How do I explain to my brothers, my husband, that my dead husband visits me? Are they dreams, or is it real? It feels real, or is that just wishful thinking on my part? “It was a dream—the dream I had last night,” I say, watching Cam as he moves to stand beside me.
Marley and Len are looking at each other while shaking their heads.
“You dreamed he called us big-mouthed fuckers, and we both dreamed about him and big mouths? What the actual fuck?” Len questions.
“And he told you he cheated?” Jimmie asks me.
I deflate, looking between Jim and my brothers. I know I have a confession to make. I think Len will be okay, but I’m not sure about Marley.
“He told me because I asked if he knew about…” I pause when I feel Cam move in behind me, pressing his chest into my back and wrapping his arms around me. His lips brush the top of my head.
“We fucked,” Cam says. “Georgia and me. While she was married. One time. It happened one time.”
Marley takes a step back, his face contorted in a sneer.
“You fucked?” He frowns harder. “While you were married to Maca, you twofucked?”
I feel Cam nod at the same time I do.
“You cut him out of your life for four fucking years, for what?Hedidn’t fuckanyone.”
“I know. I’m aware how much of a hypocrite it makes me, but it happened.”
“When?” He barks the word.
“Don’t fucking talk to her like that,” Cam warns quietly. “I get you’re pissed off, but…. Do. Not. Talk. To her. Like that.”
“I’ll talk to her?—”
“No. No, you fucking won’t. My house. My wife. My fucking rules. You wanna raise your voice, you leave.” Cam’s tone is low, calm, and even. He doesn’t raise his voice, nor does he loosen the protective hold he has on me.
“I’m sorry,” I say.
“I’m not,” Cam admits. “I told you earlier, Marls, that I begged her to leave him. If she’d have agreed to an affair, then we would’ve had one. She didn’t, wouldn’t, and that one time it happened, she was instantly remorseful and in floods of tears.”
“So, you’re telling me you dreamed Maca told you that he knew you two had fucked, then he confessed that Carla gave him a blow job?” Marley asks, his tone disbelieving.
“She did. We had security cameras in the studio. We had them set up all around your property. An alarm pinged because the doors were locked—probably by Carla, since she had keys. Because movement was detected by the sensors, the feed was looked at. Thankfully, it was monitored in-house and brought to my attention. If an outside company had monitored the footage. . .” Len shrugs. “It would’ve been sold to the highest bidder. Instead, I had it destroyed and told Maca I would do the same to him if he didn’t put an end to things. He begged me, fucking cried and sobbed for me not to tell you. He was broken, George. You both were, but I knew you loved each other.”
I close my eyes against the pounding in my head and chest, but it just exaggerates the pain. Makes me more aware of their presence.
“No one knew.” Len turns to Jimmie. “I’m sorry. I know we don’t have secrets.”
“Well, I’ve found out over the past couple of days that’s bullshit, because apparently, we definitely do,” she snaps.
“Did you know about them? These two?” Len gestures to me and Cam while aiming his question at Jimmie.
I still. This isn’t what I wanted, but it is what I was afraid of when I agreed to do this interview.
“Yeah,” she says quietly. “But it wasn’t mine to share.”
“Same, baby girl. Same,” he tells her as he pulls her into him.
“You know?” Marls asks Ash.
She gives the barest of nods.
“I didn’t tell them till years later, after me and Cam were married. The only person who knew was Mum.”