by Zoey Derrick
“It’s not so much you, or this, it’s more Travis. He always wants to go places and I feel like a killjoy because I’m tied to a job.”
“Has he offered you any help? I know it’s none of my business, but I like having you around with us, but I won’t if it means you’re going to lose your job.”
She lets out a deep sigh. “The truth is, I lost my job a few weeks ago. But not because of you or Trav. They did some major cutbacks and I was one of them.”
“Jesus, Naomi, why didn’t you tell me?”
She shrugs. “Because I’m all right.” She looks back out toward the mountain.
“I’m calling bullshit on that one. Does Trav know?”
“No. I couldn’t bear to tell him. He’d be really upset. Plus—” She stops, takes a sip of her tea, and doesn’t continue.
“Plus...” I prompt her.
“Plus, I don’t know where Travis and I are headed. We never talk about the future, but yet he never seems to get enough of me. The only reason he’s not here is because he’s shooting in San Diego. But I don’t know where we’re going as a couple.”
I want to tell her to give it some time, but I’d sound like a hypocrite. I did the same thing to Tristan two weeks ago. “Well, what do you want to see happening between the two of you?”
“You and Tristan, or Mick and Beau, maybe even Tyson and Jo. I want to be with him. I’ve never been happier than when I’m around him, and when he has to leave it fucking sucks.” She smiles a little. “I’m sure you can understand that.”
I smile and nod. “Yes, I can. So here is what we’re going to do. The only reason I can’t bring you on board as my assistant is because I have two, Jo and Rayne, in the office. I don’t want to raise any questions with anyone in the office about why, as a not-so-active CEO, I need three. But I will transfer twenty-five grand to your account.”
“Cami, no. I can’t let you do—”
“Stop, you can and you will. I want you to take care of your affairs, pay off some bills, do whatever you need to do so that when we all decide to do things, like go to Tarah, you’re not stressing about money. Obviously Tarah — the airfare and the hotel — is on me, they will always be on me when I ask you to come along. But I want you to be able to go a little less stressed out and then Travis doesn’t have to know. If I’d known you were having troubles like this, I would’ve given you Jolene’s job first.”
I look at her; she’s crying. “I don’t know how to thank you,” she says.
“Just be yourself, have a good time, and don’t stress about it. If you need anything — anything at all — you come to me. If not me, go to Mick. I’ll make sure he has instructions to help you, no matter what, and he doesn’t have to involve me.”
“You’re too much.”
“Not really. It’s the least I can do. I don’t want you to be uncomfortable.”
She reaches over and hugs me. “Thank you, Cami.”
I hug her back. “Of course, it’s what friends are for.”
She laughs.
“Hey, guys,” Jolene says as she comes out of the house, followed by Beau. “Okay out here?”
“Absolutely,” I say as Naomi wipes her eyes before turning toward them.
“Cami, remember that bar we used to go to all the time?” Jolene asks.
“Yeah, Stomp or whatever it was called, the one over off Grand?”
“Yup, that’s the one. JD has put the building up for sale.”
“No way. I thought he was going to pull it back together?”
She shrugs. “That’s what I thought, but I’m guessing something happened. The band has been playing gigs around town. I was gonna try and catch him this weekend, try and talk to him about it.”
I immediately start spinning around a couple of different ideas. “What if we bought it?”
“We? As in who?” Beau says.
“We, us girls. What if we bought it?” Beau looks at me like I’ve lost my mind.
“Yeah, because we have that kind of money.”
“All right, fine, what if I bought it. Bring it back to life.” I turn to Jolene. “Would JD run it?”
She shrugs. “I don’t know, not sure if he is backing out because he can’t do it, or if he lost any funding he may have had. Either way, that spot is a damn landmark in the city. I’d hate to see it go to some stupid idiot that tears it down.”
“Well, we can’t let that happen, can we.” I pull out my phone.
“Who are you calling?” Beau asks.
“Your fiancé.”
“Oh.”
TWENTY-TWO
******
Tristan
******
“You have no idea how glad I am to be going back to Phoenix,” I say as we all climb on board Bold’s plane in Billings.
“I second that one,” Beau says as she takes her seat. I watch as she gives Cami a look, then nods. It’s an encouraging nod.
I look at Cami, expectant.
“So, do you want to know what I’ve been doing these last two days?”
“Of course, I always want to know,” I say, curious as to where she is going with this.
“Well, I’ve been doing two things, actually. One, planning your birthday party.”
Oh no. “You’re kidding, right? I don’t need a party.”
“Too late.” All four of the girls say all at once.
“So what are we doing for my birthday?” I say a little dramatically, and I wonder idly how bummed she’ll be that I’ve already made plans for my birthday party.
She’s bouncing up and down in her seat. “We leave Tuesday for Tarah.”
I knew that already. “Who told you that?” I watch as confusion washes over her face and it dawns on me: She still doesn’t know about my plans to take her to Tarah.
“You’re the one who has the penthouse reserved, don’t you?” she says, looking over at Jolene. “That’s why you couldn’t keep a straight face when I was— Well dammit.” Beau busts out laughing. “You bitch,” Cami says, then laughs. “You knew?”
