Maddie
Watching Cameron make these little kid's days made me fall in love with him all over again. He was so good with them. This one kid Tyler, who was nine, made an arts and crafts project in the hospital to give to him. It was a tiny origami airplane, and Cam seemed to be speechless, blinking away tears as he took a picture with him.
I made sure to stand to the side to let the kids have one on one time with him, dabbing repeatedly with tissue to capture tears of my own. I'm so damn proud of Cam and everything that he's accomplished. He's living out everything he's ever dreamed of, and it makes my heart grow twice the size.
Cam is still holding the tiny plane when the meet and greets are done, shaking it gently to show it off as he approaches me. "Best part of the job," he says, and I can tell he truly means it. "It makes me miss Iz."
I picture Izzy's chubby little cheeks, her hands stretched out to me like they always seem to do. "I miss her too. We should face time her when we get back in the car. Hopefully, she's not asleep yet."
He takes my hand and sends me a sideways grin. "There's a side entrance by the way that I found out about," he tells me. "No paparazzi."
I'm desperate to leave and go home with him. After tonight's events, I'm drained, but it doesn't surprise me when we run into Katie again. She's tiny and cute, and as always I can't help but compare myself to her. After she called me fat all those years ago it still seems to linger in my head. I was told never to use this word growing up, but I hate the girl. I despise her. She ruined everything between Cam and me to the point where we weren't sure if we'd be able to fix things. We still aren't sure.
We both try to ignore her, but she strolls right over and puts her hand on Cam's arm. I narrow my eyes intensely, relaxing slightly when he pulls out of her grasp.
"I don't know how I forgot to mention it earlier..." she trails off mischievously. "But I couldn't leave without saying congratulations on the baby."
Maddie, calm down. I inwardly say. Control yourself.
"Are you sure she's yours?" She asks.
Just like that, all of the anger that's been circulating through my body settles into a horrifyingly calm manner. I'm not shaking, I'm not outraged, instead I just gently reach up to take out one of my diamond earrings.
Cam isn't saying anything at first, mainly because I think he knows I've reached my breaking point. He instantly turns towards me though after he sees what I'm doing, panic striking his face. "Mads, she's not worth it," he repeats. "Come on, our car is almost here."
I don't listen to him as I take out my other earring, slapping them both down into Cam's large palm. Almost instantly the expression on Katie's face has changed, her once smug grin beginning to falter.
"What?" I laugh. "Cat's got your tongue now?"
This is a private exit. There's no paparazzi around, and before I even think twice about it I lunge towards her, my fist colliding with her jaw. I hear her shriek out in pain, a gasp emitting from her mouth as her hand flies to the spot that I just hit.
There are other famous people around, and I'm sure they all think I'm a crazy bitch, but this girl has had it coming for a long time. She almost ruined our lives, and I'm not just going to let her get away with it.
Once I start I can't seem to stop. I'm seeing red, nostrils flaring and my face hot as I grab her by her hair and she cries out in pain again. "Oh my god, stop!" She shrieks. "You psychotic bitch!"
"I'm the psychotic bitch?" I seethe and tug her hair harder. "Are you fucking joking?"
With another tug, I'm suddenly holding part of her extension in my hand. I'm too angry to laugh, but once she realizes that she's free of my grasp she begins to run down the sidewalk.
Oh, no.
She's not getting away that easily.
I flee after her, slipping off my heels in the process as Cam calls after me. I can't be certain, but he almost seems amused.
For all of the working out that Katie doesn't shut the fuck up about she sure is slow as hell at running. I catch up to her within seconds, tackling her down onto the pavement.
"You ruined everything!" I scream, decking her not once, but twice in the mouth again. "You stupid fucking bitch!"
"Mads!" Cam says more seriously, his arms coming around my body to pull me off of her. My entire body is shaking, and I'm still shouting a bunch of obscenities at her as he tightens his grip.
There's another voice shouting at us, and it doesn't take me long to piece two and two together on who it is. A male dressed in a pinstripe suit rushes to Katie's side, crouching down beside her on the pavement. His eyes are blazing with fury when his stare hardens on Cameron.
