Page 161 of Shamed
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
Jacob
I jog down the last few steps, coming to an abrupt stop in my living room when I see my wife Remi wrapped in my best friend’s arms, wiping away a tear.
She just left me hard and horny upstairs—while smiling, I might add—barely thirty seconds ago, trying to distract me from the sadness of today, just like I had done to her moments before that.
It looks like it didn’t last long.
Iscowl at Campbell. “What did you do?”
I know he did nothing. Remi is upset that I can’t join her and our daughter Poppy on her very first day of school. I’ve tried pretending it’s not tearing my chest open and ripping my heart out, but it is.
We’re all wearing masks of brittle smiles and distractions.
Of all the shit I’ve been through over the years—the pain, the injustice, the fucking torment, being falsely accusedtwice—why does this hurt most?
Probably because Poppy and Remi are my world, and my little girl is sad that I won’t be with her today for something so special and exciting for her.
We thought things might change whenshestarted making public statements about my innocence, telling a different story from all those years ago.
But so far . . . nothing.
Hope is something I gave up on a long time ago, though, so I haven’t put my faith in anything other than my wife and daughter and my current closest friends.
And the fact that I only have two more weeks on the fucking sex offender list.
Campbell forces a grin in my direction as he releases her. “Remi was just telling me how bad you are in bed.”
Trust him to try to lighten the mood with something so crude and ridiculous.
My expression doesn’t even twitch, knowing he’s one-hundred percent wrong, considering she taught me everything I know about the female body, aboutherbody.
“You do remember there are little ears nearby, right?” Remi says, moving to curl her body around my side. I hold her close, breathing in her soothing scent.
Cam grins, his gunmetal eyes crinkling at the sides. “I sent the monkey to eat a banana before I give her a candy, so she didn’t hear shit. Also, brought your mail in.” He drops into the armchair by our front window, flinging an envelope at me as he does.
“I knew you were bribing her to like you.” I scoop up the envelope—that I didn’t catch—off the floor and toss it onto the coffee table without a second thought. Just another bill.
Seconds later, those little ears appear when my daughter runs in, still chewing her banana. She immediately approaches Campbell with her hand out, waiting for the promised candy.
As soon as he drops it into her hand, she turns to leave him again, but he quickly wraps an arm around her waist and slings her over his shoulder while staying seated. “Excuse me, but don’t I get a ‘Thank you, Uncle Cam, you are the best in the whole wide world’?”
Poppy giggles and squirms in his hold. “Thank you!”
“And?” He tickles her.
“And . . .”Giggle. “And my daddy is the best in the whole world.”
My chest warms at my beautiful girl’s words, and somehow, my shredded heart aches just a little less.
Meanwhile, Cam puts on his best wounded look, causing her to giggle even more from her half upside-down position.
“You have your own daughters to be the favorite with,” I comment. Ivy and Isla are older than Poppy, but the three of them love spending time together.
“Speaking of.” Campbell reaches into his pocket after he plops Poppy back onto the ground. “Here. The girls each made you a bracelet to wear today.”
Poppy’s eyes—that match mine in color—double in size, and she immediately grabs them from him, belatedly throwing a thank you over her shoulder as she takes them to the coffee table, then drops to her knees to study them.
