Chapter 3
Chapter Three
Rylee
My mama was as difficult and ornery as I remembered, which is why I’d made the decision to stop visiting her three years ago, when my career took off.
I was tired of being torn down, blamed and shamed by her.
I just wanted to break free. And sitting by her bedside, while she complained about everything from the doctors to the prison system and the food, I was grateful I’d made the choice I had.
I’d fought hard to make my way out of the darkness and I didn’t want to get pulled back into that pit of despair with her.
“Where’d your boyfriend go?” she asked, glaring at me.
“He’s not my boyfriend. He’s just a friend, Mama. Like I told you. And he went to get us some ‘real food’ because you wouldn’t stop complaining about hospital food.”
“You’d think a dying woman could at least get a decent meal.”
“You’re not dying. You’re going to be fine.” They told us they would monitor her for twenty-four hours, provide medication, and worst-case scenario she would need an angioplasty with a stent.
“Easy for you to say.” She snorted, rolling her eyes at me. “Look at you, all young and beautiful. Thinkin’ you’ve got the world by the tail just ‘cause you’ve got some big contract with a record label now.”
I’d signed with Spencer Records just before my last visit to the prison. When I told my mama my dream had finally come true, she laughed in my face, and told me no one would pay to hear me sing. That’s when I decided I couldn’t claim the future I wanted as long as the past still had me in its grip.
“What’s your boyfriend do?”
I knew there was no point reminding her, for a third time, that Cam wasn’t my boyfriend, so I said, “He’s a Sheriff in Oklahoma.”
“Figures. You always did have a thing for pigs.”
There had been one particular officer who’d come to our crappy little apartment when I was a kid, to do wellness checks on me after my mama had been reported for leaving me alone.
He’d been so kind, and for the first time I’d felt like someone cared.
He made me feel safe. And ever since then I’d had a weakness for men with a badge.
Cam walked in with a bag of take-out food. His eyes swept over me, like he was trying to assess if I was alright, and I could have sworn my heart cracked wide open. Why, did this man who barely knew me, care so much?
He barely spared a glance at my mama as he set the sandwich she’d demanded on the tray in front of her, along with a bottled water, before he held up the paper bag and said to me, “Let’s step outside for a minute. Get some fresh air while we eat this.”
I didn’t know how he could tell I needed a break from her, but I was grateful for the suggestion. “Mama, we’ll be back in a few minutes.”
“I don’t know why the hell you’re comin’ back at all. Where were ya the last three years? Oh, that’s right, you were off gettin’ rich while your poor old mama rotted away in some jail cell. Hope you slept real well at night, knowin’ I—”
Cam didn’t let her finish as he ushered me out of the room. “Man, she’s a piece of work, Rylee,” he said, as soon as he’d closed the door to her room. “I pity those doctors, having to deal with her.”
I waited until we were outside, claiming a bench a short walk from the Emergency entrance before I said, “Thanks for coming with me tonight. You were right, I didn’t have it in me to do this alone.
” After Eden’s abduction, my nervous system had been out of whack, causing the ‘fight-or-flight’ to get stuck.
Cam withdrew two 2:17 Special sandwiches from Duke’s, along with bottled waters and I could have kissed him. I’d barely eaten since noon, and didn’t realize how hungry I was.
“Thanks,” I said, before digging in. “Hmm, this is so good. You’re not even a local boy. How’d you know about this?”
He chuckled. “I’ve visited Nashville with buddies a lot over the years, to hear my sister play. You learn the lay of the land pretty quick when you’re bar-hopping.”
“I can’t picture you bar-hopping, Sheriff.” Though I totally could. With his faded jeans, cowboy boots, backwards ballcap, colorful ink, and bulging biceps, he’d fit right in at my favorite honky-tonks. If anything, I couldn’t picture him in a Sheriff’s uniform, maintaining law and order.
“Really?” He raised an eyebrow before taking a bite. “I’ll admit, I don’t do it as much as I did when I was your age, but I’m not an old man yet.”
“You keep going on about our age difference. Does it really bother you that much?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. I’ve never dated anyone that much younger. Never thought I would, but I can’t deny you’ve got me… interested.”
I laughed, covering my mouth with my hand. “Does that mean you’ll give me a shot?” I’d never had a long-distance relationship, but since I was on the road so much, I didn’t think it would matter where we lived.
“A shot?” he asked. “We were just talking about a few days of fun, weren’t we?”
“I don’t know.” I pointed to the phone in his pocket. “Pretty sure you claimed me as your girlfriend earlier.”
“Yeah, we probably shouldn’t have done that. Don’t you have a PR team or publicist who’ll go crazy when they see that?”
My publicist was Avery McCall, the wife of country music legend, Ty McCall, who I’d opened for on tour last year.
