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.