by Julia Bright
“Fuck. This is bad.” Frustration filled him. He needed to find Rose.
“Sit tight,” Andrew said.
Cam stared at the closet for almost a minute, wondering what the heck had happened. He feared pulling up TMZ or even Facebook. What would he find once he logged on? Eventually he made his way to the kitchen where he stood in silence, staring at the coffeepot, remembering all the breakfasts they’d shared. It was obvious the coffee machine hadn’t been used in a few days. Dust had settled on the top of the water reservoir and the carafe handle. When had she left him?
He heard a knock on the front door and moved in a fog to open it. It was like everything else had stopped as he tugged open the door and saw Andrew. The happy greeting he would normally give was muted.
“Cam, it’s good to see you.”
His eyes stung but he didn’t want to cry. “Where is she?”
“Let’s shut the door. I don’t think anyone else needs to hear about this.”
Cam nodded and moved to the side, allowing Andrew in. The hesitancy from Andrew wasn’t surprising. Cam’s stomach was in knots as he waited for Andrew to start talking.
“There were a few things that happened that were unfortunate.”
“When you say unfortunate, how unfortunate do you mean?”
“I’m sorry. That note about Rose losing the baby, it went out. I tabled it after you asked me not to send it to the press. I guess it was left on my desk when a cleaning crew came in and they took it. We found the person who sold it to TMZ. She was the sister of one of the people on the cleaning crew. The cleaning company has been fired.”
His knees wobbled and his stomach churned. “What happened to Rose? Why did she leave?”
Andrew blew out a breath and shook his head. “Um…I’m-we’re not sure. The phone, we threatened a lawsuit and we threw out all sorts of regulations about stolen property. We got it back without having to go to the cops. I’ve called the store where her mom works, but she won’t talk to me.”
Cam felt like his heart would explode. “Who, Rose?”
“No, her mom. Rose hasn’t been seen, even at the store. It’s like she ghosted.”
Cam’s hands trembled as he lifted them to clasp the back of his neck. Andrew was pale and looked like hell. He couldn’t blame Andrew, but he was angry.
“Is she in trouble or in the hospital?”
Andrew gave his head a short shake. “No, she’s at her mother’s house. She hasn’t left from what I understand. I think she’s just hiding.”
“Crap, I need to go see her.” Cam had no idea how he would fix this, but somehow he had to get Rose back. There was nothing for him if she wasn’t here with him. “I’m going to head out there.”
“You need to go see Zach first.”
Cam’s gaze met Andrew’s and dread filled him. “Shit, how bad is he?”
“He’s passed out a few times and had to be taken home.”
“Dammit, this sucks. I can’t believe he gave up on everything rehab did for him.”
Zach should have been able to hold it together, but rehab had been a bandage on a much bigger problem. Zach needed real help and a few days drying out wouldn’t fix him. Cam just prayed his brother didn’t end up in the morgue because of his stupid choices.
“I’ll see what I can find out about Rose,” Andrew said.
Cam gripped Andrew’s forearm, hoping he could convey his desperation. “I need to find her. I know you don’t understand how I feel about her. I didn’t tell you that we actually connected. She’s the best thing that has happened to me in ages and I don’t want to lose her.”
Andrew narrowed his eyes and tilted his head. “So when she was living with you, something happened?”
Cam closed his eyes, debating if he should tell his agent the truth. Few would understand what had happened with him and Rose. Heck, he barely understood it himself. Somehow they had taken a horrible situation where someone had maliciously lied for their own gain and turned it into something special. Cam looked up and met Andrew’s gaze, holding it.
“I fell in love with her.”
Andrew nodded, and his lips thinned. “Okay, I’ll see what we can do to get you two back together.” Andrew pulled him into a hug.
Cam gulped in a breath, trying to hold it together. “Thank you.”
“I feel really bad about the news release that went out before you were ready.”
“Stuff like that happens. You’ve been very good for me. Without you, I never would have gotten a part in that movie.”
