12. Cameron #3
“And if that doesn’t happen?” Her voice is barely above a whisper, and her eyes are still closed, like she’s hiding from her words because if she says something too loudly, she’ll speak it into existence.
“Then we move onto plan B, which is getting the conservatorship transferred to your dad for a bit while we figure out a way to dissolve it completely. It’s... obviously not ideal for you to be stuck in any form of conservatorship, but at least—”
“Do you think he’d do what Gina’s doing to me?” She finally blinks her eyes open, her brows drawn down. “You—you know more about him. One, ‘cause you were a fanboy before, and two, because it sounds like you’ve been spending a lot of time with him.”
“Yeah,” I say, reaching up with my free hand and rubbing the back of my neck.
“We’ve all been spending a lot of time with the guy.
Especially because most nights we’re crashing at his place because we’re all up so late.
Look, I’m sure you probably don’t think the highest of my judgment of people’s character, especially because I was so wrong about you, but your dad is different from your mom. I promise.”
“I mean... You got over whatever your issue was with me pretty quick,” she shrugs. “And you’ve probably dealt with a ton of different people for work. So I—I trust your judge of character.”
Her words make something warm bloom in my chest. This omega has had everything taken away from her, and she’s still choosing to trust me. Someone who was a fucking asshole to her at first. If I were in her shoes, I’d probably be skeptical of anything and everything, but still, she chooses to hope.
“Yeah, Edison won’t do this to you. He’s not your mom, though that’s not a very high bar to surpass. It’ll be a conservatorship in name only.”
“Okay,” she nods. “I can live with that.”
“We’re going to submit the petition tonight. Your mom... She’ll know soon.”
Andi flinches in my arms, and a rough sound leaves my chest. It’s just on the border of a growl. The sight of her fear, witnessing the physical reaction she has towards the thought of Gina being upset, makes my skin crawl.
“Andi, please look at me,” I murmur softly.
When she does, I cup her cheek with my hand, bending over her face.
The angle is a little awkward, but that doesn’t matter to me.
What matters is that she’s seeing me right now.
I can’t let her slip back into that dissociative state she was in when she first came in, not before I tell her everything that needs to be said.
“I hate what I’m about to say, but you’ve got to endure the next couple of days, okay?
I know you can do it. You have to be strong. ”
Her bottom lip wobbles, and all I want to do is commit several felonies and carry her out of an emergency exit.
“We have a really important job for you, okay, Sweet Tea?” I reach into my pocket and pull out a burner phone.
It’s one of the fancier touchscreen models with a camera.
“We need you to document your living conditions. The food you’re being given, the nesting materials and bedding, clothes, that sort of thing. ”
She stares down at the phone I’m holding out, her hands trembling as she takes it from me. When her eyes dart towards mine, there’s the brightest spark of hope I’ve seen all night.
“I can do that,” she nods. “Will I—will I be able to talk to you? Beyond just sending you the pictures and stuff?”
The question catches me off guard. There’s only one number in the phone.
It’s the number to a secondary burner, just so it can’t be traced.
I’m sure Gina will already have an idea who’s behind this, if she’s spent any time online.
There are already TikTok detectives piecing together multi-part series, picking apart Beck’s song and his and Andi’s relationship.
Even if Gina or someone on her team somehow got access to Andi’s burner phone, would them figuring out I’m connected really be that big of a deal now that this part of the plan has been executed? Especially since the trial is at the end of the week.
“Here, let me add my number in. Then we can talk all you’d like,” I murmur, reaching out and taking the phone gently from her hands.
“Thank you.”
“No need to thank me, Sweet Tea.”
“But I do,” she says, shifting in my lap and pushing herself so she’s sitting up to face me. “You didn’t have to do this, Cameron. You’re not—we’re not... we haven’t officially...”
“I don’t need to be an official member of your pack to help you,” I say, my expression softening.
I reach out and lace our hands together.
Her hand would look pale next to mine, regardless of what condition she’s in, but the hormone imbalance from the solitary confinement leaves a stark contrast between our skin tones.
“Oh,” she says quietly, averting her gaze.
I reach out and gently guide her to look back at me, with a hold on her chin.
“That doesn’t mean I don’t want to try to figure out whether we can work, okay? I need you to know that. I just... Now isn’t the time. You’ve already been through so much. You’ve gotta get out of crisis mode first.”
“Okay,” she nods, melting into the touch I have on her face. “Thank you.”