Chapter 6
“YOU WANT CAM TO LIVE WITH ME?”
Chevelle
News travels fast.
I’m getting out of the shower and deciding how I’m going to cover my black eye when Marla uses the key I gave her to enter the house with my dad.
“Chevelle!” my dad booms from downstairs.
I knew this would be a problem. I hid in the dim light of the wedding reception last night, and luckily, one of the makeup girls helped me cover the bruise enough for no one else to see it. I told her I took an elbow to the face by accident.
But I know that sound in my dad’s voice. It’s the same one he used when I broke curfew, or sneaked out, or he found boys in the basement. The “what the hell is going on” tone.
“I’m just out of the shower. Hold on.”
I hurry up and dress in shorts and a T-shirt. I purposely didn’t take any appointments for the boat today for fear that I’d be hungover. Turns out that’s a good thing, because looking out the window, I see it’s cloudy. Everyone would be looking at me as though I was crazy for wearing sunglasses.
I stare in the mirror one last time. There’s no hiding this.
I walk down the stairs and into the kitchen, refilling my coffee mug. “Hey, guys,” I say nonchalantly. “Want a coffee?”
“No.” My dad’s big footsteps pound on the floor until he’s right in front of me. His fingers take me by the chin and tilt my face up. Not in the gentle way Cam did last night. “I’m gonna kill the bastard.” Then he sweeps me into a big hug and nearly crushes me. “Are you okay?”
He pulls away. Tears prick my eyes when I see the concern in his. I nod, sucking back my tears.
“I’m gonna wring that little punk’s neck,” my dad says.
“Now Hank, relax. Cam has done enough.” Marla places her hand on my dad’s arm.
“Cam?” I knew he was mad last night. I called him, but he never answered or came back to the reception. I assumed he never found Derek, that the boat was gone before he could get there, and maybe he needed to blow off some steam.
“He beat up Derek, so now he’s with your brother, facing assault charges. What kind of pissant presses charges from a fight after he hit a woman?” Dad shakes his head.
I can read his facial expression. Another great pick, Chevelle. When are you ever going to learn your lesson?
“He beat up Derek?”
Okay, I’m not completely surprised. I saw the red veiling Cam’s features when he saw my eye. I just hoped the boat would be gone before Cam found Derek so I could calm him down today. Derek isn’t worth any of this. I don’t want Cam to get into trouble because I chose the wrong guy to date.
“Of course he did,” Marla says, as if I was asking if Midge stole the salt and pepper shakers last night. The answer is obviously yes.
“Why do you say it like that?” I ask her.
Marla looks at my dad, and he rolls his eyes and says, “Don’t act dumb, Chevelle. The boy protects you like he’s your brother.”
“Well…” Marla says.
“Where is he now?” I ask, interrupting their cryptic exchange.
“He’s at the sheriff’s office.”
My doorbell rings before I can tell them I’m heading down there, and my dad opens the door.
Fisher stands on the other side. He shoots me a concerned expression and his gaze traces all over my face, taking me in. “How you doing, sis?”
“I’m okay, just shaken up and embarrassed.”
“Hey.” He pulls me into a hug. “You have nothing to be embarrassed about. Not at all.”
I nod into his chest and suck back tears. Fisher frowns when he pulls away.
“What’s going on?” my dad asks.
“I need Chevelle to come down to the station.”
“Why?” Marla asks.
“Because you’re going to press charges against Derek for assault.”
I step back. If I press charges, the entire town will know what happened. I remember the teachers watching me and whispering to each other when I finally went back to school after my mom died. The same thing will happen if people hear about what Derek did to me.
“I think we’re all getting ahead of ourselves. Can’t we just solve this within the family?” my dad asks.
I’m sure he doesn’t want our family name thrown around town again either. It was just as hard for him when Mom died. And then again when Fisher was young and caused all that trouble. Add on when Lucy left Adam. It’s like my family can’t help but be the center of gossip in town.
“No, we can’t, Dad, because Derek has pressed charges on Cam.
So now Cam goes to jail unless I have Chevelle press charges on Derek.