Andrew hugged him tighter before slapping him on the back. “You shouldn’t have to deal with crap like that from my office. I’m sorry I was the cause of pain for you. I understand if you want to drop me.”
Cam shook his head and held Andrew tighter. “No way. I think we’ve developed a good working relationship. I can’t blame you for this mess. I was the one who made the first mistake and took those pictures. I never should have done that.”
“I swear we’ll make this right, somehow.” Andrew squeezed Cam’s arm before stepping away.
Visiting Zach was the last thing he wanted to do, but he needed to see his brother and figure out what had gone wrong. Maybe another stint in rehab would fix the issues Zach had. Cam wasn’t set to leave the country or even the state for a while. He would be here so he could check on Zach every night and see for himself that his brother stayed on track. But there was Rose. He had to find her and get her back. Getting a movie deal wasn’t worth losing Rose.
“I’ll call you if I figure anything out,” Andrew said before leaving.
Cam followed Andrew out before heading over to Zach’s place. He wasn’t sure what he would find, but he wasn’t prepared to walk in to Zach lying on the kitchen floor. Cam ran over and stopped still as he looked down, seeing blood on the tile below Zach’s head.
“Oh shit, Zach.” Cam reached down, and before he touched Zach’s neck looking for a pulse, he saw that Zach was still breathing. Relief flooded through him, and he breathed out, no longer holding back the tears burning his eyes. He pulled out his phone and dialed 911 with shaky fingers. Snot ran down his nose, and he reached over, grabbing a napkin and blowing his nose as the operator answered.
“I need an ambulance.” Cam gave her the address and hung up, knowing he needed to call their parents.
Cam waited, freaking out a little as he watched Zach breathe. The sound of the sirens approaching was music to his ears. He moved to the door, pulling it open and waving at the EMTs. Every second ticked by too slowly and the guys took too long to come inside. One of them came over to Zach and checked his neck.
“His pulse is weak, but he has one. Sir, do you know what happened?” the guy kneeling beside Zach asked.
“No, I showed up and found him like this.” His emotions were threatening to spin out of control. First, Rose, and now Zach. He thought getting his act together would make life better, but this was much worse than it had been before.
“We need to transport him.”
Cam held his arms tight across his body, fearing the worst. “Okay, I just want him to get help.”
The guy working on Zach glanced up at him. “Do you know if any drugs or alcohol were in his system?”
“No, but he’s an alcoholic, and I know he’s done drugs in the past. He was in rehab and then he fell off the wagon. I’ve been out of the country for a while and I don’t know how bad it has gotten.”
“Okay, we’ll see what we can do.”
Cam backed up and let the guys work, loading Zach onto a gurney before wheeling him out to the ambulance. Cam called Andrew, breathing a sigh of relief when he answered.
“It’s Cam. Zach was passed out in a pool of blood when I showed up. We’re headed to St. Vincent.”
“Is he okay?”
“He’s breathing. He hasn’t regained consciousness. I don’t know what to do. I’m afraid he’s going to die.”
“I’ll be there soon. Just hang tight.”
Cam followed the ambulance
to the hospital, all the while wishing Rose were with him. How had Zach gotten this bad? He’d only been gone for two weeks and now Zach was worse off than when he’d entered rehab.
It took forever for anyone to come out and talk to him, by then Andrew was there, demanding they be taken to an area where no one else could hear what was going on with Zach. The doctor finally came out of the emergency area and took them to a small conference room. She was short, but if the look on her face was any indication, she was very much no-nonsense.
“Hi, I’m doctor Stapleton. Your brother was very drunk when he came in. It looks like he had taken Xanax. He also had some cocaine in his system. He regained consciousness enough for us to count him as having some amount of consciousness, but honestly, he’s still out of it. We pumped his stomach to get some of the alcohol out. We also have given him some drugs to counteract the cocktail of crap he doctored himself with. Were you with him?”
