Man Of The Year: Secrets & Lies

Prologue

Aja sat on the balcony of the home she shared with Kyrie. She held a glass of Hennessy in her hands before taking a sip. For the last couple of weeks, she kept getting calls from Cam saying he'd wanted to speak with her and that it was urgent. Although she hated him for what he did, he still needed to be heard.

She'd planned to tell Kyrie about everything but couldn't find the right time. He was traveling more and didn't have much free time on his hands. Anytime he was home all he'd want to do was sleep and spend time with the kids.

As for Aja and Kyrie, they'd barely had time for one another. If it wasn't anything that didn't involve their children everything else didn't matter...including their marriage. It was almost as if they were purposely avoiding each other.

Aja refilled her glass back to the rim with the dark liquor and leaned on the balcony rails. Her mind drifted off to her recent visit with Cam.

Cam had been having health issues for a while since he'd been locked up. It was worsening daily and there was no telling what the outcome of the following days. He reached out to friends and family but had gotten no responses until Aja picked up.

* Flashback *

"Thank you for meeting with me, I didn't think you'd come after everything." Cam said.

Aja stood waiting for a moment trying to find the right words to express to him without bringing any attention to the room. The door was open and a guard from the prison sat quietly watching television.

"I know it must have been a long drive to get here. It must've been about a three hour drive." Aja heard Cam speaking but she was to consumed in reading the labels of medications he was currently taking.

"Yeah just about." She fiddled with the string of her jacket.

The guard cleared his throat and stood getting both of their attention.

"I'll give you two a little privacy but if he gets out of pocket please let me know, I'll be right outside." Aja nodded quietly as the guard closed the door behind him.

"Finally, it's already bad enough that I'm handcuffed to the damn bed you'd think they'd give you a little sympathy." He chuckled.

He honestly thinks he deserves sympathy...wow. She thought.

Aja took a seat at his bedside and looked at his fragile appearance. He wasn't the same man that the world grew to both love and hate. The look in his eyes had no spark nor hope left, it was complete fear.

"I haven't slept for three days because I was trying to prepare for this moment, there were a few words that I wanted to express to you that my heavenly father wouldn't forgive me for...There were times, I would stay up at night praying that you'd experience half of the things you did to me." Aja stood from her seat.

"I did things to myself that I'm not happy with - I'm still hurting but-" She paused fanning away her tears.

Cam handed her the box of Kleenex to dry her eyes.

"But... I wanted to let you know that I forgive you, though it's taken so long for me to say those words...but, I do." Aja said in a shaky voice.

"Aja you shouldn't because I told you, I'm sick."

"No that's not why I've forgiven you...it's actually because of my son, Kendall before I gave birth to him there were still some things that made me feel unwanted, ugly and insecure. No one could shake those negative thoughts from my mind, it's gotten so bad that question my marriage and-" Aja chuckled lightly. "All those things were disabling me because of the damage you've created when you raped me." Aja looked into Cam's eyes with an unreadable expression.

"He helped me find the beauty in myself that I've known was there along." She added.

He lowered his head and swiftly wiped his tears. "I'm sorry..." Cam reached out his hand to touch hers but she drew it back.

"I don't want you to play the sympathy card with me. You've made it crystal clear that me being here was just to help you feel better before you die." Aja blinked taking an envelope from her purse.

"What's this?" Cam furrowed his brows and looked up at Aja.

"Time for you lunch." The guard appeared before Aja could speak.

* End of flashback *

"Shit." She heard Kyrie curse as he made his way through the dark room. "Why the hell are the lights off?" He said in a distance.

Aja closed her eyes briefly allowing the alcohol take it's course. The sliding door opened then closed.

"Sorry I couldn't make it to Sasha's play. I got caught in working on the Nike collab." He kissed her temple.

6 missed calls, several text messages and a voice messages and this is all he has to come up with...just drink Aja. She threw the rest of her drink back.

"I have a flight to catch in the morning-" Kyrie looked at the half filled bottle of Hennessy then back at her.

"Then you should most definitely some rest, I've got a few videos to edit and blogs to post but just in case Kendall wakes up." Aja said removing his arms from around her waist.

Kyrie frowned taking the empty glass from her hands. "Hey... everything okay?" Kyrie asked keeping his eyes on Aja.

"Yeah, I just have a lot to do." She lied.

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