Gangster in Love - Camren

16

Lauren spends the next night on the couch, leaving me alone in her room again. I find her camped out in the living room with Thunder the next morning, the blankets folded and her pillow set away.

"Really?" Chris grumbles as he enters the room, a cup of coffee in hand.

"He gave me the puppy eyes, Chris. I couldn't say no." Lauren says.

"Come on, Thunder. Off the couch." To my surprise, he doesn't listen to me. Thunder rests his head on Lauren's lap, looking up at her with pure adoration.

"Aw. I thought he was warming up to me." I suppress the urge to shiver as Shawn slides right next to me, doing his usual ninja routine of appearing without a sound.

"Were you not satisfied stealing everyone's girlfriends? Are you going to steal their pets, too?" Zayn comments.

"Don't even hate." Lauren shrugs it off.

"Oh, is this where everyone is?" I give Liam a wave as he enters the room, tugging his hoodie on. "I have something important to share, so everyone listen up."

Zayn passes him a cup of coffee, greeting him under his breath. "Did the cameras reveal something?"

"They did." Liam triumphantly lifts a hand, pointing at me. "And Camila is back in the Ruby Heart!" I nearly drop my mug. Everyone on the room freezes, processing this.

Chris recovers first, already snapping back into action. "How?"

"With Shawn's aid, I did some investigating yesterday. Call me a sore loser, but I don't trust Michael to host a fair competition."

"But what did you find?" I ask.

"The one who ran away with second place was cheating!"

"What...!" I pause. "...Explains a lot, actually." The second-place player was NOT as good as Lucy or I. but I had been so busted focusing on her challenges, I hadn't been vigilant against the other players.

"With the security footage from the game, we unearthed indisputable proof." Liam continuous.

"But that doesn't explain how they got away with it." I say.

"I know how." Her voice sounds frigid, ready to shatter with anger. "I bet Mike paid the dealer to turn a blind eye. And of course, Lucy wasn't going to rat them out, either. She was safe in first place." Lauren says.

Chris bristles with newfound energy. "But now it's out in the open! They can't sweep this one under the rug."

"I guess this is why Mike wanted to host the tournament, to begin with. The dirty, lying snake." Liam says, looking a little angry.

I turn to Lauren, grinning at her. "Isn't this great, Lauren? We're back in business!"

To my surprise, Lauren still seems chilly. Giving Thunder more space on the couch, she gets up and stalks over to her gambling room without another word.

"Don't tell me she's still hungover." Zayn comments.

"Beat me." Shawn respond.

"Maybe she's just mad the other guy cheated." I say.

"I doubt it. Everyone knows cheating is allowed at these things, so long as you don't get caught." Chris says.

I slump onto the couch, defeated. "So if she's not mad about the cheating, and she's not mad about m being out of the tournament... what on earth has her so distant from me?"

A little too late, I realize I'd spoken my thoughts out loud. Zayn coughs and mumbles something about breakfast, disappearing into the kitchen with Liam in tow.