A Selfish Kind Of Love

Audrey

Sorry for such a long wait! It's been a crazy month, y'all don't even know! But anyway here's an update, hope y'all like it.

~Rayne's POV

"Mommy." I hear Camille whine, her bushy curls brushing over my nose.

"How did you get out of your crib little girl?" I chuckle. "Where's daddy?" She whines again, clutching my arm tightly. I turn to my side and realized Michael was missing from his side of the bed. Of course she only wants me to find daddy. That had been my life recently.

"I dunno, 'buggy' let's go find him"

"Daddy!?" Camille yells, running as fast as her fresh walking legs could carry her. "'Buggy' baby don't run." I chuckle. Luckily our steps were childproofed.

"What are you doing up?" Michael chuckles, meeting her at the top of the steps. "Look at that hair!" He grins. "She gets it from you" I add in, "she woke me up looking for you."

"I was making sure Audrey and Malik were ok. I almost forgot we had houseguests." Michael laughs, "but they're all good."

"Great." I nod politely, almost sarcastically. I head downstairs to eat breakfast the chef prepared and place Camille in her high chair. Michael sits next to Camille, feeding her pieces of pancake. "Millie, we're gonna practice brushing our teeth again today okay?"

She grins nodding, smearing syrup all over her face. All I could think of was another mess I had to clean up. I giggle and playfully roll my eyes. The doorbell interrupts our family breakfast and I open to Audrey's son at the door.

"Good morning Malik" I smile.

"Good morning Ms. Rayne.. Where's Michael?" He asks sweetly.

"He's eating breakfast right now. Is everything ok?"

"Malik? I told you to wait until he was ready.. I'm sorry Rayne." Audrey smiles weakly, catching up behind her son.

"No it's ok, everything is ok right?" I ask.

"Yeah we're fine, Michael promised Malik he'd take him to his amusement park. But I told him he had to wait until he was ready. He's so excited he isn't listening." She smiles through clenched teeth, pinching his cheek as he winces painfully.

I frown a little, before nodding, "ok.. Well, I'm gonna tell Mike and when he's ready for you he'll be right over." I smile at Malik.

"Ok.." He says rubbing his cheek. I watched as Audrey dragged him off by the arm and back towards their guesthouse.

I walked back in the dining room very troubled. Michael could see it in my face. "What happened?" He asked lifting a sticky Camille out of her chair and carrying her to the bathroom. I follow them, running the bath water as he peels the sticky pajamas off of her. "How you managed to get syrup in your hair.." He utters

"I don't wanna jump to conclusions, but I think Audrey is abusing Malik.." I say sitting on the side of the tub to wash Camille's hair.

"What makes you think that? She loves that kid." Michael frowns.

"I don't know, I just caught a bad vibe from her at the door just now. Just promise you'll pay attention." I ask.

"Of course."

***

I decided to take Camille to the art studio with me today and paint her a portrait to hang in her room. She would be the hardest subject to paint, a moving child. I tried everything to keep her still, but Crayons and paper just didn't cut it.