Facing Me (9 page)

This is my
chance.

“I gotta piss.”
I blurt, jumping to my feet.

“I bet.” Gray
teases.

When I reach the
outside of the bathroom door, I lean against the wall and wait.  I shove
my hands in my pockets, debating my next move.  Camaron was never that
flamboyant with me.  She liked keeping herself hidden; although I
disagreed, I let her have that.  Until it came to her leaving me; just to
avoid the chance of the spotlight catching her.  Her twisted thinking
about herself crushed me more than anything, until I pushed her out of my life. 
If I had thought I was broken before, this put a whole new meaning to the
word.  Well, this time if I have to pry Luke off of her, okay.  So be
it; she’s mine. I just need to remind her, and I will.  Today in the
office, she fucked with me, I know it.  Toying with me.  The thought
makes me smile.  Playful bitch.  I can’t wait to see what she is
capable of now that she’s pulled her head out of her ass and sees a fraction of
how fucking amazing she is. 

The door opens,
giving me a full view of Cam when her eyes hit mine.  I wait for her to
say something, but she doesn’t speak.  The damn vixen winks at me then
starts up the hall. “Cam…” I start, desperate for her to say anything. 
She is going back to him.  Back to the dance floor, so he can rub all over
her, after he has eye fucked every bitch in this place.  The sudden urge
to shock her, to argue with her, to do anything to keep her here with me, is
clawing at my fucking chest.  I don’t want to let her go. Ever. “Why in
the hell do you let him treat you like shit?  If he’s fuckin’ you, the
least he can do is not smell like a cheap bitch’s perfume when he does.”

Just as
predicted, she meets my eyes, but I instantly regret my words.  Almost.
 The look on her face is pure rage; her heels click across the hall until
she meets me toe to toe. “Careful, Aiden, you lost the right to care about who
I fuck, remember?” She bites out, shoving me. 

Angry Camaron,
doesn’t piss me off.  She turns me on.  Grabbing her by the arms, I
push her against the wall, making her gasp. “Baby, the only real fuck you’ve
ever had is me.” Leaning in, my lips nearly graze hers.  Her breathing
just as ragged as mine, letting me know that she’s just as turned on right now
as I am.  My right hand caresses her cheek, my thumb stroking across her
jaw. “Just answer me this, baby…  When you’re fuckin’ him, do you clench
at all the right times and moan so that he thinks it’s good for you?” Her eyes
snap to mine furiously, “Does he know that you close your eyes and pretend it’s
me so that you can really get off?”

Her free hand
connects with my face so hard that it rattles my teeth. “Fuck you, Aiden.” She
spits angrily. “I came here to help the band, not to explain my relationship
with Luke to you, or anyone for that matter.  If you think, for one
minute, that I’m weak and going to hide; then you’ve got a rude awakening
comin’.”

My hand slides
into her blonde layers, her breath hitches.  Cam may not be weak anymore,
but she still wants to give everything to me, which is something else entirely;
something, I desperately want.  Even if she wants to rip my balls off
right now, her body is mine. Even she can sense the shift happening between us
now. “Oh, I know you’re not, baby.  I can’t wait until the new, strong Cam
submits to me and begs me to fuck her.” I run my lips along her throat, my
tongue tasting where her pulse beats wildly.  Rolling my hips, I push my
straining cock into her hip, fighting the need to take her here in the
hall.  Her breaths come out in ragged pants; my heart feels like it is beating
again for the first time since she left.  Swallowing hard, I utter the
words that I need to say so that she knows I want it too. “We know each
other’s’ limits, everything that the other craves, baby.  Have you talked
to Luke about what you need, baby? What you ache for?  That bastard will
never be man enough to quench the fire I lit in you that first night,
Camaron.  We both know that, it’s about goddamn time someone tells him
that too.”

Those stunning
blue eyes widen, telling me all I need to know.  Pressing flush against
her, I slam my lips to hers.  Taking her mouth, just as I’ve wanted to do
since she walked into that office earlier today.  She dives into the kiss,
biting my lip, battling with my tongue, and letting me know she will not come
quietly. 
I.  FUCKING.  HOPE.  NOT. 
My hands
slide down, cupping her ass through her dress when she yanks her mouth from
mine. “No.” She says, shoving away from me.  I stand there in shock while
she fixes her skirt, wondering what the hell just happened. 

