The Return of the Bad boy

Chapter 31: Cam

PAST

Even after Mom had gotten home, she hadn't told me the other part of the story until the following day.

It had taken Mom a few days before she was brave enough to tell the cops, and when they got involved, they wanted to do an investigation. Paul claimed that it was all a lie. He said that when Mom found out about his engagement, she got jealous that he wanted to stop seeing her and made up a lie to get revenge.

Then he threw in the whole secret relationship thing, and slowly, it all blew up in Mom's face. With the power the Cambridges held, they wanted to drag Mom through the dirt. It didn't matter if she had been telling the truth or not. They only cared about their image.

Mom had been planning to find a lawyer who would take her case pro-bono, but the Cambridges' lawyers called her in for a meeting before she could.

They told her that she wouldn't win the case because of Paul's evidence. They said they would pay her off if she dropped it and moved on. She had trouble deciding right away and consulted with her parents. They told her to end the drama quickly and save face while she could.

Taking that money was like saying that Paul was innocent and Mom was a liar who had orchestrated the whole thing.

I'd been boiling mad, to the point where I slammed my fist on the dining table and nearly stalked off. But I knew that would have made Mom feel worse than she already did, so I toned it down and put on a mask of pure calmness.

No one had believed her. Not the group of people she called friends, not her parents, and certainly, not law enforcement. The only person in her corner was her big brother, and if you could get prison time for merely envisioning all the laws you so desperately wanted to break, my uncle would have been locked up for life.

I was glad he wasn't as impulsive as me.

Mom found out she was pregnant with me about eight weeks later, but of course, she didn't tell Paul or his despicable family. She had told my grandparents, but they didn't want anything to do with her by then. Rumors had spread about the drama surrounding the Cambridges, and Mom was an embarrassment.

My grandparents kicked her out, and she lived with my uncle for a while. Mom still worked some part-time jobs to save up for all the baby expenses. She didn't want to touch a cent of the Cambridge's money. Sometimes, she thought about simply donating all of it. But it never came to that.

The whole college thing didn't happen either, which was probably for the best because Mom, it was hard juggling working with a newborn. Anyways, I was born a little after New Year's. Doctors said it must have been all the stress Mom was under.

She had joked, calling me a late Christmas gift. She never knew what she was having. Everything had been gender-neutral, but she felt like a son was perfect. My name was stolen from the Irish Actor she had a crush on.

It didn't take a rocket scientist for people in town to put the pieces together and figure out who my father could be.

Finally fed up with that town and all their stupid gossip, Mom took the hush money, split it with my uncle, and then she left the state, settling down in a small quiet town for a few years. That's where she worked and got her associate's in business management before going for her cosmetology degree.

Mom apologized a million more times before breaking down into tears again. I just held her, letting her cry it all out.

I told her that I wasn't' disappointed or angry with her. The Cambridges were another story. They made me sick, and I had been buddying up with them for years. I was kind of peeved. Mom didn't hint at me to keep my distance from them, but I understood why.