Chapter 40 Cam
Cam
It’s been quiet. Almost too fucking quiet. No threats. No new social media posts. No unwanted gifts.
Is it because Mia is gone and she really was the stalker?
Or is Mia’s absence enough damage to Evan’s play?
Or is the stalker using her absence to lull us into a false sense of security?
It weighs on my mind because it feels like the quiet before the storm.
But it’s not the biggest thing on my mind.
My parents and I have been invited to dinner on Wednesday with Evan’s mother, Adam, Evan, and Damon. It’s Tuesday when I sit down with them and explain how Evan is my girlfriend, but also Hawk’s and Damon’s.
Mom’s mouth opens and closes, and she gets this look like she’s trying to figure it out, and then her mouth opens again like she really wants to ask questions, but then she closes it like the questions aren’t appropriate. Dad watches her for a few minutes, letting her stew.
Finally he says, “At least your grades are much better, so she must be a good influence on you.”
“She is,” I admit. There’s a lot less partying when I could be with her instead.
“All three of you?” Mom finally bursts out.
I nod, but it’s not comfortable talking about this part with my parents. Because she’s not talking about the dating part. “Yes, Mom.”
Mom thinks about it for another minute and shakes her head. “That poor girl.”
Dad laughs. I think of how much we love Evan and how much she loves us and just shake my head at my mom’s drama.
On Wednesday night, I stand at the front door of Damon’s house with my parents. This feels all sorts of wrong. When Adam opens the door, he smiles.
“It’s great to see you again. Alex. Lisa. Cam. It’s been a while. Come in.” He backs up so we can walk in. Voices come from the living room as we follow Adam.
Hawk’s parents sit snuggled up on the couch with Hawk sitting a little apart from them. Evan sits between Heather and Damon.
“Please have a seat. Can I get you something to drink?” Adam asks like this is completely normal.
Mom and Dad let Adam know what they’d like. I ask for a soda and walk over to the other chair in the room. Evan looks at me like she wants out of here. Normally, I’d just catch her hand and drag her out to my bike, and we’d be gone. But this is important.
We’re not only reading our parents in on what’s happening.
We’re deciding whose house she’s staying at on Saturday.
It doesn’t really matter to Hawk or me, because we’ll both be with Evan wherever she ends up.
But we’re doing this on the up and up. Which means our parents will be fully aware our girlfriend is staying at our house. Preferably in our beds.
My parents introduce themselves to Heather, and then Adam returns with their cocktails and a soda for me. He sits beside Heather, and we all take a sip of our drinks. So fucking awkward, but I guess someone will have to break the ice.
“Have you heard from Mia?” I ask Evan.
She inhales and shakes her head. “Whatever happened, she’s not allowed to talk about it, so she texts now and then. She’s not even sure if she’s going to be able to come back to Anteros at all. Security issues might be a problem.”
Damon meets my eyes. That means if Mia is part of the whole plan to do whatever to Evan, she’s a missing piece on the board. Maybe that’s why it’s been so quiet since she’s been gone.
“Is Mia a friend?” my mom asks, gently.
Heather reaches over to squeeze Evan’s hand.
“Yes.” Evan smiles. “She’s the lead in my play, and we’ve become friends. Her brother got injured about a week and a half ago, and she had to go home for a while.”
“Injured?” Mom takes a sip and looks thoughtful. “Wasn’t there something that happened to that one school...” She snaps her fingers like it will magically come to her.
My dad just shakes his head like he has no idea what she’s talking about. Mom reads a lot of news, but tends to forget pertinent details.
She touches his arm. “You know, that high school. Something went wrong at their homecoming.”
“I don’t remember, Lisa.” Dad’s voice is quiet.
Mom shakes her head. “Maybe I’ll remember later.” She turns her attention back to Evan. “I hope your friend is okay. Did you have to recast her part?”
“We weren’t sure how long she’d be gone.
Or even if she’d be back in time to perform.
We were down to the wire. Since I knew the staging and lines, I stepped into the role.
