Down London Road

room.
    ‘Mum.’ I gave her a brittle nod and Cam’s hand coasted around my waist, his strong arm hugging me into his side.
    The slight widening of Mum’s eyes told me she hadn’t missed the deliberate move. ‘You’ve been here before?’ She asked it quietly, with mild curiosity but no accusation, as I had been expecting. Clearly she’d forgotten Cam and his presence that awful night.
    ‘Cameron MacCabe.’ Cam acknowledged her gruffly, giving me a squeeze.
    She made a mumbling noise, her bloodshot eyes darting back to me. ‘No one was here this morning.’
    Burrowing deeper into Cam, my hand clutching the back of his shirt like a little girl, I nodded again. ‘Cole stayed at Jamie’s.’
    ‘I fell.’ Her mouth pursed. ‘I fell. My back is killing me. No one was here to help. If you’re going to be gallivanting around, that little bugger should at least be here to help.’
    The insult to my brother was like a steel rod sliding into my spine. I straightened sharply, taking a step away from Cam. My eyes narrowed on her, and I tried to squelch the hurt in my chest – the hurt I felt any time she did or said something so selfish and uncaring, so lacking in parental concern. ‘Did the gin not help you back up, Mum? Funny, it seems to help you with everything else.’
    Her rugged cheeks were peppered with visibly broken veins and the little colour that was in them leached out completely at my comment. ‘Don’t you get smart with me because
he’s
here.’
    Taking a deep breath, knowing that if we continued at this pace, we’d end up in a huge argument in front of Cam, I softened my tone. ‘Cole and I have lives, Mum. You need to watch out for yourself more now, okay?’
    Waiting for a reaction, I stepped back so I could at least feel the heat of Cam behind me. I was grateful to him for keeping quiet and letting me deal with Mum in my own way. She got shakily to her feet, setting her mug on the table. ‘I just needed a bit of help,’ she answered quietly, hitting me in the chest with her words. Guilt wormed its way inside, despite my urgent battle against it.
    I sighed heavily. ‘If you’re really desperate, phone me next time.’ I could have punched myself for giving in.
    ‘I will, darling.’ She shuffled past us, her eyes on the ground. ‘Nice meeting you, Cameron.’ It was the nicest she had been to me since I confronted her about hitting Cole. Remembering how much I distrusted her, I felt deep regret at being even slightly polite to her.
I shouldn’t have given in
, I thought bitterly.
    Cam grunted in response to her, doing a fair impression of Cole.
    I waited until she’d disappeared from the room, until we heard her bedroom door closing, and then my eyes slid to Cam. ‘Well?’
    His features had hardened. ‘She’s a manipulative cow and she knows just how to play you.’ At that he turned on his heel and disappeared into the hall, heading towards the kitchen.
    I followed him, my heart thumping in my chest. ‘I told you how she is.’
    ‘Yeah, one minute a bloody witch, the next completelynormal and nice. It’s deliberate. When she’s a witch, you stand up to her. When she’s nice, you give in and she knows it. She’s playing you.’
    Knowing that he was right and not really wanting to get into it with him on what had started out as the best morning ever, I began helping him make tea and coffee. We returned to the sitting room, having come to an unspoken agreement to put thoughts of my mum aside, and we both sat down on the couch. As soon as I did, Cam pulled me over his lap so that my legs straddled his thighs.
    ‘What are you doing?’ I asked, my lips twitching with laughter.
    ‘Getting comfy.’ He reached past me and grabbed our mugs, handing me mine.
    I took it, completely bemused by our proximity. We were so close I could see coppery striations in the cobalt blue of his irises. ‘You’re comfortable like this?’ I watched him as he casually took a sip of coffee, his other arm around my hip, his hand resting on the curve of my ass.
    ‘Extremely,’ he murmured.
    Shrugging, I relaxed into him, taking a sip of tea.
    And that was as long as I got to relax. The sound of the front door opening moved me into instant action. I attempted to dive out of Cam’s arms.
    He stopped me effortlessly with
one
arm.
    ‘What are you doing?’ I hissed, my eyes narrowed on him, my heart thumping hard at the thought of Cole walking in on us wrapped around each other without an