WILDFIRE
By Aysia Anderson (a.k.a. Nikki)

Chapter Twenty-Eight: Slip of the Tongue

“So how are things with you and your husband?” Linda Henderson asked her daughter while lifting her granddaughter up and into her arms as they all strolled onto the back patio of her home. “I haven’t heard from you in a while.”

“I don’t know.” Camille shrugged elusively and adjusted the strap of her Gucci purse over her shoulder. “Things are good sometimes and then other times it’s really bad but that’s marriage, right?”

“Most marriages don’t involve dirty laundry airing out in the newspapers.”

“I thought we already talked about this, mom.”

The entire Alyssa Milano incident had taken place nearly two months earlier yet still it was all over the place. It wouldn’t die down for anything. Every day there seemed to be a new photo or a new eyewitness that had seen something more than just a kiss. The more rumors that were spread the more that Camille began to withdraw into herself and separate from the world that she had once held close. The only way she knew how to escape was to be indifferent.

“He embarrassed you in front of the entire nation, Camille. Does that mean nothing to you?” Linda continued while bouncing Nicole on her hip.

“What do you want me to say? You want me to say that I’m hurt by his actions? I’m hurt, mom, but it’s in the past now. There is nothing that I can do about it.”

“There’s plenty that you can do.”

“Mom, I don’t want to have this conversation right now in front of my daughter.” Camille said finally and leaned back against the railing of the patio crossing her arms over her chest.

Linda pursed her lips together before nodding her agreement. Without another word she sat down on one of her lounge chairs and began to play patty cake with her grandchild. She had to get her mind off of what had happened in her daughter’s relationship. It wasn’t her place to interfere but at the same time Camille would always be her baby girl and she felt the need to protect her.

“You’ve had quite a few calls recently.” The older woman announced all too casually.

“If it was from anyone in the press then I’m not interested in hearing about it.”

“No, no, just a few old friends.”

“Old friends like who?” Camille inquired.

“David, Usher, Steven…”

“Steve called here? We’re talking about the same Steve that I had a crush on back in the day?”

“The one that you swore looked like Justin but better, yes.”

“You like someone more than daddy?” Nicole asked curiously though she didn’t understand the context of the conversation.

“No, not at all, baby. This was way before I ever met your father.” Camille assured her and tickled the underside of her chin. “What did he say?”

“He wanted to see you.”

“Hmm, I wonder why?” She rolled her eyes and sat down in the lounge chair next to her family. “Why does everyone think that it’s over for us?”

“Well, what do you think?”

“I don’t know what I think right now but why would I leave someone over something as simple as a kiss?”

Linda couldn’t help but to speculate. “Was it only a kiss?”

“What do you mean?”

“From those pictures I wouldn’t put it pass the two of them for it to have gone further.”

“I don’t believe that. He wouldn’t do something like that to me.” Camille defended the man that she loved. “He’s not that type of person.”

“Yet he kissed another woman? If he took it that far why wouldn’t he go the extra mile?”

Camille shook her head and diverted her attention away from her mother. She was getting steadily more and more upset. She didn’t need anyone vocalizing her greatest fears. She had already come to the conclusion that he hadn’t told her the entire story because he had been acting funny for quite some time. Still, she wasn’t ready to accept the fact that he would lie to her about it.

“Sweetheart, I know how strong your love is but sometimes love isn’t always enough.” Linda sympathized with her daughter. “If your father and I had…”

“We are not you and daddy!” She couldn’t disguise the pain seeping into her voice. “We are not going to end up like you did!”

“Like I did? Camille Marie Henderson, I am proud of the woman that I am! I am proud of who I have become!”

“You’re proud to be alone?! You’re proud not to wake up next to someone everyday?!”

“I would much rather wake up alone every day for the rest of my life than to wake up next to a lying son of a bitch that makes a mockery out of the sanctity of our marriage!”

“Grandma,” Nicole shouted out when she heard the obscenity escape her lips.

“I’m sorry, pudding. I owe you a dollar, okay?”

“Nikki, go and get your things.” Camille ordered and stood up from her seat pleading with her own emotions not to spit fire at her mother. “If it’s not about love, mom, then what is it really about?”

////

“I never meant to hurt my daughter. I swear to you that that was never my intention. I just did not want her to be humiliated when the truth came to the light.” Linda explained to Gary Smith as she sat down with him under the bright lights and cameras. “I just felt it in my bones that there was something more just beneath the surface. If a man will go that far then what is stopping him from taking it to the next level? He’s already been discovered so why not go out in a blaze of glory?”

