Broken

Chapter 25

August

"Eric's back."

Damien didn't look up. "That's great, Sam."

"What are you doing?"

He was sitting on the floor, laying next to the baby. "Playing with Vanessa."

Samantha frowned. She didn't like Vanessa. "Wanna play with me?"

"Not right now, Sammy," he said, holding a hand out in front of Vanessa's face. She reached up and he let her grab his finger. "Go play with Mommy."

"She's mean."

"Not on purpose," he told her.

"Still," she said. "Please? You never play with me anymore."

"Sam, we just played Barbies yesterday," he said. "Besides, I go to work soon."

"Can't I go to work with you?"

"Not today," Damien said as Vanessa started fussing. He sat up and took the baby into his arms. "I work late."

"How late?"

"Real late."

"You're going to leave me with Mom?"

"Samantha, she is not that bad," he said as Vanessa calmed a little. "I deal with her."

"She likes you."

"She likes you too."

"Not really."

"Yes, really," he said. "Look at all the stuff she buys you."

"Only after she yells at me."

"Well, see, it's like a pay off. You get yelled at so you get something," he said, standing. "I'm going to take a shower and put Vanessa in her crib. Leave her alone."

She just crossed her arms as he daddy walked off. When did he find something better to do than play with her? Oh, right, when Vanessa showed up.

"Don't you think that's great?"

Fang kept eating.

"Fang?"

"What?"

"Don't you think it's great though?"

"Huh?"

I sighed. "Do you just completely ignore me when I talk?"

"Yes. Now what do you want?"

"I was just thinking how great it is for Damien and Cameron, most Damien, right now, with the baby. Don't you miss that?"

He shrugged, going back to his sandwich. "Baseball, Max."

I sighed, glancing at my TV. We could be watching some mindless reality show right now, but no.

"Yeah, but Fang…I'm pregnant."

"Go bother someone- What?" He looked at me, frowning. "I thought that you were on birth control?"

"I was," I told him. "But we stopped having sex and it got so annoying. I just stopped. Then we started again and I forgot."

"You could have fucking told me and I would have used protection, dumbass."

"Oh, you can say dumbass, but I can't?"

"I don't say it around the kids."

I pointed to my stomach.

Fang groaned. "Are you sure?"

"I haven't been to the doctor yet, no."

He got up. "Go to the doctor and then we'll go from there, alright?"

"Whatever."

"You bought an apartment?"

Bone nodded.

Luther sighed. "Guess you couldn't stay with me forever."

"No parties, no friends."

"I have a girlfriend now."

Bone shrugged.

"So where did you go?" Luther asked.

"Away."

"To see someone?"

"No," he said honestly. "Just got bored."

"I know what you mean," Luther mumbled.

"Hmmm?"

"Nothing," he sighed, getting up and turning on the stereo. He put on some Oasis to help himself feel better.

"One."

"What?" He looked at Bone.

"They had one hit."

"Did not."

"Wonderwall wasn't even that great."

"Was too. Hater."

Bone pulled out his phone. "Go."

"Where?"

"Concert."

"Can I come?"

"No."

He frowned at Bone left. Friends…yeah right.

"I wanna play," Jason whined.

"No," Lucas said. "It's mine."

"What is it?"

"Phoenix Wright."

"I wanna play!"

"You don't even know what that is."

"Yes, I do. It's your new game and I want to play it, so gimme!"

"No."

"Yes!"

And Max was pregnant? Fang groaned.

"Leave him alone, Jason."

"But I wanna play!"

"Lucas, let him play."

"It's a one person game!"

"I wanna play," Jason yelled.

"No!"

"Just shut up," Fang told them. He had moved to his bedroom to watch the game, but it wasn't working so well.

Lucas went back to his DS. Jason stuck his tongue out at his oldest living full brother and walked away.

"Tyler said that Mom's pregnant."

"She might be."

Lucas started giggling.

"What?" Fang glanced at him. Lucas was so weird… "Why is that funny?"

"You have to have sex to be pregnant."

Fang blushed. Why was he laughing? "And?"

Lucas just kept giggling.

"Get out of here," Fang finally told him, making the boy run off, giggling the whole way.

The next to show up was Lance.

"Hi," he said, standing right in front of the TV.

"Move, buddy."

"No."

"Want to come lay on my chest?"