I’m hoping to lean on Derek when I tell him Chevelle is pressing charges, so he’ll drop the ones on Cam.
We can drive him out of town and hopefully never see the bastard again.
” Fisher crosses his arms. He’s mad, I can see it in his dark pupils.
“I thought Derek would already be long gone.” I worry my lip.
“No such luck.” Fisher stands and stares at me, hands on his belt, waiting for me to answer.
“Fine. I’ll do it. For Cam.”
“We’re coming with.” Marla puts her hand on my shoulder and escorts me out to Fisher’s truck. “Hank, follow us.”
My dad does what Marla says because he loves her and he’s allowing her to be the mother I don’t have. Marla’s been a great mother figure, but there really isn’t anyone like your own mom. Or maybe that’s just me and I should’ve gone through therapy longer.
We arrive at the sheriff’s station and Marla doesn’t leave my side as Fisher takes me to his office. Cam is sitting in another room with a soda and candy bar, talking to Mato. Our eyes lock for a moment and he stands, walking toward the door before Mato can stop him.
“I’m fine with the charges, Chevelle,” Cam says. “You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to. No one has to know what happened.”
I look at Fisher and back at Cam, then back at Fisher. “Can I talk to him please?”
Fisher sighs and nods.
Mato leaves the room and I walk in, shutting the door. Cam has on one of Fisher’s old shirts, a faded threadbare Sunrise Bay High School Football shirt with his dress slacks. There’s a bruise along his cheek, and I notice the way he holds his side when he walks.
“Are you okay?” I ask.
He nods. “Don’t worry about me. I’m serious, Chevelle. If you press charges, it’ll be reported in the town news. Everyone will know what happened. I know you hate being the gossip in town, so it’s fine. Let him come at me. I have witnesses and a lawyer that will get me off.”
“Who are your witnesses?” I cross my arms and jut my hip to the side.
“Porter’s men were there.” He looks outside and leans closer. “They’ll tell them that he threw the first punch.”
I raise my eyebrows.
“Porter’s got three daughters.”
I nod. “So Porter and his crew already know?”
He nods again, but there’s shame in his eyes. “I had no choice in that. But they’re out at sea now.”
“Cam, I’m used to people in this town walking on eggshells around me. Now they’ll just know I’m a terrible pick when it comes to men too. You didn’t have to hit him.”
“The hell I didn’t. He hurt you.”
“You don’t have to protect me like my brothers.”
He winces but recovers quickly. “I’d hit any slimeball who would hit a woman.”
Of course he would. I need to quit thinking of this as one of my romance books where the guy gets all “touch her and die” for the woman he loves. Get a grip, Chevelle.
“Regardless, I’m going to get you out of this.”
I walk out of the room and into Fisher’s office. We file the paperwork even as Cam continues to tell Mato to tell me not to bother. Fisher takes the papers and heads out of the office to the front of the building, where Dad and Marla wait. I follow.
“I want you gone when I get back with him.” Fisher looks at my dad to take care of removing me from the station.
“I’ll leave when Cam leaves,” I say.
Fisher turns around. “No, you won’t. You’ll leave now. Derek isn’t gonna be nice about this, and if I have to scare him and bring him back here to throw him in jail, I don’t want you adding fuel to the fire by being here.”
“But—”
“Chevelle.” He grips the bridge of his nose and glares at his feet before looking back at me. “I’m hanging on by a fucking thread right now. I’m trying to be the sheriff, protect my best friend and you, when what I really want to do is finish what Cam started. He hit my little sister.”
Dad looks at me, and I nod in understanding. “I’ll be gone.”
“Thank you,” Fisher mumbles. He pulls me into a quick hug before leaving.
I step back down the hall and take one last look at Cam in the interrogation room. His eyes meet mine, but Marla puts her arm around me and guides me to the door. I hope Fisher’s plan works, because I’d hate to be responsible for someone else’s future dying.
My dad and Marla take me to their house. We file in through the garage and into the kitchen as the basement door opens. Rylan comes out shirtless with shorts on. He’s seventeen now and is practically the size of our older brothers.
