In Felix’s excitement, he runs ahead and, without stopping to knock, crashes right into his father’s office. “Happy Birthday, Daddy!” he yells.
There’s a screech and then a hiss. When I catch up, entering the office, I find David’s assistant pulling her skirt down while David blocks her the best he can. It’s obvious from the bulge in David’s pants that they were in a compromising position.
“Layla, get him out of here,” David barks when neither of us moves.
“Felix, c’mon, sweetie. Daddy’s busy.”
“But I made him a birthday card!” Felix whines, confused.
“You can give it to him another time,” I tell him.
“But… But…” Tears fill his eyes. “I got him a cake.”
When he refuses to move, I drop the cake onto the table and pick him up. “I know, but we have to go.”
“Wait, please,” David calls out as I stalk out of the room. “Shit, Layla, wait!”
“Nope, not going there,” I tell him.
“Stop!” He grabs my shoulder and whirls me around. Memories of him forcing himself on me resurface, and I jump back as if I’ve been burned.
“Don’t you dare touch me,” I hiss. “We’re divorced. You’re free to do as you want. But maybe you can stop begging me to take you—” I stop myself, remembering Felix is in my arms. He deserves better than this. Better than to listen to his parents go at it in front of him.
“Begging you?” the woman screeches. “He hasn’t been with you in over a year.”
“Not now, Vanessa,” David barks.
I snort out a laugh. “We’ve only been divorced for a couple of weeks.” We haven’t been living together for two months, but it took six weeks to finalize the divorce.
“You said you haven’t been together in over a year,” she continues. “Are you telling me you were with me while you were with her?” Her eyes turn into thin slits.
“We moved here together,” I point out because c’mon, she can’t be that stupid.
“He said you moved here so he could see his son, but that you guys weren’t together.” She stalks toward him as he yells at her to shut up, and I use that as my cue to get my son and me out of here.
I don’t put Felix down until we’re on the train heading home. He’s quiet for the entire ride, and while I doubt he knows all that happened, kids can sense moods, and I’m sure he knows something is wrong.
Afraid that David will try to show up, I text my mom, asking if she’s up for company. When she doesn’t respond, I assume she left her phone somewhere and head to her house. But when we get there, she’s not home.
“Looking for your mom?” a masculine voice says.
I glance over and see Camden standing on the front porch steps of his parents’ house.
“I want cake, but Mommy left it with Daddy.” Felix huffs in frustration, his only concern the abandoned cake. Thankfully, he isn’t aware of what he walked in on, nor does he understand what we argued about.
“What kind is your favorite?” Camden asks, walking over.
“Vanilla. Mommy loves chocolate, so she buys cakes with both, and I give her my chocolate, and she gives me her vanilla.”
“That sounds like the perfect way to eat a cake,” Camden says, smiling at Felix before he looks at me. “Our moms are at their book club.”
“Oh, shoot.” I knew that. It just slipped my mind in all the craziness. Every month, the ladies meet and discuss a new book they read while they get drunk on wine and gossip.
“Juniors has some delicious cake,” Camden says with a knowing smirk.
Damn him. He knows Juniors is my favorite restaurant. At his words, Felix perks up. “I wanna go! I love delicious cake! Can we go, Mom?”
“Fine, but you have to eat first.” I give him a playful side-eye. “Then we can have cake.” I glance back at Camden. “Have a good night.”
“Damn, so I bring up the restaurant, and I’m not even invited.” He pouts, his lips curving down and making him look hella sexy. Ever since I heard that song and learned how he felt about me, I can’t stop thinking about him. I was always attracted to Camden, but the truth is, I never knew he felt that way about me. He and the other guys always had girls surrounding them. It comes with the territory of making beautiful music. I always assumed he just saw me as the girl with a camera attached to her face, tagging along.
But now that I know he wanted more, I can’t help but wonder how different things could’ve been had he told me… until I think about the fact that I wouldn’t have Felix. Then I have to tell myself that everything happens for a reason. While the teenage Camden was sweet and sexy, albeit a little cocky, the older version of Camden is gorgeous, slightly harder, and a hell of a lot more confident. He left for LA trying to find his place in this chaotic world and found it in his music.