“No, ma’am. I arrived home from Europe today, and after talking to Andrew, I went to see Zach.”
The doctor nodded and gave him a tight smile. “He’s lucky you went to see him. I think he would have died had you not gone to his house.”
Cam felt like his head would crack from the pressure. “Crap.”
Andrew slung his arm over Cam’s shoulder. “Are you holding him overnight?”
“Oh yes. And we’re putting him in a room where you can’t stay with him, Mr. Harris. I know you may want to, but with people who have done drugs and drunk so much, we really have to keep an eye on them. In the morning, once he wakes up and has had some food, talked to the social worker and some police officers, then you can go have a chat with him. I don’t know what his living situation is, but if you can get him out of Hollywood, actually out of California, that would be good for him. He needs something different because I doubt he would live through another episode like that.”
“Thank you, Dr. Stapleton.” Cam fought to hold back the tears. He didn’t want to breakdown crying in public. It was bad enough what had happened with Rose and the excessive media coverage he got from that. It would be terrible to have photos of him crying like a baby all over the place.
“Thank you, doctor.” Andrew wrapped Cam in a hug, which only made his emotions more intense. After a short moment, he pulled away from Andrew and stiffened his spine, straightening his shoulders.
“I have to be strong for him.”
Andrew nodded. “You will be.”
“I don’t know what to do.”
“Can he go home to your parents?”
Cam drew in a deep breath and let it go. “It’s unfair to dump him there.”
Andrew shook his head. “I don’t know. We’ll just have to wait until he’s awake and then I can help you work through what to do.”
“What about Rose?” His heart hurt. He couldn’t live without her.
“I don’t know.”
“Fuck, Andrew, how has it gotten this bad?”
Andrew shook his head. “I don’t know what to tell you. I’m sorry.”
He was paying for his sins now. He’d been bad and now he’d had to deal with the dose of karma coming his way.
After making sure he’d filled out all the paperwork for Zach, Cam drove home, wishing Rose were here for him. Once inside his home, he slumped against the door then slid down the surface and collapsed on the floor. Zach was worse off than he’d been before he’d entered rehab, Rose was gone, but he had a movie. Had it been worth it to clean up his act for the movie role? He had no answers.
Living his life for his brother, fucking random hookers because his brother needed a partner in crime, wasn’t good for him. He’d been that person for too long, and he would admit that he’d had fun, but the drugs and drink were too much, and he wanted to know the woman he was in bed with. He’d liked learning Rose’s secrets, finding out what she was made of, seeing her reactions and memorizing them.
With Rose, it hadn’t just been about getting off. It had been about making something special. That future was further away now than he’d ever thought. He may have broken out of the crazy college boy movies and moved to something more serious, but he’d not changed much in his life. Now, he would be forced to contend with Zach and his issues before he could go and get Rose and try to convince her to come back home.
Chapter Thirty-One
Rose looked up from the sink, staring at herself in the mirror. Her eyes were red, her face blotchy. Something was wrong, and she half knew what it was, but she wasn’t willing to even contemplate the reality. Another wave of nausea hit, and she dove for the toilet, regretting eating that peanut butter topped cranberry muffin with bacon and blueberry jelly dip. Why had she even thought that would be a good combination? It was beyond her. And that wasn’t the only weird thing she’d consumed recently. She’d eaten tuna with peas and guacamole on focaccia bread. Both of those meals should have been enough for her to realize the truth, but she wouldn’t say those words in her head even if someone tried to force her to say them. It just couldn’t be real, not now, not after what they’d done.
“Rose, you need to come to the shop today and stop your moping,” her mom called from the hall. “Get back into life. You can’t hide forever.”
She stood and washed her face as reality took another bite out of her bubble. She had been pouting and playing the injured child bit a little too hard. When she’d heard that Andrew had called the store, it had freaked her out. She didn’t want to talk to Andrew or Cam. If she went to the store, and they called, she might be forced to talk to them, and she just couldn’t, but hiding here forever wasn’t a real solution.
