Chapter 21

I'd been on an hour-long conference call and we hadn't gotten through even half of the agenda yet. If it wasn't Donny and James debating about every tiny detail that they didn't agree on, then it was Paul who was bringing up news of the expansion, which hadn't even been on the agenda to start with. I was frustrated to say the least.

"I don't have time to go to Chicago in the near future." I said to the men on the line. "I have too much to do here."

"Well there's no rush to expand. We'll keep searching until we find what we're looking for. James and I are thinking of going out next week, so we'll make some calls and visit a few of the sites while we're there." Paul was saying.

"What are your thoughts on the Offer Circular?" Donny finally chimed in. "We still haven't discussed that and the deadline is approaching."

"Selling for less than the last trading price is ridiculous." I said. "There's no way the shareholders will budge."

"And if you're wrong and they sell, then what? Once they get the company they're planning to delist from the stock exchange. Our shares will be useless in a private company." Donny said.

"The fact that they've already given an extension is a good indication that not many people are taking up the offer." I countered. "We just have to decide whether we're willing to risk it."

I glanced up when the door to my study slowly swung open and Cam poked his head in. He never interrupted me while I was in here. I waved him in, and he stepped in with his phone held out in front of him like it was contagious. His mouth was set in a miserable frown and his eyes were red as though he had been rubbing them.

There was a quiet echo coming from somewhere in the room and it took me a second to realize that it was coming from the phone he held. I gestured for him to come closer, and when he was standing on the other side of the desk he held the phone out to me.

"Or we hash it out in court. I don't like their tactics. "James was saying. "They're—"

"Gentlemen." I said, and James paused. "Something just came up. I'll have to call you back."

I ended the call and took the phone from Cam with a frown. When it was only halfway to my ear, I could easily hear the words of the female speaker (or shouter in this case).

"...can't do this to him. You're about to ruin a good man's life and for what?" I listened to her rambling. "Leo is a good man and just because he rejected you, it doesn't give you the right to make these accusations. Just move on and tell everyone the truth because he—"

"Who is this?" I interrupted, and the woman on the line sputtered and went silent.

"I hope you realize that this is harassment and that in itself is actionable." I told her. "We wouldn't want to get the police involved more than they already are."

"Well you tell Cameron that—"

"Listen to me carefully," I began. "I'm not a patient man and I have no interest in listening to your story, so do us both a favor and lose this number." I finished and almost immediately the line went dead.

I glanced at the number on the screen; grabbed a pen and jotted it down on the corner of my note pad, before handing the phone back to Cam. He looked distraught, and was clearly on the verge of tears, but I could see that he was fighting to hold them at bay.

"Who is she?" I asked. He swallowed hard and took a few deep breaths before speaking.

"She said she's Leo's sister. She's very upset." He explained.

"I noticed." I leaned back in my chair and rubbed my chin in thought. "Is this the first time she's called?"

He hesitated before answering; his eyes turning wary. I had my answer before his next words even left his mouth.

"She called me one time before but I didn't really talk to her or anything." Came his mumbled reply. It had been a week since Monte had given him his replacement phone, and already he was being harassed. It would have been better if he'd also changed his number.

"Don't answer next time she calls and maybe it would be best not to answer numbers you aren't familiar with going forward." I said. "This is only the beginning."

"Damion?" he said, looking troubled.

"I don't want to go through with the trial and all that stuff. I just want to move on now."

I regarded him silently for a while, and when he began to fidget, I gestured to the chair beside him. "Have a seat Cam."

"I know this is a difficult and uncomfortable situation. I know its scary, and what you went through isn't something anyone should ever have to go through." I said. "I wish I could tell you to just let it go and move on with your life. I also wish I could tell you to go ahead and testify and throw the asshole behind bars."

Cam looked at me with his big searching eyes; waiting for my answer.

"But I'm not going to tell you what to do this time. I'll respect whatever you decide to do."

Cam nodded quickly; looking relieved. "I can say it was just an accident." He said with a wide smile; as though all his prayers had been answered and his life would finally go back to the way it was.

"Before making any decision; we should look at the pros and cons first, right?" I asked, and after a moment's hesitation, he nodded. "Give me your list of pros and I'll give you mine."

