20. Dom

CHAPTER 20

DOM

Something's wrong.

I've watched Cam rehearse every scene and dance in this production so many times, I practically know the steps by heart. Never mind that I've also seen it four times before tonight. There have been other performances when I noted that he seemed tired or less expressive, which is understandable considering how much pressure he's under. He's barely been eating, and gets really upset when I mention it. He insists his costume is too tight, that he keeps having to ask the wardrobe designers to let it out, but I don't see how it's possible. He's practically wasting away, while pushing himself harder than ever. Every practice it's a push to jump higher, stretch farther, spin faster.

Tonight is different from all the nights I've sat in the audience, worrying over whether this is the night he'll fall and break an ankle or simply pass out on stage. Tonight I'm practically waiting for it to happen. I'm at the edge of my seat, ready to run on stage the moment he might need me. Dwayne and Cora are sitting next to me, and I swear they're watching me instead of the stage. Cora even threads her arm through mine, as if she could keep me in the seat herself when it comes down to it.

When the lights come up for intermission, I'm on my feet.

"Where are you going?" Dwayne asks, reaching for my arm. I try to shrug him off, but he won't let go.

I spin on him and Cora both and gesture to the stage. "Did you see any of that?"

They shoot each other furtive glances. "Yes…" Cora says carefully. "It's a much different production than the last one."

It's also not been getting the same accolades as the last one, which Cam has been taking personally. That fucking douchebag has probably found a way to make it out to be his fault, and it will be another reason why he doesn't officially sign Cam as a principal dancer. When we've talked, Cam has made it clear that he knows Alistar is keeping him as an unpaid intern to control him, and he's trying to find a way out of it. Apparently, there might be something with that other dancer, Heath, that might give Cam the leverage he needs to break away from Alistar's clutches. Patience is something I don't have much of when it comes to Cam's safety, but he needs me to trust him. I do trust him. It's that scumbag Alistar that I don't trust.

"Did you not notice the way he was shaking? That girl probably weighs half of what he does, and that's after he's lost more than ten pounds."

"Ten pounds?" Cora looks horrified.

"Yes," I emphasize. After the incident with the camera footage, I've been hesitant to talk about anything to do with Cam around Cora and Dwayne, but I have a really bad feeling right now. I need someone on my side on this. He needs an intervention or something, otherwise the only way he's going to escape Alistar's clutches is by hurting himself so badly that he won't be useful to the asshole anymore. I can't sit by and watch the man that I’ve fallen ass over tits for lose everything because that demented, conniving dick bag caught him eating a marshmallow.

"Look, it's the last performance this week, and there's only the Memorial Day special performance after this one. He's always stressed out during the thick of it, maybe?—"

"You don't understand," I say, raising my voice enough that it gets the attention of people around us. They turn scandalized expressions on us, but I don't care if I'm making a scene. "Something is wrong. I need— we need to get backstage and check on him."

"They'll never let us back there," Dwayne says, using a tone our mother would use to calm us down when she thought we were being unreasonable.

I look at Cora. Her green eyes are so similar and yet so different to her son's. "You're his mother. They might let you go back." She stares at me for a moment, and maybe she reads something in my expression that finally gets through. Or maybe she sees that I'm desperate. Whatever it is, she nods. "Thank fuck," I sigh, ignoring the gasps of the pearl-clutchers next to us.

Cora and I weave our way out of the theater and into the lobby, making a beeline for the employees only hallway just past the restrooms.

"I'm sorry, you can't go back there!" A woman calls out. It turns out to be the same bartender I flirted with the first night I was here, before my entire life was thrown off balance. By the smile on her face, she either recognizes me from that night, or she's very good at her job. She's still obviously a beautiful young woman, but when I look at her now, I feel no attraction. I'm not the same person I was four months ago.

"Hey. Uh, hi. Again," I say awkwardly. "My, I mean our—Shit. Sorry. Her son is one of the dancers here—Cameron Rae Stevens?" I point to the poster on the wall that he's featured on, the same poster I've been trying to figure out how to get a copy or steal the last several times I've been here. "Anyway, we have a?—"

"A family emergency," Cora interrupts. "Could you maybe ask if there's any way we could see Cameron for just a moment before the intermission is over?"

The bartender has her eyebrows raised to her hairline, but she shrugs and says she'll see if there's anything she can do. Apparently, the wait staff isn't actually allowed past the lobby, either. A minute later, she comes back with a security guard.

"No backstage admission, no exceptions," he says bluntly.

"Not even for an emergency?" I ask, trying so hard to remain patient that I'm vibrating.

The security guard assesses me, and only then does it occur to me how familiar he is. It's the guy I knocked out in the first round of my one and only visit to an underground fight club.