Beau puts her hands up in mock defense. “Not until Jo came to me that night, told me that there were already plans in play for you and Tristan to go. I guess we’re just tagging along.” Well there goes my romantic weekend with Cami. “That’s also why we’re leaving so early. We didn’t want to intrude on Tristan’s plans completely.” She looks at me. “We’ll stay for your birthday because, well, you don’t have a choice.” She smirks at me. “And then we will leave you two in peace.” She looks back to Cami. “We did, however, make separate room reservations, so you and Tristan can have the penthouse all to yourselves.” She winks at me before the smirk of satisfaction spreads across her face.
“So, great, I get to spend my birthday with a bunch of women.” I laugh playfully.
“No, the guys will be there too,” Cami tells me, and I wink at her. I’m not mad; in fact I like the idea of having our friends there.
“You said you were doing two things. That would be one, what would the second one be?”
“Well, I um...” She smiles and looks to Jolene, who’s obviously already taken a pill to help with the flying, then she looks to Beau and Naomi, who are both super excited. “I bought a bar.”
Whoa. “You did what?” I can’t help the surprise in my voice.
“When we were in college we all used to hang out at a bar in Phoenix. It used to be a country bar, we’d go line dancing and we’d have a blast. A few years ago, it closed down. The owner at the time was hoping to get some investors involved and rejuvenate the bar. But that never happened, and he needs to get out from underneath of it. So he put it up for sale. So I bought it.”
I can’t help but smile at her enthusiasm. “So what now? You own a bar.”
She laughs and the plane finally starts moving. “Well, we’re going to remodel it. Beau is going to design it, and then the four of us are going to run it.”
“I—” I don’t know what to say. Though I want to talk throug
h this with her, away from everyone else, I’m excited for her. “I’m speechless. I don’t know what to say.”
She’s so excited; I can see it in her eyes. “Well, we have a lot of work to do on it before it will be inspection-ready. The place has been empty for a few years. Plus all the licenses we’re going to need and everything else, it will be at least a year before we can think about opening it. But I think it’s great, and it gives us all something to do besides be your traveling companions.”
“I think it’s a great idea,” Tyson chimes in. I look at him, and I can tell he’s a bit skeptical about it. But Cami is a smart woman; I have no doubt that she has this all planned out and figured out.
We spend the rest of the flight talking about the bar and the upcoming trip to Tarah, but I won’t lie: I’m super excited to be back in Phoenix...and to be alone with Cami.
“Hey, sweets?”
“Yeah,” she says as she plops down on the bed.
“What brought on all this bar talk?”
“Huh?” she says as she sits up.
“I was just wondering where it all came from.”
She smiles, but I can tell she expected this conversation. “It was two things, really. One, I can afford it and it gives me something that is my own. See, Bold was given to me. I didn’t earn it, which is why I have such a hard time with it more often than not. Despite the reasons I now know behind it, I never expected to own it. So this gives me something of my own.”
“How do you plan to run Bold and a bar?”
She shrugs. “I don’t know, but that’s why I have Beau, Jolene and Naomi. They will be the primary operators of it. I will just be in the background, with the money, more or less.”
“What if the bar folds?”
“Then it folds. At this point I’m not out anything, Tristan. I paid way less than asking price, and the main reason I managed that is because JD still wants to be a part of it in some fashion. He doesn’t care what. So by giving him that chance, I reduced the price to three million.” She slides to the end of the bed. “If I have to sell the bar because it’s not doing anything, by then, even with the money I put into it, I can sell it for a higher price because it won’t be the shell that it is right now. So I have very little to lose. Not to mention the fact that, since I signed the paperwork yesterday, I am just over a day away from making that much money through my job at Bold and I’ve done nothing to earn it. So why not give it back?”
I can’t help but see the excitement she feels about doing this, and it warms my heart to see it. “You said there were two reasons. What’s the other?” I take a seat in the chair near the bathroom and kick off my shoes.
“The morning after we talked about Travis and his agent status?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, I talked to Naomi privately.” I nod. “She lost her job, Tristan.”
“What? Oh, man.”
“She says that it wasn’t because of the traveling and Travis, that she was let go, but I have a feeling that’s not the case. I feel a little guilty about it and feel that it is partly my fault because we dragged her to Tarah back in June, she met Trav, and then it’s been kind of downhill from there for her. So I gave her twenty-five grand to get her affairs in order and so that she wouldn’t have to tell Trav. So I thought that if I bought the bar, it would give her something to do, something to work on, and something to focus on besides sitting at home with no job to go to while Travis is off doing his Hollywood thing.”
“Wow. I had no idea.”
“Please don’t tell Trav. Let her do it on her own. She’s confused about Trav, she doesn’t know what he wants or if this is a long-term thing. She’s not oblivious to the fact that he goes out when he’s away from her, and she certainly isn’t blind to the tabloids.”
“Ah, babe, I didn’t know. Trav has been like that for as long as I’ve known him. I thought Naomi had changed that.” I don’t know what else to tell her. I don’t know what he’s been up to, but I’m sure there is some truth to it.