I smiled when he held up his pinky finger. "Leo's sister won't call me anymore and she'll be happy. I won't feel stressed out anymore and I won't have to go to the trial." He raised a finger after each one. "I can just go back to how things used to be and I won't have to see Leo's again and I'll be happier." He finished with a small smile.

"My pros; things might feel easier for a while. You won't have to potentially deal with a long drawn-out trial. Maybe no one will bother you anymore." I finished. "What about the cons?"

"Monte will be mad because she wants me to go through with it." He said and passed the figurative baton over to me.

"My cons; you'll have to go down to the station and change your statement. They officers will think you lied then or that you're lying now. You can charge you for lying to officers of the law during the course of an investigation; it might be a misdemeanor charge but a charge nonetheless." I told him, and his eyes widened. "If you change your statement in support of Leo's, he can sue you for accusing him in the first place on the grounds of defamation.

"If Leo goes free, he might do it again to someone else. The next person he does this to, unlike you, may not have someone to come to his or her rescue, and finally, Leo won't learn his lesson, so he'll go around thinking he did nothing wrong and that he can get away with anything." When Cam only stared at me in silence, I leaned forward.

"Now that we've hashed out some of the pros and cons, what will you decide?"

I watched as he covered his face with his hands and began to shake. I pushed up from the desk and went to kneel beside him; running my hand up and down his back as he cried.

"You already have your answer Cam. I know you're scared, but you have a lot of people on your side. There's Monte, Donny, Anna, Paul, Tate and you know I'm always here for you. So let's just get through it together, and if it's overwhelming, you've got us to help you through it."

Cam drew in a shaky breath, but didn't remove his hands from his face.

"I just want things to be normal now. I don't want to people to be mad at me. I don't want to see Leo again or talk in the courthouse in front of people."

"I know you don't" I said. "But this won't last forever. Soon it'll be over and you can move on."

He took another deep breath, then finally let his hands drop. His face was wet with his tears, and his eyes were red and bloodshot. He lifted the tail-end of his shirt to wipe his face.

"I didn't mean to disturb your meeting. I just...she wouldn't stop and I didn't want to hang up on her and make her even more mad, and—"

"I know. It's okay. It wasn't that important anyway." I glanced at the clock on the wall. It was already 4:00 in the evening, and I hadn't even had lunch yet. I'd been cooped up in the study all day, taking calls and drafting paperwork.

"Have you eaten?" I asked him and he nodded. "Do you mind making me a sandwich?" I asked, because I knew it would cheer him up, and like clockwork, a smile lit up his face. Any mention of helping me out and he always acted as though I'd offered him the world.

"Do you want a ham sandwich, or turkey or—"

"Surprise me." I said, interrupting him, and he beamed at me briefly, before hopping out of the chair and leaving the room. The ease with which he could switch between his emotions still managed to surprise me.

I glanced at the papers littering my desk and sighed before picking up my phone and dialing Anna's number. She answered after one ring.

"Hey sweetie. What's up?" she asked; her voice as bright and as chirpy as always.

"Are we still on for later?"

"Absolutely. I added your names to the list, so all you need to do is show up, and I already paid so just go right in."

"You didn't have to—" I began and she cut me off.

"I know, but I wanted to. Cam's my friend too and I want to help him in any way I can."

"Thanks Anna. I'll call you when we're leaving out."

"Alright sweetie. I'll see you later."

As soon as the call ended, I sent a quick text to Donny, letting him know that I wouldn't be rejoining the conference call and stepped out into the hallway; closing the study door behind me.

Out in the kitchen, Cam was humming a tune I'd never heard before, while Happy yapped excitedly at his feet. I watched from the door way, as Cam flitted about the kitchen with the confidence of a master chef, even though he couldn't even boil water.

I grinned when he began to explain to Happy the importance of washing the tomatoes even though they came directly from the fridge. You wouldn't believe that this was the same guy who'd been sobbing in my study only a few short minutes before.

"I'm glad you love cooking so much, because tonight we're going to a cooking class." I told him, and he looked up, first in surprise, then his face flushed with pleasure.

"Really?"

"Yes really. Anna invited us."

His smile blossomed. "Anna's going to be there too?"

