Unstoppable Love: The Kelley Family Series

25. Cameron

Dinner with the Deckers had always been a casual affair. I’d roughhoused with Isaiah over pizza or lasagna or any of Connie’s better concoctions, but I had never been shown to a formal meal in her dining room. Up until we walked into it, I’d been certain that room was used for her sewing and craft projects, so much like my own mom and our dining room at home.

I understood the gesture as soon as I saw it, though. She was making a point.

This family dinner was different because I wasn’t there with Isaiah. I was there with Ava, and I wasn’t there as a friend, either.

Seeing Ava’s stress melt off her in waves when it finally clicked for her as well was everything I needed.

The rest of the dinner flew by, and as normal as it was to be eating with them, it seemed everyone understood the point, even Isaiah. After trying to take credit for getting Ava and me together—I was wondering if he’d had some master plan in telling her to stay at my house and not asking my permission—Isaiah took the change in stride and with grace.

There wasn’t the friendly banter between us like usual. He was calmer, talking about his day and mentioning he’d put Jimmy Morton, Sr., in the drunk tank again after he got caught leaving Whiskey Mixer and stumbling right off the sidewalk into the street. That meant both Mortons had spent some time in jail in recent weeks, and at Isaiah’s particularly serious look in my direction, I realized I’d been so infatuated with making sure Ava was steady and good with us, I hadn’t broached my concerns about her history with Jimmy.

As much as I hated it, that was what I spent most of the time thinking about while we finished up dinner and I talked to Bram about the team and schedule for the season. Our first regular-season game wasn’t until after Labor Day, but the next two weeks would be brutal with finalizing the roster and even making a few last-minute trades or cuts to give us the best chance for a successful season.

Still, while I tried to push the Mortons and Ava conversation to the back of my mind, it was there, lingering all through dinner and then through inhaling Connie’s amazing peach cobbler dessert. And it was there lingering, while we said our goodbyes, a handshake to Bram, a hug to Connie, and a shoulder punch to Isaiah, all the way until we pulled into Ava’s driveway.

“Let me help you down,” I told her. She’d worn a summer dress to her family’s dinner, and while normally I would be carrying her into the house intent on stripping her out of it, more important things needed to be discussed.

“I can get down on my own.”

“I know.” But I needed to take care of her, and I needed to get her trusting me enough to open up.

Once she was on her feet, she dug into her small handbag and grabbed her keys. I took them from her, unlocked the door, and locked it behind us.

Bending down, I kissed her forehead. “Go get dressed in something comfortable. I’m going to get us drinks. Want some wine?”

Her blonde brows rose to perfect half-moons on her forehead. “Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, but I want to talk to you about something, and I want you comfortable for it.”

Her pinched and worried expression was still there as she drew out, “Okay…”

I slapped her butt playfully. “Get moving. And red or white wine?”

“Feels like a red wine kind of night.”

She drank it when she needed to mellow. White for silliness. It’d never made sense to me, but I wasn’t a wine drinker. Ava and Lydia had come up with that shortly after they turned twenty-one and started trying to figure out their signature drinks, whatever that meant.

She headed toward her bedroom but stopped at the mouth of the hall and turned to look at me over her shoulder. “You sure we’re good?”

“We’re perfect, Sunshine.”

And I was going to make sure we stayed that way, which meant I needed to know if Jimmy had hurt her in any way, and then figure out a way to keep him away from her when I couldn’t be there to protect her. Isaiah could only do so much, and Gavin stayed too close to Josie. Dalton and Bryce rarely left the ranch to come into town. But the Mortons being drunken fools and causing trouble went in waves. They’d be good and quiet for months, and then it’d be disaster after disaster, typically in increasing measure.

If they were starting it up again, I had no doubt Ava would be in the line of fire at some point in the future.

I forewent my normal rule of no drinking during the season and grabbed one of the beers Ava had stocked for me. It took some digging, but I finally found her beer bottle opener. With a quick flip of my wrist, I tossed the top into the garbage, replaced the opener, and turned to grab a bottle of red Ava had in a small wine rack above her fridge. Her electric opener was sitting on the counter, and I had just finished pouring her a glass of wine when she entered the kitchen.

