A Missing Heart(54)

Regardless of my feelings or possible lack thereof, I asked Tori to marry me. I told her I wanted to get married right away and put the rest of our worries on hold. I convinced her that everything would fall into place.

The questioning feeling I had about our relationship seeped away after we got married. Instead, it got worse. It was no longer a question I was asking myself. I was sure things were only going downhill, but I still wanted to fix things. We were going to be a family, and our child deserved a good one.

I did this all wrong. I screwed this up so badly and my mistakes have cost me so much; yet, I keep making them.

My heart is pounding against my chest as it seems to take forever for the elevator to reach the top floor of the hotel. Struggling to remember which door is theirs, I hear a shout come from the middle one. The voice sounds like a man’s, and it’s growing in volume, but I can’t make out the words he’s yelling.

Fearful it’s Cammy he’s yelling at, I bang my fist against the door a number of times before it whips open, bringing me face to face with Casper.

Taking a long look at him, I see sweat beading across his forehead, his collar is unbuttoned, with his tie hanging to the side. His hair is everywhere in post hair-gel chunks. His face is red, and his fists are f*cking bloody. So help me God, if he did anything to hurt either of my girls, I will kill him right here, right now.

Being slightly larger than him and having at least fifty pounds on the bastard, I shove him out of the way, pinning him against the wall inside the hotel room. The door closes behind us, and with my hand clamped around his collar and my knuckles pressing up against his chin, I look around the room, looking for Cammy and Ever. “Where are they?” I seethe, while locking my focus on a hole in the wall.

“How the f*ck should I know?” he belts out. “This is all your fault. You know that, you blue-collared dirt-bag.”

Since it seems that the girls aren’t here, and he just called me a blue-collared dirt bag, I loosen my grip and laugh a little before introducing my fist to his already crooked nose. “Dick,” I tell him. He recoils from the blow and presses his fingers up to his nose like a puss. “Need a tissue?” I ask.

“She came here for you. She came here because of f*cking you. She’s staying here for your sorry ass, so you don’t have to leave your stupid-ass family behind.”

“Unless you want my fist to be the tissue that wipes the blood from your nose, don’t you even think about my family. And God help you if you touched either of them.”

“Whatever, man, take her. Keep her. I was f*cking cheating on her, anyway. But no, I’m not dumb enough to hurt either of them. She’s a lawyer.”

“Yeah, you are dumb enough,” I tell him. Regardless of the shit spewing out of his mouth, I find it hard to believe Cammy would have dragged him all the way here with intentions of telling him to take a hike and go home without her, so if he’s cheating on her, he did hurt her, even if it wasn’t physically. “I’m sure Cammy asked you to stay,” I say, grudgingly.

“We both know that’s not what Cameron really wants,” he mutters.

“Whether that’s what she wants or not, I don’t know, but after hearing your confession, I’ll make sure she knows not to want a f*cking thing to do with you.”

His teeth grit together, and he clenches his fists at his sides. What a loser.

Knowing the girls aren’t in the hotel room, I don’t intend to waste another minute here with this * ghost.

Off to the right, I see a box of tissues on top of the coffee table. I grab them and whip the whole thing at him. “Ghost, you look like someone beat the shit out of you. Man up.” Leaving with a smirk, I slam the door behind me and tip off the front desk that there was some raging party upstairs, leaving behind damage in his hotel room.

While sliding back into the truck, I ponder where I might find them. Cammy has no family here now, and I doubt she would go to Mom and Dad’s this late at night.

Driving through the center of town where we had lunch earlier today, I see a scattering of people walking out of the small movie theater. There’s a larger group of people on the opposite side of the street where there is a musician playing in the gazebo. This town is really small, so I’m hopeful that I might spot them, but in truth, they could be anywhere, which is why I’m so damn lucky to see Ever looking toward me from the crowd of people watching the violinist. Cammy has her arm wrapped around her shoulders, and she has her other arm folded over her chest as if she were cold.

I find a parking spot on the side of the road and hop out, running across the street toward them. Ever hasn’t told Cammy she sees me. She just smiles as I come closer. I slip my jacket off, feeling the coolness of the night strike all of my nerves at once. It’s more than a little cool—the bite of winter is in the air.

When I place my jacket over Cammy’s shoulders, she instantly startles and turns around to face me. Her eyes are stained with a red tinge, dark enough to see under the dim park lights. Salty marks from her tears line the center of her cheeks and I don’t need to ask what happened, because I already know. “You look like you need a hug,” I tell her.

A small laugh escapes her lips. “I’d say after the scene at lunch today, you may be the one who needs a hug.” She has no idea how badly I need a f*cking hug right now. I want to pretend like half of today didn’t happen.