Page 134 of Ruin

“Should I not have said that?” I whisper.

She makes a choked sound. And, when she speaks, her voice is thick, “You’re my daughter, Cam. You always have been. You always will be. Hearing you call me Mom…” Another pained sound comes from her.

I’ve never seen her cry before. She’s the strongest woman I’ve ever known. But I’m pretty sure she is or is close to tears right now.

A tear rolls down my cheek. I brush it away. “I didn’t mean to upset you.”

She lets out what seems to be a happy sound. “You haven’t upset me. Far from it. You’ve…I’m just happy right now. I’d rank this as the second happiest day of my life.”

“What was your first?”

“The day you came to live with me and the day Gigi was born.”

“That’s two things,” I say.

“Joint first,” she tells me. “I’m not going to choose between my girls.”

I laugh softly as another tear slips down my cheek. I brush it away.

“Now, let’s stop before you have me bawling, and I wreck my reputation as the station’s hard-ass. Let me get Zeus out of this trouble he’s gotten himself into.”

“Okay,” I whisper.

We hang up, and I push my cell back into my jeans pocket. I dry my face with my hands, blow out a strengthening breath, step back into Mommy mode, and walk through into the living room to find my girl sprawled out on the sofa, singing along to Tangled.

“Okay, Gigi girl.” I clap my hands together, getting her attention. “Let’s go to the store, and then we can get our bake on.”

True to her word, Aunt Elle got Zeus home. It took a bit longer than the time it took Gigi and I to go to the store and back and bake the cookies, but she got him home nonetheless.

Aunt Elle had Zeus released on a DAT—desk ticket appearance. Meaning he wouldn’t have to stay in jail until his arraignment. He’s supposed to go in front of a judge in a few days, so he can be formally charged with assault and malicious destruction of property.

I know. I want to cry every time I think about it.

But Zeus is confident that it’ll never get that far. And Aunt Elle agrees with him.

The paparazzi guy will want money. That’s all he’ll want, according to Zeus. That’s why he pressed charges in the first place.

Zeus’s lawyers are currently prepping to make a deal with this guy. If he accepts, which Zeus says he will, the charges will be dropped, and Zeus will pay him damages.

Sickens me to think that this guy can harass us while we’re out together, take our pictures, and say some awful, derogatory, and untruthful things about me, and Zeus is the one who has to pay. Literally.

But, “It’s the way of the world,” Zeus said.

I’m just starting to think the world sucks an awful lot more than I realized. Well, at least the world Zeus is a part of.

I’m at work, at my desk, when my cell rings. The name of the man of the moment lights up my screen, like he knew I was just thinking about him.

“Hey,” I answer. “I was just thinking about you,” I echo my thoughts.

“Were you thinking about the amazing things I could do to you with my tongue?”

“I wasn’t, but I am now.” I squirm in my seat.

“So, how about you come to my apartment on your lunch break, and I can do those things to you in celebration of the asshole dropping the charges?”

“Really?”

“Really,” he says. “I just got the call from my lawyer. I have to pay the asshole fifty thousand dollars, but—”