"What's going on?" Aubrey asked, sensing the tension. He put the takeout bag on the counter, took Alijah out of his car seat and held him. Julianna and Camilla exchanged awkward looks.
"Tell him why you want to go to Jamaica" Julianna said. Camilla remained silent, washing her hands and preparing to take the baby from Aubrey. Aubrey raised his eyebrow, seeming very confused.
"I'm not talking about this right now" Camilla calmly said, taking Alijah from Aubrey. "Hi baby, you had fun with grandma? I bet you did" she smiled at him.
"I'm not trying to attack you, you know I always want the best for you"
"Yes! And I'm grateful for that but this ambush isn't going to help me. You didn't even ask me how I'm feeling, you're assuming I'm going off the rails. I've had glass removed from my footbottom, I had my mugshot taken-" Camilla calmed herself down when Aubrey, placed a comforting arm around her.
"Relax, alright? Go sit with the baby and I'll come talk to you in a second" Aubrey kissed her on the forehead, leaving her to walk off into their bedroom. "What's the issue with going to Jamaica, aside from the obvious?"
"She's been in an altercation like this, about six months before you came out of jail, just one that nearly meant she could've gone to jail, the girl was paid off by Shane and we never spoke about it again. I worry she'll go off the rails again" Julianna frowned, picking her keys off of the counter.
"I understand what you're saying, but I feel like you've gotta give her more credit than you are now. That was, what? Nearly 4 years ago? She knows what she has at stake in her life, this was just a bump in the road"
"Everytime she has a bump, she cannot do something like this. I'm getting older, life is catching up to me and things are changing, I need to make sure that when I'm gone my daughter is going to be living life how I want her to. I don't want her to be in trouble"
Aubrey furrowed his eyebrows, something about the way Julianna worded her response concerned him. What did she mean by things are changing? And life was catching up to her?
He felt it was best to avoid pressing the issue heavily with her given the fact that despite being family, she wasn't going to confide in him if something was going on.
"Life is catching up on you?" Aubrey asked, watching her facial movements to see if they would give away her feelings.
"I just mean I'm not always going to be able to fix things for her. She just needs to keep herself out of trouble. I know you'll help her, but she's not a child, she needs to make better decisions. She's an adult"
"She's still learning and growing as a person, same way I am and the same way every other person is. But I will definitely fix this situation, trust me" Aubrey cleared his throat as his sentence trailed off. Julianna immediately knew what that meant, but she too wasn't ready to ask questions.
"I know you will, only thing I ask is that you fix it in a way that doesn't land you or Camilla in jail" Julianna gave him a stern look.
"That would never be the plan" Aubrey shrugged. "We won't go to Jamaica, we were never going to, I knew Camilla was speaking on impulse so I went with it. I'll fix this"
Aubrey let Julianna see herself out before entering his and Camilla's bedroom. He stood outside of the door, contemplating what he was saying before entering. A few hours had passed, Camilla was now in a more idyllic mood. Aubrey had left her to eat, shower, along with speak to her mother while he and Alijah did the same.
"Does mama look scary? Yeah? Because mama had to fight this girl, like this" Camilla was playing with Alijah, taking his little hands and pretending that he was slapping her to make him smile. He still hadn't laughed yet, but that was the milestone she was waiting for him to reach.
"You're about to laugh, I know you are" Aubrey chuckled, looking down at Alijah who was smiling largely before a short giggle came out. "See, I knew it"
"My funny baby" Camilla kissed Alijah all over.
"You wanna go for a drive?" Aubrey asked Camilla, looking at his phone screen for a brief moment allowing a short grin to appear on his face.
"What are you up to, Aubrey?" Camilla put her hand on her hip and furrowed her eyebrows.
"Nothing" he wrapped his hand around waist, pulling her into his chest.
"Aubrey..." Camilla folded her arms.
"I know what hospital and room Gwen is in, I'm gonna go there and tell her not to press charges. That's it" Aubrey confessed.
"Tell daddy that he's crazy" Camilla lightly bounced Alijah up and down on her hip. Alijah waved his tiny hands up and down, making Camilla and Aubrey laugh.
