Wicked in Love

Chapter 4 - is yours

Previously on Wicked in Love...

"Name's Rick. And I should warn you now."

My heart fell in my stomach. Had I been fooled again and now he wanted money after all?

"What?"

"I talk a lot."

I felt my shoulders relaxed. "I don't."

"Sounds like we're gonna make a good team." He shot me a grin, offered his hand. His eyes were as clear and bright as honesty.

He looked, I thought, like a man with integrity. There was fire in his eyes, but the good kind. The one where you know you were talking to someone who'd been pushed around before and had learned to fight back. And I realized I wanted to see that in my eyes too.

I took his hand, let him help me get up.

"Yeah." I smiled back.

***

Cameron

A sudden movement in my periphery brought me back from my past to the present.

A neon green ball shot in the air, followed by a rolling brown blur on the ground, then the familiar sound of Rick's gravelly laugh.

I froze, turned. My chest felt full at the sight of him. He was once a stranger who had shown a very angry kid a kindness he never knew existed before.  A stranger who made me feel, for the first time in my life, what it was like to have a father.

I pushed his limits, but he never gave up on me. Not even once. Not even when I deserved it. 

I watched as a giant, clumsy dog—the brown blur—tried to sniff its way to the ball hiding in the grass, tripped on its own paws. It got up like nothing happened, then hopped in bliss toward Rick, tongue lolling out. Without the ball.

"You're supposed to bring it back to me. It's too far away, huh?" Rick asked the dog conversationally. There was a white stick in his mouth, probably a lollipop. Was he smoking again? "That's okay. I wouldn't get it either."

The dog let out a loud, happy bark, plopped on its back, exposing its belly. Rick hunkered down, made the dog happy by giving it a belly rub. "You're hopeless. How about a snack?"

"I'll take a coffee," I called out. "If you have some."

He froze for a moment, then a slow grin spread on his face before he looked up and met my gaze.

"Cameron?" Rick rose, laughing, eyes shining with joy. The candy fell from his mouth. "Come here, son. Come here now."

He met me halfway, pulled me in a tight embrace. "My boy's back," he said gruffly. "Welcome home, kid."

I wanted to say thank you, but my throat felt thick with emotion. I hadn't seen him in a while and being around him brought comfort that nearly overwhelmed me. I hugged him back. 

Not all familiar things lie after all.

"So?" He pulled me away, eyes scanning my face. His grin was from ear to ear. "Did you decide to be a mountain man? Hell of a beard you got there."

I cleared my throat, rubbed my jaw. "I was planning on shaving it."

"Do it soon before birds start nesting in it."

"Speak for yourself. Sir."

Tall and slim as a bamboo, with limbs as hard as rock, Rick swung his arm around my shoulders. And I was surprised how strong he seemed, despite the news I received. His hair, more silver than blond, was usually swept back from his face. It fell on his forehead and shoulders now and needed a good brush. His beard, usually kept neat and trimmed, looked like a forest.