Dark Paradise

chapter sixteen

C H AP T E R S I X T E E N

CELIA WAS ABSOLUTELY FUCKING TIRED. It had been a few weeks since the encounter with the woman and she had become a little more paranoid then when she returned from Guatemala. Every car that slowed down while passing her or anyone who looked at her for too long made Celia's heart race. Despite having her dog and having a handgun in the top drawer of her nightstand, Celia found it hard to get a good nights sleep. The occasional random spurs of gun shots and random other sounds would startle Celia awake and keep her up the rest of the night. She was on the verge of running to Steve and Javier and confessing everything about Gustavo.

"You okay? You've been kinda jumpy lately. Did something happen?" Connie questioned her sister as she purchased fresh tomatoes from a street vendor.

"Yeah I'm fine." Celia answered as she took some bags from her sister to help her out. "I've just been feeling weird lately. I guess with Adriana dying and with the whole Escobar fiasco it's changed life a little. Like who the fuck bombs a whole ass plane?"

"Terrorists and Pablo Escobar apparently." Connie replied to her sister's question even though it was most likely rhetorical. She stopped at another vendor and turned to Celia. "You still bloated? They've got pineapple here and ginger over there."

"Oh yeah. I probably need to stop drinking soda and beer and you need to buy like bottled water. I hate the water from the tap." Celia said to her sister as she picked up a good looking pineapple and handed it to the man to bag it. "I think that's why I can't even zip up my pants I'm getting so bloated."

"What if it's food allergies? It might be your birth control too. Your hormones might be all over the place so maybe that's why you got your period this month and last month." Connie suggested to Celia as she purchased the pineapple and some ginger.

"Maybe. I should probably fly home and see my doctor though. I probably need to do a checkup before getting my birth control since I haven't been in the US of A for a hot minute." Celia retorted as she strolled down the line of vendor stands with her sister.

They finally reached the end and Celia took off her hat to fan herself. Connie glanced over at her sister who had beads of sweat sitting at her temples while strands of her hair stuck to her face.

"Speaking of hot, you feel okay? I don't wanna be rude but you're pretty sweaty." Connie chuckled out as she moved to push her sister's hair back from her face.

Connie's fingers gentle brushed across her sister's skin of her cheek and she almost shuddered at how cold her sister's skin felt.

"Oh my God I think you have heat exhaustion." Connie stated as she snatched the hat out of her Celia's hand and placed it back in your head. "Are you feeling dizzy or nauseous? Do you have a headache?"

"Yeah my head kinda hurts but I just thought the nausea was because of it." Celia replied as her sister began to drag her back to the car.

"Alright then it's time we get you out of the heat and into some AC. When we get to the car, you can wait inside while I run into the shop and buy you some water." Connie said as she looked back at her sister after her eyes finally caught sigh of the car.