"Yes!" Lance ran to go do so. Fang made him be quiet until the inning ended and the channel went to commercial.

"You and Jay are about to start school, huh?"

Lance groaned. "Yes."

Jason was very excited by this thought. He had seen his brothers and sister go forever and now he was finally getting his chance at this older kid privilege. Lance, however, was not nearly as enticed with this new challenge.

"Are you happy?"

"No," Lance said.

"Why not?"

"Chris ain't there."

"Jay is."

"He's mean and isn't in my class."

Fang sighed. All of the other boys had friends in the neighborhood, save Tyler, except for Lance and Chris. They only had each other and liked it that way.

"You had to get more friends eventually."

"No!"

"Yeah, Lance, you did," Fang said, sighing a little. "School will be fun."

"No," he decided. "It'll be horrible."

Probably… Fang ended the conversation there because the game came back on.

The first day of school, Lance cried. He was very afraid of it. Chris wasn't happy either. As Fang took the other kids to school, he seemed to realize that it was just me and him.

"Play?"

"Full sentences."

"That's why I like Lance better."

"See? Full sentences help."

He frowned, getting up into bed with me. "Mommy?"

"What?"

"I miss Lance."

"Baby, he'll be home soon."

He cuddled against me. "What if he gets another friend?"

"He will, Chris," I told him. "That's not a bad thing though."

"Yes."

"No, it's not," I told him. "Neo has other friends and he and Jay are still friends."

"No."

"Yes."

He frowned at me. "I no want him to gets more friends."

"Too bad, baby. You guys need more friends than just each other."

"Why?"

"Because then you'll end up like Tyler and one day, your one friend will want more friends and you're left all alone. You wouldn't want that, would you?"

Chris pushed me away before getting out of bed. I sighed, getting up and following him. When I got to the living room, he was there, looking for something.

"What are you looking for, baby?"

"Cat."

I laid down on the couch as he found Fox and started playing with him. When Fang came home, he had donuts.

"Yay!" Chris ran to him as Fang sat down a box full of them on the table. "I love you, Daddy!"

Fang lifted him up with one arm. "See, Chris? It's not that bad, being stuck home with me and Max."

"Baby, I don't want any donuts," I told Fang.

"Of course you do."

"No," I said.

"What? You want eggs?"

"I'm not hungry."

He seemed to think about arguing before just putting Chris down on the ground. He opened the box and handed Chris a chocolate covered one.

"There, bubba," he said, ruffling his hair a little. Chris waited to eat it until his dad was sitting in the chair. He climbed into Fang's lap, giggling as Fang frowned at him.

"Fang, don't eat too much," I said, glancing at the five donuts in his hands.

"Max, I'll eat no more than ten."

"How many did you buy?"

"Two dozen."

"Fang."

"What?" He looked down at Chris, who was getting very messy with his donut. "You're gonna help me eat them, huh? Before the other boys get home?"

"Save one for Lance?"

"No," Fang said. "Then we'd have to save one for all of them. This is just for us."

Chris thought of this for a second before getting up and getting another. "Want one, Mommy?"

"No, baby."

"Baby want one?" He looked at my stomach with interest.

I frowned. "Who told you I was pregnant?"

"Lance."

I looked at Fang. "Do all of the kids know?"

He nodded. "The older ones know that the only time you go to the doctor is when you're pregnant. They just assumed. Jay heard you talking to Nudge on the phone one night."

I sighed. "No, Chris, the baby isn't hungry."

He nodded before running back over to Fang. "How come you can't have baby, Daddy?"

"Because only girls can have a baby."

"Why?"

"God made it that way."

Chris lifted up Fang's shirt a little. "Stomach too hard to hold baby. Gots muscles, right?"

"Yep," Fang said, smiling down at him.

I frowned. "What are you trying to say?"

"Mommy got soft tummy. Small, soft, cute tummy," he said. "Daddy got strong, hard, muscle tummy."

"Yeah, Max," Fang said. "I have a muscle tummy."

"Sure ain't got abs no more."

Fang frowned at me. "What?"

"Nothing."

"No. What did you mean?"

"Just that your stomach gets flatter and flatter every day."

"Screw you," he said, standing up. Chris frowned, following him up the stairs and to the attic.

"I think that's what got us here in the first place," I mumbled, looking down at my stomach. "You better be a girl."

My stomach growled back at me. For a second, I thought that I should eat something. While I was contemplating reaching over and grabbing a donut though, I fell asleep. Oh well.

