Mood
Changer
“Ugh, Cam get your shit
together.” Bonnie rolled her eyes as she picked up the umpteenth bottle of beer
from the floor. With all her life, she had trusted Cameron and this is where he
had lead them, all that she had given up and he left her in the desolate terrible
place they called home.
Where they now resided
in was a far cry from the kept mansions that Bonnie grew up in all her life.
Far from what she had imagined when her and Cam planned the ultimate stunt of
stealing ten million dollars of her step father CASH. If she had known where turning
her back on all that she knew for love would get her, she would have never turned
Cam’s way. She would have ran honestly, so far that she would have never associated
with a man again. She would have been better off old and lonely with seven cats
keeping her company in a huge mansion rather than being in the dusty slum
apartment she now lived in with Cameron.
“Wake up.” Shanking the
foot of her once beloved husband, Bonnie really had enough of his lounging
around. “Cameron, wake the fuck up!” Now violent shaking his leg in order to
raise him from his deadly slumber.
More shakes and yells
and Cam eventually rose from his sleep wiping the crust from his eyes with a
loud burping yawn. Before he even uttered a word, Cam took a sip of warm beer
from one of the many bottles around.
“What!” He angrily
yelled. He was enjoying a wonderful dream where he laid on the beach under the
warm sun. Ten million dollars being his bed rest. He wanted to stay there, in
his dream, if it meant not waking up or living life really; he would have
happily accepted thriving in purgatory. Any life in fact was better than the
one he lived now.
“You’ve been sleeping
all day! You promised today would be the day you went out to find a job.” For a
man that dined on champagne and vodka exclusively prior to their demise, cheap
Cuban beer didn’t agree with him as he would have liked. Drinking more was the
only way he could stall the pounding headache it caused. So instead of
responding to Bonnie’s yelling that’s what he did, take a sip.
Bonnie snarled at him
with her pudging belly. Cameron grunted at her with his scruffy beard and messy
hair. Just two months ago they were in paradise, with the only care was what
beach they were going to escape to next. Now, they squatted in a dusty apartment,
no money, no beach and were constantly on the watch for CASH’s minions.
Bonnie looked on at Cam
with disgust. He was once the sexiest man she had ever laid eyes on. He had
confidence, charisma, and determination. Now all he had was a beer belly and a
bad drug habit that pushed them deeper into poverty. If she wasn’t carrying his
child, Bonnie probably would have jumped on the bandwagon of drugs too but she
couldn’t risk it for the baby. It was the only thing keeping her together.
The two had become so distant
since the man who Cam once considered his best friend stole all they had. They
were so distant that they didn’t even share the same bed anymore. Cam chose to
stay out late and crash on the couch. And like a ritual, Bonnie cried herself
to sleep on the small cot in their room. Her unhappiness melted into everything
she did, all day she would mop around the tiny apartment, cursing their whole
existence. It became so painful to watch that Cam either left the house or
drunk himself into a stupor.
“We’re out of food and
there’s no money left in your wallet.”
Despite all the ill
feelings he held for Bonnie and her hasty mood, he still cared for her and felt
responsible to provide in the most basic needs he could. He did what he could
to at least feed and keep a roof over her head.
“Did you check my pant
pockets?”
Again Bonnie rolled her
eyes. The gesture became so engraved in her that Cam swore she rolled her eyes
more than she blinked! She walked over to retrieve Cam’s pants and dug her hand
in his pockets. All that she pulled out was a few coins and a ripped off piece
of paper.
“What the fuck is
this?” She held up, other hand on her hip rolling her eyes yet again. “Who’s
Lorraine?”
Shit!
Cam had forgot that he wore those pants to the discoteca the night before. When
he wasn’t lounging on the musty couch in his home, he was out. Working, unbenounced
to Bonnie, at the discoteca “handling business” he would call. But really he
was just selling drugs. He had a really good thing going on for him there too.
The club was ran by
some fat house mom named Marcianna. She allowed Cam and his associates to
conduct business in the back of the club for exchange of nightly visits by Cam.
He wasn’t proud of what he was doing but he was able to provide for his
expanding family. It also didn’t help that Bonnie wouldn’t touch him with a ten
foot pole.
But as of lately
Marcianna was a little lackluster in bed and his coke habit made him felt more
capable than reality. Lorraine was something pretty to look at, she became more
appealing to Cam when she brushed off the fact that he was married with one on
the way. Cameron forgot she slid her number in his pocket the night before,
Bonnie wasn’t happy.
In an instant Cam rose
to his feet and took hold of his wife’s resistant hand.
“Oh that’s Loraine,
uhh…she said that she needed a babysitter.” Randomly Cameron blurted out. He
wasn’t even sure if Lorraine had kids. “I told her that you love kids and would
be perfect for the job.”
Bonnie’s face told that
she wasn’t falling for that lie just as of yet. Besides the little one growing
inside of her, she wasn’t too enthralled with the smaller people. She actually
still held her reservations about the one she was carrying. If Cam didn’t get
them out of their desolate situation soon, she would have no choice but to make
her way back to her father CASH. She had been working on her tearful apology.
Knowing that getting
out of his lie was a life or death situation with Bonnie, Cam attempted to milk
it further.
Taking her stiff body
into his arms, Cam planted a kiss on his wife’s forehead, trying his best to
keep his accent at bay.
“I have been thinking.
You don’t know many people here in town and it would be good for you to get out
and make some friends. We also need the money.”
Just the mention of
money caused Bonnie to turn her attention from Cameron possibly cheating. She
wanted desperately to get back in a better space with Cam and the only thing
that was holding them back was money. If she could help their family out then
she was willing to do it. But the babysitting thing couldn’t last for long,
Bonnie was desperate to live the fast life again. Bonnie solemnly nodded her
head in agreement.
“And!” Cam knew he was
winning their little fight and decided to put the extra oomph in to win
Bonnie’s favor. He kissed Bonnie again this time on her tightlipped mouth. “Lorraine
has an uncle that wants me to come and work with him at the discoteca downtown.
I got a job baby!”
Like music to her ears,
Bonnie’s mood went from super negative to ultra-bright. All because of money.
They had hope! Bonnie thought, this wasn’t going to be the rest of their lives
in the slums.
“Baby, that’s so good!”
She kissed Cam with enthusiasm. Relishing in the fact Bonnie was letting him
close to her, Cam took full advantage and led her to the tiny cot in their bedroom.
Marcianna might have gave him the basics of sex but Bonnie was his true
soulmate. She knew how to go above and beyond of what he could ever desire.
All that time since
they moved to that tiny apartment, Cameron was living in hell with not being
intimate with Bonnie. He thought it was the baby but he completely over looked
what the real cause was. In that moment, Cam knew exactly what turned Bonnie
on. Cold hard cash.
To be continued...
-Tiffany Li
