The Story of Me (Carnage #2)(103)

“You know the press are gonna have a field day with this, don’t ya?”

“They already are, Marls. They’ve been camped outside Cam’s place since I got back.”

His eyes flick between me and Cam. He looks like he’s about to say something but Cam speaks first. “I’ve been speaking with Bailey the last couple of days. We’ve taken on Scotty Davies as close protection for Georgia. I’ve got her a new car so she’s not trying to dodge the press in her little motor. It’s blacked out, bulletproof. You name it; it’s got it. She won’t be going anywhere without me, Benny or Scott for the next few weeks at least. I’m sure they’ll get bored and leave us alone eventually, but for now, I’ll do what I can to keep them from hassling her.”

“Have you thought about releasing a statement? If you make it official, then there’s no story, well, no exclusive, at least,” Lennon says.

Cam turns to me and shrugs. “That’s entirely up to Georgia. If it’s gonna help, then I’m up for it.” His eyes are back on me. “Kitten?” I feel myself blush as he calls me that name in front of all my family.

“Did he just call you Kitten?” Oh, Ash, just for once could she not keep her mouth zipped? I give her a small nod. “Fucking hell, that’s so hot.” I look around Cam to where Jimmie sits and nods at me.

“And once again, yes, she did just say that out loud.”

“You’ve never called me by a nickname,” Ashley whines and gives Marley a dig in the ribs with her elbow.

“I called you a cunt the other day and you punched me.” My mum spits her wine while everyone else laughs.

I sit back in my chair and look at Lennon. “If you think it’ll help, Len, I’m up for it.”

He nods. “Okay, I’ll talk to ya tomorrow and we’ll put out a press release. What about an interview? Would you be up for that?”

I shake my head. “Not really. Let’s just release a statement and see if that does the trick.” I turn and look at Bailey. “You’re very quiet, Bails. You got anything to say?”

He drains his drink. “Nope, I think you’re in a good place, with a good man and I know I can trust him to look after ya.” He smiles and nods his head at me. “I’m really happy for the pair of ya, really happy.” He smiles at me again and my heart feels like it’s being squeezed, but in a good way. I look over at my dad, who’s sitting back in his chair, just observing the conversation going on around the table. Harley comes from the playroom. It’s getting late and she’s only four and obviously tired, she holds her arms up to me.

“Cuddles, Porge?” I pull her up and she straddles my lap, resting her head on my chest. I kiss the top of it and breathe her in. She looks up at me and laughs, “I hear your heart.” She grins at me, her big brown eyes shining at me, and I suddenly wonder if I ever get to have another baby, what colour eyes will they have? My brothers all have brown eyes and so do all of their kids, except for Jimmie and Lennon’s eldest daughter, Paige, who looks more like me every time I see her. She’s the only one of my nieces and nephews with blue eyes. Cam’s eyes are brown so I assume our children will have brown eyes, if we were to be lucky enough to have them.

Cam pulls me into his side and whispers in my ear, “God, that suits you. Watching you with a child like this is seriously turning me on, Kitten. I badly want to introduce my super sperm to your sexy eggs and see what amazing concoction we come up with.” I shudder as I smile up at him and give a slight nod.

“One thing at a time, Tiger, let’s find a house to turn into a home. Then we’ll get our funky fluids together.” He gives me the sexiest smile.

“I love the f*ck out of you, Kitten.”

I wink at him. “You f*cking better, Tiger.”

He throws his head back and gives me a big Cam laugh, which makes Harley jump. I rest my palms over the back of her head and her back, and she settles again.

I look up to see my dad watching us. He winks at me and raises his glass. “Can I just say…”

My mum rolls her eyes and says quietly, “Oh, here we go.”

My dad is famous for his speeches when he’s had a drink, and he’s definitely had a drink tonight. “Can I just say, how happy I am to have all of my family around the table together.” He reaches out and takes my mum’s hand and kisses it, looking at her for a long moment. He looks back at all of us. “Last year,” he begins, then stops and swallows, and we all know in an instant that this is going to be deep. My dad rarely cries. The first time I ever saw him cry was at Sean’s funeral and I’m not even absolutely sure of that, but I do remember him crying after one of my failed suicide attempts, the sight of my big, strong, hard-as-nails dad sobbing and broken because of my actions, will stay with me forever. I swallow to try to remove the lump in my throat. I really should be an expert at this action by now. “Last year, our family was ripped apart in the most horrific of ways. We all know what happened and I won’t dwell on that. It goes without saying that Sean and Beau will always be in our hearts and in our thoughts.” Everyone seems to take a swig of their drink in synchronisation. “What I wanna say… the point I’m trying to make is, how very f*cking proud I am of you all.” He looks around the table at each of us. “My boys,” he looks down at the table, again, I know that he’s fighting back tears. He licks his lips, looks up at us and continues, “you boys, stepped up and went above and beyond what any brothers I know would do for their sister. The way you took it in turns just to be with her, despite dealing with your own grief, well, I couldn’t be more proud, and you girls, you girls are the strongest women I know. My daughter is lucky. Despite everything that she’s been through, I still consider her to be a lucky girl.” His eyes are on me now. “The way you lot pulled together as a family, held Georgia and each other together, all while keeping things as normal as possible for your own kids, all of that makes me the proudest dad ever.”