"Er, sorry about that," I say, gesturing to the eye that's still sporting some color. Then, as if a lightbulb goes off, his face brightens.

"I knew you looked familiar," he says, coming in for a handshake, then pulling me in for a bro hug. "Did you know there was a bunch of talk after you left that a pro was in the basement with us that night? I wondered if it was?—"

"Dom?" Of course Dwayne joins us now, of all moments. "Intermission is almost over. What's this about?" He up-nods the overly excited looking security guard.

"I was just introducing myself to Nash here," I say, gesturing to the security guard, who, thank goodness, has a name tag. I turn back to Nash and hold out my hand again. "It's nice to meet you, I'm?—"

"Domenick fuckin' Connor. I can't believe—" He catches the look I'm throwing at him and gives me a wink that couldn't have been more obvious if he tried. "It's just real nice to meet you."

"Sorry to interrupt the fan meeting, but my son?" Cora interjects, and I could kiss her. I don't think being rude to the guy is going to keep me in his good graces.

"Right, you wanted to see Mr. Stevens. Backstage is a bit chaotic right now. Mr. Alistar asked me to tell you he's busy getting ready for the next half of the show, and that you can see him afterwards at the meet and greet."

"Does he know who was asking?"

Nash nods. "Yeah, Renee told him Mr. Steven’s mom and some big guy—I guess that's you—were here and Mr. Alistar didn't look too pleased."

"I bet he didn't,” I mutter.

The lights start blinking to announce intermission is over, and I slump. Maybe the next half won't be as painful, or at least we'll be that much closer to the end, and I can have him in my arms again.

Just as we're walking away, there's a commotion from backstage that's loud enough to be heard where we are. Nash jumps up and excuses himself, running back to see if he's needed. I throw a quick look at Cora and Dwayne.

"Fuck it."

I run behind the ropes, following quickly in Nash's footsteps.

Nash comes to a dead stop when we get to the backstage staging area, and I nearly run into him. He shoots me a wide-eyed look, probably knowing he'll get in trouble for letting me get back here. I feel a little bad about that, but not bad enough not to follow my gut.

Backstage is chaos. It seems the whole company is gathered, and someone is yelling. A girl is yelling, "You did this!" over and over. As I move cautiously closer, I see one of the men in the company holding the young female lead—Daphne, I think her name is—by the waist, pulling her back from whatever the commotion is.

I hear a groan that sends a sliver of fear and rage down my spine. Pushing through the crowd, I find Cameron lying flat on the ground. His eyes are closed, and he looks half conscious. Alistar stands over him, monologuing some bullshit about taking better care of themselves as dancers and not turning to drugs and alcohol when the stress of stardom gets to them. In answer to that, Cam's chest lurches, and he vomits. Everyone jumps back from him, making sounds of shock and disgust.I lurch forward to turn Cameron on his side so he doesn't choke, looking at them all with rage burning so hot inside me I think I might pop a blood vessel.

Nash steps forward with a towel, and I accept it gratefully.

"Cam, baby. I'm here. Wake up. I need you to wake up and talk to me, okay?"

Once I'm not glaring at him, Alistar finds his voice again.

"Are you responsible for letting this trash in here? I told you, under no circumstances was this man or anyone else associated with him allowed back here!"

"Why?" I demand, snapping my head back up to stare daggers at the sorry excuse for a man. "So you can let him choke to death on his own vomit? So he doesn't tell everyone what a shady sack of shit you are?"

"How dare you? This is my establishment, and I'm an esteemed member of the community. You're nothing more than a filthy, disgusting old man taking advantage of his nephew. It's probably your fault he got involved with drugs and alcohol in the first place. To drown out the shame of being violated by a washed-up failure."

Alistar sticks his nose in the air, effectively dismissing me while I gather Cam in my arms and stand. He directs the understudies to take their places, because they're already behind schedule and the show must go on, blah blah blah …

Getting Cameron to the hospital and getting him help is my only priority. I'll take care of Alistar later.

As I take the last steps through the crowd still gawking at us, I come face to face with Dwayne and Cora. Their faces are ashen with worry. Cora has eyes only for her son, rushing forward to run her hand through his hair. But Dwayne is staring at me. Hard.

"What have you done?"

"We don't have time for this right now, Dwayne. We need to get Cam to a hospital."

That seems to break him out of the moment, and he nods. "Take him through the employee entrance at the back. I'll meet you with the car." I nod and turn on my heel, almost running into Nash on my way out.

"Can you do me a favor?" I ask him. "Make sure the girl, Daphne, gets out of here and home safe. Don't let her leave with any of these brainwashed idiots. If she doesn't have any family to leave with, we'll be at Atlanta General. I'm sure she'll want to check on Cam."

To his credit, Nash doesn't hesitate. He nods and takes off towards the dressing rooms.