She’d taken the time to wash the makeup off her face, and she’d thrown on a similar set of clothes to what she’d worn last night before I stripped it off her. Lightweight, mint green shorts that probably showed the curve of her plump ass cheeks if she turned around, and a short-sleeve top that was so wide, it exposed one shoulder.

Pebbled nipples beneath the fabric showed she’d also removed her bra.

Shit.

She had her hair in both hands, a tie at her wrist, and I took in the moment as she wrapped her hair up high on her head. The movement lifted her shirt, showing off her tan and soft stomach.

“So what’s with the seriousness all of a sudden?”

She plucked the wineglass out of my hand, and I was still trying to settle myself and remember what we needed to talk about because, with her standing there in front of me, so beautiful and peaceful and no longer worried like she truly trusted me, I’d forgotten everything except for what it felt like to sink inside of her.

“Cam?”

I shook my head and refocused.

Ava was grinning at me, smirking victoriously behind the rim of her glass. “Something distract you?”

“Yes. Your nipples are hard, and I can see them through your shirt. More than that, it’s also because you’re the most beautiful thing I think God ever created, and sometimes around you, I forget everything else.”

Her lips parted, and a furious hot pink rose on her cheeks. “Oh. Well, that’s okay then.”

I laughed and grabbed my beer. “Couch.”

“Oh goody. More serious couch talks.”

I smacked her ass and was proved right as she skirted around in front of me. The shorts did show the curve of her ass.

Hopefully she didn’t wear those out of the house. I’d have to kill any man who saw her.

She curled up in a corner of her couch, ass to the corner, legs bent and folded toward the center. She adjusted the side table next to her and tugged it forward so her wine would be in close reach. I took a seat right next to her, facing her, and set my arm on the back of her couch. We were close enough I could reach out and slide my hand to the back of her neck, and I adjusted her legs so her knees were propped against my thighs. I made a similar move with the coffee table and brought it closer so I didn’t have to reach far for my beer.

Her hand brushed my cheek, and I leaned into her soft touch. “You’re sort of freaking me out. Something happen at dinner I missed?”

“Dinner was perfect, and even though I’ve eaten dinner there a thousand times, I always learn new things about you and your family.”

“Like what?” She sipped her wine, a soft smile curling her pouty lips.

“I don’t know. Things.” I brushed my hand up and down her legs. “Like your dad. He’s such a good man, good like mine but different too.”

Ava chuckled. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“Small things. Like the fact he brings all the food out to the table. That once the meal is done, he’s the first to start cleaning plates. That he and your mom do the cleanup together. And I know tonight was a show to make it understood I was there for a different reason, but I realized he’s always done that.”

“Well… yeah…” A frown appeared. “I don’t get it.”

“Exactly. Because he’s always been that man. Yours and mine both work hard, and don’t get me wrong, Dad pampers Mom in his own way too, but I noticed that about your dad tonight. It was such a small thing, but your mom cooks. He does the heavy lifting. She prepares and preps and plans and does all that, and he’s the first to start cleaning. My dad walks in, sits down, eats, and usually leaves. It was different, something I hadn’t noticed.”

Perhaps because Isaiah and I were always the last ones to the table, the first to dip when everything was done, to avoid Connie’s blasted kitchen rule.

“Huh. I’d never thought about it, but now that you mention it…” Her worried, pinched line was back between her eyes, and she shook her head. “Never mind.”

“Not never mind. What?”

“It’s about Kip,” she said with a warning tone, and I forced my jaw not to tighten. “So it doesn’t matter.”

As much as I hated to say it because I didn’t want to know anything about Kip, I replied, “He was a part of your life, Ava. I don’t want to hear specifics about anything special, but you can talk about him.”

“It’s silly, but until you said that, I never understood why I’d get annoyed with him at dinner. He’d do things if I asked, but it felt like it was a hassle, so I stopped. I guess I never realized it was because my dad just did them.”

