Chapter seven
Cameron
Cameron felt terrible. He’d spent weeks on hard-core binges that had left him feeling better than he did after finding out about the newspapers. He had never meant for Ashley to get hurt. He’d never meant to damage her reputation. He’d just wanted her help. He’d just wanted to turn his life around so that everybody would get off his back.
This was his entire fault though and he knew that. He’d spent most of the morning trying to pass the blame over the papers, but he couldn’t. It wasn’t the papers that had destroyed Ashley’s chances of being taken seriously in the world of television. It wasn’t the story they’d printed or the pictures that had run alongside it. It was Cameron. It was his reputation. It was her association with him that pulled her down.
He looked at his phone and thought about calling her back. What would he say though? What could he say to make it better? There was nothing. He would be calling with nothing to offer other than the apologies he’d already given. Ashley deserved more than that. She deserved something that would actually make a difference. She deserved what he’d promised her in exchange for her help.
He scrolled through the list of contacts he’d acquired over the many years of celebrity parties and charity fundraisers. He knew a lot of people. He knew people from all different of walks of life. He stopped, when a name stuck out to him. It was a guy that he’d met a few years back at a party. He’d been nearly as wasted as Cameron at the time and they’d got on like best friends for the few short hours they’d spent together.
Since then Cameron had only seen the guy on TV. He ran a late night talk show that was half comedy-based and half news-related. He pressed the number underneath the guy’s name and waited to see whether he would answer.
“Cameron?” A familiar voice asked down the line. “Is that you?”
“Yeah,” Cameron sighed with relief over the warm greeting.
“Oh my, it must be at least two years since I’ve seen you.”
“Sure, must have been,” Cameron mumbled. “Look, I know it’s been a while but I’ve got a favor to ask.”
“Ask away.”
“I’ve got this friend who’s been trying to get into television. She’s been working as a researcher, but wants to get in front of a camera. I don’t suppose you’ve got any room for a pretty girl on your show have you?”
The pause before Cameron got a reply was long and drawn out. He could hear the steady beat of his own heart in his ears as he waited for his friend to get back to him.
“Is she any good on set?”
“Yeah, she’s been working with me trying to get my image a bit cleaner. I’ve seen her answering some awkward questions and she’s always professional.”
“Alright,” his friend sounded hesitant, but he was agreeing. “If you send her over to the studio, then I’ll meet her and see what I can do.”
“You have no idea what this means,” Cameron said enthusiastically.
“Yeah well, you can repay me by actually coming on my show sometime.”
“Sure thing,” Cameron told him quickly. “You name the day and I’ll be there.”
“You must really like this girl,” his friend sounded questioning. “Is it the one you’ve been pictured with?”
“Yeah, but it’s not like that,” Cameron explained, before any wrong ideas could settle. “She’s just been helping me get straight. We’re not together.”
“Well, that’s a shame. You look good together,” his friend said passively. “Anyway, I need to get going. If you send her around to the studio tomorrow, I should have some free time to meet her.”
“Okay, cool, thanks,” Cameron could hear his smile penetrating his voice. “You’re a life saver.” He finished and then he hung up the phone. He sighed with relief and threw it onto his bed.
He’d done it, he told himself. He’d managed to fix the mess he’d made of Ashely’s life. She was going to be on TV. Sure, it wasn’t a huge show, but it was a start and a respectable one at that. He walked over to his closet and pulled out a pair of jeans and a black T-shirt.
He thought about calling Ashley so that he could share the good news with her, but changed his mind. He wanted to see her face when she found out. He wanted to be in the room so that he could enjoy the warmth that came with her happiness.
He headed out, walked over to his car, and found himself walking passed it instead of getting in.. The rush of excitement to tell Ashley about the interview hadn’t diminished and he wanted to hold onto it. An extra ten-minute wait wasn’t going to matter to Ashley, but for Cameron, it meant he could hold onto that excitement for just a little bit longer.
He headed over to her apartment with his head held high. The sun was out and was bright against his eyes, but the two weeks he’d spent sober had stopped the light from hurting. He sucked in deep breaths of freshly cut grass and gas. He listened to the sound of the cars as they rushed passed him. It felt good.
He felt good. He felt better than he had in many years and only had one person to thank for that.
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Chapter eight
Ashley
She answered the door without any effort to hide her distained look. “What are you doing here?” she asked Cameron, stepping aside so that he could enter her apartment.
“I needed to see you,” Cameron said with his eyes meeting hers. Why did he look so calm? Why was he looking so relaxed?
“Well, you came to the right place,” Ashley told him dryly. “I don’t think I’m ever going to be able to leave my apartment again.”
“You’re going to have to,” Cameron told her with a smile that infuriated her.
“Why are you smiling?” she snapped. “Don’t you understand what you’ve done to my life? Don’t you understand how long it’s going to take for people to forget about those stupid photographs and lies that were printed in the newspapers? I’m going to be ninety, before they’ll let me anywhere near a television show of my own.”
“I don’t think that’s true,” Cameron said softly.
“Yeah?” Ashley glared at him. “Well, what do you know?”
“I know that you’ve got an interview tomorrow for a late night talk show,” Cameron shrugged his shoulders.
