~A~
Cam frowned when the text came through. She had every right to be mad at him. He deserved that. He put his phone away and looked up to study his brothers. He was not at all happy at what he'd been hearing and what he could now observe since he wasn't looking at his phone. "Guys..." He tried once before pursing his lips to give a shrill whistle.
It worked because they fell silent for once.
"Right." He scowled at each of them. "We are going to have to figure something out. Groveling is very high on the list for you four." He pointed at Zack, Tony, Pete and Josh. "It's probably on the list for you too." He told Sam.
"But not you?" Pete scowled.
"I didn't date her." Cam said. "I'm guilty of probably lying to my best friend given that I've been here for most of the month and never bothered to seek her out." He huffed a sigh at the looks they gave him. "Yeah, I'm guilty of that. But I'm also guilty of keeping our cat a secret and for not standing up for her before she left. I should have driven her home and I certainly shouldn't have allowed any of you to say anything to her that sounded angry and that things are all her fault."
"Fair point." Sam nodded. "But what do we do?"
"We weren't lying when we told her we have to talk about things amongst ourselves." Tony said.
"True, but y'all were really angry about it and again, made it sound like she's some lying cheap no-good whore that's been playing y'all for a fool." Cam crossed his arms as there were several angry grumbles that came from his brothers. "Now sit down, shut up and let's talk about some shit." He eyed them all with a raised eyebrow until they'd sat down, crossed their arms and scowled at him like he'd done them wrong.
"Don't call her a whore." Sam glared.
Cam raised his hands in surrender. "I didn't, I said you made it sound like it." He said, calmly.
"She's still the farthest thing from it."
Josh snorted. "Yes, Pete, I'm sure she is." He eyed them.
"Knock it off." Tony said.
"Yeah, it's been five years since I met her." Zack said. "And as best I can remember none of you that dated her, slept with her." They all nodded before looking at Cam.
"I didn't sleep with her either." He was quick to clarify. "But honestly for both Sam and I, you'll need to thank Eiffel for that. She accepts salmon flavored treats as payment."
They looked puzzled. "Trust me, you can thank that cat." Sam said. "No need for us to be swapping stories tonight about it. Cam has a point. We need to talk." He nodded at Cam. "You're in the fun position of being the bestie not the ex. I'm sure that you've managed to glean information about her relationships while you lived together."
Cam nodded. "Right." He nodded, letting his eyes narrow at Zack, who frowned at the attention. "So, brothers... how many of you wanted to kick her first ex boyfriend's ass for dumping her?"
He could probably have been kinder about it but it did manage to relieve the tension in the room for a moment before they all realized they were pissed at Zack and that just lead to a cascading domino effect of the next in line blaming the next in line and so forth and so on.
Cam ran a hand down his face again, rethinking his choices as family lead for their team and wishing he'd stayed in Paris for a brief moment. He let them talk for at least an hour before he had to use the whistle again to bring focus back around. "Guys... we don't have anyone to blame but ourselves. We should have been communicating from the very first relationship. We were actually all here when Zack dated her. Remember we talked about that offer and agreement about her Prom?"
"Oh, right." Pete nodded. "Have you ever heard anything back about that? Don't you still have to pay them back?"
Zack shrugged. "Haven't heard a thing in all this time. I have no idea what that means."
"I'll try to look into things." Josh ran his hand over the back of his head. "I still have notes somewhere about that."
"Thought you scrambled everything." Tony grumbled.
Josh shrugged. "What kind of cyber cop would I be if I didn't still have a file of closely guarded secrets about all of us on a thumb drive?"
Sam smirked. "That does make sense when you think about it. The Academy can tend to deal with secrets with the favors when needed. Granted, that's how your dad used to work. Secrets and threats." He said, pointedly. Josh shuddered.