I had a feeling Kip hadn’t done much of anything to make her happy but didn’t point that out. Not my business. And since she was mine now, what he didn’t do didn’t matter anymore.

“Is that what you wanted to talk about?”

“No.” I grabbed a beer and took a long drink. “Talked to your brother when I left your place last week, and I know you know that. But when I was talking to him, he brought up Jimmy Jr.”

“Oh.” Color faded from her cheeks, and she cupped her glass with both hands. “What about him?”

“You hear about him drying out in the drunk tank?”

“Yeah. Of course. It was the talk of town at Jumpin’ Beans the next morning. Someone said he was hitting on Alexis, and Brant had a problem with it.”

“How’d hearing that make you feel?”

She frowned and pulled back from me, but her cheeks were still getting paler. “What do you mean?”

“It means that night at Tom’s when he was bothering you, that wasn’t the first time he scared you.” She’d already admitted it but refused to talk about it further.

“I’m not sure why we’re talking about this.” Her voice was shakier than it usually was, and there wasn’t a hint of her sass or fire in sight.

“Because Ava.” I reached out and dragged my fingers along the back of her neck. “You told me you came to me scared all those years ago. That you were afraid someone was going to take what you weren’t willing to give.”

“So?”

“No one has ever pressed charges or filed an official report about Jimmy. Until women start doing that, he’s going to keep doing what he’s doing. And someday, a woman is going to be seriously hurt, if he hasn’t hurt them already.”

Ava was shaking her head, looking at me, but it didn’t appear she saw me. Something flashed in her eyes. “He didn’t hurt me,” she finally said. “Not like that…”

God, I fucking wanted to let this go. Move on to more enjoyable parts of the evening, but that was out the window until this was sorted. And even then, I wasn’t feeling it.

“Not like what, Ava? How’d he hurt you?”

She took a drink and closed her eyes. “This is dumb to be talking about.”

“It’s not dumb. Not if he marked you in some way. Not if he hurt you.”

“He didn’t mark me,” she snapped, and there was anger there, but there was also fear.

I leaned forward, forced down my billowing rage and rampant desire to shove my fist in Jimmy’s face for the fun of it, and kept my voice calm, my fingers soft against her neck. “I’m not your enemy, Sunshine. I want to help, but I know you’re scared of him, and I want to know why.”

“Why?”

“Because I love you, and I have no doubt if he doesn’t already know we’re together, he will, and I’m concerned that’s gonna make you a target for him. Mortons hate us. Always have, probably always will, unless they bring someone decent into this world, but I can’t always protect you from Denver, so for me, I at least gotta know what worries you. He walks around, trying to prove he’s better than his old man even though I think the shit he does makes him worse, but nothing is going to make him feel like a bigger winner or man than if he can take something that belongs to me.”

“He’s Jimmy. He’s always mean to girls. Women. Always has been. He doesn’t get the word no, and he’s handsy, but as far as I know, it hasn’t ever gone further than that.”

“I’m not a woman, so I can’t be sure, but I’m guessing a man not understanding no and touching you when you don’t want him to is pretty terrifying, especially with how big he is.”

He played center in high school football, at least until he got kicked off the team for fighting his own teammates. He was a year younger than me, but I’d had to work with him at least during practices. Some games, but he only played in a few varsity games before getting kicked off the team. I’d hated every second of touching a ball after he handed it off.

But he was big. Broad shouldered with thighs like tree trunks, and he’d only gotten bigger and buffer since school. It didn’t only make him a threat, it made him dangerous.

“Filing a report would be useless. What’s going to happen? He’s going to be prevented from going into any bar in town?” she scoffed, like the idea was ridiculous.

“Say he hurts a woman, does something worse than being handsy, a history of assault and intimidation could maybe make him be locked up longer. Attorneys would at least know who to talk to if it ever went to a trial.” We were also getting way off track, and I wasn’t ignorant to the fact she was avoiding my questions, which only led me to think of things he could have done to her. “For my sake, Ava, I gotta know how he scared you back in school. I keep imagining the worst, and you’ve said it’s not, but there’s a lot of ways that kid could scare someone as small as you. I’m asking you to talk to me.”