"Last time you were supposed to speak to her, she nearly cost you your marriage" Camilla thought to herself.
"C, just let me fix this"
"I just don't want you to get in trouble" Camilla looked down at Alijah for a moment, clearly worried about what would happen next.
"I won't, and neither will you. I'll fix this, I promise"
-
Aubrey stood outside of Gwen's hospital room, staring at her through the clear window then entering the room. Her face was bruised and battered, but aside from that she appeared to be in good health.
"How are you feeling?" Aubrey said, standing at the foot of the bed. Gwens eyes shot open as she heard his voice.
"What are you doing here?" Gwen seemed to be in a state of panic.
"Just here to talk to you, I heard about the incident so I came to see what's going on" Aubrey looked around the room before focusing his attention on her.
"I hope you know that I'm pressing charges" Gwen scoffed.
"Why would you want to do that?" Aubrey folded his arms.
"She attacked me, that's assault"
"You fought her back, you weren't attacked"
"You weren't even there! You're going to say and do anything to defend that-" she stopped herself.
"Good decision" Aubrey chuckled. "Pressing charges is unnecessary. What do you want Gwen?-"
"I want her to suffer for what she did, I'm not taking anything from you. Both of you have brought so much distress to my life and your child would probably be better off without the pair of you" Gwen said, making Aubrey's eyes widen with disbelief.
"Now I'm gonna leave before I do some shit that'll lead me to go to jail; but before I do, let me tell you something as long as I'm here, Camilla and my son will never have to suffer. If I have to hurt you and those you love for you to understand how serious I am, I will. So go ahead, but you don't know what you've started" Aubrey glared at her.
"Don't threaten me, that's not going to make me refuse to press charges"
"We'll see" he shook his head at her, laughing. Gwen's face grew distressed, she seemed to be uncomfortable and afraid. Aubrey was met on his way out by a man, whom he'd never met before.
"Who was that?" Aubrey heard the man say as he exited the room.
Aubrey walked back to his car, Camilla was sat in the passenger seat and Alijah at the back in his car seat. He kept quiet as he drove, trying to keep his anger in tact based on what Gwen had said.
"What happened?" Camilla asked.
"She said some shit that pissed me off, now I gotta do something I didn't want to"
"Aubrey, don't do anything you'll regret"
"I won't" Aubrey clenched his jaw, pulling out his phone as they approached a red light and sending a text message Baka.
"What did she say?"
"I don't even wanna get into this right now" Aubrey muttered.
"Tell me" Camilla furrowed her eyebrows.
"She said she wants you to suffer for what you did, we brought distress to her life and Alijah would be better off without us" Aubrey spoke with nothing but pure disdain and aggression when he reiterated what she said.
Camilla raised her eyebrows and licked her bottom lip, fighting back what she wanted to say.
"Just do what you gotta do, don't get in a trouble" Camilla cleared her throat. Aubrey gave her a brief look, nodding at her and continuing to drive as he calmed himself down.
"Let's go" he muttered, getting out the car and opening Camilla's door before taking Alijah out of his car seat and holding him.
"Why are we here?" Camilla looked round at the large area land. There were construction workers all around carrying out measurements and putting up wooden forms.
"You can't see it now, but in about 8 months time, we're gonna be living here" Aubrey said.
"What?" Camilla laughed, clearly amused but still puzzled in regards to what he was talking about. Aubrey shook his head, chuckling as he walked back over to the driver side and took out a folded piece of paper in the glove compartment.
"Read this, if you still don't understand then ask questions" he joked, handing her the paper and giving her a minute to process it while he played with the baby.
Camilla skimmed her eyes across the paper before reaching to a halt and looking up at him.
Aubrey had found a place for them build their family home. He'd spent time with a contractor and finalised the details. In some way this was his way of trying to fix his wrongdoing, it was just the start of his process of rebuilding Camilla's trust in him.
Camilla squealed loudly, hugging Aubrey and planting a long kiss on his lips.
- authors note: -
Hi guys lol, I'll be revealing who killed Lorenzo in book 2. You'll get a hint at the end of this book, but essentially book 2 gets crazy and you'll see a lot of things come to light.
Thanks again for all your support!
Xo