CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Website where all photos of all outfits mentioned is on my profile. One-shot of Cam/Happy/Happy's mom will also be posted today.

Cam's phone alarm goes off at 415 and she comes to find me in the kitchen where the second to last batch of glasses were coming out of the dishwasher and into the cupboards "It's time to go S. Your cookbooks are all sorted. Exactly like you had them."

I laugh and follow her through to the storage room where the 6 shelf book cases covering one wall of the room is now hidden by the unpacked cookbooks. She points to the top "I've got the books that cover all courses on the 2nd shelf, 3rd shelf are savoury only and 4th is desserts. The very top shelf I left empty cause it's too high and the bottom shelf I left empty for you to put your display thingies on."

I nod, looking at the length of the shelf, the four section cabinet is only half full on each shelf and Cam reads the look in my eyes "That doesn't mean you go nuts shopping for more cookbooks S."

Poking my tongue out at her I hug her tightly "Thanks Cammy."

"No prob-lame-o." Cam mutters into my hair "Now we better go before your backyard is taken over."

I make an over exaggerated point of looking out the back windows in the kitchen "Nope, no one there taking over."

Cam shoves me towards the door "Don't be a smart ass. You know what I meant."

Stopping to realarm the house and lock the door again I pause, leaning against the railing "Cammy can you be honest with me. What's going on with you and Hap?"

Cam looks over at me, frowning slightly "What do you mean? There's nothing going on."

I snort at her, dropping down to sit on the step, tugging her down beside me "I wasn't born yesterday."

Cam shrugs "You tell me, what have you seen?"

Twisting slightly so I can look at her and read the expressions I know so well on her face "You said the first time I asked that you'd fucked, but you seemed very confident that you could have him again whenever you wanted. I don't want details; really I don't, but why?"

Cam shakes her head "That's not all, I know you. You wouldn't ask me unless you've already formed an opinion."

I cough out a laugh "Okay, you're right, I do have an opinion. I think you're in deep with him and you've suddenly realised that once he finds someone he can love he's an 'all or nothing' kinda guy and it scares the shit out of you." Cam waves her hand in a 'come on' gesture and I cock my head to the side in silent acquisition, taking a deep breath "When you came to the house the other morning it took a touch from him for you to calm down, he was never more than arm's length away from you, your whole body language towards each other shows a level of comfort I've never seen you have with anyone other than Al and I. Even Derek you aren't as content around."

Running my hands through my hair I tug lightly before continuing "There's the fact that you marked him in a very visible place. Those scratches on his arm they weren't light, he would have known they were going to show and he let you. I've never seen him with anything like that before, and I've known Hap for 10 years. You went with him to Bakersfield, the only women associated with the club that he has ever introduced his Mom to is Gemma, Donna and me. You've been staying with him at the Clubhouse, and as far as I know will be until you fly home on Sunday. For Hap having the same woman in his bed two nights in a row is a big thing. By the time you leave that will be over a week. So cut the shit and tell me what is happening with you and Hap."

Cam sighs, leaning against the railing "I hate you. I really do."

I smile at her and shake my head "Nah you don't. You hate that I'm making you put it into words."

"Happy and I did talk. Did you know he pays for all his Moms meds?" I nod and Cam frowns "They're stretching him beyond belief. I offered to help, mainly so his Mom wouldn't see how much he's stressing over it but he refused telling me it was his place to support his Mom."

I pat her hand "Cam he wouldn't accept it no matter what. I hate to say it like this but you're an outsider. You're one of my best friends and he's sleeping with you but that doesn't mean that he's going to accept charity. It's not a Sons way."

Cam sighs "He said that. Told me not to be offended but the day he took money from a woman is the same day he'd voluntarily be castrated. Well he didn't word it like that."

I snort "I bet he said the day he took cash from pussy he'd cut his own dick off?"

Cam nods "Yeah pretty much. I don't think he was expecting me to be insulted though. I mean, calling me pussy. That's just wrong, especially seeing we're so close to getting his Mom to agree to move."

"Really?" I know I sound stunned, almost everyone in the club, patch and Old Lady had attempted at some point to get Happy's Mom to move to Charming and the closest we'd ever gotten was her not screaming at us. "Like, how close?"

Cam grins at me and the smile lights her whole face up "Like she said she would on the proviso Hap can find a decent house with a detached unit for her."

I squeal and wrap my arms around her shoulders "You have no idea how amazing that is. You got that on one visit?"

Cam nods "Yeah, Hap will need help finding something though. Can you, D and Al start looking for him cause he's so caught up with shit at the moment with his Mom that it won't happen. And you have to go visit her more. You and D being here with the kids was kinda the final nail on her moving."

I nod, my head swimming "Of course, the only reason I haven't gone is with everything happening around here it's a bit hard to get a few minutes silence let alone a day to go see Maria. I'll talk to him about it tonight and then Mandy. But, we're off the topic. Do you see a future in Charming?"

Cam shakes her head "No I don't." Looking at me through her lashes she bites her lower lip "I've got this movie in LA till at least February next year and it's not a short drive." If I didn't know her as well as I do I'd miss the sadness in her eyes.

"And you think Hap will have gotten over whatever it is that he's interested in by then?"

Cam looks up at me "Am I that obvious?"

"To me, yes. It's less than 5 hours from here to LA; I will come down there at least once a month and bring you back if I have to. I'm sure if you asked him he'd come see you too."

