Chapter 2
Two
Cameron
I follow her down the hallway, and for once, she doesn’t look back.
She’s tense, spine straight as a blade. Doesn’t speak. Doesn’t glance at the envelope I slid across the counter like a declaration of war. Doesn’t look at me either, which is worse.
The door shuts behind us, and I lean against it like I belong here. She whirls around, eyes blazing. “Ten grand, Cam? Really?”
God, she’s beautiful when she’s pissed. It’s the kind of fury that comes from heartbreak and principle, and that combination has always undone me. “You said we had nothing to say to each other,” I reply evenly. “I’m just paying for the privilege.”
Her mouth twists. “Of what? Humiliating me? Parading your little PR move in front of everyone I know? That’s Ethan’s sister, Cameron.”
I shrug. “That’s the point.” Her face drops like I slapped her. And maybe I did.
“You’re using her to get back at him?” Her voice cracks in that way it does when she’s hurt but trying to hide it behind outrage.
“She’s a willing participant,” I say it like it’s no big deal, because if I acknowledge how much this is costing me, I might not make it through. “And unlike some people, she doesn’t pretend to hate me while still moaning my name.”
Her body jolts like a current ran through her. I want her mad. I need her mad, because the alternative is her walking away from me for good. “You don’t get to play both victim and villain,” she spits. “You orchestrated an entire political takedown with your dick.”
“And Ethan orchestrated mine with a badge,” I step closer, voice lower now, darker.
“He put me in cuffs the day Mia was born, Tay. You think I forgot that? You think I forgave that?” She doesn’t flinch, but her breath hitches.
I see it. “You think this is just revenge? No, angel—this is restoration. He took something from me. I’m collecting. ”
Her breath catches when I call her that. Angel. She still hates that it works on her. Still loves that I say it like it’s sacred.
“Then what am I, huh?” she whispers. “Collateral? A warm-up? Was I just something to burn through until you could really get even?”
I don’t answer right away because I wasn’t expecting that question. And because I have to tell the truth. She’s standing there, wrecked but unyielding, waiting to hear something that might save us both. “No,” I say, honest and bare. “You were the only thing I didn’t want to lose.”
Her shoulders fall. That one landed. But I can feel it—it’s still not enough. “I can’t do this again,” she says, her voice breaking. “I can’t love someone who turns vengeance into a business plan. I’ve got Mia to think about.”
I nod slowly because she’s right because I’m still not sorry. “Then think about her,” I say. “Think about how quiet her world stays... when I’m feared more than I’m loved.”
The silence that follows? It’s not empty. It’s filled with everything we want and can’t have. Everything we said and didn’t say. And all the noise we’re both trying like hell to survive. “What is it you wanted to say you couldn’t tell me in front of everyone?” Taylor replies.
I perch myself on the edge of the desk and casually cross my feet and arms. Taylor is so damn sexy when she’s angry at me. She gets angry, not in an uncontrollable rage, but frustrated, where the worst she would do is probably yell or curse at me.
But the make-up sex is so worth it. The way her tight pussy grips my cock as she begs me for more is what wet dreams are made of. It doesn’t help that she’s wearing the perfect outfit tonight – tight jeans, a shirt that doesn’t hide her great tits, and an ass I have spent many hours worshipping.
Taylor’s brown skin is glistening, and she smells like heaven, like peaches and lemongrass, and I suddenly feel my cock going rock hard.
Her eyes are fiery yet soft. I know Taylor is simply humoring my ass right now, so I need to get down to business before I set her off and go home with blue balls.
“I wanted to see how you’re doing,” I respond to her, and she mimics my stance. Okay, she’s super pissed at me.
“Now you know,” she shrugs, “can you leave and not come back?”
“Ouch.” I softly reply, and Taylor lets out a sigh. “Big mad, huh?”
“You brought another woman to my business where you knew I would be. You fucked another woman just days after you fucked me in that new apartment you got for me and Mia.” She rolls her eyes.
“And now, since you’ve bribed my employees into letting you talk to me, I have no choice, or I would’ve looked like a Class-A asshole.
” She meets my eyes. “So yes, Cameron, I have plenty of reason to be more than a little upset with you.”
She has every reason to be pissed off at me, and honestly, that’s what I’m expecting.
Lord knows I would probably set Atlanta on fire if I saw Taylor with another man.
