“Not unless you want to stay off of it for the rest of the day.”
“Ugh, I hate shots.”
“How about this?” He held the needle up while staring into my eyes. “You take a little bit of pain, and I’ll fuck you with my tongue later to make you feel all better.”
“Whoa.” My eyes widened. “You go from zero to a hundred in like seconds.”
“What can I say, you bring out the best and the worst in me.”
“I said I was sorry.”
“Is that a yes?”
“Umm, yeah.” I bowed my head, feeling my thighs clench, thinking of him going down on me again. “That works.”
“I need you to pull down your pants for me.”
“My parents are—”
“I would never disrespect Mario or Eva. I didn’t as a boy, and I won’t as a man. The shot needs to be injected through your hip.”
“Oh. Okay.”
He helped me up, but before I did what he said, he tugged my pants down for me. I hissed as soon as he poked the needle into my skin, holding onto the chair.
“Grab onto my shoulder.”
“I’ll hurt you.”
“Not any more than you did this morning.”
I sighed, feeling much worse.
Once he finished injecting me with the longest needle ever created, I instantly felt the relief in pressure and sat back down.
“Thank you.”
“Well look at that, I got another thank you and this time it wasn’t because I was eating your perfect pink pussy.”
My eyes widened again, but he didn’t pay me any mind. Continuing to wrap my ankle.
“How about you answer my question from earlier? Why does your driver’s license say Camila Jimenez?”
“Alright, so you want to start there with the questions.”
He glared at me with a low growl.
“Fine. Whatever. I told you at dinner, remember?” I mocked, resisting the urge to call him old man. It wouldn’t earn me any brownie points, and the last thing I wanted was to piss him off more.
“I was teased as a child. I didn’t know how to speak English, but yet I had a very American name. So after I came home crying for like the hundredth time, begging my parents to let me change my name. They knew what I went through in school, the bullying, the taunting. They finally agreed before I went into middle school. We drove to the government building on my twelfth birthday and I changed my name from Faith Camila Jimenez de la Ramirez to just Camila Jimenez. My mom still insists on calling me Faith.”
Even though he was intently staring at me, he didn’t say a word. He was looking right through me and I don’t know why, but I found myself wanting to stay lost in his eyes.
He was luring me in with his dominating stare, pulling every emotion from my body in the way only Aiden Pierce could do. As if we were the only two people in the world. It felt like every passing second was another memory for him. He was physically there with me, but his mind was somewhere else entirely.
Making me question what or who he was truly seeing in front of him.
Was it me or his wife?
“It’s you, Camila. It’s been you since you walked through the door of my house.”
My breathing hitched, and my heart started racing at rapid speed.
“From the moment I carried you in my arms the day I delivered you, it felt like you were mine. I remember thinking those exact words, feeling such a profound connection to you in a way I’ve never felt before. It was the beginning of so many life changing moments for me. You’re the reason I became a doctor, why I wanted a baby girl so badly. You were so pure, so innocent, and I wanted to keep you,” he paused, allowing his words to sink in before he continued pouring his heart out to me.
“Through the years I thought about you often, but life got in the way. Don’t think for one second I ever forgot about you or your parents. You and your family are a part of me. You always have been, you always will be. Do you understand me?”
I nodded. “I do. This all explains so much. I just don’t understand why Bailey would want me in your home.”
“She knew I loved you.”
“What are you saying?”
“You heard me.”
“But you said… I mean… this morning, you said you’d always love your wife.”
“I will, Cami, but you took what I said in the wrong context and instead of talking to me about it, you ran