“Ry?” Marla asks. “You slept in the basement?”
He glances over his shoulder quickly and I raise my eyebrows when I spot a brunette tucked behind his back.
“Um… yeah. I… uh… fell asleep.”
Marla continues into the kitchen, obviously missing the girl I can see from my angle. Dad’s already at the fridge, talking about what to make me for breakfast.
“Don’t forget you have soccer this morning,” Marla calls to Rylan.
I’m standing in the hallway, waiting to see who the girl is, but Rylan’s acting as though I can’t see her. I decide to do my half brother a solid and step into the little nook in the kitchen where the keys are kept and grab his. I toss them to him. “Here you go.”
“Thanks,” he says with relief.
I nod and keep my eye on our parents while he grabs the hand of the brunette wearing his shirt and a skirt.
It’s all I can do not to react, because it’s Calista Bailey he’s holding hands with.
He ushers her down the hallway of the laundry room, stops to grab a bag, and they both exit the house.
He mouths thank you to me as the door shuts behind him.
“Did he leave already?” Marla peeks over my shoulder. “He probably didn’t even brush his teeth or anything.”
“He took his bag from the laundry room. You keep spares in there for long tournaments, right?”
She smiles and turns back to the kitchen. “I do. Not sure how that boy will survive next year in college.”
Rylan got a full-ride scholarship to Stanford to play soccer. I thought he and Calista were sort of rivals, but I guess something has changed. It’s going to be hard not telling the rest of our siblings, since there are bets going around that they’ll end up together.
My dad makes me breakfast—Mickey Mouse pancakes like he used to when we were little and having a rough morning. He made them for me the day after my mom died and again on the day of her funeral and pretty much every day for the entire first year after her death.
Marla pats my hand when Dad leaves to go to the bathroom. “He thinks he’s helping.”
“I know.” And I do. My dad means well, but this all reminds me of the last time I felt responsible for something. Not that it’s my fault Derek the douche hit me, but I gave him a second chance, didn’t I?
The phone rings an hour later. It’s Fisher, so my dad puts it on speaker.
“Derek dropped the charges on Cam, so we’ll drop Chevelle’s charges on Derek. He promised me he’d leave the area for good this afternoon, but we can’t force him to leave town. Hopefully he really does leave.”
“All good news,” my dad says.
Fisher sighs. “Except Cam is homeless. His dad kicked him out of his apartment and took away the keys to his car.”
My stomach sinks. Cam would never be in this predicament if it weren’t for me.
Dad and Marla look at me.
“What?”
“You have an entire house to yourself now that Mandi and Noah have bought the place next to the inn,” Dad says.
“They did?” I had no idea.
He nods. “Noah told me about it last night and asked if they could use my pickup today to start moving their stuff in right away. Think they’ll be gone by dinner.”
“Mandi didn’t mention anything to me.” I can’t deny that I’m a little hurt she didn’t think she could say something.
“Noah bought it as a surprise,” my dad says.
I smile and any hurt I had disappears. “That’s so sweet.”
He shrugs. “I thought so. Now, about where Cam’s gonna live…”
“You want Cam to live with me?” I don’t think my eyes could get any wider.
“Chevelle’s right. We should think this over,” Marla says.
“It’s your decision, but I’ll be honest… I don’t like the idea of you living here alone when we don’t know for sure what Derek is gonna do. Cam is like family, and he could use some help right now. Besides, your house is close enough to the marina that Cam can walk to work,” Dad says.
“I second Dad,” Fisher says through the speaker.
Marla raises her eyebrows and bites the inside of her lip.
I can’t see Derek making another appearance, but my dad has a point. “Okay, I guess. Cam can move in with me.”
“That’s my girl,” my dad says.
“I’ll drop him off later. Until we know for sure this Derek guy is gone, it’ll be nice to know Cam’s with you to protect you.” Fisher hangs up without saying goodbye.
The pit of my stomach sours. How am I going to live with the guy I’ve crushed on for years without wanting to give in to temptation?