“Can you shed a little bit of light on what Camille meant by saying that she didn’t want to end up like you or her father?” Gary asked curiously while giving her his complete attention.

“Kenny, Camille’s father, and I were like oil and water. I don’t know how we ever stayed together long enough to even bring her into this world because we could never see eye-to-eye. We wanted different things out of life and there were too many different conflicts of interests.” She answered as best as she could. “You can only give so much before you realize that it is time to let go.”

“You ended the marriage?”

“Yes, I did. I was not going to be disrespected or mistreated in a relationship. Kenny wanted to see other women and still come home and that is not the way that the world works. I sent him on his way when Camille was a child and that was that.”

“Do you think that affected her in any way?”

“Of course it affected her! She’s got this incessant need for everything to be right in the world. She feels that the only thing that can give her validation or self-worth is to have a man in her life.” Linda sighed heavily. “Justin is more than just a husband to her. He fills that void of father figure, best friend, confidant, lover…he is everything to her rolled into one.”

Gary nodded that he was following her words. “I’m assuming that your relationship with him is now strained?”

“Definitely, it is. He hurt my child, my flesh and blood, deeper than she’s ever or has needed to be hurt in her lifetime. I can’t respect or forgive that.”

////

The sound of Petey Pablo and Lil’ Jon’s track, Freak-a-leak, blasted throughout the speakers in the club. Nicole Ritchie, alcoholic beverage in hand, made her way pass all of the gyrating bodies on the dance floor and toward the VIP section of SUEDE. The usually sparsely populated area was packed with celebrities of all walks and at the center, dancing atop a table, was none other than Justin Timberlake and Camille Henderson.

With all of the controversy surrounding them they had been doing their best to drown out all of the gossip and tabloid fodder. Though they were surrounded by people they were completely alone and wrapped up in one another. Everyone in the room was slightly intoxicated, including Camille who was usually deathly against drinking, and in the zone. She and Justin were pawing all over one another almost to the point of being sickening.

Justin explored the contours of his wife’s mouth with his tongue as they danced so closely together that they could have been mistaken for one being. His hands were glued to her ass and when she put her back to him they circulated from her hips to her thighs. She had always been free with him but with alcohol in her system she was definitely giving him a lot more leeway than was usually allowed.

“Don’t they have rules about screwing in public?” Nicole rolled her eyes as she came to sit down next to Jessica Simpson whom was cuddling up close to her hubby as well.

“What do you mean?” Jessica turned to her though not really interested in anyone but Nick.

“Justin and Camille,” she gestured to the table in front of them where the couple danced provocatively together. She was just waiting for one of them to scream out with the best orgasm he or she had ever had in their lives.

“They’re just having fun.” Nick butted into the conversation and pulled his wife back into his arms. “Chill out, Nic. You’re just upset about your boyfriend not being here.”

“Ex-boyfriend,” Nicole drawled and disappeared from the room again.

As the music ended Camille leaned back into Justin with a smile spreading over her damp face. She didn’t recall ever dancing so hard or being so hot. The vodka that she had had was definitely having an effect on her and that mixed with all of the high energy dancing was making her a bit woozy. She knew that soon she would have to slow things down.

“I like that song.” She breathed and draped her arms over Justin’s that were locked around her middle as he kissed down the side of her neck. “Man, it is so hot in here.”

Justin didn’t reply. He was too consumed with tasting her skin and forgetting about where he was. The last time that he had done anything remotely similar in a club had been the biggest mistake of his life. At least now, he thought, he couldn’t go wrong with being intimate with his own wife.

“Are you having fun?” Camille giggled as she pried herself away from him and hopped down off of the table to claim a spot on the plush seating along the wall.

“Always,” he replied, stepping down after her, and followed her lead. Before she could sit down he spun her around and dropped onto the couch pulling her down onto his lap. “Baby, you are so sexy right now.”

“I’m only sexy right now?”

“You’re sexy in the shower, in the car, in the kitchen, in the garage…” He began to rattle off any place that came to his intoxicated mind while playing with her fingers and lifting her arms up into the air along with his own. Once they were completely horizontal he brought the right down and around her stomach while draping the other back and behind his neck. “Do you need me to continue?”

“Continue talking or being affectionate?” She teased as his lips found her neck again and his right hand released hers to dip between her legs. “Okay, Justin, stop.”

“What?”

“God, I’m not that drunk.”

“You are that drunk. I’m that drunk.” He leaned back into the cushions and ceased his assault.

