A Home for Christmas (6 page)

“You cut your hair.”

“A long time ago, Dad,” Cam said, coming up
behind him.

“Go on back to your room, Son, your mom and I
need to talk.”

“No, sir.  I’m staying right here with Mom.”

Wade rounded on Cam, who took a step closer to
Jenna’s side.

“Wade, you really need to…” She stopped when they
heard tires squeal outside.  Cam crossed over to the front door and opened
it to let Riley in.

“Hey, baby,” he said, coming to Jenna’s
side.  “Wade.”

“Do I know you?”

Riley shrugged.  “You knew my brothers,
Trevor and Aaron Stanton.”

Wade nodded, eyes narrowing.  “Riley
Stanton.  The oldest brother.  Heard you were a SEAL.”

“Guilty.”

“Wade was just leaving, weren’t you?” Jenna cut
in.

Wade’s gaze shifted from Jenna to Riley, then
back to Jenna.

“We need to talk,” he told her.

“So talk.”

“Privately.”

She slid her arm around Riley’s waist, ducking
under his arm. “Anything you need to say to me you can say in front of Riley.”

“Dammit, Jenna, I…”

“Watch your tone, Blackwell,” Riley warned him,
his own tone menacing.

“Now, listen here, I don’t care what your
background is, you can’t come here around
my
family and…”

“We’re not your family!” Cam exploded.  “You
left us!  This is
our
house,
not
yours!  Mom bought
this with her own money and we don’t want you here so get the hell out!”

“Cameron!” Jenna gasped.

Riley, seeing the anger in Wade’s eyes, released
Jenna and stepped in front of Cam when he saw Wade make a move to grab his son.

“You need to go.  Now,” Riley told him.

“You’re not going to tell me what to do regarding
my own family,” Wade seethed.

“We’re not your family!” Cam yelled.  “You
don’t care about us and I don’t want you around.  I’m sick of being your
son!  I don’t even want your stupid name any more!  I hate
you!!!!”  With that parting shot, Cam turned and ran to his room, leaving
the adults in stunned silence.

“What have you done to my boy?” Wade growled at
Jenna.

“What have I?  What did you do last
Saturday, Wade?”

“What?” he asked, clearly taken back by her
question.

“Last Saturday after Thanksgiving.  What did
you do?”

“Nothing.  I was at home.”

She shook her head.  “And that is exactly
why you are losing your son.  It was his last race of the season.  He
won the race and the championship.  He desperately wanted you to be there,
but you told him you had a publicity thing.”

“It was a little race at the local track, not
like he was on the major circuit, which he should be, by the way.” 

Jenna shook her head and turned to look up at
Riley. 

“Will you please see him out?  I’ve got to
go see to my son.”

“With pleasure,” Riley said, scowling down at
Wade.

“Don’t walk away from me, Jenna,” Wade snapped,
which, in front of Riley was a huge mistake. 

Jenna shook her head but left Riley to deal with
her ex and went down the hall to help pick up the pieces of her son’s broken
heart.

Riley really would have liked nothing more than
to have pounded that idiot Blackwell into the ground.  After Jenna walked
down the hall to Cam’s room, some of the bravado Wade had been displaying had
disappeared when faced with Riley on his own.  Jenna probably hadn’t seen
it, but Riley knew that her ex was hyped up on some sort of high, cocaine most
likely.  It hadn’t taken much more than a step forward from Riley to have
Wade turn tail and slink away.  Riley followed him outside and stood in
the driveway, arms folded across his chest until Wade got into his rental and
drove away.

Pulling his phone from his pocket, he decided it
was time to dig a little deeper into Wade Blackwell.  He needed to know if
whatever Wade was into would spill over onto Jenna and Cam in anyway.

"Well, if it isn't Malibu Ken," Colt
Harris' amused voice answered.

“I need your help,” Riley replied, his tone flat.

“Anything, brother, shoot,” Colt said, alerted by
the seriousness in Riley's tone.

“I need you to do an extensive background
check…and I mean
extensive
, extensive.  Financials, the works.”

“Not a problem.  What’s the name?”

“Wade Blackwell.”

“The Motocross guy?” he asked, surprised.

“That’s him.”

“OK…and we’re running him, why?”

Riley sighed.  “Because I’m seeing his
ex-wife and he just showed up at her house hopped up on drugs and being an
ass.”

“Gotcha.  I’ll have it all to you within the
next hour.”

“Thanks, man.”

“You bet.”

He ended his call with Colt, then scrolled
through his contacts to call his cousin, who was a family counselor who
specialized in working with kids.  He had a feeling Cam would need to talk
to someone about all of this.

“Hello, Riley.  Haven’t heard from you in a
while.”

“Hey, Lainey,” he said, feeling his heart rate
calm just hearing her voice.  She had that type effect on people.  “I
need your help.”