” Evan glances down at her hands. “It looks like she probably won’t be back, which is a shame because she truly is a brilliant actor. ”
Mom nods, and Heather squeezes Evan’s hand reassuringly. There’s a brief pause while everyone takes an awkward silence drink.
“So, Yale?” Dad says a little too brightly. “That must be exciting, Damon. Honestly, I’ve been trying to convince Cam to go up and visit. So he can see what it’s all about.”
“You should come with us.” Adam smiles.
My eyes widen, and I look at the slight panic on Evan’s face. “I don’t—”
“That’s a great idea. It’s after hockey, and you don’t have anything on Sunday.” Dad glances at Hawk and his parents. “The problem we’re here to solve is where EvanAnn will stay while her mom is out of town, right? So she can stay with Hawk, and we can go to Yale with Damon.”
“Of course, EvanAnn can stay with us.” Naomi takes Paul’s hand and looks at him. “It’s only one night, and it’s not like she hasn’t slept over before.”
Given Heather’s wide-eyed expression, that wasn’t universally known. Evan turns red and looks down at her hands in her lap.
Adam clears his throat.
“We do think you should be aware EvanAnn has received some threats and someone had a social media account with threatening language on it about her. That’s down now thankfully.
” Adam leans forward and clasps his hands.
“We’re taking it seriously, and the police have been informed, but we want to make sure she’ll be safe while we’re gone. ”
“Threats?” Mom touches her necklace pendant and looks worriedly at Evan. “Are you going to be okay staying with Hawk? Because if not, we can stay home and you can stay with us. We just updated our security system.”
“She’ll be fine with us,” Paul says. “It’s only one night, and if you can visit Yale, you really should. Hawk’s been looking into Yale as well. As an option. His first choice has always been Columbia.”
Hawk glances my way. Fuck, this conversation is getting out of control. But I guess I’m going with Damon to Yale, and Evan is staying with Hawk until we get back.
“Crowne Mawr has already made Damon an offer to be on the team next year.” Adam glows with pride. “We wanted to check out Yale and what they have to offer before we commit.”
There’s a possibility we all won’t get into Yale even if that’s Damon’s decision. I hate to think about commuting to each other, but long distance will be worth it to stay together. Just harder to find time to be together.
“Cam’s been looking at Crowne Mawr too.” Dad glances my way. “I think it would be an easy decision between Yale and Crowne Mawr. Yale has an established D1 hockey team and excellent degree programs.”
“But,” Mom says before Dad can get on a rant.
“Crowne Mawr is closer to home. It’s established academically and rivals Yale in programs. You get so caught up on having a legacy sometimes you forget it’s not you who gets to go back to college.
” Mom smiles at me and winks. “Cam will do what’s right for Cam, but I agree we should tour the campus because it will give you a feel for the school. ”
I love my mom. Dad nods, and the conversation turns to hockey and how the college teams are stacking up this year. When we walk into dinner, I linger behind to walk in beside Evan.
“Is that all right with you, goody?” I can’t help asking, because I’d prefer to stay cuddled in bed with her and Hawk than tour Yale.
She catches my hand. “It’s a great idea for you to go visit Yale. You’ve never really given it a chance before.”
She’s right. I was so determined to not be like my dad that I dismissed his school choice. But now it is a real option with the four of us. If I want to give it a shot, I should really explore it as an option.
I walk with her to her spot at the dining room table and hold her chair out for her. I take her other side since Damon is already seated beside her. Hawk sits on the other side of Damon. Our parents sit across from us with Adam at the head of the table and Heather beside him.
I pause for a moment to remember this. Because this is our extended family if we get through this. This could be Christmases, weddings, birthdays, celebrating any kids we have. Fuck, this could actually work.
Damon
“I don’t like this.” It’s Saturday and we’re getting ready to leave.
Evan sits cross-legged on my bed behind my suitcase. If I could pack her in my bag and take her with me, I would. But she has rehearsal tomorrow, and it’s tech week. According to her, this is when it all comes together, and sleeping becomes an option.
“You have the opportunity to see what it’ll be like if we go to Yale.” She smiles softly at me. “It’s just like the week you were gone to Crown Mawr, but shorter.”
