I was glad when Cam didn’t seem to expect me to confirm his words. He’d moved his hand down to where mine were folded on his chest. He was absently rubbing his thumb over my fingers while he kept his eyes on the fireplace.
“A couple of months ago, I was called into my captain’s office. He told me that I was being investigated for sexual assault.”
“What?” I blurted. I quickly sat up. “That’s a lie!” I said, completely outraged. There was no way Cam could ever hurt anyone like that.
Cam sat up but kept his distance from me. I didn’t like that. And I really didn’t like when he dropped his eyes.
“They wouldn’t tell me who was making the accusation, only that it was a teenage boy.”
“Riley?” I asked.
Cam nodded. “I found out it was him a couple weeks later when his parents sued me. I was never charged because there wasn’t any proof. But I ended up getting suspended while the investigation took place. Riley told his parents that he and I were having a sexual relationship. I guess his father found some explicit pictures and texts on Riley’s phone. The pictures all had the same date on them, but the texts went back several weeks. The number the messages came from couldn’t be traced to me or anyone else.”
“And the pictures?”
“They were just of Riley performing oral sex acts on a man. There wasn’t anything in the pictures to prove or disprove it was me. It was just Riley’s word against mine. But I also had an alibi for the date the pictures were taken. I was a couple hundred miles away in the upper peninsula.” Cam hesitated, then added, “With Carter.”
“That’s… that’s good,” I said. “So he told everyone the truth…”
My words dropped off when Cam pointedly held my gaze.
“Except he didn’t,” I whispered in disbelief.
Cam shook his head. “He refused to tell my captain he was with me that whole weekend. His kids had been visiting his in-laws for the weekend so we’d decided to take a trip up to this cabin he owned. I had to work late that Friday night so I met him up there. No one saw us together. It took two weeks to clear my name with phone records and video from two separate gas stations where I stopped for gas on the way up there and back. Two weeks of people looking at me like I was a monster. Even after the investigation was dropped and I was completely cleared, some of the cops who knew about the investigation still looked at me like they weren’t sure. And through it all, Carter never said anything.”
“Why didn’t you tell people about you guys? They could have forced him to tell the truth,” I said, completely horrified.
Cam didn’t answer me.
“You wanted to protect him,” I whispered. “And his kids.”
Still no answer. Cam looked tense. Did he actually think I believed the accusation? “You sweet, beautiful, amazing, foolish, foolish man,” I said as I practically climbed into Cam’s lap. “Did you really think I’d believe that about you?”
He opened his mouth to respond but I kissed him before he could. “He didn’t fucking deserve you, do you hear me? He’s a goddamn coward and he’s the one who lost out, Cam. You’re going to get your happily ever after because no one deserves it more.”
“You want to know the truth of it?” he asked softly. “The part that hurts the most?”
“What?” I asked as I cupped the side of his face and slid my thumb back and forth over the skin by his ear.
“When Riley’s parents sued me, they brought him with them to a meeting between us and our lawyers. They wouldn’t let me talk to him, even there with everyone in the room. I just wanted him to tell me he was okay… I didn’t give a shit about any of the rest of it. He just sat there and silently cried the whole time and no one did anything. Someone hurt him and I couldn’t do a thing to help him.”
“I’m sorry, Cam.”
Cam wiped discreetly at his eyes.
“How did you end up in Pelican Bay?” I asked.
“I knew a guy who knew a guy. I was never officially charged with what happened to Riley and my captain made sure the investigation against me never went on the record. The civil case is still pending but the judge issued a gag order. He basically told Riley’s parents they didn’t have a case but they’re refusing to drop it. They’ve hired a new lawyer who is using the excuse that he needs to get up to speed on the case. That’s keeping the judge from ruling on the case. The lawyer’s got thirty days to submit new evidence to the court. I’m not under any legal obligation to inform anyone about the case unless it goes against me. The committee that hired me knows all about it and agree that it’s unsubstantiated.”