Vanessa stared at her father with interest. At the moment, he was parading his most prized possessions in front of her.

"This is Joker," Damien said, holding the toy in front of her. "Then this is Batman. Enemies. This is Goku . Then this is Krilliin. Friends. See?"

"Damien, what are you doing?" Cameron walked down the stairs.

"Teaching Nessa," he said, holding Kenshin and Kaoru toys in front of the baby's face. "These, Vanessa, are not only friends. They're more than that. We'll get to that later though. This is their baby, Kenji, like you're my and Cameron's baby. Only you like me more than Kenji likes Kenshin."

"Damien, shut up," Cameron said, going into the kitchen.

Damien made a face at her, making Vanessa smile at him. Damien leaned over her to give the baby a kiss.

"Ready for more?" He turned and started going through his box of toys. "Let's see…uh…this is another Naruto, wearing white instead of orange…took me forever to find…um….this is another Kenshin…Here's Superman. You like him? I do. Wanna see Daddy's tattoo? It's of him. Daddy loves Superman. He's amazing, you know."

Vanessa made a noise, closing her eyes. She was tired of her daddy now. He talked too much.

"Alright, alright," Damien sighed. "Naptime, I guess."

He took her up to her room and put her in her crib. "Goodnight, baby. I've got work in a little, so you won't see me again today, unless you wake up when I get home. I'll check on you as soon as I do, though. I love you. Bye-bye."

She was so happy when he left. Daddy was loud and wouldn't leave her alone. It was so annoying…

Tabitha was not happy. Adeem had A lunch, while she had C. She was stuck with Jenna to sit with.

"There's your brother," Jenna said as they sat down at a table. "Where's he going?"

Tabitha watched him throw his still full tray away before walking out of the cafeteria. He never ate his lunch. To hide this from Max, he still bought it so that he didn't have extra money lying around.

"I don't know," she said as some other girls sat down with them. "Who cares?"

"You're brother's not that bad," McKinley said.

"What do you mean?" Tabitha frowned at her as she pulled out her cell phone. Adeem, who was in homeroom right now, sent her a text. He wanted to hang out after school. Since the whole fight thing, they hadn't talked that much, but they were still alright. Or so she guessed.

"It's just- Uh-oh."

Tyler had come back into the cafeteria after leaving to go get a soda from the vending machine. Mark, a kind of heavy boy that hated Tyler's guts, got up from his table and walked over to Tyler and said something to him. Tyler tried to walk around him, but Mark just stepped in the way. Tyler turned to walk away, but Mark grabbed him. Now it was obvious that Tyler was annoyed.

One of the lunch monitors was walking over when the other kid pushed Tyler. Done with the whole thing, Tyler punched him. Tabitha was expecting a fight, but one and done. The other boys took a step back.

"Did your brother just k.o. him?" Jenna frowned, while McKinley stared at him from across the cafeteria.

Tabitha groaned as Tyler was dragged out of the cafeteria by a teacher. It would be Hell when she got home. Then she saw McKinley's look and groaned again.

"First day of school and you freaking do this?" I was so done with Tyler. "You get suspended? Huh?"

He didn't say anything to me.

"Fine, don't talk," I said, pulling away from the school. "You can save your voice for Fang."

"What?"

"Yep, he's off today. You're lucky I came to pick you up, because he'd already be hitting you."

Tyler sunk further down into his seat. "It's not even fair!"

"Save it. You didn't want to talk before and you're not now."

"I hate you."

"Good."

When we got home, Fang was up in the attic.

"Well, go on," I told Tyler. "I'm sure that he's waiting for you."

He frowned at me before making he deliberately slow trek. I looked at the couch to find Chris sitting there, staring at me.

"What?"

"You look hungry," he said, jumping up. He walked over to the coffee table and held up some Play Doh. "Here. Made you a cookie."

"No thanks."

"But you have to!"

"No," I said, walking off towards the bedroom. "Come on. Naptime."

"You always make it naptime."

"Come on."

He picked up Fox and followed me. "I'm not tired, Mommy."

"Then get that way."

"D-"

"Shhh," Fang said, staring at the TV. "Go away."

Tyler frowned. "Max said that you wanted to yell at me."

"Huh?"

"For getting suspended."

Fang sighed, looking up. "What did you do again?"