Guiltily Camille leaned back into him and allowed him to wrap his arms around her though he was overdramatically saddened by being shot down. “Don’t pout.”

“I’m not pouting.”

“You are.”

“Babe, you want me to behave so I’m behaving, alright?”

“Don’t be mad at me.”

“I’m not mad at you. I married a woman that’s a lady in the streets but a freak in the bed so I knew what I was getting into.” Justin joked though he was disappointed that she wasn’t going to be adventurous with him. He knew he was proposing a little too much. “Besides, this isn’t Caribe Cay. Having sex with you in a hammock between two palm trees in broad daylight is enough obscene behavior to last me a lifetime.”

“You would bring that up right now.” She laughed and closed her eyes. “Do you want to go home soon?”

“Yeah, I do. Let’s do a few more dances and then head on out. I’m not going to be able to control myself much longer.”

“Ooh, frisky!” She jumped up and adjusted her designer jeans before disappearing on him to chat up some friends.

“Looks like you and Camille are surviving.” Nick slid down the cushions after his wife too scampered away.

“Yeah, I guess so.” Justin replied sheepishly. “I was certain that she was going to have a complete conniption but she’s been taking everything as it comes in stride.”

“That’s love right there.”

“Yeah,”

“So all you really did do was kiss Alyssa right? I know there are a million different stories coming out right now but nothing else happened?”

Justin shrugged no longer wanting to participate in the conversation. “It’s in the past now so there is no use in resurrecting the situation. I just want it to die.”

“I understand that.” Nick nodded his agreement and leaned back into the cushions. “You slept with her.”

“Nick!”

“You slept with her and you didn’t tell Camille. I know, man. I’m not stupid. I know how the mind of a man works.”

“Maybe I didn’t tell her every gory detail but would that have really been necessary?”

Nick shrugged his shoulders. “As long as you can live with it I guess there is no problem.”

“You’ve never cheated on Jess though so I can’t really believe that you relate to the situation.”

“Publicly I’ve never cheated on Jessica.”

“What do you mean?” Justin’s brows furrowed in curiosity.

“It happened once, you know? I didn’t try to hide it from her. I just told her straight out what had happened and of course she was initially really upset about it but she let it go and we moved on. It didn’t need to become public information.”

“Tell me why I don’t believe you right now, Nick?”

“You don’t believe me because I’m lying, perhaps?”

“You’re an asshole.” Justin socked him in the arm and fell back into the cushions.

“You know you have to tell her, right?”

“I should have told her the night that it happened. Now that it’s been sitting and sitting I don’t know how to approach the situation.”

“Well, there are new developments and new photos everyday in the story. You’re going to want to be the one to tell her instead of getting murdered after she reads it in a magazine.”

“You do have a point.” Justin laughed as both Camille and Jessica appeared, arm in arm, strolling over to them.

“Happy birthday, Mr. President,” Camille sang as she crawled onto her husbands lap with draping her arms over his shoulders.

“Oh, hell no,” Nick fell out laughing as Jessica plopped down next to him to divert his attention from the show. “This is why she doesn’t drink!”

“Wasn’t Jess the one that popped out of a cake in lingerie on your 30th birthday?” Justin pointed out before Camille directed his lips to hers.

Nick started to say something more when Jessica caught him. “Don’t talk to them while they’re making out.”

“I can’t believe her skanky ass showed up here!” Nicole erupted, stumbling back into the VIP room irately. “What a stupid bitch!”

“What’s wrong, mama?” JC asked, directing her to come and stand at his side in a corner of the room.

“Alyssa is here.”

“Alyssa?”

“Yes, did I stutter?” Nicole stared at him, her words scathing. “She better not bring her ass back here because if she does it’s fucking on.”

“No, no.” JC disagreed. “We don’t need any drama like that going on tonight, honey.”

Carefully Justin lifted Camille back onto the table top and stepped up after her. After so much commentary from Nick they decided to get their last few dances out of the way before going back home. Sobering up slightly they created a bit of a distance between them but still danced as dirty as they wanted to. It was all fun and games until the sound of an all too familiar voice was heard.

“You stupid bitch!”

The pair stopped moving as if someone had come in and frozen the frame of a movie. Justin’s blood ran cold through his veins as he pleaded with his eyes for his wife not to act on an impulse. Camille stared back at him, unmoving, unaware of what she was going to do next. Slowly she turned around and looked down at the face that had attempted to ruin her marriage.

“Excuse me? I don’t think I quite heard what you just said to me.”

Alyssa stared back up at her challengingly. “I called you a stupid bitch, bitch.”