And I was pretty sure she’d be thrilled if I was romantically linked to someone like Cam.
He was just the kind of guy country music fans loved their artists partnered with, but I was more concerned about how a relationship with me could hurt his career.
“Country music fans, and my publicist, would love it if they thought we were a thing. You fit the bill to a tee.”
“Excuse me?” he asked, rolling up his sandwich wrapper and tossing it into the receptacle behind me.
“You know we’re judged on the company we keep. And if fans thought my boyfriend was this big, strong, sexy lawman…” I winked. “Pretty sure they’d give me their stamp of approval. Especially the female ones.”
He blushed a little, which made me smile, before he dipped his head, breaking eye contact. “You’re crazy, girl.”
My phone buzzed as it had been all night, given we’d had to cancel the show. I groaned as I scanned the messages. “Ugh, looks like my ex crawled out of the woodwork after he saw that photo of us together.”
“Your ex?”
“Yeah, he was my bass guitar player. We dated for about a year, but when it was obvious it wasn’t going anywhere, I cut him loose and he found another band.”
“Was it serious?”
I laughed, patting his chest. “Honey, I don’t get serious with anyone. That’s not my thing.”
“Why?”
He seemed to love that question, and for reasons I couldn’t decipher, I gave him answers I wouldn’t have given anyone else.
“Because I don’t like to get too close to anyone. I mean, I have friends, like your sister. My music family. And that’s good enough for me.”
“Because of your upbringing.” Apparently, he didn’t need to ask the question because he already had the answer. “After meeting your mama, I can understand that.”
“Eden tells me your folks are the best. Salt of the Earth.” And I couldn’t pretend I wasn’t a little jealous.
“Yeah, they’re good people. We got lucky. And given what I see every day, I never take them or the childhood we had for granted, I can promise you that.”
I loved that he realized how lucky he was, not many people did. “It’s getting late. Mama’s probably asleep by now, so we can head out after I peek in to check on her and let the nurses know I’ll be back tomorrow.”
“Sounds good.” He collected my garbage and tossed it before reaching for my hand. “Let me walk in with you.”
A warmth spread through me as I let myself imagine what it would be like to have a man like Cam in my life, for real.
I didn’t need anyone to take care of me.
Never had. But knowing someone like him wanted to, would be a game changer for me.
It would introduce me to a sense of safety and security I’d never known before.
But I was just letting my imagination run away with me.
He’d be returning to his real life in a few days and I’d resume mine.
“The ex-boyfriend,” he said, his voice sounding gruff as he laced his fingers through mine. “He doesn’t give you a hard time, does he?”
“Nah, he just pops up whenever he sees a pic of me with someone else and thinks I’m moving on.”
“You post a lot of pictures with other guys?” His voice was light, teasing, but the look in his eyes was intense, and I could tell he was invested in the answer.
I stepped in front of him, knowing it was time for one of my famous candid moments, where I laid it all on the line.
Hooking my arms around his neck, I let my eyes linger on his when I said, “Yeah, in this business, we do a lot of events, shows, interviews, you name it. So, I do post pics with a lot of other guys, and you’ll see them, if you follow me.”
“Good to know.” He tried to step out of my arms, but I held on, forcing him to look me in the eye when I said, “But I can honestly tell you none of them have ever made me feel like this.”
His gaze drifted to my lips, his hands on my hips, when he asked, “Like what?”
“You’re not feeling it too?”
“I am, but I want to hear you say it.”
I rested my hand on his chest, and felt the steady beat of his heart. He wasn’t nervous. His heart wasn’t racing. He was calm, confident, and sure. Exactly what I needed. “You’re the yin energy to my yang, Sheriff.”
He smirked. “Meaning?”
“I’ve been told I’m a bit of a firecracker.”
His tongue was firmly planted in his cheek when he muttered, “You don’t say.”
“And you’re a rock. Solid and steady. I like that.” I need that. I would never say, I need you. Those words would never leave my lips, even if I thought them.
“A rock, huh?” The flirty glint in his eye told me he hadn’t forgotten what we’d been about to do earlier.
“Come home with me.”
My mama had robbed me of a lot of things in my life: love, stability, security, but I’d be damned if I’d be robbed of the night fate promised me with this man.
“Baby, you need a good night’s sleep. You’ve been through hell.”
The way he said baby, with that deep, raspy drawl made my skin tingle.
“So have you. So, let’s get a good night’s sleep together.” I raised my right hand. “I swear I won’t come on to you, unless you want me to.”
He laughed before his smile slipped and his eyes dimmed. “I do want to hold you tonight. I want you to know that you’re safe—”
I touched my fingertips against his full lips. “Okay, keep talking like that and I take back my promise. I will come on to you.”
He lowered his head, touching his forehead to mine. “What the hell am I gonna do with you, girl?”
“Anything you want.”