"Yes. Though I should tell you that it's a part of a counselling program that she hosts for the hospital. She usually hosts group meetings with people of all ages, where they can go to discuss whatever matters are affecting their lives." I said. "but she makes it interesting. Tonight she's doing a cooking class to help the group to learn the value of team work."

Cam smiled. "Anna's so nice. Isn't she? I bet everyone there loves her."

I chuckled. I'm sure they do. It's at six, so we'll have to start getting ready soon."

He nodded, then clapped a hand gently over his eye as though he'd forgotten that it was still bruised. "Should I wear my sunglasses to cover it?"

"No one will care Cam, and you can't cook in sunglasses."

He blushed, a deep attractive red, that made me want to touch his cheeks. I held back, and simply watched him work. He put together my turkey sandwich in record time, and set a tall glass of orange juice beside it.

"Thanks, it looks delicious." I praised him, and of course, he beamed. I repeated myself when I took the first bite, and his eyes stayed glued to my face until I finished it all; including every last drop of the orange juice.

When I was done, he was adamant about cleaning the dishes, and I wondered if staying cooped up in the house all the time was making him bored.

"We can go out more often if you'd like." I told him as we entered the living room together, but he shook his head, before reaching up to touch his bruised face. He was still insecure about it, and until it healed, I knew that there was absolutely nothing that I could say to change how he felt.

The moment he knelt down onto the carpet, Happy jumped into his lap. I watched as they played together for about an hour before we went to get ready.

"What kind of dress code is it? He asked when I stepped out of the shower. He was standing by the sink, rubbing some sort of face cream into his skin.

"Casual." I said. He nodded seriously, then an instant later, he grinned at my reflection in the mirror.

"I've always wanted to go to a cooking class." He said. "I'm really happy that Anna invited us. I wonder what we'll be making. I can't wait to tell Monte."

I smiled and picked up my razor. These days he tended to watch me. Not only while I ate, but also while I sat relaxing by the pool, or reading a newspaper, or watching the television. Whenever I looked up, there he was staring at me as though he had to take his fill before I disappeared. Sometimes I found it disconcerting, at other times I found it endearing, and today I began to wonder just what it was that he saw why he couldn't keep his eyes off my face.

As a shaved, he watched me. His eyes were on my hands and on my face, but they never met my eyes; or the one time that they did, he blushed and looked away. He was sweet, but half the time I just didn't understand him.

"Everything alright?" I asked; my razor poised over my face. He nodded, then stepped out of the bathroom without a word.

When I exited minutes later, he was fully dressed and ready to go.

......................................

There were about twenty or so people there when we stepped into the classroom. It reminded me of a science lab from my high school days, but instead of test tubes and Bunsen burners, the counters where filled with cooking supplies, and each station had an oven. It was pretty fancy.

Cam crowded close to my side; having slipped his hand into the mine the moment we'd stepped into the room. He kept his face turned mostly to the floor as he tried to hide his bruises from the word, and I squeezed his hand gently in reassurance.

Anna met us at the entrance and she hugged Cam as best she could with a huge pregnant belly in front of her.

"You guys can sit wherever you like. Just take an available station. We'll be working in pairs today." She said, and a moment later she disappeared to greet the others. We took up the station at the very back of the class because that's where Cam led us.

He would find every way possible to remain inconspicuous. When everyone had arrived and all had found their work station, Anna began. We'd be making Chocolate-filled donuts, and Cam was over the moon. He was like a child on Christmas morning; bright eyes, wide smile and all as he listened to her list all the ingredients we each had at our work stations. There was flour, salt, powdered sugar, eggs, vanilla essence, milk, unsalted butter and dry yeast.

When she explained to the class that yeast was a living organism, Cam pushed the jar towards me like it was the plague, and I laughed. And so our donut-making lesson began. Cam was an eager student, who listened carefully to her instructions, before he attempted each step. The measurements for the flour had to be exactly right, so did the temperature of the milk. He took his donut-making very seriously. I loved the way the tip of his tongue stuck out of his mouth as he kneaded the dough.

