Within seconds, Camden replies: I don’t care how jolly he is. If he touches my fiancée, I’ll kick his ass straight back to the North Pole.
I smile at the word fiancée.
Me: I like being your fiancée.
Camden: I’d prefer you to be my wife.
Me: Soon…
Camden: Not soon enough.
Camden: I wish I were there with you. 7 more weeks is too long.
We decided on a Valentine’s Day wedding—well, the weekend after Valentine’s Day since it’s on a Thursday this year. It only gives us a short amount of time to plan the wedding, but neither of us wanted to wait long. I wasted too much time on the wrong man. Now that I’ve found the right one, I don’t want to wait longer than I have to for us to start our lives together. I want to be Camden’s in every way, as soon as possible, and he’s completely on board with that. We both agreed on something intimate with just our friends and family, so it shouldn’t be too hard to plan on short notice. My mom is also going to keep Felix while we go on a short honeymoon.
A knock on the door has me jumping out of bed, a huge grin on my face. It’s just like Camden to text me that he’s missing me while he’s on his way over here. He’s not supposed to come over until after Felix wakes up, but there’s no harm in having a little Christmas Eve quickie. Maybe I can hide him and have him come out and pretend he just got here.
Only, when I open the door, prepared to kiss my fiancé and sneak him in, it’s not Camden on the other side… it’s David.
“What are you doing here?” I ask in shock. I haven’t seen him since court because he meets with Felix and the social worker due to the restraining order I have on him.
“Fuck, sweetheart, you’re so beautiful,” he slurs, eye-fucking me. In my haste, I came down in my tiny pajamas since the heat was on and it’s warm in here.
“You need to go now.” I try to slam the door on David’s clearly drunk ass, but before I can, he catches the door.
“Wait, please,” he begs. “I know I fucked up, but it’s Christmas… Please, Layla. I miss you and our son. Please. I just want to see him for Christmas.”
“You know the rules,” I tell him. “You need to leave, or I’m going to call the police.” I extend my hand to push him out of the doorway.
“Are you fucking serious?” he hisses, tugging on my left hand. “You’re engaged?”
I pull my hand back. “Yes, and you need to stop this. You’re drunk, and if I call the police, you’re going to be arrested for violating a court order. Go home, David.”
“You’re engaged to him, aren’t you?” he slurs, his eyes filled with heat. “I knew it. I knew he’d steal my wife.”
“That’s enough.” I push on his chest, and he stumbles back, so I use the opportunity to slam the door closed before he can slip back through the crack.
When he starts banging on the door and doesn’t stop, I call Camden.
“Hey, baby,” he says, not sounding sleepy at all.
“Hey, umm… I have a little problem, and I’m not sure what to do.”
“What’s wrong? And… what’s that noise?”
“That would be my problem. David showed up drunk, begging to see Felix for Christmas. I thought it was you since we were texting, and you said you wished you were with me. Then he saw my ring and freaked out. I got him out and locked the door, but he’s still here, banging on it.”
“I’m on my way,” he says. “Call the police.”
Just as he says that, the noise stops. I peek through the peephole, and David is gone. “He left.”
“Call the police,” Camden repeats. When I’m quiet, he adds, “I know you feel bad for him because you have a huge-ass heart, but he knows the rules, and if he gets away with this, he’ll keep doing it.”
I sigh, knowing he’s right. “Okay, you don’t have to come over if you don’t want to. It’s late—”
“I’ll be there soon.”
An hour and a half later, a police report has been filed, and Camden and I are snuggling in my bed. Because there are no cameras, it’ll have to be investigated, and that will take some time because it’s Christmas.
“I’m having better security installed in here,” he says.
“I won’t even be living here soon.”
“Not soon enough. And I need to make sure you and Felix are safe until I can protect you under my roof.”
I nod into his chest, knowing that it’s pointless to argue. Camden will do anything in his power to make sure Felix and I are safe.
“I really like being in bed with you,” I tell him, running lines up and down his chest over his shirt. “But you know what I like more? You in me.”