Cam shakes her head "I can't."

"Why?" I get up and pace a little on the deck, ignoring the glances she keeps taking at her phone "Why can't you ask him to come see you, why are you trying to sabotage what could be great?"

Cam shrugs "I'm not trying to sabotage anything."

"Bullshit!" I snap at her, my eyes narrowing "You are and I don't know why." Jumping down the stairs I stalk to the truck "I'm going home now, are you coming?"

She gets to her feet and into the passenger's seat of the truck without speaking. The drive home is completely silent while I try and work out what's going on within her brain and she ignores me in favour of looking out the window glaring at everything we pass.

Parking in the drive I don't wait till she's out of the truck, yanking the keys from the ignition as soon as the vehicle has stopped and storming inside. "I'm going to shower." I call into the kitchen ignoring the hello's and questions of how the unpacking went.

The door swings open at the same time I open the bathroom door and Cam snorts "Just let it go."

I shake my head and glare at her "No I won't! You're being a bitch."

Cam's eyes narrow and she walks down the hall towards me "I beg your pardon?"

"You heard me." I stand up straighter and look at her "You're being a bitch. Would you like me to speak slower so you can hear it, or maybe I should speak louder so you can hear it in LA."

Cam doesn't say anything, spinning on her heel "I'm going to call a cab. I don't feel like being here with you like this."

"Like what?" I stalk after her "Honest?"

Cam spins on her heel and I vaguely see her hands clenched into fists at her sides "No. Something has crawled up your ass and you're taking it out on me and it's not fair."

I shake my head, my hair swinging behind me, the tip of my plait hitting the walls "I'm not taking anything out on you. I'm trying to work out why you're so scared of staying…" My voice trails off and I look at her through slightly narrowed eyes. "That's it isn't it. You're scared?"

Cam lifts one eyebrow "Scared of what?"

"Scared of what could be, scared of small town life, scared of staying here. Take your pick chicky, there's something that's making you want to run away as fast as you can with your tail between your legs." By now our raised voices have gathered an audience, Gemma and Donna are standing in one doorway while Al is in the other, her arms blocking Jax and Happy from coming through to where we're standing.

Cam snorts at me "Why the fuck would I be scared of any of that? I remember what you were like when you came to New York, you were a shell and I remember thinking that whatever it was you'd left behind must be pretty fucken impressive. I guess to you it is, but it's exactly what you said, it's slow, it's boring."

The laugh I spit out at her makes my throat hurt a little and I turn around again "If you say so. I'll swallow that bullshit if it makes you feel better about running away."

Cam's hand flashes up and lands on my shoulder, reacting completely out of instinct I throw my elbow backwards, the point connecting with her nose screaming "Don't fucken touch me!"

"Ow. What the fuck!" She splutters her hand under her nose which is running red.

"Fuck! Cam I'm sorry." I reach out to help her but she shakes her head and takes a step backwards.

Happy appears at her side a split second before Jax is at mine, resting his hands on my shoulders he looks down at me with a question in his eyes "What was that?"

I sniff, tears forming in my eyes, breaking out of his grip I spin around and dash into the bathroom, slamming the door and locking it behind me with a sob. Jax knocks lightly on the door "Babe, you okay?"

"I'm fine. Check Cam." I say loud enough to be heard through the door, trailing off to a whisper "I'll stay in here tonight. Please just leave me alone."

I can hear Jax sigh through the door "I'm not leaving you alone, but I am going to tell them why you're so jumpy."

"NO!" I spit, unlocking the door and swinging it open "Don't tell anyone! You promised."

Jax runs his hand over his face, looking at me "I promised when I thought you'd be able to contain your shit. That just proves that you can't. They need to know. Cam at least."

I sigh, my shoulders heaving "Send her in here, if she'll still talk to me, let alone be in the same room."

Jax vanishes from sight, returning a couple of seconds later with Cam, Al, Hap and Donna behind him. Rolling my eyes at him "I said Cam, not everyone."

Jax shrugs "They didn't ask and I didn't argue now are you telling them or am I?"

Inhaling a massive breath I look each of them in the eye, Cam's nose still bleeding into the tea towel she has under it "What's the date today?"

"July 15th." Donna answers without hesitating.

I nod and meet Cam and Al's eyes again, watching as understanding dawns in Al's eyes. Cam's still looking at me blankly "What does the date have to do with you socking me?"

Al leans over her shoulder saying quietly "Why didn't you tell us?"

I shrug "I thought I'd be okay. I thought I'd be able to handle it. Move on like it never happened."

"Shit." Cam mutters quietly "You should have told us, instead of picking a fight with me." Turning around she swallows thickly "It's a year since…"

"Craig abducted me." I fill in where she stops mid-sentence. "Cam I really am sorry."

Cam shrugs, pushing past everyone in the hall and into the bathroom. Peering at her reflection she shrugs "I'll have a heck of a black eye tomorrow I'm sure but I'll live."

I nod "Yeah, you'll live for me to finish that conversation."

Jax narrows his eyes slightly watching us "You okay now?"

I shake my head slightly "No. But I will be. Cam's going to stay in here cause I need to talk to her, you guys go back to whatever it was you were doing."

Happy looks over at Cam and lifts his eyebrow "You okay?"

Cam nods, pushing the door closed "Yeah I'm fine. Worst she can do in here is try and brush my teeth with a toilet brush. If we're not out in half an hour send in a couple of body bags."