All At Once (Completed) - Finding You Book 1

Chase

Now that I'm in my own room, I can't fall asleep. Camden's fist looks swollen and he definitely had a black eye. Someone else is hurt, and I'm actually kinda terrified to think about who it might be. He might hate my mother for all the things she'd done to my Dad and me over the years, but I don't think he'd hit her. He'd never hit a woman. His eyes tell me everything.

I close my eyes, but my heart is hammering. I'm afraid I'll never fall asleep. I keep picturing the look on Harper's face when Camden walked through the hotel room door. Relief. Love. Complete adoration.

I was wrong. Everything was fine at home. I put us in the middle of this mess, and I'm dying to know how much longer it will be before it all starts to feel normal again.

I'd do anything to figure out what normal even really means. 

A Few Hours Ago

This is the nicest hotel I've ever been in, but I'm starting to miss home.

Los Angeles.

I may have grown up in Seattle, but it doesn't feel the same as it did when I left. When I found out I'd be staying with my uncle, I was kinda pissed. I didn't know much about him, other than the fact that he and my Dad stopped talking a few years ago.

I never thought I'd learn to rely on him more than any other person in my life. I had no idea he'd go to the ends of the earth...put his own safety on the line...just to protect me. I never thought I'd wish he were my Dad.

And Harper.

She's here with me now, even after all the stupid shit I pulled. Even after I said things I knew would break her heart. She's right here with me, waiting for Camden, like we're his real family.

I'm starting to think we are.

Her eyes stay above me, watching for the rhythmic pattern of a baseball ascending into the air and slapping back down into the palm of my hand. What goes up, must come down. Any day now, our lives will have to slow down.

We've been waiting for Camden for three hours and haven't heard a thing. I'm trying not to think about what he's doing, but I know he's got my best interest in mind. Camden would do anything to protect Harper and me, I've learned. Anything.

Mom's house phone is off the hook, apparently. Harper's called at least a dozen times, and each time she hangs up without saying a word. She's worried and frustrated, but she won't come right out and say it. Instead, she's putting on this tough front; she's worried I'm going to run again.

"Tired?" Harper asks finally.

"Yeah," I say. "Of everything, actually," my voice is scratchy. I'm exhausted, but I won't go to bed until Camden gets to the hotel. My head rests on a pillow at the foot of what will be Camden and Harper's king-size bed for the night. My knees are bent up, pointing to the ceiling as I toss the ball toward the fluorescent dome light above us. "I hate being sad one minute and angry the next. I just hate all of it," I admit.

Harper's feet are next to my head, crossed at the ankles. She flinches every time I toss the ball, like it might hit her, but she her eyes never leave its shadow.

"Me too," she says. She's leaned up against the wooden headboard of the bed but now she moves to sit forward and leans back on her hands. "I'm not going to say I completely get what you're going through, because I don't. But you don't ever have to feel alone with it. You can tell me anything," she pauses. "Always,"

I stop tossing the ball, but don't take my eyes off the ceiling. I should've known our small chat earlier wouldn't be the end of it.

"I'm not good at all that, you know," I tell her. "Feelings and stuff," I feel my cheeks getting red. I don't want to, but I'm gonna talk. I owe her this. "I'm like Camden, remember?" I smile.