Instead, I’m left reeling.
She chuckles. “I’d say,” she murmurs. She doesn’t pull away from my embrace, and I take comfort in that. “Cam,” she says, her voice sharper, “is there someone waiting for us at the dock?”
I peer through the gloom. She’s right, there’s someone pacing up and down. As we near, I make out who it is.
My father.
“Where have you been?” he snaps at me as soon as we’re within earshot. “We’ve been trying to reach you all afternoon.”
Tension radiates off Maddie in waves. I fight the urge to punch my father. “What do you want?” I snarl.
His next words cause the bottom to drop out. “Emily had a heart attack,” he replies grimly. “She’s been airlifted to St. Michael’s. The doctors aren’t sure if she’s going to make it.” He gives me a look of sheer contempt. “I hope your picnic was worth it.”
12
Maddie
We drive back to Toronto in the dark. Cameron doesn’t say a word to me as the miles fly by, and in the quiet, I reflect on the conversation we had today on the boat.
I should be happy. After nine years of wondering why Cameron never reached out to me, I now know the truth. Joseph Drake’s lies and manipulation had separated us for almost a decade.
Yet my heart is heavy, and not just because of the horrible news about Emily. On the boat, Cameron and I didn’t talk about the future. He didn’t ask me to stay in Toronto. When he heard my father was getting out of prison, he didn’t respond by reassuring me that we’d solve the problem together.
I’ve been a fool this week. I’ve let my hopes cloud my judgment. I knew that letting Cameron back into my life would be dangerous to my heart, and I slept with him anyway.
Worst of all, I fell in love with him once again.
“I didn’t see Ryder back at the cottage,” I say, breaking the silence that has stretched on for miles. “Did Zoe and he leave for Toronto as well?”
“Does it matter?” His voice is tinged with bitterness. “I hate that cottage. The worst memories of my life are in that place. If it were up to me, I’d raze it to the ground and never look back.”
My heart stops. I always knew that my time with Cameron was fleeting. I didn’t realize it could end tonight. “You don’t want to buy the cottage anymore?”
His mouth twists into a grimace. “I never wanted the cottage for myself. Just for Aunt Emily. And now…” His voice trails off. “It might not be an issue anymore.”
Despite my best intentions to protect myself, the anguish in his voice almost rips me apart. “She’ll make it, Cam.” I cover his hand with mine. “She has the best doctors tending to her.”
“Anything can happen, Maddie,” he replies harshly. His jaw sets in a resolute line. “I have to be prepared for the worst.”
My heart breaks for him. “Don’t do this to yourself, Cam. Please.”
“My mother died of a heart attack,” he continues, lost in his musing. “When she was only forty.” He lapses back into a brooding silence, and I don’t know the right words to help, to pull him out of this dark place that he’s fallen into.
“I’ll drop you off at the house.”
“You don’t have to,” I reply. “I can take a cab from St. Michael’s.”
He shakes his head. “Please, Maddie,” he says quietly. “I don’t want to worry about you tonight. I just need to know you’re safe.”
“Okay.” Tomorrow, I can begin to pull the pieces of my life back together and figure out how to mend a broken heart. Tonight, Cam’s in pain and I’ll do anything to make him feel better.
It’s too quiet at Cameron’s wood and glass home. I swim laps in the swimming pool, under the soft floodlights that illuminate the garden. Even though the exercise leaves me exhausted, it doesn’t quell the turmoil in my mind.
Emily might be dying. Cameron and I are ending. It all seems too bleak to contemplate.
Again and again, I drive my drained body until my limbs tremble and my muscles scream with pain. Finally, when it gets to the point when I can’t take anymore, I pull myself wearily out of the water, towel off and make my way upstairs.
Cameron’s sea-green master bedroom mocks me. The idea of falling asleep on his king-size bed, and waking up to find myself snuggled in his arms… I’m so tempted by the fantasy.
But it’s not real.
Don’t make things awkward, Maddie. You don’t need Cameron to openly reject you to get the message that he’s not interested in anything long-term.