"No need to go there." Cam quickly interjected. "It's late." He said, glancing at the clock to find it was well after three am. "We should stick a pin in this and redirect tomorrow. It's Sunday and I know you said you have to go visit the bakery tomorrow but if that's the only thing any of us have going on, we need to brainstorm more apology and grand gesture ideas but most of all, we need to get back to who we are as a family." They all nodded. "So if it's at all possible, we should clear our schedules this week for some bonding times. It's been too long since we've thought and acted as a team and we're out of practice."
There was a general murmur of consensus before Sam decided to put it to a vote and everyone agreed that they should clear space and take some days off as needed if they could just so that they'd have the ability to do some training and bonding exercises.
Cam finally had a chance to look at his phone again as they all headed off to their bedrooms to catch some sleep. His heart sank as he read Jessica's message again. He hated the fact that she'd actually verbalized how mad she was at him. He hated that he'd made her mad at all. He attempted to send her a message but it bounced back, telling him that she'd been fed up enough with him that she'd turned her phone off rather than wait around for him to respond.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Sunday Morning...
I woke up, disgruntled and super grumpy.
Apparently, somehow, while sleeping, I'd sent an extremely angry text to Raven, in Russian. I woke up to an apology text from him. He'd taken pity on me and given me several apologies for how rude his pup was to me the night before.
I finally dragged my sorry ass out of bed at the mention in his last text that he'd brought me breakfast and a latte when he and Corey had come over to grab Zack's keys to take his car to my bakery so that I didn't have to do it. I wasn't exactly sure what Zack was planning on doing while on site today but I somewhat hoped, for his sake, that he managed to miss Raven's appearance there or he'd probably find his ass in a sling for disrespecting me after every warning Raven had ever given him.
Professional Russians have to be true to their word.
It was rather frightening to consider the consequences.
I made my way downstairs, finding my mom in the kitchen with her own latte and staring at the sheer volume of food that had been delivered as the apology. "Whoa." I blinked.
"Your Russian certainly cares about making sure you're taken care of." She said, her head tilting to study me while she held out my latte.
"He does care." I said, accepting the cup. "He's also trying to apologize for my disaster of a date last night." I slid onto one of the stools at the bar, pulling a container over to peek inside it.
Yes!
French toast and bacon.
One of my absolute favorites.
"Eat what you want." I said, ignoring the stunned look on her face at what I'd said about my date. "I'll text Sang. I was heading over there for the day so I'll eat and get going quickly so that they can have brunch too."
"You could take it with you." She suggested.
"I'm starving." I said.
"Honey, what happened with your date? I thought it was going to be such a nice night for you to go out with Zack." She took a sip of her drink.
"It was great." I said, nibbling on a strip of bacon. "One of the best dates. Until it wasn't." She started to eat an omelet as she listened to me tell my story.
When I'd finished, she wasn't eating anymore because she was staring at me. Partly because I'd finally fessed up to the fact that my roommate Cam was a Cameron not a Camille. And partly because she couldn't believe that I'd managed to spend the past five years dating my way through an entire Academy team.
"I..." Her mouth opened and closed several times. "Oh, honey, I just don't know how to even process that information." She finally said.
'Me either." I dragged my fork through a puddle of syrup.
"Are you okay?"
I shrugged. "Better than I was last night. Not as great as I was before my date." I finally said. "But I don't have time to think about it right now. I need to go take food to our boys and favorite girls and spend the day drowning my sorrows in baby snuggles."
She smiled. "Oh, yes, that little snugglebug is definitely good at driving away anything that's on your mind. I'll pack the food up again while you get ready."
"Thanks, mom." I slid off my stool, pausing by her when she snagged me and pulled me into a hug.
"It's going to be okay." She murmured before kissing my forehead.
"Sure." I finally said, my eyes meeting hers briefly before I hurried upstairs to get dressed.
I made good time, heading over to the Blackbourne compound. Was it really a compound? No, but they did have a large house on the property and several outbuildings that were used as shops and studios for whatever any of them wanted to do with cars, boats, music or art and they needed space away from anyone else because there were a lot of someones that could get in the way of having anything to consider as alone time.
