Chapter 35

Walker: It’s happening. Man your stations. My baby is coming.

Linc: I’m pretty sure that my job was to stay away so that the baby doesn’t think I’m her Daddy.

Ari: I’m pretty sure Golden Boy just told his first joke. I’m going to write this down in my diary.

Me: What’s my job again?

Walker: Chicken tenders! You’re going to bring Cain’s chicken tenders because that’s what Olivia has requested for her post-birth meal.

Ari: You know there’s a thing called DoorDash, Disney. You should try it sometime.

Walker: You think I’m going to let some stranger have access to food that my wife is going to eat?

Me: Don’t worry, I’ll bring the chicken, Disney. And I’ll make sure that no strangers have access to it. I’ll watch them at the restaurant like a hawk.

Ari: Hawk and chicken in the same sentence. Fascinating.

Walker: You’re a man above men, Hero.

Walker: Lincoln, on second thought…maybe you should be a second-day visitor. You’ve brought up a valid concern.

Ari: Just because you secretly call him “Daddy” doesn’t mean that the baby will.

Walker: …

Linc: …

Ari: …

Me: …

Walker: I think we’re fine with you visiting on the first day, Lancaster.

Ari:

I heard the elevator ding and I stood up from the couch, eager to see Anastasia. Freya had to bring her back from the studio today because I had a mandatory practice that ended at the same time. I’d fucking missed her every second.

“Hey, baby girl, did you check your texts? There are more pictures of the baby. Walker also said Olivia is begging for chicken strips. We should go pick some up and get to the hospital,” I called as I walked towards the elevators.

Anastasia was stepping out as I got there, her hair still up in a bun and sweatpants pulled up over her leotard. When she didn’t reply, I glanced closer, noticing she had a completely blank look on her face.

I’d never seen her look like this before.

Especially not when I was talking to her about Olivia’s new baby. She was already obsessed with her, and she’d just been born.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, taking a step toward her.

Anastasia took an answering step back.

“Anastasia,” I growled, not liking what was happening.

“Is this true?” she whispered in a trembling voice, holding up a crumpled piece of paper in her hand.

Frowning, I reached out and grabbed the piece of paper, unwrinkling it.

Well, shit.

Call Charlie. You should ask him if your boyfriend got you fired. Maybe he will tell you the truth this time…

I was betting that Michael had struck again.

“Where did you get this from?”

“Linda, from the front office gave it to me as I was leaving the studio.”

Of course, she did. Linda was obviously an idiot. We’d already informed the front office Michael wasn’t allowed anywhere near Anastasia. Linda must want to be fired. Badly.

“Answer me, and don’t lie like you did about the shopping trip and how it came with your sponsorship,” she snapped before I could even open my mouth.

Mmmh, I guess she’d figured that one out.

I sighed, trying to think of what to do.

On the bright side, considering everything I had done to get us to this point, this was honestly the one I was least worried about her finding out.

On the other hand, she was obviously still very upset about it.

Which I didn’t like for us. At all.

“Yes or no. I want to hear you say it.” Her chin was up and her fists were clenched.

“I did have something to do with that,” I finally said, not ashamed of anything I’d done, least of all that.

She slowly closed her eyes, squeezing them like she was trying to hold all of her emotion in. I hated this.

Even without all of the other things Michael had done, I would have destroyed him for this.

“I just don’t understand how you could do that,” she said, a tear sliding down her cheek that felt like a knife in my fucking gut.

“You really can’t?” I asked gently.

My phone buzzed in my pocket as a text came in, and then another. Walker was probably pleading for Olivia’s chicken. The food that Anastasia and I were supposed to deliver—together.

“You were working yourself to the bone, being paid practically nothing. You weren’t listening to reason,” I told her. “You would have worked there until you passed out and they had to scrape your body off the floor.”

She winced at that. “It was still my choice though! You took that away!”

I had taken a lot of choices away from her. But in my defense…she was making a lot of bad ones at that point in time.

My phone buzzed again.

“I want to talk about this with you. We can talk about it all night until you feel better,” I told her softly. “But we should go give Olivia the food she wants. You were really excited about that…remember?”

Her chin lifted even higher, and I sighed because her inner brat had decided to rear her head.

“I think—I think I just need some time to think. Maybe I’ll go back to the studio for a bit.” She held up her hand like she knew what I was thinking. “I’ll bring Freya with me, of course.” She bit down on her lip, shifting on her feet anxiously. “I’m just going to change into some clean dance clothes.”

I rubbed my face tiredly because this next part wasn’t going to be fun.