She leaned against the door, wishing everything had turned out differently. She’d been happy in Hollywood working at the diner. Well, she’d been fine, but moving back here and going back to the store was almost unbearable.
“Okay, I’ll come in today. Just let me shower and then I’ll be out.”
“All right, I’m heading that way. I’ll see you there.”
Rose turned on the shower and hopped in, letting her hair get wet before she moved to grab the shampoo. As she started washing her hair, memories of Cam helping her with the task came back to her. Tears burned her eyes, and she broke down again, sobbing hard as water ran over her body.
When she couldn’t cry any more, she rinsed the soap from her hair then she reached down and placed her palm over her belly and sighed. She would buy a pregnancy test today and ring it up while her mother and Cliff took a break. It was time to figure out what exactly was going on.
Once dressed, she hopped on her bike and headed to the store. The air was refreshing and she could smell the briny scent coming off the water. It had been a few days since she’d been out in public, and she didn’t notice anyone looking at her funny, which was a relief. But she could imagine the whispers running a mile a minute behind her back as she biked to work.
She’d left this place with hopes of fame and fortune, but she’d come back here disgraced and licking her wounds. None of these people knew the real truth, and she wasn’t positive what the extent of that truth was. The dull pain of losing Cam had turned into knifing, near debilitating anguish that had morphed into the sad tragedy she now had to face.
She parked her bike behind the store and entered through the stock room. Cliff looked up from counting something in a box and his face broke into a huge smile.
“There she is. I’ve missed having you around. Come here and give me a hug.”
Her mother and Cliff weren’t dating, but they were doing something, so Cliff had been the closest thing to a father she’d had growing up. When she was in high school, she’d believed her mother and Cliff hadn’t moved in together because her mom didn’t want Rose to get any ideas about sex without marriage, but then she’d gone away to college and Cliff still hadn’t moved in. She guessed that her mom and this man figured living apart would get them more of what they wanted.
Those few weeks that she’d lived with Cam had been the best in her life. Wak
ing up to his gentle touches and falling asleep to his kisses and sweet words had filled her with a kind of hope she’d never experienced before. If she really had a chance to live with the man who made her feel so wonderful, she would have jumped at it, but her mom had passed on living with Cliff. Maybe it was because this town was so small, or maybe her mama had been too independent, but Rose knew without a doubt she would pick living with Cam over being alone.
Rose gave Cliff another squeeze before heading to the employee closet to clock in. Why had she been so quick to leave Hollywood? Maybe she should have stayed and heard Cam’s side of the story, but her emotions had been out of whack. She couldn’t bring herself to stay in California while Cam wasn’t hers. It had been too hard to deal with and she’d run.
Working at the store brought back memories, reminding her why she’d left South Carolina in the first place. Living here, in this small town was oppressive. Living in California had been freeing. She could be herself in Hollywood. Here she stuck out like a sore thumb. It wasn’t just her desire to make herself better, but the weight of being under constant scrutiny had her wanting to flee. No matter how she sliced it, she’d always been different. Whether it was her clothes, or the movies she liked, she’d never fit in.
An old high school acquaintance stopped by and picked up a few lightbulbs and some paint, but before the woman left, she had to comment on Rose’s shirt choice, saying that it didn’t match the apron. Then someone told her she looked fat just minutes after another customer complained that she’d lost too much weight. Her hair color choice was questioned though it was her natural color and she hadn’t changed it, ever. Even when all her friends in high school were coloring their hair, she’d stayed natural. To top it all off, a guy she’d gone out with twice stopped by and informed her that since she was damaged goods she’d never get a date so she shouldn’t be looking to get asked out from him. She’d stared open-mouthed at the dude, allowing her mama to finish ringing him up.
Overall, the day had been just a terrible shit storm of why she’d left and why she had to find another way out. But if the pregnancy test turned out positive, she would need a place to live that was cheap, and living with her mother was the least expensive housing option available to her.