I dropped the food off in the kitchen before going to find them all in the living room. "Breakfast is here." I smiled.
"Excellent!" Silas grinned as he started the modified stampede of boys... men... exiting the living room and heading to see what was available in the kitchen.
I managed to signal to Kota, North and Sean that I wanted to talk to them for a moment and they stayed behind in the living room when Sang and Owen finally left to join everyone else. "I have questions."
North's eyes squinted at me for a moment. "We'll try to answer...?"
Kota frowned. "Everything okay? I thought you had a date last night?" Sean nodded.
I shook my head before giving a bitter laugh. "Yeah, a date. Sure did. And it was great. You remember Zack?" I kept my eyes on them. "You know, my first boyfriend who somehow managed to be hired by my anonymous corporation to design my bakery building?" They all winced.
"Yes, we remember." Sean said, cautiously.
"Yeah, well my Russian bestie kept telling me that he had the most perfect pup for me to date so surprise, he set me up with Zack. And it was good." I said, my voice lowering slightly on the last sentence because it was. It had honestly been a very, very good date.
Until it wasn't.
"What did he do?" Kota's voice dropped and I noticed he was clenching his hands into fists.
"Oh, not much. Just ... we went to his house so that I could meet his friends. Who apparently are his long time Academy team, by the way." I said. "And they were all there. All the boys I've dated over the past five years. And the roommate I had in Paris. They were all there... his team. My exes."
North actually growled. "What?" I gave him a pointed look.
"That's right. They're a team." I said before throwing my arms out. "Surprise."
"Jess..." Sean's eyes had widened as he studied me. "We didn't..." he shook his head. I raised an eyebrow at him. I studied all of them as their expressions changed to one of confusion instead of anger.
"How? Was I that blind?" I asked before motioning to them. "You're honestly telling me that you knew they were academy but not on the same team as Zack?" I glared at them. "Cam and Sam are on me but really?" I ran my hand through the end of my hair and tugged on it lightly.
"We didn't know, Jess." North finally said. "We knew they were Academy, but we never knew who was on Zack's team and from what we knew, they were basically free agents with no team in town at the time when you were dating them."
Kota nodded. "We had no idea they were still together and had a long-term assignment." He pushed his glasses up nervously as he studied me.
I pursed my lips, finding the earnestness behind their words and tone. I peered at Sean for a long moment until he gave a slight nod. "I guess that's possible." I murmured.
"Ah, Jessie, sweet, sweet, Jessie... it's more than possible." Sean said, getting up and coming over to hug me. "It's the Academy way, honestly. Don't give away much about what's going on."
I hugged him back. "Yeah, I saw that a lot growing up."
He kissed my forehead. "Trust your family." He said. "That's what you're making with all of them, right? A family?"
I shrugged.
Sean laughed. "Girl... you dated all of them. Are you honestly telling me that you haven't, not even once, considered that maybe you wanted to still be with all of them somehow? You've had years to experience how things could work and be happy."
I pushed away from him and studied him. "Yeah, you're right. This may be my family. Not yours and not theirs but my chance to make my family and I have to trust them... just like they have to trust me."
He smiled. "That's right." He agreed. "Trust is the number one building blocks of a good family."
"Sure. I'm just not sure that I trust any of them." I said with a frown.
Their faces fell. "Really?" Kota voiced the question.
"They hurt me last night." I said, blinking back the tears. "Like... like I'd treated them all wrong by dating all of them. It's not like I was dating them at the same time. I mean, Cam was my roommate. We honest to god, never dated, we were just... roommates with a dating sort of benefit scheme. He and Sam knew my history with both of them." I wiped my face. "Cam had to fuckin' pick up the pieces when Sam left Paris. He fucking KNEW that I hated to see the relationship end and he fucking knows how I feel about him."
Sean wrapped me up in a tight hug again and kissed my forehead. "They're just stupid boys, Jessie." He said as I buried my head in his chest and cried. "And they're going to find out how stupid they are. Trust me."
