Sierra

I started to drift off to sleep when I heard stomping up the stairs. I opened my eyes to see Cameron walking into the bedroom.

“Kirsty, I appreciate you coming by, but I need you to go downstairs,” he spoke.

“Yeah. Okay.”

She gave my hand a gentle squeeze before leaving. I was sure he had calmed down and wanted to talk. So I prepared myself to beg for forgiveness. I wanted this nightmare to end. But instead of talking, he went into the closet, grabbed his duffel bag, and started throwing some clothes in it.

“What are you doing?” I spoke in a panic.

“I can’t stay here with you. You have no idea what you’ve done to me, Sierra.”

“Cameron, please. All we need is to talk about this,” I pleaded.

“There’s nothing to talk about,” he spoke in a calm voice. “You have zero respect for me and what I want. You live in your own little rich bubble and you think you can do anything you want regardless if it hurts others.”

“That is not true!” I shouted.

“YES IT IS! I only got those jobs because of a trade you offered. Free advertising for them hiring me. God, Sierra. Do you even understand how sick that makes me? But not as sick as the fact that you don’t have any confidence in me. Do you know how emasculated I feel?”

“That wasn’t my intention! I love you so much and all I wanted was for you to get a start. I saw how depressed and worried you were about not finding work.”

“So you thought you had the right to step in and save the day?!” he lashed out.

“I was only trying to help you. What is so wrong with that?”

“How many times did I tell you that I didn’t want or need your help?! You just didn’t believe I could do it; that I could succeed on my own. Jesus Christ! I told you no secrets and I have been nothing but honest with you from the start. Is there anything else I should know? Because now’s the time to tell me.”

Shit. I had to tell him about the office space he rented. I had no choice because eventually he would find out. I was scared and sick to my stomach.

“Is there anything else?!” he shouted as he glared at me.

I took in a deep breath and prepared myself for this nightmare to get worse.

“Your office space,” I softly spoke.

“What about it?” His eye narrowed at me.

“I asked your realtor to lower the rent and I paid the difference because I knew how bad you wanted it and how worried you were about being able to afford it.”

He stood there in silence for a few moments and looked away from me.

“Wow,” he spoke. “Nobody has ever made me feel as low as you have. All the lies and the deceit. How the fuck do you sleep at night? How could you look me in the eyes every day knowing you’ve been keeping things from me? I can see clearly now who you really are, and you know what, I don’t like you very much.”

The knife that was in my heart had just been pushed as deep as it could go. Hearing those words broke me, shattered me into a thousand pieces. He zipped up his bag and threw it over his shoulder. Before walking out the door, he stopped and looked at me.

“Learn from this lesson, Sierra. It may just save you a lot pain and heartache in the future. You can’t control people’s lives to suit your needs. I hope one day you’ll understand that.”

And then he was gone. I jumped up from the bed and ran down the stairs.

“No, Cameron! Grow a fucking pair of balls and accept someone’s help. You’re the one with the insecurities!” I screamed.

The front door slammed and I collapsed on the stairs, my hands gripping the spindles as I tried to hold on for dear life. I sobbed and Kirsty, James, and Rosa came running from the kitchen.

“Come on, darling,” James spoke as he picked me up and carried me to my room.

The moment he set me down on the bed, I ran into the bathroom and began vomiting. Kirsty and Rosa followed me and held my hair back.

“It’ll be okay, sweetie,” Kirsty spoke. “He’ll calm down and once he realizes what he did, he’ll come back. He’s Cameron.”

“I’ve never seen him like that before,” I spoke as I wiped my mouth and leaned against the tub. “I’m pretty sure he just broke up with me.” I began to cry.

“Come on, Senorita. Let’s get you in bed,” Rosa spoke as she lightly grabbed hold of my arm and helped me up.

Once I was under the covers, I told the three of them that I wanted to be alone. They understood and began leaving the room.

“We’ll be right downstairs if you need anything,” James spoke.

“And I’m making chicken soup for you,” Rosa said.

As soon as the bedroom door shut, I curled up into a ball, closed my eyes, and went to sleep.

****

Cameron

The feelings inside me were the worst feelings I’d ever felt in my life. How could she lie to me like that? I felt betrayed and hatred soared through me. I got a room at a motel temporarily until I figured out what I was going to do. As I was lying on the bed drinking a beer, my phone rang. When I looked over at it, I saw it was a number I didn’t recognize.

“Hello,” I answered.

“Cameron Cole, please,” a man’s voice spoke.

“This is Cameron.”

“Ah, Cameron, my name is Louis Sweetberry and I own Sweetberry’s bar over in Orange County. I was at Luxe last night and the owner told me your company did the remodel.”

“Yes. We did.”

“Let me be the first to tell you what an amazing job you did. I was in there before Ashton McCarroll purchased it and I couldn’t believe the transformation. I’m looking to remodel my bar. I want to expand it. Cost is not an issue. I would like to have you come in, take a look, and let me know your thoughts.”

“Sure. When were you thinking?” I asked.

“If you have some time today, that would be great.”

“I can be there in about an hour and a half.”

“Excellent. I’ll be here waiting. I’ll text the address.”

After I ended the call, I hopped into my truck and headed to Orange County. This was exactly what I needed to get my mind off Sierra and everything that happened. When I pulled into the parking lot of Sweetberry’s, I was shocked to see that it was basically nothing but a shack. I walked through the door, up to the bar, and asked for Louis.

“You must be Cameron. I’m Louis Sweetberry, owner of this fine dump.” He chuckled.

“Nice to meet you, Louis.” I laughed.

He took me outside and showed me the land behind his bar that he purchased and had leveled.

“See this area right here? This is where I want to expand the bar. I have a vision of a classy place instead of a dive. Like I mentioned before, money is not a concern.”

We talked for a while and I took notes on my notepad while he described exactly how he wanted his new bar to look.

“I’ll get the blueprints drawn up and I’ll give you a call.”

“How soon can you start?” Louis asked. “I want to get moving on this as soon as possible.”

“To be honest with you, Louis, a project like this is going to take months.”

“I know that, son. That’s why I want to get started as soon as possible.”

“I’ll give you a call in a couple of days,” I spoke.

I climbed in my truck and laid my head back on the headrest. This job was worth a couple hundred thousand at the minimum. Patina would be finished in less than a week. Delia’s house was taking a little longer because of the tile issue. But I had enough guys to start Sweetberry’s within a week or two. I checked my phone that I had left in the truck and noticed I had a text message from James.

“Hey, Cam. If you need to talk, call me. I’m not taking sides here. You’re my friend too.”

“Thanks, James. I appreciate it, but I just want to be alone right now.”

“I understand. Give me a call in a couple of days and we’ll go to dinner or hit up a bar for a couple of drinks.”

“Sure.”

 I thought about Sierra all the way back to L.A. and it hurt like a bitch. After this, I wasn’t sure anymore if our different worlds could come together as one.