Free Always Yours by Kari March Page A

really hot, I just hate that song," I said as I turned in my seat a little. I knew this was going to be a long conversation so I decided to get comfortable.
    She looked at me with a puzzled expression. "Why do you hate it?"
    "I guess I don't actually hate it, I just don't like listening to it. It was me and my ex's song," I told her.
    "Oh, I'm sorry," she said as she looked down.
    "It's okay. It just brings back some bad memories, ya know?" She nodded her head.
    "Let's talk about something else," she said softly. "I've been talking about myself all night. I think it's your turn to answer a few questions." She looked up at me.
    "What do you want to know?" I couldn't believe I had just said that. I knew she was going to ask about my family and my past and I wasn't ready to tell her who my father was. Not that I thought she was the type that would use me just to get to him, but I wanted her to know me for me. People always seemed to change how they treated me after finding out my father was Mitchell Greer.
    "First of all, what's your last name?" she asked with a shy smile on her face.
    Shit!
    That was the one question I didn't want her to ask. For a split second I thought about making something up but when I looked into her eyes I couldn't."It's Greer," I told her, gauging her reaction. I could see the wheels in her head spinning and my heart stopped.
    Tilting her head she looked at me, her brow furrowed. "Greer....where do I know that name from?"
    Rubbing my hand on the back of my neck I diverted my eyes from hers. "I don't know. It's a pretty popular last name."
    "Wait....."
    Oh, shit, here it comes.
    "Greer as in Greer Talent Agency?" she speculated, her eyes wide. I didn't even have to answer her. The look on my face told her everything. "Is your dad Mitchell Greer?" she asked in a high-pitched voice.
    "Yep," I murmured, looking out the windshield.
    "Holy shit, Cam, your family is like....famous!" she shrieked. "Why aren't you in LA or Nashville, living the high life, like your sisters?"
    "The lifestyle never really appealed to me, I guess. Plus, I'm not like anyone else in my family—I'm not talented like my sisters. My father tried for years to get me to be something I wasn't. Acting classes, voice lessons, guitar lessons. That was my life and I hated every fucking minute of it." Gripping the steering wheel tightly I continued, "Most kids would have been on cloud nine doing what I did as a child but that just wasn't me and my dad just couldn't accept it. It took me running away when I was fifteen for him to finally realize that I was never going to be like my sisters. As pissed off as he was at me for doing what I did, it brought us closer in the long run. He quit forcing me into a life I despised and I got to explore things that actually interested me." I shrugged my shoulders.
    "Is that when you decided you wanted to be a firefighter?" she asked.
    "No," I replied and she looked at me like she wanted me to continue. "Martial arts, kick boxing, and krav maga became my way of life. For two years I trained almost every day after school and the day I turned eighteen I entered into my first amateur MMA fight, and won it."
    "You were a fighter? Cam, that's amazing." Her eyes lit up with the new knowledge. "Do you still fight?"
    "Nope, I quit." I really didn't want to explain any more to her but I knew she was going to ask.
    "Why?"
    "Injury." Even I could hear the pain in my voice when I said the words.
    "How did it happen?" she asked cautiously.
    "After six months of non-stop competitions, I was undefeated and well on my way to becoming a professional fighter. It was a dream come true." I paused for minute, contemplating if I should continue. I hated the next part of the story. "And by my side was Amber, my ex. She had come into my life just after we started our senior year in high school. She came to every one of my fights, except one. When she didn't show up that night, I knew it was over—she had left. When the bell rang,