For the Love of Gracie (30 page)

He nodded. 

"That reminds me.  The night you came to the house, when you slept over, you told me that I should meet your brother.  I asked if you were trying to hook me up and you acted totally offended at the thought.  What was that about?" 

He shook his head. "You really have to ask?"

I nodded and he replied, "I wanted you for myself, Gracie.  I certainly didn’t want my brother to get a shot at you." 

I nodded. "I took it as you didn’t think I was good enough for your brother." 

He stroked my face. "I'm sorry I made you think that, I had no idea it came off that way."

I shied away. "It's okay now.  It's not something that stuck with me. I was just reminded of it today is all."

Chapter Twenty-Four

Cameron knocked as he walked in the room.  "Hey, Ash. How are you feeling man?  I came to see if I could give Gracie a ride home." 

I sat up. "I'm not leaving here. I'll spend the night." 

Ash grabbed my hand. "Go home, get a shower and some rest. Pack a bag and come up here in a few hours.  How does that sound?" 

I began to argue, he stopped me. "For me, please?"  When I agreed, he turned to Cameron. "Thanks Cam for taking care of our girl."

Reluctantly, I left with Cameron.  I promised Ashton I'd be back in three hours at the most.  I wanted to take a short nap.

Cameron agreed to sit with me while I slept.  "Can I get on your computer?" 

As I changed into more comfortable clothes, I said, "Uh huh."  I slipped into a t-shirt and curled up under my down comforter.

Cameron sat down at the computer to play games.  He knew I couldn't rest lately without someone nearby, at all times. 

I heard him mutter, “What is this?” Then he turned to me and said, “Gracie, you FREAK! Is that Ash’s bedroom?”

I sat up to see what he was laughing about.

There was a screen open on the desktop that showed a view of a bedroom with a smaller box that showed a view of the back of Cameron’s head currently.

“What is that?”

He smirked. “As if you didn’t know, you harlot! You need to turn the webcam off once in a while, so it doesn’t make your computer run so slow. How often do you and Ashton have webcam sex? Girl you're giving me a run for my freak of the year award!"

I walked over to look closer. “Cam, I’ve never used the webcam in my life…” I peered closer and froze. “If that's on, that means the person over there can see me? Anytime they want?”

He nodded. “Basically, if you have it on.  It was minimized on the desktop but it's still on.”

I freaked out loudly. “Turn it off!”

His face paled. “What is up with you?”

I pointed at the screen. “That's Hudson’s room!” Cameron turned back to look and immediately closed the program. “Is there any way to tell how long that has been active? Do you think he did it the day he attacked Mary Jane?”

Cameron began fiddling with the computer again. He went into properties for the webcam and found that the last access date had been months ago. “I don’t understand. He’s never been in my room?”

Cameron seemed deep in thought. Suddenly he smacked his head. “That night that we played cards. You were on the porch with Ashton. Hudson went upstairs to use the bathroom.”

My chest tightened, my lungs constricted, I couldn’t find the air I needed to breathe.

"That was at least seven months ago, Cam!"  I paced the room, my arms crossed over my chest.

Cameron continued to fiddle with the computer.  "That son of a bitch has probably been taping you. Dammit.  That's probably why he went after Ash.  He may have seen you two on this recently and realized he isn’t gay.  Probably assumed you were playing him this entire time." 

I tugged my jeans back on.  "Take me back to the hospital, now!" 

When we arrived at the hospital, I ran to Ash's room.  He was sleeping peacefully.  I sighed with relief. 

Cameron put his hand on my shoulder. "See, he's fine.  Do you want me to stay?"

I shook my head. "No, I'm fine. Come by in the morning?"

He nodded and kissed me on the lips.  "Love you, girl."  I gave the best smile I could manage at the moment. "Me too." 

I sat in the chair watching Ashton sleep.  As tired as I was, I felt safer here than I did in my own home now.  The idea of Hudson watching me on the webcam made me never want to go back there again.  I wanted to burn my computer as assurance that it wasn’t still on. 