I also loved the way he would repeat the instructions to me as I did my part, as though I couldn't hear Anna just as well as he could. He was cute; like a little cherub, and every time he smiled and a dimple appeared I wanted to kiss him. While we waited for the dough to rise; which would take an hour according to Anna, we were all given a sheet of paper and told that we would be doing an icebreaker exercise.

The aim of the game was to get to know the people in the room. It was called Bingo; just not the type of Bingo I was accustomed to. The rules were thus: each sheet of paper contained a table lined with boxes. In each box there was a phrase, such as; 'likes pets', plays a sport', 'has an allergy' etc. The aim of the game was to go around the room and ask people to sign the box which was relevant to them. So, for example, I would go up to a random stranger and ask them if they played a sport and if they said yes, they would sign the box with the accompanying phrase. If they said no, I would move on the the next person and so on.

The first person to get signatures in a horizontal, vertical or diagonal line must shout bingo and they'd win the game. According to Anna, there were prizes for first, second and third place. I wasn't surprised that Cam was uneasy about the whole thing, because doing this meant that he wouldn't be able to hide. He didn't say it, but his face showed his uncertainty well, but when the game began, there was no time to be uneasy.

Everyone was running all over the room, trying to get people to sign their paper, and since one person could only sign your paper once, it was ALOT of running around. It was chaos and it was the most fun I'd had in a while. I laughed as hard as the person next to me, as we shouted over voices to be heard. I'd lost Cam in the crowd ages ago, but at one point when I looked across the room, I glimpsed him jumping up and down on the balls of his feet as he waited for a woman to sign his paper.

At another time, I spotted him easily dodging moving elbows and dipping underneath arms as he raced to get to the next person. Like I said, it was chaos, but he was quick and he was agile; like a child.

It was no surprise then that Cam was the first to shout Bingo. I heard his voice clear across the room, and laughed along with some others at his childlike exuberance. At that point, I gave up the game just to watch him as he quickly made his way up to Anna. He was jumping on the balls of her feet as she examined his paper.

When two others shouted bingo and handed in their papers, they all went to stand at the front of the room. Cam waved at me from his place by Anna's side and I waved back. It was the most animated I'd ever seen him.

As she went through the signatures on Cam's page, the signatories in question were asked to raise their hands to confirm their signatures. Cam was in the clear, and was declared the first place winner.

"He's such a sweetheart." An elderly woman beside me mumbled to herself with a smile as she watched him. I agreed wholeheartedly.

I also wondered if Anna had planned this, but when I asked at the end of the night, she told me that she'd had nothing to do with it. He'd won on his own merit.

For his trouble, Cam received a gift basket that was larger than himself and I had to help him carry it back to our station where we set it on the floor out of the way. Every so often, he would glance down at it, as though it were a child who needed constant attention. Every so often, he was also glance up at me, and smile so wide, that I was convinced his cheeks would be aching before the night ended.

The dough had risen. I was actually pretty amazed by how the small ball of dough had risen to twice its size in the space of an hour. Anna instructed us to punch it in the center, and when some people chuckled thinking it was a joke, she assured him it was not. Of course, I let Cam do the honors, and we watched as his fist broke through the soft ball in amazement.

Who knew that making donuts could actually be fun. Cam watched me as I used a cookie cutter to cut circles in the flatted dough, then I watched him, as he carefully placed them into the hot oil.

The three batches came out perfect, and after we'd sprinkled them with an unhealthy helping on powdered sugar, we ate them right then and there in the room with everyone else; our hands sticky with sugar and our mouths filled with chocolate.

"Okay everybody gather round. We've got fifteen minutes left in our session and I want to take this time out to thank everyone for participating. Before you leave everyone needs to clean their areas of course, but there's one other thing that I'd like for us to do." Anna said.

"We've got three new members here today, and as is our tradition whenever there's a new member, I'd like each person to write something on the strips of paper that will be provided to you." She gestured to the three large empty jars at the front of the class. Each jar had a name pasted to the front of it; Damion, Eleanor and Cam.

"You've just spent almost two hours here with these people so in that time I'm sure there's something that you've observed about them. Feel free to jot down whatever you want to, whether its just a word, a phrase, or a paragraph, on a strip of paper for each person, and place the paper in the corresponding jar."