"Fight."

"Did you win?"

"Yeah."

"Then go away," Fang said, turning his attention back to the anime he was trying to watch. "Do you not see that I'm busy?"

"You're not mad at me?"

Fang stood up and walked over to his son. Staring down at him, Fang said, "The day you lose a fight, I'll kick your ass. Until then, just don't disrespect teachers and don't knock anyone up. Alright?"

As if the second one would ever happen… "Alright."

"Now go away," Fang said, going to sit back down. "I'm busy."

Tyler smiled a little before walking down the stairs with some pride, if not a whole lot. He was suspended and not grounded for once. This was great!

"Guess what, Mom?"

"Be quiet," Cameron said as Samantha got into the car. "The baby's sleeping.

"But-"

"Samantha, I'm serious."

"My name is Nicki."

"God, just be quiet, okay? I don't want to hear you."

"You're so mean to me," Samantha said. "Like…you're my evil stepmother and dad married you, so now you're stuck with me."

Reverse it and she has the true story. Cameron rolled her eyes. "Just don't wake her up."

Samantha turned her head to stare at the baby's carrier, which was in the seat next to her. "She already is awake."

"Because of you."

"I think it's because of you…Cameron."

"What?"

"That's right," Samantha said. "Until you learn to call me Nicki, I'm going to pretend that you're just my stepmother. Like how Tyler calls Max by her name, I'm going to call you Cameron."

"Good," she said, stopping at a red light. "You little brat."

"Nope, brat doesn't work either. It's Nicki or nothing."

"Samantha-"

"Nicki!"

Vanessa started to fuss a little, making Cameron curse.

"It's okay, Vanessa," Samantha said dryly. "She only hates me. She's alright with you. You're not her stepdaughter."

"Goddamn it, Samantha! I'm not your fucking stepmother, alright? God."

"Yes, you are. That's why you hate me."

"No, that's not why," she said. "I hate you because, if it was up to me, you wouldn't be here right now."

"What do you mean?"

"I didn't want to be pregnant, I didn't want to have a baby, and I didn't want to keep it. Your dad did. Once he was gone, Damien wanted you just as much. Now I'm stuck with you."

Samantha frowned. "Damien is my dad, Cameron."

She snorted. Yeah, okay."

"He is!" Who else would be?

Cameron changed her course, now setting it on a different house entirely.

"Get out."

Samantha frowned. "No. I wanna go home."

"Get out," Cameron repeated. "Now!"

Crying, Samantha jumped out and ran up to the door. And she didn't even get to tell her mom how she found a dollar on the playground and kept it!

"Hello?"

"Your wife just dropped your daughter off."

Damien frowned, sitting up a little. He didn't have a client at the moment and wouldn't for another half hour.

"Why?"

"I don't know. The kid said that Cameron told her that you weren't her father and then made her leave."

"Can you watch her tonight?"

"…No."

"Dad-"

"I am busy."

"Where's Mom?"

"Making the girl food."

"Then can't Mom watch her?"

"We are not a babysitting service."

"Dad-"

"But, I guess we have to," he said before Damien could start. Then he just hung up. Damien sighed, putting his phone away. Tonight would be fun.

"Where's Tabitha?" Fang asked as he came downstairs.

"She sent me a text. She went over to Adeem's house."

"First day of school and she's already ditching us," he mumbled, sitting down next to me on the couch.

"Did you yell at Tyler?"

"Yep."

"Really?"

"…What are you watching?" He wrapped an arm around my shoulders.

That distracted me. "Kardashians."

"Of course."

"What?"

He just smiled, kissing my head. "Where are all the boys?"

"I just picked up the younger three and they're all in their rooms. Lance, by the way, had the best day of his life."

"I knew he would."

"Neo, not so much, and Jay just said that it was okay."

"What about Luke?"

"I don't know," I said, frowning. "He was very quiet."

"Hope everything's okay."

"You could go talk to him, you know."

Fang shrugged, leaning down to kiss my stomach. "Do you really think that I'm out of shape?"

"No," I said, pushing his head again. "Do you think that I am?"

"I think that you don't eat enough."

"Change the subject much?"

He just smiled at me. "I hope this one's a girl."

A paper airplane hit me in the head. I looked up to see Neo and Jason staring down at us, leaning up against the railing.

"Yeah, me too."

"My dad offered me a job at his work."