I walk past Cameron’s bedroom, and make my way to one of his guest bedrooms. I expect to toss and turn, but within an instant of my head hitting the pillow, I’m fast asleep.
When I wake up, Cameron’s standing in the doorway. I blink the sleep out my eyes and turn on the lamp at my side. “What time is it?” I ask, my throat dry and scratchy.
“Four.”
He doesn’t move. He doesn’t say anything else. Dread clutches at my heart. “Emily? Is she okay?”
He nods. “For the moment. The next twenty-four hours are going to be crucial, but the doctors think she’s over the worst.” He runs his hand through his hair. “You weren’t in my bedroom. I thought you’d left.”
I don’t know how to answer that. I don’t know how to respond to the hurt in his voice. I sit up in the bed, forgetting I’d fallen asleep naked. The sheet falls to my waist, exposing my breasts to his gaze.
“Should I leave you alone, Maddie?” he asks me.
Call me foolish, call me selfish, call me stupid. But if things are going to end between us, then I want him one last time. I want to etch the memory of him in my soul.
“No.” I lift my eyes to meet his. “Stay with me, Cameron.”
He moves to me, intently and forcefully, unzipping his jeans and pulling his t-shirt over his head. I drink in the sight of him, his chiseled body, his dark hair, his blue eyes. “Like what you see, Maddie?”
I kick my blanket off. Holding his gaze, I cup my breasts and run my fingers over my nipples. He inhales sharply. “Like what you see, Cam?”
His lips curl into a grin. “Is that how we’re playing?” He fists his length stroking several times, holding my gaze. “Spread your thighs. Touch yourself.”
Heat builds in my passage. I part my legs and stroke myself, slowly, softly. My finger traces small circles over my clitoris. I’m picking up speed when I’m startled by his voice. “Stop.”
I whimper. He moves closer and places his large hands on my thighs, pushing them wider. “I want you,” he says harshly. He places the head of his cock against my pussy. My body aches to deepen the contact, to feel his full, hard length inside me.
His grey-blue eyes hold mine. “What do you need, Maddie?”
“You,” I gasp, need stripping all the shyness from me. My eyes are glued to his dick.
“Is that so?” He flexes his hips and slides inside me, another inch. I close my eyes as pleasure spikes through me. Pleasure and frustration, because I want all of him. Right now.
He senses the aching void in me. Normally, he’d make me wait, but tonight, he’s just as driven as me. “Watch,” he says hoarsely, thrusting deep into me.
A cry is torn from me, primal and ragged. “Yes,” I hiss out. “Please…”
His mouth descends on my breast, catching a nipple between his teeth. I shiver and moan, writhing beneath his body. “I love the way you look,” he murmurs in my ear. “I love the noises you make when I touch you. I love the feel of your skin against mine…”
Another nip of his teeth and I whimper again, my pussy clenching as Cam’s thick cock thrusts into me, over and over again. Our lips touch, our tongues dance together. He trails kisses down my jawline, my throat, and my neck. His fingers tweak and pinch my nipples, his hands squeeze my breasts.
His skin slaps against mine, the sound adding to the arousal that hums through my body. At the angle he’s thrusting, each stroke hits my g-spot. My insides tighten with the exquisite pressure. �
��That’s it, Maddie,” he coaxes. “Let yourself go, love.”
The unexpectedness of that endearment pushes me over the edge. I come, shaking and moaning. The muscles in my pussy clench around his cock, and he groans, burying himself deep inside me as he too finds his release.
“What happened with Emily?” I ask him, resting my head on his shoulder. Cam seems more relaxed now, and I take the chance to satisfy my curiosity. “What brought on the heart attack?”
“From the sounds of it, my father was having an argument with my grandfather about money. Emily tried to get in the middle of it, but they yelled at her to stay out of it. That’s when she had the attack.” He sighs tiredly. “My father’s long burned through the trust my grandfather set up for all his children. He’s failed at every business he’s ever tried to run. He’s completely broke. My grandfather didn’t tell me exactly what led up to the screaming match, but piecing it together, I’m guessing my father wanted him to invest in his latest cockamamie venture.”
