The Bet

30) Soft and Fluffy

We laid together, rubbing noses and being cheesy, not caring that we're on what's probably the crustiest cot known to man.

  Though, we've both been here before in far worse conditions, so it's a small price to pay for snuggles.

Mommy traced my bottom lip with her thumb. "I don't think I've ever met anyone like you."

I blinked, a little taken aback but her sudden sincerity. "Oh."

She giggled and her eyes crinkled cutely. "There you go again." She scooted impossibly closer. Our legs were already tangled together and our chests were already touching, but she found a way. "The world is so predictable, Angel, and people are so calculable. It gets boring, but you. . ." She laid her forehead against mine. "You're like a million wonderful contradictions in one little body." She sighed. "It's beautiful."

We laid in silence for a beat after that, I didn't know what to say. Strangely, I didn't feel the need to fill the silence with clumsy excuses as to why I am painfully ordinary.

Her words touched me, and they touched me deeply. They reached a place where I can't remember the last time kind words have graced, and I believed her.

I opened my mouth, finally ready to tell her how I feel in return, but a knock on the door interrupted me.

We both shot upright in the cot, because the knocking was actually more of a frantic banging.

  "Ma'am! You need to see this, now."

  The sound of her goon and regular at the diner, Roy, calling for her with alarm had Camila leaping from the bed.

  She quickly gathered our clothes and threw mine my way before shoving hers on and striding out of the room. The door slammed behind her.

  "Oh," I mumbled as I found myself sitting alone.

Camila's POV

  Rage hit me like a tidal wave as I walked away from the picture of bliss and my eyes connected with the human incarnation of a snake leaning against the back wall.

"Adam." I growled under my breath.

  The man who came back from the dead to wreak havoc on my co-owner of The Garden's life and then ran away like a coward.

"No one saw him come in and no one knows how long he's been here," Roy informed me. "Cal tipped me off when the bastard placed a bet, and that's when I came to get you."

  The gears started turning in my head.

  "Should I call Cortez?"

  "Absolutely not. People come here because it's gun free," aside from Cal, of course, in case he has to defend the cash, "if Cortez hears about this, she'll storm in, guns blazing, and probably put dozens in the hospital. That's bad for business." I continued to stride towards where Adam was relaxing in his infuriating and arrogant way, watching a match like he's not a wanted man.

  A man wanted by someone far worse than the law.

  "I want a man at every exit. He's not leaving until I get him to squeal about why he's here." I ordered as we maneuvered through the crowd.

  "Yes, ma'am. I'll go scope out his vehicle and —"

  "No."

  He was clearly taken aback.

  "You'll go get Samira and make sure she gets home safe."

  I could tell he wanted to argue about the lack of excitement his job entails, but Roy has always been one of the smart ones, so he pursed his lips and headed back towards the knock out room.