Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 73035 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 365(@200wpm)___ 292(@250wpm)___ 243(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73035 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 365(@200wpm)___ 292(@250wpm)___ 243(@300wpm)
Had they been asking enough questions about his career?
Glancing between them, I crossed my arms over my chest. “Have either of you actually talked to him about his career in the last few years?”
God, probably longer than that if I was being realistic.
That got sheepish looks from both of them and they finally shrugged as Sanderson sighed. “It made him nervous. He’s a private person and we didn’t want to put more stress on him.”
Good grief.
Before I could ask anything else, Sanderson volunteered some information that filled in a few blanks. “We tried to buy him an apartment when he first wanted to move out of the house. He said he wanted to be seen as a grown-up, and he wouldn’t let us help. The payments on the house have to be killing him. Then there’s the fact that most of the time when we show up he doesn’t have anything in the fridge and he’s always nervous.”
For fuck’s sake.
“He hates the grocery store. The sheer number of choices makes him distracted and the delivery people he tried kept sending him the wrong food.” He’d pissed someone off at some point because that many problems with orders didn’t happen accidentally.
As understanding started to dawn on their faces, I continued. “He’s been painting since he was a child and he became famous in the art scene before he was probably legal to draw the butts that made him famous.”
That made his mother blush and Sanderson’s brows pull together.
“God, you haven’t even googled him, have you?” When Sanderson shook his head and Camden’s mother shrugged, I sighed. “There’s a damned good reason your mother wants to be able to brag about his career.”
Gesturing between them, I frowned. “And the first person to out that I know about his career gets socially decimated. Your family was ungodly rude at that last stupid party.”
I was on a roll and just kept going. “He’s one of the most famous young artists in the country right now. The reason he didn’t need your help buying an apartment is because he’s got plenty of money. He just likes to travel and hates grocery shopping.”
And had some impulse control issues when it came to his little side, but that was what he had me to help him with.
I wanted to ask them how the fuck they’d missed how good he was or how they’d missed the fucking crayons and chicken nuggets that seemed to be everywhere, but I stuck to the most important facts as I frowned at them.
“If people knew who he was, he’d lose the privacy that he needs to create. There are very good reasons he kept his work and personal life so separate.” One of them originally being his age. I still wasn’t sure if he could’ve gotten in legal trouble for his paintings since he’d been underage when he’d started painting his famous butts.
“He’s an adult and deserves his privacy. No random visits to check up on him and no more calling five times when we’re making love. Got it?” They both went bright red, but it had to be called out so they’d stop doing it.
“I’m going to start explaining exactly why he can’t come to the phone if you keep calling over and over.” That threat had their eyes going wide. “He’s not a danger to himself and he takes very good care of himself. He’s just a distracted artist who’s running his own fucking business. He’s self-employed and you keep interrupting his work.”
Silence dragged out and after a few long moments, Robin pinched her lips together and nodded. “Yes, I can see where we’ve been overprotective.”
Understatement of the year.
“But when he was younger, he was so…I don’t know how much he told you about our past, but my first husband wasn’t very nice.” She swallowed, reaching for Sanderson’s hand and finally gaining some sympathy from me. “Camden’s biological father was abusive.”
After getting that out, everything else seemed to come more easily for her. “That whole side of the family just seemed to hate him from day one. Nothing Camden did was ever good enough. He did his best to please everyone and do well in school and art, and no matter what, it was wrong.”
She paused for a moment, looking down at their hands and focusing on the way he was gently petting her fingers. I could see where Camden had gotten his artistic spark from, even though from what I knew, she’d never done anything like paint. “Eventually I got us out, but it…I don’t know if it made him grow up too quickly or just not enough. He…he was never like the other kids and it always worried me.”
Oh, there were layers upon layers of interesting there that I could’ve poked at, but nothing that she needed to hear about. Especially since she’d managed to ignore all the signs of his little side so completely.