She licked her lips and took another drink. “He’d been flirting that night, and at first it was gross, but then he’d also seemed really sweet. It was weird, but I don’t know, I’d wondered if I’d read him wrong before or something. Anyway, I’d left him, hung out with Lydia and Meredith and other friends, and I was supposed to go home, so when it got late, I was looking for Isaiah. I walked into the barn to find him, and Jimmy was there. He started…” Her eyes glazed over, and she trailed off. I tamped down the urge to force the next part out of her as tears started to well in her eyes before she blinked them back. Her chin was still trembling when she said, “He grabbed my wrist—I had bruises for days—and he started dragging me to the hay loft. I wasn’t strong enough to stop him, and he kept telling me I’d flirted with him all night, that I wanted it and I knew it.”

“That fucker is dead.”

“He didn’t do anything, though. He tripped over something—I don’t remember—but I was able to get free, so I ran off. And I kept looking for Isaiah, but then I was so scared and crying, and no one was around to help, and I kept thinking about what he could have done.”

“Come here, honey.” My hand at her neck gripped her. I shifted my lap and pulled her into it until her legs were draped over mine and her face was against my chest.

She turned, burrowed her beautiful, now teary-eyed face into it. I wrapped an arm around her and took her glass so she didn’t spill anything.

“I kept thinking that if I hadn’t gotten away, he would have raped me, and it would have been my first time, and it would have hurt, and I was just so scared. That was why I ran to your room. I only went to hide, but then you were there, looking at me in a way I’d never seen. And then I thought about what would happen when you and Isaiah went off to school, and I didn’t want to know what that would be. That was why I asked for you to touch me.”

“I’d thought you were my dream coming true that night. Swear it to you.”

Which made the way I treated her after even worse. I’d taken something special to both of us and tarnished it.

“Thank you for trusting me with that.”

“It’s not even something worth making a report for. What, attempted rape he didn’t get to actually attempt to do? Nothing happened. He hadn’t even kissed me. And then I wanted to forget it, and he does that thing in Tom’s sometimes, but not when I was with Kip, so I thought he’d moved on.”

“Until you were there, sitting with me.”

She nodded against the tear-soaked dress shirt I’d put on for dinner and slipped her hands beneath my arms and wrapped hers around my back. “But he was just talking. Yeah, I didn’t like it, but he doesn’t do anything, just talks about how I’d like whatever he wanted to do.”

“He said that to you?” Thank Christ I’d found them and stopped it when I had. “And he did touch you. He had his hands on you. Did you tell him to stop?”

“I don’t remember. Probably.”

“Then that’s assault, Ava. That’s what needs to be reported.”

“It’s a small thing.”

“Small things can lead to bigger things in the end. Please?” I pressed my knuckle to her chin and lifted her tear-streaked face to mine. I kissed the wetness on her cheeks—salty but still sweet. “Promise me you’ll think about making a report. Even if it’s been a while. At least then Isaiah and the county know and they have a reason to keep an eye on him, you know?”

“Did he touch Alexis?”

“I don’t know, honey.”

She hiccupped and swiped at her cheeks. An awkward laugh fell from her as she brushed stray hairs off her wet cheeks and turned to grab her wine. She leaned even farther forward and picked up my beer. Bringing both back, she handed me mine and took a drink, draining the last of her glass. “This was not how I saw the night going, you know. You ruined all my fun.”

She pouted so prettily, I couldn’t help but lean down and kiss her. “Life isn’t all about fun, it’s about making it through the grit and grime and making it to the other side, and in the midst of it, there’s a hell of a lot of fun to be had. Hopefully, if you’re lucky, doing it with someone you love.”

“I know you’ve said it, but you should know I love you, too, Cameron.”

“I already do.” I kissed her slowly, softly. I barely used my tongue, but even then, it was filled with a passionate heat I’d never felt anywhere, with anyone else. And it made sense, since I’d never loved any of them, never looked at another woman the way I did with Ava. Given what we talked about and the heaviness of it, I kept the kiss light and short. We had time for other stuff later. “Let me get you some more wine.”