She saw snippets of me post-coitus with another woman, so I know she’s just itching to get even with me.
I also know I won’t be anywhere prepared for it.
Taylor is young, with a nice body, and she has her own everything. Any man would be a plum fool not to think she’s a catch. It’s only a matter of time before someone catches her eye and when they do, I’ll be catching all the damn heat. We both know I have shooters everywhere.
“I’m sorry for that,” I reply to her, and she once again rolls her eyes. “I’m sorry I made you upset, and I’m sorry for everything. I’m doing all of this for a reason. I’m with Makayla for a reason.”
“Oh, I know what that reason is,” she rolls her eyes at me, “it damn sure isn’t because of love.”
“Well, no,” I agree, “I don’t love anyone but you, Tay.”
She shakes her head and sighs again. “You love me, but you fuck other women like it’s going out of style?
I remain faithful to a man whose true love has always been money.
” She’s talking to herself, but loud enough for me to digest. Baby girl is barely 23, and she’s wearing the entire weight of everything on her shoulders.
“You’re willing to throw away everything because you can’t let go. ”
“I can’t let go? People close to us were murdered, and you’re telling me I should’ve just let it go?
” My voice has bass, and I don’t try to correct it.
“I don’t appreciate you acting like everything I’m doing is just because, and there’s not a true intent behind it,” my voice is low and calm, “considering everything.”
“I am considering everything, and everything I’m considering tells me this is just one fucked up game after another.” She shakes her head and has a half-grin. “Cam, if you wanted to get back at your opposition, you would’ve done it quickly.”
“No, I wouldn’t have,” I interrupt her, “and you know that’s not how I operate, either.”
“And how do you operate, Cam?” Her voice rises, and Taylor doesn’t want to hide her true feelings. Her fists are curled up in tight balls, and the anger is clearly shown on her face. “By fucking every woman out there while claiming you’re fighting for us? For our family?”
“That’s why you’re mad at me. You don’t care about any other stuff, but you care about who I’m in bed with.” Taylor looks away, and she knows I’m right. I cut right to her core, and she can’t even deny it. “You broke up with me; this wasn’t my choice.”
“You always have a choice, Cam.” She asks me, meeting my eyes yet again. “And what would you have done if we were still together? Still the same M.O.? Still engaging in a dick-measuring contest with Ethan?”
“Is this really about me working against my opposition or something else?” I stand up and walk towards her. She stops me at a safe distance. “What is it about, angel?”
Taylor relents and looks down at the floor.
The anger in her eyes dissipated, and now it’s worry and fear.
“You’re not afraid of death, Cam, and it surrounds you.
It’s only a matter of time before it catches up with you.
You might not care, but I do.” She lets out another sigh.
“Mia deserves to have both of her parents, and you’re out here acting like you don’t care! ”
“I do care, angel,” I step closer to her, and Taylor doesn’t stop me this time, “but I also can’t let people harm you and Mia, and get away with it.
Ethan might just be following orders and the law, but these other cats out here aren’t.
” I cup her face and hold her; our foreheads touch.
“I can’t promise this will be the last time, but from this moment on, no one will dare think about messing with me ever again. ”
Taylor grabs my wrists and sighs again. This woman is carrying my burden, and it’ll take a few forevers to make her forgive me for everything. “You’re going to do irreparable harm to Ethan.”
Ethan is the play uncle Taylor always had. He’s more of a second father to her than just a close family friend. He’s been a part of her life since she was a teen, and he’ll be in her life forever. I don’t want to kill the man, but he’s making it hard not to.
I also know that if I do kill Ethan, Taylor will never forgive me, and there goes any reconciliation. “It won’t be irreparable,” is all I can offer.
She looks up at me, and she lightly gasps. She has a worried look on her face that’s reminiscent of a bystander watching a crime—she wants to intervene, but she also knows it won’t be of any use. “Cameron....”
“Mia’s birth,” I keenly remind Taylor, and she relents.
She lets out a few deep breaths, and I see her mind return to that day.
Despite how she feels about me, I know she still has much anger toward Ethan.
Not angry enough to want him dead, but at least angry enough that it’ll take her a while to forgive him, whenever that is.
“No one is going to destroy my family, Taylor.” I hold her close and wrap my arms around her. “No one. I don’t care who they are and how they know either of us. They come after you or Mia, and I refuse to control my anger.”