Home | Happy Lowman/OC (Book 1)

four

"Cam, calm down," she tried.

"You lied to me."

"I didn't lie."

"You said you were with Jacquelyn at a tattoo shop. The next thing I know, my friends are calling to tell me they saw pictures of you on social media completely drunk, Jacquelyn hanging all over you on the trash side of town. How do you think that makes me look?" Cameron's voice was filled with the kind of calm rage that made Victoria nervous.

"I didn't plan on going out. It just happened."

Victoria didn't feel prepared to be on the offensive, not after everything Happy had just said, but she had no choice but to try and talk Cameron off the ledge.

"Really, that's your defense? It just happened?"

Victoria's end of the line went silent as she began pacing the bedroom, her eyes landing on a thick, heavy looking ring with the grim reaper molded on the top in silver resting on the bedside table. She came to a stop and sat on the edge of the bed, picked up the ring and slipped it onto her middle finger.

"Victoria?"

She stared down at it. It was far too big for her slender fingers. While staring at he reaper, she wished she could just hang up the phone. The gravity of what she'd done weighed heavily on her shoulders, and she felt like curling up underneath the blankets for the next five to ten business days.

"I'm still here."

"What do you expect me to do here?

"I'm sorry I worried you. I'm sorry I wasn't honest even if it was unintentional." She did her best to tell him what she knew he wanted to hear.

Her tone was dull, the response compliancy driven. She'd learned that sometimes it was better to tell him what he wanted to hear than deal with the fallout of what would come if she didn't.

Victoria didn't know how they'd gotten there. She didn't know how they went from being so happy to being so miserable with each other.

"Meet me at the restaurant in an hour. I have to get back to work." Cameron hung up the phone without saying goodbye.

Victoria tossed the phone on to the fluffy white comforter and snapped her eyes shut, palm squeezing around the ring. Something about the cool metal was grounding. After a moment of deep, calming breaths, she opened her eyes to catch a glimpse of herself in the full length mirror beside the door.

The woman looking back at her was a stranger, one who'd morphed into someone Victoria didn't recognize seemingly overnight. She'd become someone who took orders, who revolved her life around a man who had an entirely separate one from her in his career.

Victoria had given up everything for Cameron and she'd been fool enough to believe she was lucky, that she'd found a successful guy who wanted to take care of her when in reality, she'd given away her freedom on a silver platter.

The fall Tacoma winds whipped through Victoria's hair as she locked her car on the street and headed for The Sound. The restaurant Cameron built from the ground up overlooked a small inlet of water from Puget Sound. It'd always had a cozy, home-like feel for her when she visited, the warmth welcoming her each time like an old friend, but not today.

Most of the walls were filled with floor-to-ceiling windows. One side showcased the twinkling lights of the city at night, the other showed off the view of the water. The ceilings, vaulted, dripped with long strands of white lights, a rain shower of twinkling beauty.