“Your father’s broke?” I’d have never believed it. Joseph Drake embodies old-money, with his impeccably pressed clothes, his handmade shoes, and his air of barely concealed disdain for most people.
“He’s been penniless for years,” Cameron confirms. “He lives rent-free in a house I own, and my grandfather gives him a small stipend so he can afford to pay his bills. But the leash is pretty short, and it’s about to get shorter.” His voice turns grim. “All my life, he’s been a terrible role model. He’s lied and cheated, he treats people like garbage. With that stunt he pulled with you, he went too far. Once the dust settles, I’m throwing him out.”
I want to cheer Cameron’s move, but I shiver in fear. Wounded, cornered animals don’t leave the fight; they lash out. Joseph Drake isn’t going to back away quietly. I’d wager my last dollar on it.
13
Cameron
She slept in a guest room.
The last eighteen hours have been filled with turmoil. We haven’t had a chance to speak about what really matters. Us. The future. On the boat, I would have sworn that we had one, as soon as I cut my father out of my life. Now, I’m left uncertain once again. Was it just about the money? It can’t be.
You have to put your heart on the line, Cameron. You made assumptions once, and it led to nine years of pain. Don’t repeat the same mistakes.
“Would you like to come to the hospital?” I ask her as we eat an early morning breakfast. Just cereal and toast, because I’m far too exhausted to cook this morning. I’ve had less than three hours sleep, and I feel like a zombie. “I called them as soon as I woke up. Aunt Emily woke up briefly last night. They’re allowing visitors.”
She nods quickly. “That’s good news, isn’t it?” she asks cautiously. “That they’re letting people see her?”
“I think so. Dr. Sharma was optimistic when I spoke to her.”
“You spoke to the doctor?” She gulps down the rest of her coffee, and carries the mug to the sink. “Do doctors normally carry on phone conversations with relatives of their patients?”
I shrug. “I donated twenty million dollars to St Michael’s last year. I’m sure the money helps.”
Her gaze softens. “You did?”
“They had a fundraiser for heart disease.”
“And your mother died of a heart attack.” She walks up to me. Standing on tiptoe, she kisses me on the cheek. “You’re a good person, Cameron Drake.”
I wish I was. My father preyed on my fears and separated us. The weight of the guilt I feel my role in the failure of our relationship crushes down on me. Never again, I vow silently. Maddie is the most important person in my life. I’m never going to forget it again.
Emily isn’t alone when we walk in. My grandfather greets Maddie with pleasure, but my father sighs in a long-suffering manner. “The doctors want to limit the visitors to just family,” he complains.
“Maddie is family, Joseph,” my grandfather snaps with a frown, and my father subsides, quelled for the moment. “Ryder was here earlier,” he continues. “You just missed him. He went to the cafeteria to get some coffee.”
“I’m sure we’ll run into him.”
Maddie moves to my aunt’s side, inhaling sharply when she takes in Aunt Emily, asleep on the white hospital bed, wires trailing from her arm plugging into softly beeping monitors in the corner of the room. “Her color’s better,” I reassure her. “You didn’t see her yesterday. Trust me, she’s definitely showing signs of improvement.”
My father nods in agreement. “Dr. Sharma was just in here. She left to do her rounds, but she’ll stop by again in a couple hours. Cameron, are you staying?”
I want to have it out with my father, right here, right now, but I hold on to my control. Now is not the time. “We both are.” I stifle a yawn. “Is there some place where we can sit?”
“There’s a private waiting room next door that they’ve put at our disposal,” my grandfather replies. “If you two are going to be here for a few hours, would you mind if I go home and rest?”
I keep forgetting he’s an old man. I watch him walk to the door with unsteady feet, leaning on the walking stick in his hand. “Get some sleep, grandpa,” I tell him quietly. “Maddie and I will watch Emily, and we’ll call you if something changes.”
“I’ll come with you, dad,” my father says. “I could use some shut-eye myself.”
