Bender (37 page)

“No more not trusting, no more secrets, no more hiding. I promise to tell you everything, even the dirty ugly secrets about myself, but I want to know the same about you. To know everything there is to know about a person is a powerful thing.”

“Agreed.”

Sighing deeply I said, “I’m going to need your help with something.”

“Name it, you’ve got my undivided attention.”

“I need to go speak with my mom about Sarah, and I have a feeling it’s not going to be pretty. Come with me?”

He cupped my cheek while he held himself up with one arm. “Of course.”

My heart melted. “K. We’ll go tomorrow afternoon while Sarah is at a birthday party.”

“No problem, whenever.” He bit his lip, and I recognized that playful look in his eyes. “What sort of dark ugly secrets do you have? Share one right now. Aaaand go!”

I laughed. “Okay well, it’s not really a dirty secret, but I’m really strange about peanut M&M’s. I eat them in threes. One goes in each cheek to get warm and melted, while I suck on the third one to get the candy shell off. Then I just rotate them around as I eat them.”

“You are weird.” He poked me in the side, and I squirmed away.

“Stop it, I’m not that bad. What did you expect me to say, I like to chew my toenails off, and I keep them in a plastic baggy in my closet?”

His eyes got wide. “Shit, do you do that?”

“You don’t?”

He got quiet, and I busted out laughing. “Okay that’s a break-upable offense. Just saying. If your toenails have been in your mouth at any age past childhood, we’re going to have problems. I can’t kiss a girl who might have foot fungus on her tongue.”

I shoved his shoulder. “Shut up.”

He took hold of my wrist and pinned it above my head, causing him to lean over the top of me. The lightheartedness instantly heated up.

“You ever going to push me away again?”

“Probably, but it’s what I do.”

He gave me a half smirk. “Smart ass. Do you trust me?”

“Without a shadow of a doubt.” And I did.

He brought his lips to mine and kissed me reverently. I soaked it in like I was basking in the sun after a long harsh winter. He was my warmth, my comfort, my home. The way that he touched me while we took our time loving each other was a new experience. We weren’t just doing it out of greedy passion, it was because we’d moved to the next level together. I knew I’d love Camden until I no longer existed on this earth. No one would ever make me feel the way that he did.

I’d called my mom to let her know that we were coming to talk with her. She had agreed that some things needed to be resolved, so I was hoping that she had an open mind about all of this. When we pulled up, I took a moment to steel myself for whatever kind of shit storm I was about to walk in on. I figured Mom would be in a defensive mode, but that was okay, I was prepared to deal with it.

Camden got out of the car and came around to my side. Opening my door, I got out, and he placed both arms on either said of me, caging me in. “You good?”

I nodded my head.

“I’m telling you this right now, Keegan, if she so much as raises her voice at you, I’m going to step in and say something. No way will I be able to keep my mouth shut.”

Looking into his brown eyes, I could see he was serious. “Okay.”

“K.”

Dropping his arms we walked to the front door and I let us both in. It was weird that when I came back now, this house no longer felt like my home. It was just the place I used to live. Walking down the hallway I saw Mom sitting in the living room waiting for us.

“Hi Mom,” I said, walking to the couch to sit down and get comfortable.

She gave me a tight smile. “Keegan, Camden, I’m glad you both came. Would you like something to drink?”

Why was she being so formal? “No, I’m good Mom. I just want to talk and then we have some things to go do.” She tipped her chin down and waited. “Okay, so you already know how I feel about you leaving Sarah alone by herself, but I need you to look me in the eyes and tell me that you will be home with her when she’s here. She’s too young for you to leave her here so you can go to your boyfriend’s house.”

“I don’t have a boyfriend.”

“Well, whatever. I don’t really know where you go, but it needs to stop. If you need to leave, at least call me to see what I’m doing. It’s likely that Sarah could come over and hang out at the apartment until you pick her up.”

Her lips thinned. “I thought that’s why you moved out. So you could get some space from us.”

My forehead wrinkled. “What? No! I left because I needed to separate myself from you, from this house, from everything. Being here was hindering my progress at school.”

“So you did want to get away from us.”

“No, not us mom, you.”

She gaped at me. Camden took hold of my hand and laced his fingers with mine. It was his silent way to let me know he was here.

“And what did I do that was so terrible that you felt the need to run away.”

I rolled my eyes and growled in frustration. “Are you even listening to me? Mom, I left because you were relying on me to be the parent. I was the one who made dinner every night, I was the one who made sure she did her homework, and I was the one who tucked her in at night. Where were you? Oh that’s right, you were having another late evening at work. It was too much for me. My schoolwork was suffering, and you knew how important this degree was to me. Sarah has a mother… it isn’t me. Be the parent.” Wow that felt good to say.

Sitting back she crossed her arms. “How come you are just now telling me this?”

“I’m not. I’ve told you plenty of times, you just never listened. But after this latest incident with Sarah running away, I’m done with it. Something needs to give here or I’m going to have to do something drastic.” I didn’t know what, but I figured I’d throw it out there.

“I don’t know what you want from me.”