The cooler air makes Cam stir in my arms. He tries to blink but can't seem to hold his eyes open.

"Dom?"

"I've got you, tiny dancer."

"Emile, he?—"

"I know, baby. I know. We're going to take him down, don't you worry."

"—scared."

"I'm not going to let you out of my sight," I promise.

When Dwayne pulls the car around into the alleyway, I keep Cam in my arms and slide into the back. Cora stares at me while I get us situated, and then closes the door and climbs in front. She shoots a glance back at her son being cradled in my lap, and then shares a look with her husband. I don't know how to read it, and right now I don't care. All I want is to make sure my tiny dancer is okay.

They won't let me stay in the room with Cam when we bring him in. I carried him into the emergency room, and they rolled out a gurney for me to lay him on, and then wheeled him away from me.

"You don't understand," I tell the nurse charged with getting me to sit back in the lobby. "I promised I wouldn't let him out of my sight. You have to let me back with him."

Several security guards show up, but I am at least reasonable enough not to force my way back there. I know I can't help him if I'm arrested for causing a nuisance or threatening the hospital staff.

I startle when Cora's hand lands on my shoulder, and she pulls it back fearfully.

"I'm sorry," I tell her, reaching for her hand and holding it in both of mine. "I'm on edge, but I'm not going to do anything stupid. I just… I promised that I wouldn't let anybody hurt him, and now I'm letting him down again. What if he wakes up and I'm not there?"

A tear falls down her cheek, and she nods. "I'll see what I can do."

I plop down in the closest available chair to the doors he was wheeled through and rest my head in my hands. If I was a religious man, I'd pray, but I never believed anyone was listening. My mother believed, though. I look up at the ceiling and imagine her looking down on me, wondering what she'd say about all of this. When I look up at Dwayne, who has always been the voice of reason, he looks away from me and watches his wife at the front desk instead. Cora works here during the week, so she's familiar with the staff and rules.

Finally, the same nurse that shut me out before comes back into the waiting room and ushers the three of us to a private waiting room. She points towards an exam room and asks us to stay put so she doesn't lose her job. Cora hugs her and I give her my thanks, eyes glued to the room she pointed us to. There's a small gap in the blinds, and while I can't see much, I'm at least able to get eyes on part of him. I can tell that they're sticking electrodes to his skin, and someone is lifting his eyelids to shine a light.

Dwayne comforts Cora in his arms while I pace the room like a caged animal.After what feels like hours, but might only be minutes, a woman in a white coat leaves the room and notices us waiting nervously.

She gives us a tight smile and introduces herself as Dr. Johansen before asking some basic questions. Cora answers everything until she starts asking about what happened tonight.

"I don't know the details, but he was drugged. I'mpositive that his boss is responsible, but I can't prove it," I say honestly.

"Mr. Stevens is severely dehydrated and shows signs of malnutrition," the doctor says.

"That you can blame on his boss, too," I interject. "Sorry, I know I sound unhinged. But that man has been psychologically abusing Cam since he started there."

"Cameron is a professional dancer, and his boyfriend owns the dance company. He takes his job very seriously and has been slimming down for his role, not that he needed it. He was doing fine?—"

"—until Alistar felt Cam pulling away and felt the need to assert his control. He's been messing with his head and making threats."

"What kind of threats?" Dwayne asks, staring at me like I've grown an extra head. "Look, it's obvious that you're jealous, but?—"

"You know what he did already, Dwayne. You know what he's capable of. Well, let me tell you, it's much worse than we imagined."

"What is he talking about?" Cora asks Dwayne, who pulls her into his arms again.

"Look, this is Cam's story to tell. I'm only saying this much so you know what's going on." I look at the doctor. "He didn't do this to himself."

Dr. Johansen nods, still not looking convinced. "I'm going to run a full tox screen, blood alcohol test, CBC, and chem panel. His heart rate is a little on the high side, but that can be common with dehydration and isn't anything to worry about yet. His blood pressure is dangerously low. The fluids should help, but we're also doing an EKG. We'll monitor him closely for the next several hours, and potentially overnight." She looks at Cora. "Once the nurses are done, one family member may stay with him at a time." Dr. Johansen turns a hard glare at me. " One , Mr. Connor."

How did she know my name?

Once she leaves and it's just the three of us alone again, I can't meet either of their eyes. I keep my gaze focused on the gap in the blinds, watching the nurses move around his bed.

"I'm not leaving," I tell them. "I understand if you'd rather I stay out here so you can be by his side, but I'm not leaving his line of sight until he's awake and coherent enough to tell me he doesn't want me here." I'll fight them to open the blinds so I can watch him, and he can see me if he wakes up, but I'll give them their space aside from that.

"I promised him," I say again.