"Please don't kill them." I sniffled before pulling away.
"We won't." Kota reassured me. "They'll just wish that we would." His eyes darkened. "How dare they treat you like that. Especially after that ass let you break up with him after he didn't believe you." He scowled.
The look on North's face was just as dark. "They've had years to grow up." He grumbled.
I laughed. "Like you guys were always smooth with Sang when you were my age." I eyed them. "I have a Professional Russian." I reminded them. "And he loves me and he's just as pissed at them as you are. I'm barely keeping him on a leash, don't you dare take his fun away." I said. "He'll be very upset with you and I can only take him being mad at one set of men in my life."
North's face had paled slightly when I mentioned Raven. "Fine, fine. We'll let them hang themselves with Crow." He muttered before waving a hand.
I laughed and pushed all the way out of Sean's arms. "Thanks. Just maybe keep your ears open. I'm going to be ignoring them as much as it's killing me to do so because Cam brought our cat with him and I want to see my baby but I'm too mad. So if they come to talk to any of you just gather information. Maybe there's some way that I can figure something out about them."
"We will." Kota promised and they all kissed me on the forehead as they left the room to go see what was still available to eat for breakfast.
I went to go join them, pouring myself a cup of coffee before I dug out the containers that I'd brought of baked goods. I'd made sure to include at least something that each of them would eat in the containers, even North. And for Sang, there was an entire container of cookies made with ingredients that were proven to assist with milk production for lactating mothers. And that baby girl of hers was definitely benefiting already from Auntie Jessica's baking.
That baby girl was the best thing in my life right now and I was determined to savor every snuggle.
I settled in a chair, next to Sang, leaning over slightly to rest my head on her shoulder. "Hey, sis." I smiled.
"Hey." She said, tiredly, nibbling on a strip of bacon. "What's up?"
I swallowed and blinked several times before I could form any words. "Everything's messed up." I admitted before shifted and sat up straight before snagging one of the chocolate chip cookies I'd brought.
"Everything?" she raised an eyebrow at me, giving me a suitable side eye at the same time.
"Gah, why do you have to have the ability to mimic Owen so perfectly?"
Luke laughed as he came over, setting a glass of iced tea next to Sang. "Because she's spent so much time with him." He kissed his wife's forehead before dropping a kiss on the top of my head.
A soft cry came over the baby monitor on the buffet in the corner. "Ah, our tiny princess dictator is awake." Nathan smiled.
"I'll go get her." I shot out of my chair before any of the rest of them could move.
They didn't complain, I'd bought breakfast.
I hurried into the nursery, decorated with a Dumbo theme. "Hi pretty little girl." I cooed at my niece before scooping her out of the crib. I made quick work out of changing her diaper and putting her into onesie that I'd bought her that declared her goal was to be as brilliant as her auntie. I cuddled her close, smiling before I sighed softly when I inhaled that baby powdery, new baby smell of Sophia. "We're fine." I nodded, reassuringly as her forehead scrunched up before pressing a gentle kiss to her forehead as she yawned slightly and stretched out in my arms to get comfortable as I took her back downstairs. I reclaimed my spot next to Sang and shuffled Sophia to a better position while seated.
"So what's messed up?" she asked, taking a sip of her tea.
"My date last night was a disaster." I said, softly, glancing around for a moment, relieved that we were basically being ignored by the guys.
"Oh?" she murmured.
I wrinkled my nose at her before launching into the details of a really great second first date with Zack, eventually, not caring that Luke had taken a seat and was listening intently as I told her about how the evening imploded around me in the closing of one front door. "It sucked. And Cam ... god, I feel like an idiot."
Sang reached out and patted my arm. "No, it's not on you, this is all on them. I mean, all you did was date them, just not at the same time. No." She shook her head. "Trust me, I know a lot about juggling men."
I laughed despite not feeling it. "I know you do."
"Except we all knew about each other." Luke said, a thoughtful look on his face. "We just weren't sure how it all fit together and we found out one at a time, really."