“No?” I ask, still
thinking I heard her wrong. 

She nods, “No,
Aiden.  I’m not jumping you in a hallway or anywhere else for that
matter.” Cam pants as her breath regulates. “What if someone sees us?” She
asks, but all I hear is ‘
What if that fucker has to piss and sees you tryin’
to fuck me in the hall
.’  Because I know that is what she really
means.

“More worried
about what
he
would see, aren’t you?” My hands squeeze into fists at my
sides, I wait for her answer.  There is no way he is claiming what already
belongs to me. “Well, let me go have a heart to heart with him.  It’s time
he knows where he stands in all this.  I’ll buy him a beer and hold him
while he cries in it.” I say proudly, walking toward the dance floor, ignoring
her calls for me to stop.  It’s time that fucker, Luke, knows that he
doesn’t belong here.  He has no claim on Camaron, never has.  
It’s time I give him his walking papers so he can get out of my way once and
for all.  As soon as he’s gone, I’ll stamp my name on her luscious ass
with sweet red welts while she screams my name.

*Camaron*

Someone tell me
what the hell just happened here?  One minute I coming out of the
bathroom, the next minute I am being wedged against the wall by Aiden while we
go at it like horny kids at the prom.  Now he is going to dismiss Luke
like he’s an employee?  Oh shit!  “Aiden!” I scream, but he walks
away, ignoring me.  Forcing my feet to move, I chase after him.  My
heels click as I try to run after him. “Aiden, get your ass back here!” I shout,
but I’m too late. 
As if you thought commanding him would do anything
other than piss him off more…

“Time for you to
be checkin’ out, pretty boy.” Aiden says to Luke, who was dancing with the girl
I was trying to force on him.  She kept staring at him while we were
dancing; I excused myself to see if maybe he could get lucky for the
night.  Looks like Aiden is putting the brakes on that one. “I’ll make
sure you get a nice first class ticket to leave my fuckin’ woman alone.”

Luke chuckles,
“She’s yours?  We seem to remember differently.  I was there in
Minnesota, I remember everything.” He shouts, shoving Aiden. “I also have a
nice memory of watchin’ her put herself back together for months.  Refresh
my memory here and tell me where the hell you were again fuck-star?” Not waiting
for Aiden’s answer he continues. “That’s right you were busy
not
being
there for
your
girl.  Guess what, motherfucker,
I
was
there.”

It all seems
like slow motion, as the train wreck explodes before me.  Aiden dives onto
Luke, both of them falling to the dance floor while women run screaming. 
Aiden isn’t as big as Luke but with all the beating he does on his kit, his
arms and legs are strong as hell.  They roll and twist, each trying to get
the upper hand.  Punches are traded while both spit blood from their
mouths.  Aiden has a huge gash over his left eye near his piercing and
Luke takes more than a few knee jabs to the ribs.  Shoving my way through
the crowd, I desperately try to find Henry or Hunter. 
Where the hell
is everyone?
“Aiden!  Luke!  Stop!” I scream; of course, no one
hears me over the music. 

Aiden rolls on
top of Luke again; grabbing him by the hair, he slams his head against the
floor. “Fucker!  Camaron’s mine.  Always been mine and always will
be!” He shouts at Luke.

Diving through
the crowd, Gray shoves Aiden, knocking him to the ground. “That’s enough,
dumbass,” Gray shouts.  Aiden jumps up looking like he’s going to charge
Gray next. “You need to go back to the hotel and cool the fuck off.  We
have to record tomorrow morning, there’s no way you can do that all fucked up
after a bar fight.”

My hands are
shaking, my feet frozen to the floor.  Luke scrambles to his feet, headed
straight for me.  He cups my jaw so that I am forced to meet his eyes.
“Are you okay Cammie?” All I can do is nod. “Let me take you back to the
hotel.  We can pack and leave right now if you want to.  I know what
you want, but sometimes we can’t always have it.” Luke suggests, his breathing
still ragged from his fight with Aiden.  The adrenaline pours off of him
in waves, the anger at Aiden in his eyes; yet, his protectiveness of me wins
out.  Blood is streaked across his face, but in this moment his focus is
solely on me.  Just the thought of walking away from Aiden right now makes
me ache.  The unsettled feeling in my gut makes me pull away from
Luke.  I know now there is no way I can just walk away from Aiden again
without destroying myself completely.