“Jackson will still be here,” I say, which means it isn’t exactly the same.
“And it’s been weeks since anything really happened.” She climbs off the bed and comes over to hug me. Her suitcase is already packed and waiting in her room. Hawk’s supposed to be on his way to pick her up. As well as Cam and his family to join us at Yale.
I put my arms around Evan, and the temptation to fuck her one more time before I go crosses my mind, but everyone should be here shortly. I don’t think they’ll be cool with waiting for me to finish. Besides, sometimes it’s just nice to just hold Evan.
“I’m going to be fine. Hawk can take care of me for one night.” She blushes as I pull away.
“He’s going to try bondage tonight?” I arch an eyebrow.
Her eyes flare hot. He’s been talking about it nonstop all week. I kind of wish we could be there, or that they’d do it here in my room where I can watch.
“I packed the camera you gave me,” she says as she lifts her stormy eyes to mine.
I smirk. “I love you.”
“I love you, too. Now finish packing.” She gestures for me to hurry up and sits on the edge of the bed.
“You don’t go anywhere without Hawk.” I put the last of my things in my bag and zip it up. “Promise me?”
“Where would I go?” She shakes her head. “Honestly, I’ll be fine. You’ll have an awesome trip and you’ll be able to decide between two colleges as to where you want to spend the next four to five years with us.”
I inhale, letting that sink in. She stands and presses her hand against my heart.
“You didn’t lose your future with that accident,” she says softly.
“No, I didn’t. I gained my future.” I slide my hand across the nape of her neck. “Fuck, does this mean I should thank Chase Chadwick?”
She laughs, and it fills my room and my heart. “No. No one has to thank that asshole. I can’t wait for the show to end so I can go back to pretending he doesn’t exist.”
I draw Evan in and kiss her. My door is open. The only reasonable way to ensure I won’t fuck Evan and make us all late.
But also makes it easy for someone to come in. Like Hawk.
“I’m here to collect my prize.” He grins. “Best idea ever. I should have suggested it myself. Can you thank Cam’s dad for leaving me with Annie all to myself?”
“You can thank him yourself.” I glance at my clock and grab my bag. “They should be here any minute.”
“My bag is in my room,” she says.
Hawk goes through the bathroom to grab it and bring it with us as we head downstairs. Voices rise up the stairs. It sounds like Cam and his parents have already made it. We meet Cam on the steps and Evan stops a stair above him.
“I expect an excellent movie to watch when we return, goody.” Cam grabs her chin and kisses her softly. When he pulls away, he holds out a red paper flower.
Evan has to work at my desk because she has so many of those on her desk she doesn’t have any writing surface left. When I mentioned throwing any of them out, she hit my arm and told me off.
She smiles and kisses Cam again. He gives me a cocky smile before leading her down to the entryway where our parents are waiting.
Heather steps over to Evan, away from the others. “Are you sure you’ll be okay? I can stay here and we can hang out tonight.” She glances at the three of us behind Evan and shakes her head. “Though why you’d want to hang out with me when you’ve got them is beyond me.”
Evan smiles and hugs her mom. “I’ll always want to hang out with you, Mom.”
Heather returns her hugs and then pulls away. “You haven’t had any more texts, and nothing weird has happened, right?”
Evan shakes her head, but looks over her shoulder at me. “I’ve been a little busy, but the guys have been keeping an eye out.”
Heather nods and turns to Hawk. “You’ll keep her safe?”
“With my life,” he says.
“Hopefully it won’t come to that.” Heather smiles.
Hawk takes Evan’s hand and pulls her into his side. “We should head out while you guys get everything arranged.”
Evan squeezes his hand before releasing it and walking over to Cam to give him a hug. When they pull apart, she turns to me and hugs me.
“No settling,” she says softly. “We don’t compromise on our futures.”
I breathe in her woodsy scent and hold her for a moment longer than necessary.
“I’ll see you tomorrow night,” I say.
“Have a safe trip.” She meets my eyes, and then Hawk leads her out of the house.
“All right,” my dad says. “Let’s load up.”