Page 6 of Flawless

Chapter Three

Rylee

My mama was as difficult and ornery as I remembered, which is why I’d made the decision to stop visiting her three years ago, when my career took off. I was tired of being torn down, blamed and shamed by her. I just wanted to break free. And sitting by her bedside, while she complained about everything from the doctors to the prison system and the food, I was grateful I’d made the choice I had.

I’d fought hard to make my way out of the darkness and I didn’t want to get pulled back into that pit of despair with her.

“Where’d your boyfriend go?” she asked, glaring at me.

“He’s not my boyfriend. He’s just a friend, Mama. Like I told you. And he went to get us some ‘real food’ because you wouldn’t stop complaining about hospital food.”

“You’d think a dying woman could at least get a decent meal.”

“You’re not dying. You’re going to be fine.” They told us they would monitor her for twenty-four hours, provide medication, and worst-case scenario she would need an angioplasty with a stent.

“Easy for you to say.” She snorted, rolling her eyes at me. “Look at you, all young and beautiful. Thinkin’ you’ve got the world by the tail just ‘cause you’ve got some big contract with a record label now.”

I’d signed with Spencer Records just before my last visit to the prison. When I told my mama my dream had finally come true, she laughed in my face, and told me no one would pay to hear me sing. That’s when I decided I couldn’t claim the future I wanted as long as the past still had me in its grip.

“What’s your boyfriend do?”

I knew there was no point reminding her, for a third time, that Cam wasn’t my boyfriend, so I said, “He’s a Sheriff in Oklahoma.”

“Figures. You always did have a thing for pigs.”

There had been one particular officer who’d come to our crappy little apartment when I was a kid, to do wellness checks on me after my mama had been reported for leaving me alone. He’d been so kind, and for the first time I’d felt like someone cared. He made me feel safe. And ever since then I’d had a weakness for men with a badge.

Cam walked in with a bag of take-out food. His eyes swept over me, like he was trying to assess if I was alright, and I could have sworn my heart cracked wide open. Why, did this man who barely knew me, care so much?

He barely spared a glance at my mama as he set the sandwich she’d demanded on the tray in front of her, along with a bottled water, before he held up the paper bag and said to me, “Let’s step outside for a minute. Get some fresh air while we eat this.”

I didn’t know how he could tell I needed a break from her, but I was grateful for the suggestion. “Mama, we’ll be back in a few minutes.”

“I don’t know why the hell you’re comin’ back at all. Where were ya the last three years? Oh, that’s right, you were off gettin’ rich while your poor old mama rotted away in some jail cell. Hope you slept real well at night, knowin’ I⁠—”

Cam didn’t let her finish as he ushered me out of the room. “Man, she’s a piece of work, Rylee,” he said, as soon as he’d closed the door to her room. “I pity those doctors, having to deal with her.”

I waited until we were outside, claiming a bench a short walk from the Emergency entrance before I said, “Thanks for coming with me tonight. You were right, I didn’t have it in me to do this alone.” After Eden’s abduction, my nervous system had been out of whack, causing the ‘fight-or-flight’ to get stuck.

Cam withdrew two 2:17 Special sandwiches from Duke’s, along with bottled waters and I could have kissed him. I’d barely eaten since noon, and didn’t realize how hungry I was.

“Thanks,” I said, before digging in. “Hmm, this is so good. You’re not even a local boy. How’d you know about this?”

He chuckled. “I’ve visited Nashville with buddies a lot over the years, to hear my sister play. You learn the lay of the land pretty quick when you’re bar-hopping.”

“I can’t picture you bar-hopping, Sheriff.” Though I totally could. With his faded jeans, cowboy boots, backwards ballcap, colorful ink, and bulging biceps, he’d fit right in at my favorite honky-tonks. If anything, I couldn’t picture him in a Sheriff’s uniform, maintaining law and order.

“Really?” He raised an eyebrow before taking a bite. “I’ll admit, I don’t do it as much as I did when I was your age, but I’m not an old man yet.”

“You keep going on about our age difference. Does it really bother you that much?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know. I’ve never dated anyone that much younger. Never thought I would, but I can’t deny you’ve got me… interested.”

I laughed, covering my mouth with my hand. “Does that mean you’ll give me a shot?” I’d never had a long-distance relationship, but since I was on the road so much, I didn’t think it would matter where we lived.

“A shot?” he asked. “We were just talking about a few days of fun, weren’t we?”

“I don’t know.” I pointed to the phone in his pocket. “Pretty sure you claimed me as your girlfriend earlier.”