***

Jenna found Cam face down on his bed.  She
went in and sat on the side of the bed beside him, placing her hand on his
back.

“Is he gone?”

“Riley just saw him out,” she said softly.

“I hate him.”

“Cameron, look at me,” she said, then waited for
him to turn over before continuing.  “I know that you’re hurt, but you
don’t hate your father.”

“Yes, I do.  He left us.  He doesn’t
care about us so why the hell should we care about him?”

“OK, first, I want you to stop saying hell, you
hear me?  I don’t want you talking like that.  Second, your dad
has
changed; I’m the first to admit that.  But he does love you, Cam.  He
wouldn’t have flown all the way here after your phone call if he didn’t.”

“Don’t make excuses for him, Mom.  He came
because I told him about Riley and he was jealous.  He didn’t want you any
more but he doesn’t want anyone else to have you, either.  Because he’s
selfish.  Now, we have Riley and he’s trying to take Riley away from us,
too.”

“Honey…Riley is –“

“Not going anywhere,” Riley said from the
doorway.  Cam sat up when Riley walked into the room.  “You hear me,
Cam?  Your dad isn’t going to make me go away.  The only people who
can make me leave are you and your mom.  Either one of you say the word,
and, it would suck, but I’d respect your wishes and leave you alone.  But,
I’m telling you right now, even though it’s only been a week, I have no
interest in leaving either one of you.”

Jenna looked up at him and surprised him by
reaching out and grabbing his hand and squeezing it.

“Thank you, Riley,” she whispered.

Cam wiped his forearm over his eyes.  He sat
for a minute looking down at his hands, then his head snapped up and he looked
at Riley.

“I thought you had to work this morning.”

“Had something more important come up.”

“So, do you have to go to work now?”

“No.  Get up and get a shower.  We’re
out of here in about an hour, got me?”

“Yes, sir,” Cam said, standing.

“Hey,” Riley said, making Cam look up at
him.  He held up his fist to do a fist bump with Cam.  “Chill out,
man, it’s all good.  OK?”

Cam nodded.  “Yeah.  OK.”

“Hit the showers,” he said, then took Jenna’s hand
and led her out of Cam’s room and straight through to her bedroom.  He
closed the door behind them then to Jenna’s surprise, backed her into the wall
and sealed his lips over hers. 

Jenna gasped and grasped his forearms.  His
hands were cupping her face, his body pressed against hers so that she could
feel his arousal against her belly.  She became aware of the fact that she
was still in her robe, her very short, very slinky silk nightgown beneath the
robe.

“Riley,” she gasped when he pulled back, his lips
skimming down her neck and pulling on her robe to expose her shoulder.

“So soft,” he whispered, “so pretty.”  He
pulled on the tie to her robe and smoothed it off her shoulders, then stood
back to look at her in her slinky nightie.  “Damn, baby,” he murmured.

She was breathless a moment, stunned by his
onslaught, then reached for him, pulling him into her arms.

“Thank you for coming this morning,” she said
against his ear, running her tongue along the shell of it, causing him to
groan. 

“Nowhere else I’d rather be.  You’re so
beautiful, Jenna,” he said, kissing her, then took a step back from her. 
“Get ready.  We’ll go out and get Cam’s mind off all of this, OK?”

She nodded, “Thank you, Riley.”

***

Riley walked out of her bedroom and found Cam
sitting in the living room, eyes on Jenna’s door.  He knew he had Cam’s
approval so he decided to just play it cool, as if it was natural for him to be
walking out of Jenna’s room.

“What do you feel like doing today?”  Cam
shrugged.  “Look at me, Cam,” he said, then waited for him to
comply.  “It’s OK to be upset.”

“My dad…he’s gotten all caught up in being Wade
Blackwell, the celebrity.  It’s gotten worse every year.  The last
time I was with him at his place in L.A., I spent most of my time with his
agent.  I ended up calling Mom to come get me after just three days. 
Today was the first time I’ve seen him since.  And all that crap he said
about Mom being his wife?  I don’t get that at all.  He cheated on
her and he left her.”

Riley took a deep breath.  He wasn’t sure
how much of what he knew he should tell Cam and even if it was his place, but
he knew he had to say something to help him understand what was going on.

“Did your dad drink around you?”

“What, like beer?”

“Yeah, beer.  Alcohol.”

Cam shrugged.  “Yeah.”

“Have you ever seen him drunk before?”

“A couple of times maybe.”

Riley nodded. “This morning, your dad
was…impaired.”

“Drunk?”

“Not drunk.”

“Stoned?”

“Yes.”

Cam nodded.  “I saw him smoking pot before.”

“What?!” Jenna cried, having heard what they were
talking about.  “When?   Why didn’t you tell me?”

Cam looked up over his shoulder to his
mother.  “Because I didn’t want to tell on him and then not get to see him
again.  Pretty dumb, huh?”