Following her into the closet, I tried to reason with her one more time. “You’ve been desperate to see the baby. Just come with me and we can talk about this.”

She shook her head. “I’m so mad at you,” she said in a broken voice. “I…I can’t be around you right now.”

I sighed. “Alright, baby girl. I’ll give you some time.” I walked over to try and brush a kiss against her cheek, and she flinched away.

Anastasia obviously wanted to be spanked.

I walked out of the closet and bedroom, and locked the door behind me.

I’d thought it was a construction defect that the lock was put on the wrong way on the master bedroom.

Turns out it was divine providence.

I was halfway down the hall when she realized the door was locked.

“Camden!” she yelled through the door, and I had to take a deep, calming breath to keep walking toward the elevator.

“Here’s your time to get your head on straight,” I called behind me.

She screamed in response.

Then the banging began. She alternated between yelling and hitting the door.

It was fucking awful.

I forced myself on the elevator, locking the floor entry behind me for good measure.

I would give her some time, just like she’d asked, and then she’d understand. And if she didn’t…

I’d spank her until she did.

Anastasia

I sat in the dark hunched over, my back against the door. My voice was hoarse and my hands were tired from beating on the wood.

He’d locked me in the freaking room. Like an errant child. How could he?

Usually, I didn’t like the dark. In the shelter I’d gotten used to sleeping with low overhead lights on at all times. Camden always left the closet light on with the door cracked when we slept.

I guess that was childlike, too.

I groaned as I wiped my eyes. They felt like sandpaper after I’d spent the last hour crying.

And for what?

That was what I was really struggling with as I sat there. Charlie’s had been important to me because it had been a symbol of my independence. It was attached to my fear of not owing something to someone.

Camden was right—I had been working myself to death. I’d been working so hard that I’d been miserable. Now that I was just doing ballet, I was still exhausted, but I was satisfied every day. While I’d been working at Charlie’s, I’d just been exhausted. And it had seemed like no matter how hard I worked, I never got ahead.

I think part of it was how genuine he’d seemed after I told him I was fired. His anger had seemed real. All of his emotions had seemed real.

There’d been no sign that he was the one responsible for it in the first place.

He’d shown he was trustworthy in every other way though, hadn’t he?

Michael was behind the note. I knew he was. This was his goal, to push Camden and I apart, so I’d be alone…and he could get to me. He loved psychological things like this, things that would twist up my insides, make me second guess myself and everyone around me.

I tried to picture what it would have been like over the last few months if I’d still been at Charlie’s.

Misery.

That’s what it would have been like. I still wouldn’t have been making enough to get my own place.

I would have just continued to go…nowhere.

Even my leg had begun to improve since I’d stopped working there. Being able to rest it at night rather than work on it—it had made a huge difference. I’d been able to push much harder as I practiced for the Showcase.

Every day since I’d known him, Camden had wanted what was best for me. He’d just wanted to love and take care of me.

Getting someone fired…that was crazy. I couldn’t deny that. But it had come from a place of love. Right? I could at least be confident in that.

Could I forgive him, knowing that he’d done it because he loved me?

It felt like I could.

My eyes were getting drowsy, and I pushed off the floor and got onto the bed, burying my face in his pillow because even mad at him, I wished he was here.

Eventually, I fell asleep.

I woke to an orgasm, gasping as pleasure surged through my entire body. My eyes flew open to the sight of Camden between my legs, leisurely eating me out.

I wasn’t sure how I’d slept through the start of this, but oh my gosh, it felt so good.

My head fell back into the pillow as my hips began rocking against his face, chasing the high that his mouth was so good at giving me.

“I love you,” he murmured right before he spread my cum all over my asshole and slowly pushed his fingers inside, his tongue pressing on my clit.

“Camden!” I cried out as he stretched my hole, his lips sensually sucking and licking my core at the same time.

This felt like a dream—an incredibly erotic dream—but a dream nonetheless.

“Taste so good, baby girl,” he murmured as my head thrashed from all the nerves he was brushing up against with every thrust of his fingers.

“Come, Anastasia,” Camden growled, and I screamed as another orgasm burst through me, goosebumps exploding across my skin as he continued to finger fuck me through my pleasure.

My breath was coming out in frantic pants as he pulled his fingers out and slipped off the bed, walking to the bathroom.

I was faintly aware of the sound of running water, my eyes growing heavy again.

I was so tired.

“Go to sleep, little dancer,” he whispered when he returned, pulling me onto his chest. I buried my face in his neck and breathed him in, and once again, I slept.