The room had fallen silent and everyone was standing by. No one knew what would happen. The only thing that they knew was that the approach had been wrong and the reaction would be equally as foul.

“Baby,” Justin’s voice sounded in Camille’s ear as a smile spread over her face, eyes still locked on Alyssa’s fiery orbs. “Babe, don’t do anything stupid, okay?” He struggled to keep her stable but she ripped free of his grip and stepped down onto the floor to come face to face with the enemy.

“I don’t like the way you treat Justin and its time that someone stepped in and stopped you.” Alyssa challenged, hands planted firmly on her hips.

“What the fuck would you know about how I treat my husband?”

“I know enough.”

“Really, why don’t you enlighten me?”

Justin stepped quickly between to the two women putting his back to Alyssa. “Baby, this isn’t worth it. Do you remember what you said about the public and it’s your job to make them happy? Don’t feed into their negativity, okay? Don’t let her mess up the image that you worked so hard to build.”

Camille nodded her head that she agreed with him until she heard Alyssa’s ranting and ravings from behind him. “Oh, my…come on!” His hands locked on her wrists instantly so that she wouldn’t resort to violence.

“Let her go, Justin!” Alyssa prodded.

“Bitch, if he lets me go…”

“Baby, would calm down? Will somebody get Alyssa?”

“No, fuck calm down, Justin!”

“If you were doing your fucking job right then he wouldn’t have come to me in the first place.” Alyssa continued to taunt Camille as JC rushed over to be of assistance.

“You want my job? Would you rather be in my place?” Camille pointed at her over Justin’s shoulder. “That’s what the problem is right? You turn into a vindictive little bitch when you can’t get what you want?”

“You don’t even fucking know me!”

“And you don’t know me either so if I were you I wouldn’t approach me the way that you are because I have no problem kicking your fucking ass all over this club!”

“You want to try me?”

“Try me!”

Suede’s security team rushed into the VIP room the moment that the fight between Camille and Alyssa broke out. There had been no physical contact but it had been mere seconds away when Justin had caught his wife and pulled her back away from the woman that had been a part of his betrayal. JC had quickly blocked Alyssa off and when the bouncers arrived they immediately began to escort her out of the building.

“You better learn to keep your man at home, honey!” Alyssa shouted irately. “Every time you have sex with him you think about him having sex with me at that club!”

“Every time you fantasize about the past I want you to think about what you tasted on his lips when you kissed him, ho!” Camille shouted back just as heatedly, struggling to get out of Justin’s grip to go after her.

“If he cheated on you once he’ll cheat on you again!”

Camille stopped struggling, out of breath and tired, as Alyssa was removed from sight and ear shot. She could feel everyone’s eyes on her and it drove her crazy. Tears began to sting her eyes and all at once she pulled away from Justin’s arms, collected her things from Nicole Ritchie, and started on her way out of the club. Justin ran his hand over his mouth and chin trying to collect his bearings before rushing off after her.

“Baby, hold on!” He called after her as he stepped out into the cool night.

“Don’t you fucking ‘baby’ me right now!” she searched the contents of her purse for her car keys forgetting that she had parked valet

“Camille, don’t let her get you worked up like this. It’s not worth it.”

“Did you have sex with her?” Camille asked taking his sudden silence as his answer. “All right then.”

“Baby,”

“No, you slept with that tramp then you came home and you slept with me. I got it.” She turned away from him, nodding her head, and crossed her arms over her chest. “It’s crystal clear.”

Justin raked his teeth over his bottom lip and shoved his hands into his pockets as they stood together waiting for their car to be driven around to them from the parking lot. He had never encountered such a nerve racking silence before. He wanted to say something to lighten the situation but he had already mastered not saying anything. That was the reason they were where they were right then.

When the pearl colored Escalade came to a stop in front of them Camille immediately walked around to the driver’s side and slid in after the valet had stepped out. Handing him a tip she closed the door and adjusted her seat as Justin climbed in next to her. He sat back into his seat and closed his eyes as she turned the radio up loud to ignore his existence and pulled off onto the street.

“Nastassia, is it cool if Nikki just stays the rest of the night with you?” Camille asked her friend over the phone as she drove toward her home.

“Yeah, that’s no problem but what’s up?” Nastassia inquired.

“I’ll let you know when I get there. I think I’m going to crash your place for a while.”

Justin sighed inwardly hearing the conversation. “You don’t need to fucking stay with Nastassia!”

“Well I’m sure as hell not fucking staying with you. You can believe that.”

Where Do They Go From Here?