Chapter 21 #2
Sabrina hardly believed her ears, and yet she wasn’t surprised by her mother’s vulturelike attitude. “Scrap ain’t dead. How do you know all this?”
“Like I said, I got sources. Ones that told me he’s in bad shape and it’s only a matter of time. That man has one leg and half the other in the grave. There’s no way he’ll do dialysis or anything like that. Unless, by some chance, he gets a kidney, I don’t expect he’ll be around for another year.”
Sabrina whirled around from the cage to face the woman who gave birth to her and little else. “What if we’re a match? What if I decide to give him one of mine?”
The older woman’s eyes narrowed to slits. “Why the hell would you do that?”
“Oh, I don’t know. How ’bout being a decent human being?”
“Ha!” Raquel tossed her hair back in a habitual flip. “That man has never done a damn thing for anyone. He doesn’t deserve it.”
Pot, meet kettle!
Sabrina opened her mouth to blast her mother when she got interrupted.
“What’s going on?”
The male voice cut through the air like ice.
Sabrina turned to see Cam standing at the bottom of the spiral stairs.
He leaned to one side and had his good arm raised with his fingertips clutching the railing, his other arm hanging in its cast at his side.
Laser beams aimed straight for Raquel shot from his eyes, and Sabrina had no doubt he heard her comment.
“Nothing except your girl here wants to give a big piece of her body to her dad.” Raquel clicked her talons together at Sabrina.
“Number one, we don’t know if Scrap is her father yet. Number two, it’s her choice what she does with her body. And number three—” He took two steps into the room. “—none of this is your business, period.”
Raquel hummed a little laugh. “It’s my business if he never updated his will.”
A low buzz started in Sabrina’s ears, that mystery vibration when something bad is coming. “What are you saying?”
The Cheshire grin on Raquel’s face showed her exact meaning.
“Ernie didn’t leave a will. We could still make a claim and get something from his estate.
If Scrap dies, he named us both as his heirs but named you as the primary.
He told me he planned to cut me out, but he was always bad about following up.
No matter what, I bet he kept your name in his will, just in case.
If he never changed it again, you could still be in it.
And even if he did, the will might not even be legal if he didn’t get it notarized and filed, so there’s a good chance I still might be named somewhere as executor.
We’ll sell it all and split everything down the middle, any property, assets, insurance policies, and whatever else he has.
That includes Attic and his part of the machine shop. We’ll sell everything and walk away.”
Sabrina’s breath whooshed out of her as if she’d been punched in the gut.
“Who the hell do you think you are? I swear, you’re like a vampire hovering over her victim, ready to suck out every drop of blood she can.
We’re not splitting anything.” She shook her head.
“What am I saying? Fuck!” She clenched two fists at her temples. “I can’t handle this right now.”
Luckily, she didn’t have to.
“Get the fuck outta my house, and do not come back.” Cam’s menacing tone was low but forceful.
Raquel ignored him. “Scrap has some serious money he hides from everyone. You could be rich, Sabrina.”
Visions of a harpy with Raquel’s face picking over the dead corpses of Ernie and Scrap burst behind Sabrina’s eyes. “You know what? My man said get the fuck out, and he meant it.”
Raquel squinted at her with a nasty smile. “He’s got a broken arm. What are you gonna do, daughter? Call the cops?”
“No,” Sabrina snapped. “I’m gonna call the Iron City Knights. I bet they’ll get here faster.”
For the first time, Raquel faltered. Her mouth turned down and her eyes dropped to the floor. “Doesn’t matter. Walter is on his way out, and if he never redid his will, there’s nothing you or the Knights can do about it. I plan on taking what’s coming to me.”
“Are you deaf?” Sabrina asked in a rigid voice. She turned to Cam. “I think she’s deaf. Maybe I should give her a sign.” She twisted back to face Raquel and raised her middle finger. “How ’bout this one?”
“You’re gonna regret not working with me,” Raquel sneered. “I’ll force you and the club to sell every asset he has. I can put the court on my side.”
“Yeah, baby, I think she is deaf.” Cam let go of the railing and strode forward. “Yeah, I got a bum arm, but I only need one to toss you out.”
“No need, sweetcakes,” Raquel purred. “I’m leaving.” As she sashayed to the door, she paused. “Think about it, right?”
The click of the front door closing triggered an explosive exhale from Sabrina.
“I can’t believe her! Who does that shit?
” She pulled from her anger, mostly to keep herself from collapsing to the floor.