Tabitha glanced up from the book she was reading. First day of school and they already had a reading assignment. Fun. "Did you take it?"

"Fuck no," he said, using his book as a fetch toy with Shark Bait. "How can I cater to all of your endless needs if I have a job? I mean, that's assuming you don't leave anytime soon."

"Not today, Adeem, okay?" She went back to her book.

He contemplated annoying her further, but decided against it. He threw the book again when Shark Bait brought it back.

"Heard your brother knocked some kid out."

"Yep."

They were in his bedroom, on his bed. The door was open and he was throwing the book out there, into the hallway. They could go play outside, but they were both too lazy to get up and move.

"One time, your mom is going to be walking in the hall and you're going to hit her with that damn book."

"Ooh, did I hit a nerve? You're cursing."

"I'm cursing because you're annoying."

"Does bringing up your brother and his freakness make you angry?"

"Not in the slightest," she said before looking up. "And freakness is not a word."

"Tabitha is not a word, if you think about it."

"No, it's a name."

"How do you know freakness isn't a name?" He smiled at her. "That'll be my second daughter's name."

"What about the first one?"

"Shark Bait, remember?" He said as the dog perked up a little.

"Shark Bait and Freakness…great…"

"Is that enough to make you stay?" He asked, looking away from her and back at the dog.

"No." But maybe, she added in her head.

"What are you so happy about?" Tyler asked as Lucas turned on their TV and put it on a channel with music videos. Not MTV, of course. That would make too much sense.

"I don't know," Lucas said as Lady Gaga's Edge of Glory came out at number 1. "Maybe it's just that I got my first kiss and, I have to say, I'm freaking amazing."

Tyler frowned. It was one thing when Tabitha got her first kiss first, because, let's face it, she's a slut in the making, but this was just too much. Lucas? Lucas? He freaking plays with bugs! His true first kiss probably came from one of them…

"You can't tell how you kiss, only the other person."

"How would you know? I mean, hello, you've never even seen a girl's boobies!"

"Neither have you!"

"Yeah huh! One time, I was over at Damien's, and Cameron was in the shower and I might of accidentally-"

"You're going straight to Hell."

Lucas shrugged. "All I'm saying is that you better step up your game, because I'm on fire."

"You're nine."

"I'll be ten in December."

"You're still nine."

"And done a lot more than you'll probably ever will."

"…Why Cameron?"

"She's hot."

"Her voice is annoying."

Lucas shrugged. "It was really an accident. Kind of. I accidentally thought of it and then I just somehow ended up in their room, peeking through the door. Totally out of my control."

"What if she had caught you?"

"I told you. Out of my control. I didn't even think about it."

Tyler frowned at his brother as the show ended. "You're only nine, Lucas. You can't even get any enjoyment out of that."

"What do you mean?"

"You can't get a…boner or anything."

"How do you know?" Now Lucas was embarrassed. "Bet I have a better one of those than you."

"You don't even know what it is."

"…I'm gonna tell Mommy that you're mean to me!"

"See? You still call her Mommy, like a baby."

"And Daddy too! He'll hit you."

"No, he won't," Tyler said.

"How are you so sure?"

"He said that he'll never hit me again, unless I lose a fight."

"Well, I'll just have to beat you up then."

"I'd love to see you try."

Lucas made a face at him before running out of the room. Tyler was just a meanie.

"Are you my daddy?"

Damien frowned, walking into his parents' house. "Of course. Who else would be?"

"I don't know," Samantha said, hugging him. "Mom said that-"

"Who cares what she says?" He looked at his mom. "Thanks."

"It's late," Trinity said. "She already took a bath and ate."

He gave his mom a hug before leaving. When they got home, he put Samantha to bed before going to check on Vanessa. She was sleeping.

"What the Hell is wrong with you?" He walked into his bedroom to find Cameron in his spot on the bed, something that she did when he was working late and she wanted to know when he got home.

"Shut up," she mumbled, not moving. "I'm sleeping."

"Don't you ever say something like that to her."

"What say do you have in any of this?" Cameron sat up and looked at him. "That's my daughter, not yours."

"Who's last name does she have?"

"Who's DNA?"

He frowned at her. "What did she even do to you?"

"She was going to wake up Vanessa."

