“It’s where I need to be. Baby, what the hell are you doing to yourself?” Elijah stepped closer to Camden, the need to pull him into his arms building in the pit of his stomach as he closed the distance between them. “Cam, let me fix this. Tell me what’s wrong, and I will make it better. I promise you.”
Camden shook his head, and a small gasp escaped his lips. The sound was a cross between a whimper and a shriek of pain. It rattled inside Elijah’s hollow heart, making its sound reverberate, each echo slicing away at another piece of him.
Camden backed himself against the wall, trying to keep a respectable distance between the two. It might have worked, too, if Elijah cared anything about respectability. Hell, he’d locked them in a courthouse bathroom. All concerns about appropriate ways to handle relationship problems pretty much went out the window at this point.
Elijah stepped closer, placing his hands against the wall on either side of Camden, caging him in, forcing him to look Elijah in the eye.
“I told you I loved you. You said the same to me. You told me you’d never run again, and I believed you. The first time we’re more than five minutes away from each other, you call me with some bullshit line about moving too fast.”
Camden slowly moved his head from side to side. “Elijah, please, just let this go.”
Elijah pressed closer, so close not even light could pass between their bodies. “Tell me what happened, Cam.” Elijah moved his mouth to Camden’s ear, letting his tongue touch the outer rim, sliding down until it ghosted over Camden’s earlobe. Camden trembled beneath him, and he knew their connection wasn’t lost. Everything that tied him to this man was still present, a living thing binding them together. And Elijah had no intention of letting it die.
“Just tell me what happened so I can make it better, Camden. So we can get back to who we’re supposed to be. I know this isn’t you; this isn’t us.”
Camden’s knees shook. Elijah’s hand was around his waist, pressing them closer, until Elijah could feel the stiffened flesh of Camden’s cock pressing against his.
Elijah nipped at Camden’s ear and delighted in the shivers moving through the man’s body. He continued to place small bites down Camden’s jaw and down the curve of his neck, all the while keeping Camden pressed so tightly against him he could feel the throb of Camden’s heartbeat against his chest.
“This was your father, wasn’t it?”
Camden went rigid in his arms and not in a good way. Camden tried to push Elijah away, but he refused to budge. Elijah was already halfway convinced Camden’s father had somehow made this silly-ass breakup happen. But the way Camden’s body was so stiff under his touch, Elijah had no doubt.
He swallowed, trying to keep his temper under control, but knowing the fucking smug bastard was somehow responsible for this made Elijah’s blood bubble with rage.
“Tell me.” He spoke those two words with quiet strength through clenched teeth. Camden’s eyes moved quickly, assessing Elijah’s features. He must’ve seen that Elijah wouldn’t be swayed, so he took a steadying breath before he spoke instead.
“I’m trying to protect you, Elijah. He will destroy you.”
“I don’t give a fuck about what your power-hungry father does to me. As long as we’re together, nothing else matters.”
Camden’s mouth trembled, and his blue eyes shone with unshed tears. “It’s not just you. He’ll destroy all of you.”
Elijah’s eyes narrowed as he sought to make sense of what Camden was saying.
“Elijah, he filled out an official complaint against you for misconduct. He made it seem as if you used your influence as my assigned protector to coerce me into bed. I told him we’d fight it. He said we could. But when he was through with that complaint, he’d do the same to your mother and brother. He would come after your entire family if I didn’t agree to marry his handpicked candidate.”
Elijah stepped back, releasing Camden, moving across the room to slap his hand against the opposite wall. “Son of a bitch! He threatened my family? I don’t give a fuck who he is or what title he carries, I will stomp his ass into the ground about my damn mama.”
“He’s banking on that. I’m trying to prevent that. Please, just let me go, and your family will be safe.”
The pleading in Camden’s voice broke through his anger and sat in the middle of Elijah’s chest, making it difficult to breathe. He let his head hang down for a minute as he pulled himself together before he faced Camden again.
“Your father wants us broken, Camden. When we’re apart, we’re weak. Don’t let your father do this.”
“I don’t see where I have much choice, Elijah.”
Elijah balled his hands into fists, looking up to the ceiling, blowing a long breath through pursed lips. “So, you will make decisions for my life the way your father makes decisions for yours?” He gathered himself enough to risk looking at Camden again. “I’m not about being controlled by anyone, Camden. I want to be with you, and I don’t care what anyone else, including your father, my boss, or my boss’s bosses have to say about it. I love being a cop, but it doesn’t compare to what I feel for you. I love you. My choice will always be you. But maybe I’m the only one feeling that way since running away is always your choice when it comes to me, to us?”
“Don’t.” There was a flash of fire in Camden’s eyes when he said the word. “Sacrifice and running are not the same thing. I’m trying to protect you, Elijah. I don’t care about what happens to me. I don’t care about my suffering. I don’t want to see you hurt, not because you love me.” He leaned against the wall again, as if that last outburst had taken more energy, more strength, than he had to give.
“I hurt when you hurt. That’s why it nearly killed me when you were in the hospital holding on to life. That’s why I tried to trade my life for your mother’s. I knew I couldn’t watch you suffer if you lost her because of me. It would have killed me. I cannot watch you hurt, Elijah. You losing your job over this bullshit with my father would hurt you. Don’t you see? This is the only way I can protect you, all of you.”
Elijah smiled as he listened to that last sentence. Camden may not have realized what he’d done, but Elijah did. Camden had admitted to loving his family. As far as Elijah was concerned, that’s all the proof he needed to believe in their future together.
“I love you, Cam, and you love me. That’s the only thing I’m willing to acknowledge. Being together is the only choice I’m willing to make. If you’re ready to make your own decisions, I’ll be at my parents’ house visiting with the fam. I’m sure with the five of us together, someone is gonna want to get a game of Spades going. It would be nice to have my partner there with me. We’ve proven it several times over. We’re unstoppable together.”
Elijah stepped forward, placing both hands on Camden’s face, gently cupping his cheeks as he wiped away the tracks of Camden’s fallen tears. “I love you, and my family loves you because I love you. You are mine, and therefore theirs. If you come for one Stephenson, you come for us all. Come to us, let us help you figure out a way to stop this. Don’t do this alone.”