Agitation sparked down her legs, and she had to start moving or go insane.
She stomped around in a circle, laying down heavy steps and throwing her arms out wildly; if she slowed down, she’d fall into a big pile of tears.
Sarcasm flowed freely in her words. “Good afternoon, Cam. That was Raquel, a vampire who sucks the life out of everyone around her. Bonus round—she gave birth to moi!”
Her pacing quickly slowed as her anger burned out and gave way to a smoldering in her gut.
“Why the hell are you interested in me?” She stopped her frantic movements and stared at the man who stood and watched her in silence.
“I’m about as fucked up as you can get. I’ve got a possible father who is stubborn as hell, mean as a snake, and refuses to acknowledge me.
And I’ve got a mother who could win medals if the Olympics had a selfish, greedy, and opportunistic category. ”
Tears formed and finally flowed. She couldn’t hold it back any longer. Once they started, they wouldn’t stop. “Dammit, I hate crying. So fucking useless.” She sniffed and wiped at her tears, jerking her hand across her face to dash away the offending wetness. “I miss my dad.”
Then Cam was there. He folded her under his one good arm, pulling her in tight and placing a layer of comfort around her like a warm blanket. “I got you. No one is here but you and me. The beardies, too, but they won’t judge either.”
Safe.
She felt safe.
Safe enough to let go.
She cried. Long. Hard. Unceasing. All the pent-up emotions burst out of her from years of forcing them behind a dam of concrete control.
She cried for the child who was abandoned by her mother.
She cried for the teenager who never got accepted by the only family she had.
She cried for the loss of her dad who died and left her on her own.
She cried for the rejection of her possible father.
As much as she put up the rough-and-tough exterior, inside there was a person who needed to be loved and accepted somewhere by someone.
Gradually, her sobs subsided, and she calmed. Cam held her through the storm, rubbing her back and murmuring over and over again, “I got you. I got you, babe.”
She let go of the death grip on his shirt. “I’m sorry I lost it.”
“Don’t ever be sorry for being human, sweetheart. You don’t get to grow up without some baggage coming along for the ride.”
She pulled back and swiped at her face. “I’m probably blotchy as hell. I’m gonna rinse myself and finish dinner for us.”
“How ’bout you go rinse yourself and I’ll finish dinner for us?”
She gave him a skeptical side-eye. “You sure you can handle that?”
He raised his plastic cast. “I can manage. Not my first time with a busted arm.”
She sniffed and dragged a finger under her nose. “I won’t argue. I’m all snotty and stuffy. I hate that.”
“Me too. Go do your thing, baby. We’ll talk more later, yeah?”
“Okay.”
Sabrina used the half bath on the main floor to wash her face, then made some toilet-paper compresses with cold water to put on her eyes.
The mirror told her she had the raccoon thing going on, but she didn’t worry too much about it.
If Cam wanted a glamour model at all times, he would be disappointed, but he didn’t seem to mind.
Real life didn’t always appear perfect and put together.
Sometimes it came with snot and smeared makeup.
Nuked baked potatoes, steamed veggies, and a nice, firm meatloaf awaited her when she returned a few minutes later.
“Wanna talk about it?” he asked while juggling plates from the cabinet.
“Not really.” She pulled cutlery from the drawer. “Is it weird to want a regular dinner and conversation after all the shit that just got dumped on our doorstep?”
He grinned. “I like how you said ‘our.’ And yeah, this whole deal is weird, but we’ll figure it all out. I don’t know squat about the legal side of things, but nothing will happen on any front until we know for sure if you’re Scrap’s daughter or not.”
They sat at the bar with loaded plates. “You got any thoughts about how to deal with Raquel?” Cam asked.
Sabrina poked at her veggies. “I have no idea where she’s staying or when she’ll turn up again. This is her pattern—showing up at the most inconvenient, random times and stirring up shit.”
He put his fork down and turned to face her with a serious expression. “I got one of those too. My foster sister, Tammie, is back in town. She and Raquel could be twins.”
“You’ve mentioned her before.”
“Yeah.” His eyes went back to his plate, and he lifted his fork to prod at the meatloaf. “This is really good.”
Sabrina’s radar pinged. “What aren’t you telling me?”
Cam breathed deeply, as if debating. “I think we’ve had enough bullshit to handle tonight. I’ll tell you about it some other time, yeah? Right now, I’m ready for some dessert.”
She blinked. “I’m sorry, sugar. I didn’t make anything.”
He grinned at her. “Oh, I have something sweet in mind.”