after this night (camren)

1. Lauren

The car squealed to the curb, and I was out the door and down the street in mere seconds, heart racing, adrenaline kicking in fast.

I had no clue what Matthew wanted or needed from my woman.

But I couldn't let her face that man alone.

The second Matthew's meaty paw touched Camila's arm, I strode up next to them, stepping in front of her. "If you need her, you go through me"

Matthew chuckled like he was in on a secret joke, "Hey, Laura"

The fake name made me seethe, "What do you need?"

Camila set a hand on my arm as if to calm me down, "It's okay" she said, her voice soft, but a little shaky.

"It's not okay"

Matthew held up his hand in surrender, "I was just telling her the new time for tonight. That's all love. Got a message from the boss that the time was changed. We're all good"

"See you later" Camila said to Matthew with a nod.

"See you later" Matthew echoed, then turned away once more.

Jaw set, teeth clenched, I peered at the man as he walked down the block and disappeared once more. Once he was out of sight, I gestured to the door, and she unlocked it then stepped into the foyer.

"What the hell, Camila? Are you going to tell me now?"

She jammed the heel of her hand against her eye, "I want to" she croaked out.

"So tell me"

"But I can't" A tear flowed down her cheek.

"Why? Why won't you let me help you?"

She raised her chin, took a breath, wiped another tear, "Because I care about you too much. I can't bring you into this"

"What the hell. Camila" I asked, my heart still thumping fast and furious. I took a deep fuelling breath, "He. Had. A. Gun"

"I know" she said in a broken whisper, a guilty look in her eyes.

The man had thug or dealer written all over him.

Dealer.

Once the notion touched down in my head, I couldn't see it or unhear it. The floor felt shaky, and the walls seemed to fall in and out of focus. My chest tightened and my heart turned cold as if she'd just shoved me into a walk-in-freezer, "What kind of mess are you in?" I asked, trying one more time.

"I can't tell you. Don't you get it? I can't let the people i care about get hurt because of me"

I shook my head and breathed out hard, "You might be too late on that count"

She grabbed my shirt, pleading with me, "Please just trust me"

The word reverberated like a warning light.

Trust.

I wanted to trust her. Oh how I wanted to. But could I?

This was the second time around. This was déjà vu all over again, as Yogi Berra would say.

I'd been here. I'd seen the same routine with Keana, begging me to believe her, pleading with me to see that she wasn't hopped up on pills. Claiming she was getting help, when she was really selling off her purses and jewellery to buy more drugs. I had no idea if Camila was buying drugs, or shaking off a past as a stripper, or hiding some other dark secret, because she wouldn't say. She wouldn't give me the courtesy of the truth. That left me with one cold, hard fact - she was lying. Whether directly or by omission didn't matter. She wasn't being honest.

And that both hurt and pissed me off.

But for now, she was safe and there was no more I could do.

My veins felt scrubbed raw with a scouring pad as I gently, but firmly, peeled her hand off my arm. I didn't need this in my life again. I had business to take care of for my clients and I couldn't risk the chance of another fucked-up relationship with a trouble-laden woman distracting me from my job.

Camila was perfect and captivating, clever and sexy, and tattooed head-to-toe with the warning sign that read trouble ahead. Good thing I'd seen it now before I went in too deep.

"I can't do this. Camila" I said, as I walked her up the stairs and saw her safely to her door.

I cupped her cheeks, dropped a final searing kiss to her lips, and walked away.

There was one choice for me now.

I'd have to find a way to forget her, hard and fast.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

yall i feel like its been foreverr, when its only really been like what.. a week?