"No, not this time, Cameron," he said, shaking a finger at her. "I mean all times. She's a kid that has nothing to do with anything that happened to you. An innocent bystander. Sure, maybe I should have been home, maybe I should have-"

"Nothing's your fault Damien," she mumbled, looking away from him.

"Then why are you taking it out on my daughter?"

"Because I hate her."

He stared into her eyes for a second, trying to judge the seriousness of the moment. Very. "Then I hate you."

Cameron broke, if only for a minute. "What?"

"Yeah," he said, now a tad more confident. "Samantha is a part of me and that means that you hate me, so I hate you."

"She is not any part of you, Damien. She's part of me and part of Tristan!"

He was broke too. How much did she really expect him to take? "I don't care if she's physically part of me or not, Cameron. That's my daughter. I'm the only father that she knows and the only one she ever will."

"Who's trying to take that from you, Damien?"

"You. You try to take all the joy out of my life. That's all you've ever done and ever will do." He looked at the picture on their dresser. It was before they were married, before she was pregnant, before she got taken. It was when they were happy. When there was some form of a connection between them.

"You're chasing ghosts, Cameron. Tommy's, Tristan's, your mother's, your father's…everyone that's dead to you, in your mind or in reality." He looked back at her again. "They're gone now, but we're not! We're here. Stay with us."

She looked down at Peter, who was watching them. "Then what, Damien? What was the point of this?"

"…I'm chasing your ghost, Cameron. The old one. The one that I loved, but it's not there anymore," he said, shaking his head a little. "And it's not coming back."

"Then what?" She repeated.

"Then I'm done," he said. "With you, with this marriage…I quit."

"Fine then," she said, taking off her ring and throwing it at him. "Take it back. Take it all back! Take this stupid cross," she ripped it from her neck and threw it at him. "I never even wanted it. Take all the stupid things and lies that you told me and keep them. I don't want them anymore, you fucking bastard! Take your stupid kids and just go."

He walked out the door, slamming it behind him. He went into Samantha's room first. She was waiting for him.

"Put on your shoes," he said, helping her out of bed.

"We just got home."

"Hurry," he said, helping her. "Come on."

Damien lifted her up and carried her from the house and out to his truck.

Cameron was at the front door, waiting for him. "Don't forget your fucking baby."

He didn't say anything to her. There was nothing to say. He had fooled himself all this time. As if she could love something. She didn't know the meaning.

"Shhh," he mumbled under his breath, picking Vanessa up. "Stop crying. I didn't mean to be so loud."

He put her in her carrier and grabbed her diaper bag before walking out of the room and then the house. As he drove away, he saw Cameron standing in the doorway, watching him. She was always watching him.

It wasn't until he was long gone from the house that he realized two things. One, he left Peter. Two, he had nowhere to go.

He could go back to his parents, but it was honestly late and they had probably gone to bed as soon as he took Samantha. Luther was an option, but he was either up at the store or drunk. Then there was Max and Fang. He knew they'd take them in regardless of the hour, but they had no room, really. No, there was only one option and he did not like it. And this person was always up, chasing ghosts too, long before Damien even knew him.

"I need a place to stay."

Bone looked past him and did a head count. One person short. Damien finally grew a pair. "Welcome."

"Can I sleep in your room, Eric?"

He shrugged, taking Samantha's hand and leading her to his room. He put her in his bed.

"Aren't you gonna be in here?"

"No," he said, leaving. He took Vanessa from Damien and put her in the bed too, laying pillows on one side of her, knowing that Sam would be on her other. "Watch your sister."

"What about Daddy?" She stared up at him, scared. "And Mommy?"

He could only smile at her. Damn kid. This was probably the worst thing that had happened to her so far, her parents fighting like this. She was born into a situation, though, that almost certainly had no other outcome. If it wasn't for Damien, she would have been like all the other unlovable, forgotten kids and ended up at Max and Fang's.

Would that really have been any better though? Sure, they loved the boys that they had taken in, but, like Damien and Cameron, they were sitting on a time bomb and when it went off, it'd blow a hole through their happy family façade.

"Eric?"

He had started to the door, not even answer her question. "Hmmm?"

"Is Daddy really my daddy?"

Bone looked back at her, if only for a second. "Do you want him to be?"

"Yes."

"Then you've already one-upped me there."

"But is he?"

Bone just walked out on her, only a precursor to her dating life if these daddy issues continued. He was only doing her a favor, giving her practice, in this way. Too bad no one helped Cameron.