Again, I have to bite back my caustic words with difficulty. My father had only been in the hospital for an hour yesterday, maintaining that it was pointless to sit at Emily’s bedside when she was unconscious. He was in bed at eleven. If Joseph Drake is worried for his sister, you wouldn’t know it from his behavior.
The two of them leave and Maddie and I settle down in the waiting room. “Cam, I have to ask you something,” Maddie blurts out after a few minutes of silence, anxiety writ large on her face. “Do you still want to buy the cottage? Do you still need me to pretend to be your fiancée? Or are we done?”
“I beg your pardon.” An outraged voice cuts through the air, and I look up to see my grandfather in the doorway, my father hovering behind him. “You’re pretending to be engaged so you can buy the cottage?” My grandfather’s face is red with rage. “How dare you, Cameron? How dare you try to swindle me this way? You wanted the cottage so badly that you’d resort to lying to me?”
“Oh my God.” Maddie covers her mouth, looking like she’s going to be sick. Her face turns white. She rises to her feet, her movement unsteady and jerky. “Cameron,” she turns to me with a distraught expression on her face. “I’m so sorry.”
It doesn’t matter, Maddie. But it’s too late. Even as I open my mouth to tell her that I couldn’t care less about the cottage, she ducks past my grandfather and my father, and she flees.
“Cameron?” my grandfather repeats, entering the room, his voice icy. “Explain yourself. Did you really hire that woman to impersonate your fiancée?”
“And of all people you could have picked, you chose Maddie Morland?” my father interjects. “What a mistake. That woman is like a leech. Once she gets her claws in you, she’ll suck you dry. People like her are only interested in money, Cam. You should know that by now.”
My temper, hanging on by a mere thread, snaps. “Shut up,” I snarl to my father. “I’ll deal with you in a moment.” I turn to my grandfather. “Yes, I asked Maddie to pretend to be my fiancée. I had to. You were all set to sell to Ryder, to force your own daughter to move out of her home.”
I’m suddenly tired of all the bullshit. “You don’t value your own family,” I tell him quietly. “Emily sneaked out one night and got in a car accident, and you’ve punished her all her life because of it. She ceased to matter the instant she defied you.”
My grandfather goes white with shock. I’m not done. “And you,” I lash out at my father. “God, the fucking apple didn’t fall far from the tree, did it? Nine years ago, you drove away the only woman I’ve ever been in love with. You told me she’d taken your money, a
nd fool that I was, I believed you. I fell for every single word.”
For too long, I’ve done the right thing by my family. My grandfather has treated Emily like a second-class citizen her entire life; I’ve never challenged him. My father’s shown me in a thousand ways that he has no moral compass; I’ve given him a place to live.
I’m through. I care about Aunt Emily, but the rest of my family are on their own. I give my father a withering look. “You had to know there would be consequences if I ever found out the truth. I want you out of my house within the week.”
The weight that presses down on me seems to fall away as I cut the cord on my toxic parent. “Sell the cottage to Ryder if you want,” I tell my grandfather. “I don’t give a damn anymore.”
“I don’t want it.” Ryder’s standing in the doorway, an expression of disgust on his face. “I heard the whole sordid thing.” He shudders. “My entire life, I had to deal with my father’s bullshit. Zoe got pregnant and I thought I could move past it. Children need family, I told myself.” He shakes his head vehemently. “No child of mine is going to grow up in such a toxic environment. Cam, I’m sorry. Had I known, I wouldn’t have tried to buy the cottage.”
“Not your fault.” I push the men with only one thought on my mind. I need to find Maddie. She’s out there, beating herself up because my grandfather found out about the cottage. I need to tell her I love her. Nothing else matters.
Ryder follows me to the corridor. “I’m really sorry,” he repeats. “Find me if you ever need to exchange notes on horrible fathers. Mine cheated on my mother, got another woman pregnant, and never took responsibility for the child, my sister Gigi.” There’s a pensive look on his face. “Gigi wants nothing to do with the Drakes. I’m beginning to think that she’s a lot smarter than I am.”
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