They proceeded to hand out the strips of paper, and while everyone else began writing, Cam and I cleaned up our area. Cam looked up every once in a while to glance around the room; sometimes he would bite his lip as he watched people write.

"What do you think they're writing about us?" he whispered, and I shrugged.

"Something nice I bet." I told him, but he didn't look so sure.

Twenty minutes later, with our container of fresh donuts, and Cam's gift basket in hand, we made our way towards Anna and Donny, who had come to get her.

"Thanks for this Anna." I said. Her answering smile was warm and welcoming. She handed Cam the jars which he balanced carefully atop the donut container.

"It was really fun." He told her.

"Then you should come back sometime. We do stuff like this all the time. Next week we're doing pottery making." She said. Cam looked at me; a hopeful question in his eyes. Of course I nodded.

"We can come back."

Donny picked up Anna's things and carried them out to the car, and she waved goodbye to her assistants who were tasked to locking up. In the car, Cam babbled all the way home. Even when we stopped at a fast food joint for a few minutes, he talked animatedly about the entire session. I'd made the right call.

"I never thought I'd win. Not in a million years. I still can't believe it Damion." He said. "I never win anything." He was saying as we brought the stuff inside.

The moment we set down everything on the counter, he peeled open his gift basket, and I sat on the stool and watched him. There were non-alcoholic drinks, chocolate, nuts and a wide assortment of foodstuff that would no doubt last him a while.

He carefully packed them away into the cupboards, then sat down with me to eat. As he chewed, his eyes would drift to the jars filled with little notes.

"Are you going to read yours tonight?" he asked.

"Sure. Why not?"

He nodded. "Like what time do you think?" he questioned again.

I plucked the jar with my name on it off the counter and handed it to him. "You can read them if you want."

He was quick to set aside his food, and wipe his fingers clean on the napkin. When he pulled out the first one, he laughed. 'He's a handsome young fella. I bet he gets all the girls.' He read.

"I bet that was the old lady." Cam said, and he read them each in turn, cracking up at some, and always smiling. When the jar was finally empty, he folded them all neatly and put them back in.

"Are you going to read yours now?"

He froze with his hand atop my jar, then slowly shook his head. "Maybe tomorrow." He mumbled, glancing at his untouched jar, and biting his lip.

I nodded. "You should finish your dinner." I told him, and he dug in immediately, but with far less enthusiasm than he'd started out with.

Later than night, somewhere around midnight, I came awake. It could have been because of the heavy rains outside, or the wind rattling the windows, or some other unusual sound around me, but when I woke, the bed beside me was empty.

I sat up and looked around the room; eyes landing on the thin sliver of slight streaming in from under the bathroom door. I listened for a moment, but there was only silence, and then I heard it; a quiet sniffling from the other side of the bathroom door, that had me on my feet in an instant.

I pulled it open without thinking that I should at least knock first; and pause when Cam looked up at me from his seat on the floor by the tub. He had the jar nestled in his lap, and strips of paper spread out around him.

He wiped his eyes with the sleeve of his shirt and sniffled, then he gave me a watery smile.

"They like me Damion ." He whispered, picking up a few of the strips of paper around him, and handing them to me. "They like my hair and my laugh, and my smile and my energy. They said I'm cute and handsome and I even got a phone number. He wiped again at his tears when they spilled over.

"They like me." he whispered, then dipped into the jar for another letter. He opened it without hesitation.

"Of course they like you Cam. You're amazing." I sat on the floor beside him, and every time he read a new one he handed it to me.

"I really want to go back. I really liked it there." He said with a sniffle.

"Then we'll make it a weekly thing."

"I have nice hands." He announced abruptly. "Somebody said I have nice hands. I never noticed it before." He said, turning his hand this way and that; as though it was something completely new to him. I took his hand in mine and twined our fingers together.

"You just don't see yourself clearly. You're perfect." I said, and I hoped he realized that I was being completely sincere. 

                                                                 Author's Notes

*This chapter was inspired by the chocolate-filled donut recipe that I uploaded on my website this week. So if like Cam, you also want to learn how to make these amazing treats, feel free to hop on over to my website pulledfromhercarriage.com.

Thanks for reading and don't forget to follow me here on wattpad @DoUbLeZone

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-DoUbLe.A

-unedited.