“Luke, I’ve
never fought for anything.  Not one damn thing in my entire life.” I
clarify, meeting his gaze once I’ve put some space between us. “I’ll never be
able to thank you for being there when I needed you.  You’re one of the
best friends that I’ve ever had, but I can’t stop fighting for Aiden and me.”
My eyes land on Aiden, who is huddled against the wall by Gray and
Daisy.   His eyes possessively staking claim on me from across the
room as I talk to Luke.  The look of desire for me, even now, makes my
knees weak.  I shake my head, more determined than ever to fight for
him…to fight for us.  Aiden is losing it and, if anything, I may be able
to love him enough to bring him back from it.  I don’t know if it will
work, but I do know that I love him more than enough to try.  I remember
Daisy telling me about his reaction to me leaving in Vegas; but this is
something different. “I can’t leave him like this.” After explaining what
happened in the hallway, Luke sighs.

“He’s unstable
Cammie.  You can’t be alone with him?  What if he hurts you?”

“That’s one
thing I
do
know Luke… Aiden would
never
hurt me that way.” I bite
out, trying to remind myself that this is Luke and he is just worried about
me.  He isn’t trying to say anything bad about Aiden; he just doesn’t know
him like I do.  Whatever lies in Aiden, that dark shit he won’t talk
about, makes him the lover, not the fighter.  Until tonight.  I’ve
never seen him hit anyone that I can remember, except Landon, but he deserved
it. “Listen, go hang out.   Have a few beers or go back to our room
at the hotel.  I’m going to get Aiden back to his room and make sure he
calms down before they hit the studio tomorrow.”

Luke kisses my
forehead. “I hope you’re right about this.  You call me if you need me,
Cammie.  I don’t care what time.” He says and walks away from me. 
  

Taking a shaky
breath, I turn and run smack into Abby Irons. 
Oh shit!
“Hi,
Abby…I...” I stammer out, trying to figure out what to say about the fight she
clearly saw. “I have it all under control. I’m sorry they got out of hand, it’s
my fault.”

She nods, but her
eyes are focused on something across the room. “Aiden got into a fight
backstage the other night before the show.  I’m not convinced that it’s
entirely your fault, but it’s up to you to fix it; perks of the job.  So,
I’ll leave you to it, this isn’t the only shit going on here tonight.  See
you tomorrow.” Abby says, walking toward the other side of the room where I can
barely see Hunter and Henry talking to a woman. 

Walking over to
Aiden, who is now slumped over in a chair, I kick his boot. “Let’s go.” I bite
out, making him jump.  His eyes meet mine; pain and regret filling his
face, cutting me deep.  I take in his battered and cut face.  His
sexy mouth is split in one corner, and a decent stream of blood is trickling
down his cheek from the gash above his eyebrow.  Right now, I want nothing
more than to hold him so he knows it is okay.  But.  It’s. 
Not.  That voice inside my head keeps telling me to do my job.  Which
job?  Do I do my job as their manager, or as his girl who wants nothing
more than to protect him?  Do I let him have it for making a scene or do I
try to get to the root of this shit once and for all?  Part of me was
worried that this was all about me being here.  Now, I’m not so
sure.  Abby said Aiden was fighting before the show last week.  Aiden
doesn’t do that shit…that’s always Hunter.  That is why Henry always stays
on him like a damn shadow.   Even when shit went crazy with Landon
and Tad; the only time Aiden lost his cool was when Landon put his hands on me. 
He was completely in control at every second and aware of what he was
doing.  This is a whole new thing for me. “Aiden, I’m taking you back to
the hotel.  Let’s go.” I say again, holding out my hand. 

He looks at my fingers
as if I’ve just extended an olive branch or a stay of execution, and maybe I
have.  Maybe this is the first step in getting back to us.  By
showing Aiden that it’s okay to let someone else pick up the pieces when he
can’t,
it  may
give him that something I can tell
is missing in his eyes.  I’d already figured a long time ago there were
things in Aiden that came from dark, troubled shit in his past.  I just
never asked, he never shared, and it got buried in the pile of shit we never
dealt with.  I’m guessing, now, a lot of that pile will have to be sorted
through.