"Except you and Gabriel."
"True." Luke nodded. "They may have to talk it out amongst themselves." He said.
"Probably. I'd prefer talking to fighting." I admitted. "Sam and I never really talked about picking up again but he made some comments about maybe moving his business here as a home base so that would somewhat mean he's interested in picking up, right?" They both nodded. "And all the others, except maybe Pete, have told me they're interested in kicking Zack's ass and being with me if we were in Charleston together." I rubbed my forehead. "That's so not fair to Zack." I mumbled.
"Why not Pete?" Sang asked.
"I broke up with him. He wouldn't listen to me when I told him about a teacher at his school. Maybe I was too hasty but he didn't stop me and he never contacted me after so..." I shrugged.
"So maybe they all really are still interested." Luke tilted his head.
"But how do I get them to admit it and not fight about it? I don't want them to fight... they've been a team apparently for longer than I dated any of them. It's been five years right now from start to finish, Zack and I ... went on our second first date right around our five year break up anniversary. I kinda want to kill Raven for that one." I frowned.
"Oh, now that might be fun to watch. Let North know. He'd probably help you." Luke chuckled.
Sophia chose that moment to be fussy so I passed her over to Sang, in case it was one of her mealtimes. "But how do I fix it?"
Sang adjusted herself and helped Sophia as the baby rooted around for her nipple, wanting to nurse. "Well, I guess you have to think about yourself this time." She said. "Are you interested in something with all of them? Do you want to date your way through them again to see how it works out or is there one that you know you'd be with no matter what?" I frowned, not seeing a way to make that work. "Think about that for a while. Don't be hasty with your decision."
"Okay."
"You could always put them through a newlywed game." Luke said.
"What's that?"
"There was this old gameshow where newlyweds answered questions about each other and matching answers got points and the winner got a honeymoon or something." Luke said. "You can probably find it on YouTube."
"So... compile a list of questions and ask them to answer them?" I asked. He nodded. "And the point would be to see how well they know me? After all this time?"
"I mean, yeah." Luke said.
"Cam would win." I said. "We lived together for almost two years. He's gotten the most time with me, how could he not win?"
"But would he be able to describe your prom dress or tell what Raven said when he drove you to prom or talk about concerts or helping you with catering jobs?" Sang asked. "You did different things with each of them. Josh can describe your Halloween costumes and Pete can describe movie marathons or your discussions about your in-depth hatred of Divergent and Twilight. Can Cam?"
"Some things." I said. "But you're right, there's other bits and pieces that the others would be able to answer that he may not. I'll think about it." I nodded. "I'll give them time to try and sort themselves out but maybe by Friday, if I haven't heard from any of them..."
"We could use the diner." Luke said.
"We?" I asked.
"You think we're going to let you have some game night thing like this and not be there? OH, no. we're going to be there, the Toma team would want to be there."
"True..." I frowned.
"So we could close the diner on Saturday afternoon for a private event, provide dinner and snacks ... whatever. Actually have a game night with board games and card games first then have this newlywed/dating game thing." Sang mused as Sophia's little cheeks flexed furiously while she nursed.
"Sounds... interesting." I had to admit, it did sound like a way to have a fun evening with people that I liked. I found myself warming to the idea even as my brain started to list out what I'd want on the dessert bar and other types of snacks we could offer.
"Of course it would be." Luke nodded. "I'll make sure to clear it out first thing tomorrow when I go to the diner. We're doing this. I don't care if they talk to you this week or not but Thursday night you should put them on notice."
"I don't know about that. I'll think about that part, okay?" He rolled his eyes at me but turned back to a conversation that was going on with Victor and Gabriel.
"It would be fun." Sang murmured. "A good way to have a night out for the new mama who has hardly been allowed outside the house for the last month." She pointed out.
"I'll let that weigh heavily on my decision." I said, sipping my coffee and biding my time until the baby had finished eating and I was able to burp her and lay my claim to all the baby snuggles that would be available all day long.