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Chapter Eighteen
Ian looked on helplessly as Esme tried and failed to get her son to latch again. At this point, hunger drove the poor baby until even Esme’s gentle hushing couldn’t calm him enough to get him to try. The harried mother lifted her face. Her dark eyes pleaded for help Ian couldn’t give. When it came to breastfeeding, he knew exactly not-shit about how anything worked.
“I’m going to get Cam,” he told the other woman for the hundredth time. Each of the other times, Esme had begged him not to bother Cameron.
Now she nodded. “I don’t know what else to do.” She bounced the still squalling bundle against her chest.
“I’ll get Cam. Surely, she knows some trick.”
“I hope so.” But Esme didn’t sound at all hopeful.
Hurrying from the room, Ian swung by to check on Brodie and inform him he was stepping out to get Cam.
“Is the baby okay?” Brodie’s body vibrated with pent-up energy.
Ian nodded. Esme had taken the baby to another room so Brodie could rest, but with the fuss he was putting up, the father was more agitated than if she’d stayed.
“Would you like me to have her come sit while I’m gone?”
The other man’s shoulders dropped, tension visibly easing from his body. “Yes, please.”
“No problem. Cam should be back soon. We’ll get the little man fed.”
A smile stretched the father’s mouth. “At least we know he has strong lungs, yeah?”
“Yeah.”
As Ian hurried back toward the entrance, he stuck his head in and relayed Brodie’s request that Esme and the baby sit with him. Before he could finish, she bounded from the chair and headed his way. Ian smiled. The Huntes had a lot of adjusting ahead of them, but if anyone stood a chance, they did.
Anticipation gripped Ian as he stepped onto Cam’s porch. Since Brodie had woken, everything had moved at lightning speed. Cameron had turned the other man’s assessment over to him and Wes, while she explained to Esme some of the possible lasting problems caused by the coma. So far, Brodie seemed to have very little trauma. According to Cameron and Esme, he spoke slower. And although he remembered the crash, he couldn’t remember the morning leading up to it. All to be expected. In fact, the only surprise was how well Brodie seemed to be recovering. Keso had mentioned his friend was sad, another expected reaction, but so far Ian hadn’t seen that side of the healing man. He hoped Brodie’s easy-going acceptance of the circumstances didn’t harbor darker emotions.
Slightly nervous, Ian knocked on Cameron’s door, then waited for her to answer. On the other side, Arabella’s high-pitched voice sang something about loving to eat apples and bananas. A grin stretched his lips. When she was nearby, he always seemed to smile.
As the doorknob turned, Ian’s stomach twisted. Being nervous about seeing Cameron was ridiculous, but he couldn’t help himself. Two nights ago, she’d made the first steps back to him, and then with Brodie awakening, she disappeared again. The door popped open, and Ian’s heart fell.
“Dr. Ian.” Arabella squeezed between the open door and Luciana. “What are you doing here? Did you come to spend the night with me too?”
“I . . . uh . . .” His gaze went from the little girl to the older woman standing in the doorway. He’d expected Cameron, not Luci. “I’m looking for your mom. Esme needs some help.”
“Mommy’s not here.” Ara’s little hand wrapped around his finger. “She went to the big island to spend the night with Keke.”
If his heart had fallen before, the damn organ absolutely crashed into his stomach now, sending a wave of nausea into his throat.
“What’s wrong with Esme?” Luci laid a hand on his arm, gaining his attention.
Oh yes, the reason for his visit. He explained the baby’s difficulties latching and how they’d hoped Cameron could help.
“I guess I’ll just go back and—”
Luci laughed. “What you gonna do? What do you know about feeding babies?”
Opening his mouth, he attempted to argue, but he had no rebuttal.
“He can feed me.” Ara looped an arm around his leg, then lifted her face to stare up at him.
Gently, he lifted her into his arms. “Thanks for having faith in me, kid.”
“Stay with her.” Luci went to the door and slipped on her shoes. “I’ll go help Esme.”
“But you’re not a doctor,” Ara protested.
The older woman grinned. “And he’s not a woman.” Turning to Ian, she asked, “Are you okay with Arabella, or should she go with me?”
“You want me to stay here and watch Arabella?” While her mother, the woman he slept with thirty-six hours ago, spent the night with another man?
“Ooh, please Dr. Ian.” Arabella squeezed his neck tightly.
Swallowing the protest he should make, he nodded. “Sure,” he told the older woman.