“It’s not your fault, and to be honest, we both know how they like to stir up shit. So until Trav decides where they’re going, she’s in limbo and probably more emotionally invested in their relationship than he is.” She shrugs. “So at least the bar will give her something to work on, keep her busy, and if things really do go south with Trav, she has something else to do.”
I lean forward and put my head in my hands. “I can talk to him.”
“No, don’t, this is their battle, per se, let them handle it.” She comes to stand in front of me and I look up at her. “Are you mad that I bought the bar?”
“No, I’m not. I’m a little worried that it was a rash decision without much thought, but I can see now that was probably not the case and I’m even a little proud of you.” I put my hands on her thighs.
“Besides, it gives me something fun to do.”
“That’s my girl.” She bends down and kisses me. I kiss her back and, before I realize it, she’s gone from in front of me. “Hey,” I pout.
I hear her laughing from the bathroom and then the door clicks closed. I’m excited for her, at least about the bar. I’m not sure it was the best decision on such a short time frame, but she seems to have it under control, at least for now. I don’t think she understands what is going to happen in regards to Bold. Though, I know she won’t move to L.A., so maybe this is a step in the right direction. Getting her to divide her time a little more. Who knows, and only time will tell.
She comes out of the bathroom in her lacy black bra and matching panties, and I can tell that the conversation regarding the bar is over for now. I resolve to let her do her thing. It is what she needs to do right now, if not for herself then for her friends, and I’m perfectly okay with that.
She smiles seductively at me and beckons me to follow her to the bed. Half a second into our kiss, all thoughts of bars and Tarah cease to exist.
TWENTY-THREE
It’s Monday afternoon and Cami and I have spent a good part of the weekend just being us and not worrying about a lot of things. She went to Trinity with the information I gave her about Travis, and then yesterday Travis called me and said that he was in negotiations with Bold to take over his contract and he was very excited about that. When I told Cami, she was over the moon.
“Cams, where are you?”
“Bedroom,” she shouts back.
I’m coming back from running to the store. I needed to pick up a few things before we leave in the morning. While Tarah has nearly everything we need, I decide this time it would be better to go prepared. I climb the stairs to find Cami sitting in the oversized chair in her sitting room, her laptop on her knees.
“Hi, beautiful.”
“Hi beautiful yourself.”
I laugh. “You know that comment doesn’t make any sense.”
She laughs. “I know, but it’s kind of our thing. Besides, you’re absolutely gorgeous.”
I know I turn beet red. I hate it when she says that, but at the same time, I like hearing her say it. “What are you working on?”
“Nothing really.” She closes her laptop and looks up at me.
“I don’t believe you.”
“Well it is none of your damn business.” She laughs. “You’re the birthday boy, some things are meant to be a secret.”
I roll my eyes. “You know, I’m not a big fan of my birthday.”
“Is anyone?” She smiles. “But I’d like to help you change your mind about that.”
I snort. “Good luck with that. I turn twenty-nine, not exactly something to be overly excited about.”
She laughs. “Well you don’t look twenty-nine, love.”
“That’s because I’m not. I’m twenty-eight.” I can’t stop the smirk that spreads across my face, and she busts out laughing.
The rest of our day goes on with the same kind of mood, lightening the overall mood of the condo. Cami refuses to talk about anything to do with her father, and right now, I’m okay with that
. The couple of times I’ve brought it up, she shut it down, but the initial irritation she had when she shut it down didn’t linger. The next thing that comes out of her mouth is usually something different and carefree. I really am liking this new Cami, though I feel like I’m balancing on a tightrope, waiting for it to snap.
TWENTY-FOUR
We’re met outside by a limo that holds not only our luggage but our friends too. “Good thing someone got the Hummer.” Cami laughs as she climbs inside.
Inside, the limo is tricked out for a great nighttime party, with rope lights lining the top, the sunroof and the bar. Everyone is here — Travis and Naomi, Beau and Mick, Tyson and Jolene. Cami and I are the last inside, and we’re off to the airport and off to a weekend in paradise. This time will be so much different. I won’t need to hide from sight and we can all indulge in some of the amazing amenities the hotel has to offer.
When Cami asked me what I wanted to do for my birthday, I told her that being in Tarah was enough, and she wasn’t buying that. “Keep it simple,” I told her. Birthdays are really hard for me since my mom passed away, and this is honestly the first time it’s been celebrated since she passed. But I don’t want to ruin her fun. She said it’s payback for Bora Bora and her birthday, but if I know Cami, the extravagance will be to a minimum.
TWENTY-FIVE
“Mmm.” I try to stretch until I realize what woke me in the first place.
I look down the length of my body, and pitching a tent beneath the sheets is a raging erection. Then I feel what woke me up — a warm, wet tongue and lips kissing along my inner thigh — and I see her head under the covers. I try not to move. I don’t want to spoil her fun, but dammit she’s driving me insane. She kisses, then licks, then sucks slowly along my inner thigh, painfully slowly, but gradually the sensations begin climbing higher and higher up my leg until I feel the tickle of her hair against my balls.