Ashley opened her mouth to snap at him again, but closed it again quickly. What did he just say? She was giving him a look of disbelief. She was waiting for him to tell her that he was joking or that there was some weird stipulation to the news.
“Did you hear me?” Cameron asked with a look of concern spreading between his eyes. “I’ve got you an interview for a television show. You won’t be the main talk show host or anything, but they’re going to make sure you get screen time.”
“How did you do that?” Ashley managed to ask.
Cameron shrugged. “I’ve got a lot of friends in that world. It was just a matter of finding the right one for your purposes.”
“Thank you,” Ashley said with her eyes meeting his.
“Don’t mention it,” he smiled and this time there was nothing infuriating about it.
“I can’t believe you’ve done this for me,” Ashley found her head shaking in disbelief again. It was all too much. She’d woken up that morning with her dreams in ruins and somehow Cameron had managed to fix them in a day.
He shrugged. “You know, if you get the job though, you won’t have time to be my babysitter anymore.”
“Are you okay with that?” Ashley asked, because she knew he still had a long way to go, before he was totally out of trouble.
He shrugged. “I think there’s definitely a way I could deal with it.”
“And what way is that?”
“If you’re still willing to see me,” Cameron reached out and brushed his hand down her arm. He stopped, when his hand had dipped into hers and didn’t move it. “I don’t want this to be the end for us. You’ve become incredibly important to me.”
There was more to his words than what she could hear. She could see a look of desperation hiding in the backs of his eyes. “You want us to stay friends?” she asked, because it seemed incredibly unlikely that they would.
“No,” he shook his head.
“Then what?” Ashley asked confused over what he was hoping to get from her.
“I want you to be more than my friend,” Cameron stepped forward. Ashley could feel his hot breath on the side of her cheek. She tried to ignore the warm tingling sensation it was sending down her spine. “I want the newspapers to have something real to report.”
“No,” Ashley said softly. It hurt her to say it. Cameron was, deep down, a good man and she knew it. She knew that he was desperate for change and to find a meaning to his life, but she couldn’t be it. She couldn’t be his reason. She couldn’t live with that kind of responsibility.
“No?” Cameron looked hurt. “I know you’re worried about your future, but I promise that I’m not going to mess this up. I’m not going to do anything that might hurt your reputation or mine. I’m a changed man Ashley,” he tried desperately to get her to believe him. “I’ve changed for you. Can’t you see that? Can’t you see the good you’ve already done and all the good you’ve got left to do?”
“No,” Ashley said again. She couldn’t do this. She couldn’t blur the already confused line that stood between them.
“Ashley,” Cameron started, but then he closed his mouth. A look of fierce determination spread over his brow. Ashley watched, curious over what he was going to do next. “Look, I know that you’re scared,” he said finally. “But, you can’t just say no without at least trying first,” he gave her no chance to reply. He leaned in so that his lips brushed up against hers.
That was it. She couldn’t hold onto the lines any longer. Not when he was kissing her. Not when the sweet taste of peppermint was filling her senses. His body was pressed up against hers. She tried to steady her breath, but her heart was beating too quickly. She tried to step away from him, so that he wouldn’t be able to feel it against him, but his arms wrapped tightly around her waist and held her close.
He pulled away from her lips. His eyes were fixed on hers. He was waiting for her to say something. He was waiting for her to argue or explain why it wouldn’t work. She didn’t do that though. Instead, Ashley pushed herself up on the tips of her toes and returned her lips to his. The cold that had taken his place was too ugly to bear. She needed him. She needed his body against hers and she needed it right then.
His hands slid down her back. It was like he could read her mind. Maybe he could. She relented when his hands cupped the cheeks of her ass perfectly and squeezed. He certainly knew what he was doing she thought as he took away his lips from hers and planted them on the side of her neck. The gentle path of kisses was driving her crazy. The feeling of his teeth grazing against her soft skin sent her thoughts into a spiral that could only be understood by the way she was feeling and nothing else.
Her back roughly smacked against the wall, as Cameron’s body pushed up against her. She could feel his growth in his pants pressing against her legs, as his lips made their way down to her breasts. His hot, quick tongue ran over her already hardening nipples, sending her whole body into quivers of pleasure.
“Do you want me?” he asked with his eyes fixing on hers. “Tell me that you want me,” his hands fumbled with the zipper of his pants.
“I want you,” Ashley could not help herself. She had to have him. She had to have the man who had been off limits to her for too long.
“Okay,” he whispered into her ear. Her feet got lighter against the ground, as he picked her up. She wrapped her legs around his waist. She could feel him throbbing against her. She could feel the way the tip was already wet in sweet anticipation of what was about to happen.
His hands slid up her thigh, pushing her apart, so that he could get a proper look of everything she had to offer. Slowly, he slid one finger teasingly into her. Her breath caught at the back of her throat. Her mind screamed for him to give her more than just the one finger he was offering. Two fingers came back when the first one had slipped out. He quickened the speed of them, as he brought them in and out with ease.
Pressure was building up in Ashley’s body. She knew that she would not be able to hold on much longer. He was being too good. He was touching her in all the right places and was being so damn slow about it that it was driving her wild with desire. Finally, he brought his hands away and she felt him thrust into her with the only part of him that she truly wanted.
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