“I’ll stay with Esme unless there’s a problem with Brodie or the baby.” She raised an eyebrow as if asking for his approval.
He nodded. She’d be more use to Esme tonight, and Brodie hadn’t needed him all day. “Send someone if you need me.”
Luci turned to Ara. “Be good for the doctor.”
Arabella gave her sweetest smile, then laid her head on his shoulder. With another hard squeeze around his neck, she said, “Of course Miss Luci.”
The older woman gave her head a slow shake. He thought he heard her chuckle as she let herself out.
Arabella waited for the door to close before she smiled. “How about ice cream?”
* * *
Cameron stared at the unassuming brick building in front of her and tried to pull the miniscule red dress further down her exposed thighs. If she didn’t know better, she’d believe the building was just a regular, mundane business. Perhaps an insurance agency or accountant’s office. Did they even have those here on the big island? She’d only spent a month here before Arabella had arrived, and she and Keso had moved to his less-populated childhood island. Rarely did she visit here. The uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach reminded her why. Sucking in a fortifying breath, she rang the doorbell to the side of the thick, bulletproof glass door.
A buzzer sounded seconds before a disembodied voice asked, “How may I help you?”
“I’m Cameron Crawford. I was told my friend is here and needs help.”
Keso would be angry when he saw her, but she had no choice. No one on the big island would treat him. Besides, he needed more than a doctor tonight.
“We don’t have anyone who—”
“Keso Lawrence. He was brought in a few hours ago. He needs medical attention.”
They had to let her see him, but that didn’t mean they would. And then what? She couldn’t just barge in. Besides, they were the police. No one on this island was more powerful than them. Except Victor Roberts.
“Mr. Lawrence is fine. He’ll be released once he meets bail.”
Yeah right. Or whenever these bastards felt like letting him go. Reaching into the front of her low-cut dress, she pulled out a wad of cash.
“And how much will that be?”
The click of disengaging locks reached her ears. She rolled her eyes. Apparently, money spoke the same language all over the world.
Cold air blasted across her skin as she entered the lobby, turning her nipples to hard pebbles. Great. She already felt practically naked in the ridiculous dress, but now she felt even more exposed.
“Something I can help you with?” the “deputy” behind the desk asked as his dark eyes scraped over her body.
Resisting the urge to cover her breasts, she pasted on a wide smile. “I need to see Keso Lawrence.”
The man shook his head. “I think you had something to offer.” He eyed her hand. The one gripping the wad of cash.
“I’m prepared to pay his bail.” If he survived that long. From what Edmund had said, he was pretty damaged.
The man harrumphed, causing the mangy mustache above his thin lip to twitch. “Bail? I don’t know if Mr. Lawrence will be available for bail.”
“Then maybe we could get him out sooner.” She began counting off bills.
The man’s eyes grew wide, greedy. She prayed he’d only ask for money. As much as she loved Keso, she wasn’t prepared to sacrifice herself for his stupidity.
“I’m almost out,” she sang as she neared the end of her stack. Of course, that was a lie. Just in case, she’d come prepared with more money tucked in her bag… next to her gun.
The man held up his hand, palm up for the cash.
Cameron snatched her hand away. “I see Keso first,” she bargained. “Then we can talk exchanging him for the money.”
The man’s beady eyes shrank impossibly smaller.
She raised an eyebrow, fanning herself with the bills. Inside, her stomach twisted, and her heart pounded. Negotiating with police officers had never been a normal pastime for her. A part of her hated Keso for putting her in this position. The guard looked around, then motioned for her to follow. Quickly, she weaved through the low gate and followed him to the back of the station. As she walked, she slipped her hand inside her bag, wrapping it around the cool butt of the pistol.
Coming to a stop, the man pulled a key ring from his belt and inserted the key into the lock. He watched Cameron as he turned the key. “You have something more than money?”
The way he watched her made her skin crawl. She couldn’t wait for a shower. Maybe then she wouldn’t feel like tiny bugs skittered over every inch of her.
“I’m his child’s mother, not a prostitute.” She smiled as she delivered the message. Inside her bag, her grip tightened.
The man grunted and jerked open the metal door that led to the cells. The stench of urine and vomit assaulted her nose. Holding her breath, she followed the man down the hall past cells where unwashed men lounged on soiled mattresses.
“Hola Bonita,” one inmate to her right, pushed his hand through the iron bars of his cell.
She dodged him only to have her arm grabbed by another on her left.
