loud and demanding as she grabbed his arm and gave it a good tug.
He turned to look at her, his gaze honest and steady and insistent, “They need to know.”
Narrowing her eyes, she silently begged him not to say another word.
“Shane,” Chad said, his voice louder this time, as if demanding his friend’s loyalty. “What’s going on?”
He opened his lips to respond but Cameron dug her fingers into his arm, her voice coming out in a desperate hiss, “Don’t say it!”
Looking at her brother’s concerned and worried expressions only made her feel more panicked. The walls were closing in on her, the water rising. Soon the game would be over, she could tell by the determined look in Shane’s eyes. She knew he was only trying to be noble and do the right thing, but he was condemning her along the way.
“She killed him, but it was in self defense.”
Chad was the first to understand, she could see it in his face—the way his mind clicked with realization as the final puzzle pieces fell into place. He looked at her, as if seeing a completely different person. But Sam only seemed more confused and waited for the rest of the story.
“Shane!” she cried, yanking at his arm and trying to break through his madness.
“He’d been raping her since she was fifteen,” his voice shook as he spoke, “So she fought back one night. And she won.”
As soon as the words were out, Cameron felt like she couldn’t breathe. With a sob of disgust, she slapped Shane across the face so hard the sound rang out around them.
Chad fell back a step, as if the words literally knocked the wind out of him. Sam’s gaze slowly travelled to Cameron, studying her with such an intense scrutiny that she could feel it on her skin. She may as well have been standing naked in front of them. That would’ve been less humiliating.
“Is that true?” he asked in a low, quiet tone.
She wanted to slap him, too, but she only glared at him through blurry, tear-filled vision.
“Sam,” Chad said, his voice hoarse. “Don’t. Don’t ask her any more questions.”
Backing away, she turned from them and headed straight for her car. With each step, she felt closer and closer to shelter.
“Cameron, wait,” she heard Chad call after her, but she only picked up her pace. She quickly shut herself inside, ignoring their shouts from the yard, and realized she didn’t have her keys. She dug around in the glove box for the spare and then started the car just as Shane opened the passenger door.
“Get out,” she shouted as he slid into the seat.
But he only shut the door behind him.
Sam and Chad were coming, so she slammed the gear stick into reverse and peeled out of the driveway. Shane bounced back and forth in his seat as she sped away, filling her with a small sense of satisfaction.
“You are such an asshole,” she cried.
“They needed to know!”
“That wasn’t your call!” She slammed her fist against the steering wheel, making the car swerve into the oncoming lane. She jerked it back inline, and then gave him a split-second glare before turning her rage back to the road.
“You’re right,” he said, his voice tense as if he was trying extra hard to be rational. “You’re absolutely right. I just couldn’t stand to see them talk to you like that, especially when I knew that if you would just tell them, then all the third-degrees and accusations would stop.”
The rage was boiling inside her now and she couldn’t control it. All she could think about was all the lying and worrying and scheming she’d done to keep her secrets buried and all the sacrifices she’d made along the way. And now, it had all been for nothing. All because she’d been stupid enough to trust another passion-driven guy. She yanked the steering wheel again, guiding the car over to the side of the road and parking it.
Turning to him, her eyes were ravenous and bloodthirsty. “There’s your first problem. Thinking that because you know this about me you have me all figured out,” she spat. “Like it somehow explains my screwed-up life and validates all the things I’ve done. I’m a victim, right? So I can get away with anything, do anything. That’s how you see it, Shane. That’s how you see me.”
“Or maybe I just get you, did you ever think of that?” he asked, his voice reaching the closest she’d ever heard to sounding angry. “Maybe I understand what being pushed around again and again and again can do to a person.”
She bit her lip to keep it from quivering, but kept herself steeled against the sentiment behind his words. Even if Shane did truly understand what it was like to be like her, it didn’t matter. It changed nothing. “Just get out,” she said finally.
He shook his head.
“Get out,” she screamed. In the small space of the car, she sounded way too loud and overdramatic and that only made her feel worse.
“I’m not leaving you,” he said. “Not now. Not like this.”
She rolled her eyes and pushed open her car door. Slamming it behind her, she went over to the sidewalk to put some space between them. She took a few slow, deep breaths, trying to calm herself. But every time she tried, she remembered what she had to face. She’d have to look at her brothers and know that they knew.
It brought tears to her eyes and she tried to blink them back, but they blurred her vision instead. She stood like that, with her back facing the car and her eyes squeezed shut for what felt like ages. Eventually, she heard the passenger door open and then close. Shane came up beside her, approaching cautiously as if she were a wild, untamed animal.
She wiped the stray
tears from her cheeks. “Why couldn’t you just keep your mouth shut?” she asked softly, as if this would’ve solved all her problems.
“I don’t know,” he said. After hesitating a moment, he scraped a hand through his hair and sighed. His voice was soft, earnest as he started to explain. “I’m doing things I don’t understand, saying things I shouldn’t say. Confronting guys in parking lots and spilling secrets that I didn’t even have a right to know.” He came a little closer. “And I’m so sorry, Cameron. For some reason, you bring out this….protective streak in me and I just want to make things better for you.”
Crossing her arms, she kept her gaze on the shrubs in front of her and pretended she wasn’t listening to him. But no matter how hard she tried to stay mad at him, his words were softening her and she didn’t understand why.
“I think…I think I’m falling in love with you.”
Hissing in a gasp, she whirled around to face him. “Don’t say that,” she said. “You shouldn’t say that.”
He stuffed his hands in his pockets, looking down at the ground. “I know it’s bad timing.” His blue eyes caught hers and she couldn’t look away. “I know your life is…complicated and I don’t want to make things worse. But…I’ve never felt this way before. I didn’t even know I could. And call me selfish, but I don’t want to just ignore it anymore.”
She stared at him, her mind racing with confused and defensive thoughts.
“I can’t ignore it anymore.” Reaching out, he cradled her face against the palm of his hand. His voice was soft, whispering. “I could love you if you’d let me.”
She touched his hand, momentarily distracted by the feel of it as she gently pushed it away from her face. “I would only hurt you.”
“I’m giving you a chance,” he said. “Why won’t you give yourself one?”
She wanted to. Her instincts were screaming at her to let herself lean on him, to let herself have this…whatever it was…with him. She turned away, wiping a few stray tears from her cheek as she thought about this. Finally, she headed back toward the car. “Get in,” she said.
Another Life: Another Life Series #1 Page 21