“No, honey.  He’s your dad,” Jenna said,
coming to sit beside him, “but, what he was doing with you around, Cam, that
isn’t cool…and it’s not safe for him.  What if he went out on his bike
with drugs in his system?”

“He wouldn’t do that,” Cam said but Riley could
hear that there was no real conviction behind his voice.

“Come on,” Riley said, standing.  “Let’s get
out of here.  Get our minds on something else."

Jenna kept an eye on Cam on their drive to
wherever Riley was taking them.  He kept his gaze out the window, but she
saw him scrub his forearm over his eyes a few times.  Her heart ached for
him.  She’d long ago made her peace with what had happened between her and
Wade; knew that for Cam’s sake, she had to put all the ugliness behind her and
find a way to get along with her ex because the fact that he was Cam’s father couldn’t
be changed.  Lately, however, Wade had been making supporting him harder
and harder.  After the stunt he pulled this morning, she wasn’t sure she
could forgive him.

As they pulled into Arlington and got closer to
the city center where the Texas Rangers and Dallas Cowboys played, she saw Cam
begin to perk up.  She had a feeling she knew where Riley was taking them
and when he pulled off of the highway her suspicions were confirmed.  She
glanced at his profile and felt a rush of feelings so strong for him she had to
fight the urge to lean over and kiss him.

“We’re going to Six Flags?” Cam asked and she
could hear the excitement in his voice.

“Yep,” Riley confirmed as he pulled into the
entrance.

“Sweet!!”

Jenna couldn’t help it then, she reached across
and grabbed Riley’s hand, smiling at him when he glanced at her.  He
raised her fingers to his lips and winked at her.  This was the perfect
place to bring Cam to take his mind off of the ugliness of the morning. 

The day spent at the theme park was exactly what
the doctor ordered for Cam.  Jenna knew it wouldn’t make the issues with
Wade go away, but as she watched her son laugh and draw closer to Riley, she
knew it was at least what his young heart needed: a day just to unwind and have
fun.  For herself, Six Flags had never been one of her favorite places;
she hated waiting in lines for rides, but with Riley there, waiting in line had
never been more interesting.  He talked about his career and answered
endless questions from Cam, giving him just enough information to keep him
intrigued and engaged but at the same time not really revealing much.  She
noticed that Riley was a really good story-teller, and he even had the people
surrounding them in line hanging on his every word.  Best of all for her,
Riley was turning into a hands-on sort…as in, he constantly made some sort of
contact with her.  Often, he would be massaging her shoulders or neck as
he spoke.  Other times, he played idly with her hair.  Each and every
touch made her crave more and she suspected he knew exactly what he was doing
to her by his constant contact: making himself as important to her as the air
she breathed.

At the end of the day, when they were finally
back home, Jenna hated to see him leave.  Cam had crashed as soon as they
got back home…a home, Jenna had been shocked to find, that had been equipped
with a new security system.  She’d stared wide-eyed while Riley went over
the basics of arming and disarming with her and Cam before Cam went off to
bed.  She’d tried to argue with him over it but Riley had simply kissed
her brow and told her he wasn’t taking any chances with what had happened
earlier that day.  Given that, she kept quiet and concentrated on paying
attention to what he was telling them about it.  Now that Cam was in bed
and it was just the two of them, however, she decided it was time to address
it.

“Riley…the security system –“

He cut her off.  “Not up for
discussion.  I don’t want to worry about you when I’m not here.”

“I understand, and I definitely appreciate it,
don’t get me wrong, but…”

He pulled her close and kissed her.  “No
buts.  These security systems are part of what I do, so I’m not out a lot
of money, just cost of materials, which is my concern, not yours.  Got
it?”

“But, Riley, I don’t…”

He stopped her by pulling her to him and kissing
the ever-living daylights out of her.  Jenna curled a hand around the back
of his neck, burying her fingers in his short, razor cut hair, sighing when he
pulled her even closer.

“I better go,” he murmured, his lips pressed against
her forehead.

Jenna tightened her hold on him.  “I don’t
want you to,” she confessed.

“I know…but with Cam down the hall…”

She looked up at him, touched that he would think
of not wanting to upset Cam. 

“Thank you for today…for everything,” she whispered.

“My pleasure,” he said, making her smile. 
He said that a lot.  “Listen, before I go, I want to give you something to
think about.  My cousin, Lainey, is a family counselor, and she
specializes in helping children through a divorce.  I realize it’s been
five years, but with the way Wade was this morning and the things he’s done
lately…maybe Cam would benefit by seeing her. Would you let her talk to Cam?”

Jenna took a step back from him, studying him. 
She was touched that he would care enough about her son to try to get help for
him.  She knew Lainey Riley to be a gentle, soft-spoken person and wasn’t
surprised that she specialized in helping children.

“I would like that,” she told him.

“OK, I’ll set it up.  This is just another
bump in the road, Jenna. It will all smooth out soon.”