How could I have been with Hudson for so long and not have known what a sick person he was?  My mind went over the past few months and what all he might have seen,
all the intimate moments with Ashton and the simple things like getting dressed. 

I shuddered from the creep factor of it all and decided I needed to take my mind off things.  Pulling my Kindle out of my purse, I decided to lose myself in a good book.

After a bit, I fell asleep.  Ashton's voice woke me up, "Gracie?" 

I opened my eyes and stretched. "Good…um…what time is it? Morning…afternoon?"

He glanced at his watch on the table next to him. "Late evening.  Did you go home and rest?" 

"Not really." Standing up, I stretched my body fully and moved to stand beside the bed.  "Cameron discovered something.  I need you to be calm. Can you promise me that?" 

He shifted. "That makes me nervous." 

Grasping his hand, I said, "Cameron was playing on my computer and found my webcam was on.  He thought you and I were doing naughty things on it." 

He grinned. "Doesn’t sound like the worst idea."  I would've laughed if I hadn’t been so scared.

He noticed my anxiety. "Bug, what is it?" 

I squeezed his hand. "The other end of the webcam looked into Hudson's room." 

He shot straight up and cringed in pain from the sudden movement. I pressed his shoulders down and begged, "Please calm down, baby." 

His head fell back to the pillow. "Damn him! When I get out of here I want you to pack your bags and move in with me." 

I shook my head. "I can't leave Mary Jane and Angel there. It isn’t fair to put them in danger."

"They can come to the house as well.  I'll protect all of you.  I'm going to talk to Derrick about taking you to the gun range for me too." 

I cringed. "I'm terrified of guns, Ash. I'm not sure I want to touch one." 

Ashton replied, "Derrick can teach you to not be afraid of them. You need to learn to protect yourself, Gracie.  Hudson is dangerous."

I kissed his cheek. "I'll do it, for you.  I'm going to move to the chair though so we can sleep."  His lip jutted out in a pout, I leaned down to kiss it.  "I'll be right over there." I pointed to the chair beside the bed. 

He sighed. "Not close enough. Hopefully we'll be in our own bed tomorrow night."

I smiled. "Our bed, I like how that sounds." 

Ashton fell asleep first.  I could sleep anywhere, but my mind was racing. 

Cameron texted to check in on me. 
Did you talk to Ash?
 

I responded,
Yep, he's worried about me.  Wants me to get protection.

Cameron responded,
He's thinking about condoms at a time like this???
 

I laughed quietly,
Is sex the only thing you think about?

He responded,
Uh, yeah!
 

I snickered and texted,
Don’t forget, come see me in the morning.

He replied,
Definitely. Goodnight Gracie.

I was not sure of when I drifted off.  A gentle shake woke me the next morning.  My eyes were fuzzy at first, I glanced up to Ash's face over me. "Ash? What are you doing out of bed?"

He chuckled as I rubbed my eyes and yawned.  When my vision cleared, I realized it was Derrick. "Oh, sorry Derrick. Good Morning." 

His head jerked toward Ash. "How's he doing?"

I moved to sit on the edge of the bed with Ash to give Derrick a seat.  "He's good.  He's ready to go home." I motioned to the seat for him and he nodded in acceptance.

"Tell me how your dinner with Mary Jane went," I said. 

He grinned, pink filling his cheeks. "It was great. I let Katelyn pick the place, so we ended up at Chuck E Cheese.  MJ played with Katie the entire time.  When she wanted to play in the ball pit, I talked to MJ a bit while we watched.  She's such a sweetheart. I'd like to take her on a real date." 

I cheered quietly. "I'm so glad you hit it off.  When you decide the night, let Ash and I babysit for you. I'd love to get to know Katelyn." 

He nodded. "It's a deal."