"What the hell is going on, Holden?"
Katie's got a bloody nose and a couple of scratches visible on her face. There's no permanent damage, but in my opinion, she deserved it. I don't feel bad for her whatsoever, and I don't think Cameron does either, but this is his previous coach. He's not going to blatantly be disrespectful to her in front of him, and neither am I.
"There are some things I think you need to talk to your daughter about." Cameron clears his throat, my heels dangling from his fingertips before he looks at Katie again. "If you don't tell him tonight then I will. I'll call you this weekend, coach."
"To hell with that!" He roars. "You think I'm not going to press charges against your little girlfriend?"
"Dad, just stop." Katie sniffles and wipes away tears with the back of her hand. This is the first I think I'm seeing actual sincerity from her. "I'll explain later, okay? Just not now. I don't want to cause a scene."
I highly doubt she wants to get the cops involved because she sure as hell knows what would be coming her way. I think her dad realizes that she might be in the wrong too because he helps her to her feet without saying anything else, and my body is still so high on adrenaline that my chest is heaving up and down, ready to go for round two if she asks for it.
She doesn't, though. Instead, she turns her back towards us and lets her father walk her to the car, leaving Cameron and me alone on the street.
I'm jittery. Almost like I'm about to go on stage in front of an audience of hundreds of people. Cameron is silent as he stares at me, and I almost begin to think he's pissed until a wide grin spreads across his face.
"What the hell was that, Maddie?" He erupts into a fit of laughter, unable to control himself. Tears stream down his cheeks, his hands clutching onto his sides as he plays back the last five minutes. "Who the hell was that? It sure as hell wasn't my-" and then he stops himself, unsure of what to call me. "Were you a boxer in your past life?"
"Shut up." I stick my tongue out at him, my anger diminishing just slightly. "She had it coming for her."
"I know, but still." He chuckles and swoops me into his arms in one swift motion since I'm barefoot, grabbing my hand to inspect the damage. My knuckles are cracked open, blood oozing out of them. It's only then that I realize I got blood on the dress too.
"Oh, fuck," I mutter. "I am so sorry. This is Chanel."
He raises a thick, perfect brow up. "You think that's what I'm concerned about right now?"
We slide together inside the car, finally surrounded by silence. Tonight has been insane, but truthfully I don't regret tackling Katie. She needed to be humbled, and for this man, I'd do it all again.
I rest my head on his shoulder, glancing up at his chiseled features. From the defined jawline to the slight stubble on his chin from not shaving, to those emerald eyes... Hell yeah. I'd do it again in a heartbeat.
"You know I love you, right?" I ask, and again, I'm rewarded with that cheesy laugh of his. The laugh that I know means he's about to say something stupid.
"I don't think I can question that ever again after tonight since you practically killed that girl. You went fucking rocky on her ass. Not that she didn't deserve it, but damn, baby. You were a bad ass."
After a few seconds, I find myself laughing too, so grateful that he's able to bring me to a state of relaxation within minutes. "I did get her pretty good, huh?" And then I analyze my knuckles, letting out a sigh. "She just kept saying all of these slick comments, and I was tired of her thinking she could get away with it."
"I'm not mad," he reiterates because he can clearly tell that I need to hear it again. "I'm actually impressed more than anything. Is it bad that watching you pummel her turned me on?"
"Kind of." I laugh softly, leaning up to kiss his cheek. "Should we FaceTime Iz?"
"Let's get you cleaned up first when we get home," he says, and almost as if I forgot, he clutches onto my hand again. "Then we can FaceTime baby girl, and then..." He leans down and places a kiss to my earlobe, smiling against my skin. "I want you to take out all of that anger you had for Katie earlier on me."
"Oh yeah?" I tease, and instantly I feel his hand rub circles on the silk of my dress. "Can you handle that?"
"Oh, baby..." he mutters huskily, his voice speaking the nickname with so much seduction that my stomach does complete flips. "Believe me when I say that I am fully equipped to handle you."