“It’s simple.” I leaned forward and started ticking off my fingers one by one. “Be home when Sarah’s home. Make sure that she is ready for school the next day. Feed and clothe her. And let her know that you love her. Children aren’t complicated creatures Mom, if she knows that you love her and that you want to spend time with her, she will forgive you for everything that’s already happened. It’s just the kind of kid she is.”

Tears welled up in her eyes, and she closed her mouth. I hoped that I was getting through to her. She had to have known that this wasn’t acceptable behavior for a responsible parent. After some time she finally responded with, “Okay.”

Blowing out a breath I didn’t think that was what I expected to hear, but either way, I was good. “Also, I’m not telling you that you can’t go out, or that you don’t deserve to go out. But please, let me know. I’ll rearrange things in my schedule, and she can come over.”

“Okay.”

Feeling as though things needed to end here before something else came up and caused us to backpedal, I stood up and walked over to her. Bending down I wrapped my arms around her shoulders and hugged her as best I could. “I love you, Mom. I know that having kids changed your life, but we’re here.” I felt her nod against my hair, and I pulled back. She gave me a small smile, and I took that as my cue to leave. Looking at Camden he stood from the couch. When Mom followed us to the front door, my dark and broody man couldn’t help himself. He turned around and addressed my mother.

“Rowan, I know that you love your girls because well, who wouldn’t. But I’m going to tell you this once, and I hope you take it to heart. Keegan has given you simple guidelines to help keep her sister safe. If at any time you can’t stick to them, you should know that we will be coming to get Sarah, and she will be living with us from now on.”

Mom’s mouth dropped open. I think mine did too. He nodded his head at her before he put his hand on my lower back and led me out to the car. Oh Camden, you are full of surprises. But I couldn’t have been more in love with him for standing up for me, and the most important person in my life. Getting in the car I grinned at him.

“You are a ballsy son of a bitch, you know that right?”

“Yep.”

“Did you mean it?”

“Every word.” He gave me the weight of his russet eyes and winked at me before we pulled out of the driveway.

God he made me happy.

One year later…

“Alexis Peabody.”
Clapping

“Miranda Pearl.”
Clapping

“Keegan Phillips.”
Clapping

I
GOT
UP
FROM
MY
CHAIR
and made my way across the short stage that was set up outside. Shaking the Dean’s hand, he passed me my diploma. When I turned to face the audience I saw my whole family waving their signs and snapping photographs. Everyone that I loved was here, Camden’s whole family, my mom, my sister, and Macie. I’d finally done it. After four years of intense work, over one hundred hours of clinicals, and a lot of lost sleep, I had finally received my Bachelor’s in Nursing. This had to be one of the most proud moments of my life. I sought Camden out in the crowd. He was standing with his hands in his pockets, and he looked downright delectable in a pair of cargo shorts and white button-down shirt. But the look on his face was priceless; it oozed pride, admiration, and love. He didn’t need to clap or cheer for me. No, that look said it all. He knew what I’d gone through to accomplish this, he’d been with me through the worst parts. I caught him winking before I went to take my seat and wait out the rest of the ceremony.

Last year I decided to enroll in an accelerated program that had nearly doubled my workload but would help me graduate in half the time. It was something new that the college was doing, and we were sort of the guinea pig class. I’d gone back and forth with doing it, because I knew I would have to quit my job, and going out would no longer be an option. My whole life would revolve around school. Camden was the deciding factor for me. He had sat me down after I’d been accepted into the program, and he said that I needed to do something for myself, to prove to myself that I was capable of bigger things. Naturally I fought him on it because…well, it was what I did. And of course, he won as per usual. I wasn’t happy about no longer paying for my portion of the rent, but Camden assured me that he didn’t mind and that I could pay him back in other ways. I didn’t quite know what he meant until later that night he showed me exactly what he was talking about. Talk about unforgettable.

When the final speech was given and the ceremony ended, I made my way through the crowd to my man. As soon as I met Camden’s eyes he started moving toward me, plowing through groups of people that were keeping me from him. It was like he was making a path for me to walk. People saw him coming and got out of his way. I leapt into his waiting arms, and he lifted me off the ground in a crushing hug. Even just the smell of him, that clean soapy scent of his skin, made me feel like I was home and gave me comfort. Lifting my head I placed my forehead against his.

“Congratulations Blue.”

“Thank you.” I smiled.

He held me in the air, my feet dangling for some time as people walked around us. We were having a moment and nobody was going to interrupt it. He kissed me on my nose, then tenderly on my lips. It was a sweet lingering one that made me all melty.

“You finally have your degree that you’ve worked so hard for, what are you going to do now?”

I pulled my head back and put my finger on my chin. “Hmmm…join the circus?”

He chuckled. “Always the wise ass.”

“Always.” I grinned at him. Kissing him quickly I squirmed for him to set me down when I noticed the rest of the family was coming to greet me.

When I was placed on my feet, I was quickly lifted back up in another suffocating hug by Dodger… and then another by Turner. Poor Wrigley didn’t stand a chance when Camden stepped in front of him and simply stated, “No.” I giggled and slapped his arm.

Macie shouldered her way through all of the boys like a boss. “Move it y’all, she was my friend first.” We embraced, and I soaked in every ounce of love and support I was being given. Seriously, could a girl get any luckier?