I jumped when I felt a hand graze my hip.  Ashton snickered. "Sorry, bug.  Good morning." 

I leaned down to give him a kiss.  "Good morning.  Derrick's here.  I'll give you two a few minutes alone.  I'm going to get some coffee," I said, as I yawned again.

As
I turned to leave, I exclaimed, "Cameron! Just in time, come with me to get coffee, babe." 

Cameron held the door for me. "I heard Derrick and MJ went out?"  We walked down the hall to the cafeteria. 

"Well they ate together, not a date yet, Katelyn was there.  He did say he wants to ask her out, though."  Cameron turned his hand and patted himself on the back. "What the heck was that?" I asked. 

"Patting myself on the back, for bringing Ashton into your life, which in turn brought Derrick into MJ's." 

If only he'd told me Ash wasn’t gay, we might not have been here right now.  No, I couldn’t blame Cameron, because I could have asked Ashton at any time. It still hurt to know this could have been avoided if I didn’t have so many insecurities.

"Do we have a few minutes?" Cameron asked. 

"Yeah, sure.  What's up?" 

He pointed at a booth and we sat to chat.  He sighed heavily. "I have missed our talks so much, Gracie." 

I grabbed his hand on the table.  "Me too. I'm sorry things have been hectic lately." 

Cameron squeezed my hand. "You've been trying to get your life together, with Ash.  I'm happy for you.  I wish that ass, Hudson, hadn't made your life hell." 

Regretfully, I stated, "You and me both.  I'm to blame for most of that, I know." 

Cameron's mouth opened to argue. 

I continued, "I don’t mean the rape or the beating.  I knew something was off with Hudson and I ignored it.  I knew that I didn’t care for him and he was possessive and jealous all the time.  I should've broken it off with him sooner." 

"Enough about me. What did you want to talk about, Cameron?" 

His face lit up. "Oh yeah! I need advice. Gavin wants to move in together." 

I clapped excitedly. "Duh, say yes!" 

He sighed. "I want to, Gracie."  

I waited, he said nothing.  After a moment, I inquired, "But?"  He shook his head. "But…I'm not sure I'm ready for that kind of commitment." 

I switched to his side of the booth and put my arm around his shoulder.  I tipped his chin upward with my index finger.

"Cam, Gavin makes you happier than I've ever seen you.  What could be wrong with moving in with him?" 

He sighed. "Me.  I'm afraid I'll ruin everything." 

I kissed his cheek. "You're amazing, Cameron.  Don't wait like I did.  Grab your man and the life you want.  Not only are you lucky to have Gavin, but he is lucky to land someone as wonderful as you." 

He pulled me into a hug. "Now will you help me move?" 

I hissed. "Ooh, sorry, I'm busy that day."  I winked at him, he hugged me tighter. 

"Anything else you want to talk about before we go back?" I asked. 

Cameron smiled. "When are you going to move in with Ashton?" 

I shrugged. "I'm not sure. He wants me to move in right away after the webcam discovery. I'm worried about Angel and Mary Jane living there though."

Cameron gave me a stern look. "Gracie Walker, you better not even think about not moving in with that man. He's freaking amazing, in every way." 

I laughed. "I know that. I'm not planning on letting him go.  I'd be an idiot to do that. We both know I've been an idiot in the past. I'd like to think I've grown and matured." 

He snickered. "I don’t know about matured."  I shoved him playfully and leaned into a hug.

The next few days were pretty repetitive.  I slept in the chair beside Ash. Derrick, Cameron and Gavin took turns coming to keep us both company or to give me a chance to leave to freshen up.  We were hoping today was the day Ash would get to go home.  It'd been almost a week since he'd been admitted.

Cameron and I went to grab a cup of coffee.  I was really tired of the hospital cafeteria's idea of java.  While Cameron was telling me about his latest shopping spree, Derrick walked up to the booth and slid in the opposite side from us.  I sat up with worry. "Is Ash okay?"