Travis was not okay. But I don't think it was just because of the concussion. I didn't think he was okay this morning but he didn't bring any attention to it and so I didn't. If there was an issue with anything I was doing, or someone else, or something he was annoyed with, he had no problem voicing it. It was things that were more personal like any emotion other than rage that he had a hard time expressing. If he didn't want to talk about it right now, I wasn't going to pressure him to.
But right now, if given the chance between dealing with the blow-back of relentlessly questioning Travis and bugging him or sitting in the living room with Cameron looking at me like that, I would question Travis twenty five times straight.
I shifted slightly under Cameron's steely gaze. It was unsettling.
His eyes slowly went to Travis, who was seated on the couch next to me. On the other side of him was Ben, who was staring at Travis' throat with a clenched jaw.
"Are you sure it was Scully?" Cameron finally spoke.
I opened my mouth to answer, trying to form the words because Travis hadn't spoken in the last ten minutes. I think he was trying to not fall asleep.
"Yes, I-" I began.
"Yes, I'm fucking sure," Travis butt in sarcastically.
Cameron slowly let out a deep breath through his nose, jaw pressed together, as if the slower he went, it was bound to relax him eventually. It didn't make him look any more relaxed by the end.
When we arrived home, Annabeth and Finn were already home because Annabeth drove like she was immune to police tickets. They were in their room with the door shut when we got back.
Ben and Cameron were here waiting for us, both not looking exactly happy and I wanted to ask about Elle and how that went but we'd been placed on the couch like children about to get grounded before I had the chance.
"Come with me," Cameron said looking straight at me.
He didn't wait for me, he just walked out of the room. Well, limped.
I hesitantly followed until he led me just out of the living room and stopped.
"I'm sorry," I said immediately.
Cameron didn't say anything for a moment, just studying me.
"This is my fault. If I'd done a better job threatening him in jail, he wouldn't have-"
"Dylan could've taken him out regardless. I figured there was a high chance he would, we just needed to get in his head and remind him of a few things."
I paused, considering his words. "So you're not mad?"
"I'm furious," Cameron said, slowly. "At Scully. At Dylan and the cops. At the Dacostas."
A small comfort washed over me as he clarified and I wasn't included in that list. But if he wasn't talking to me to yell at me, I didn't understand what was going on. I had been sure I was going to get in trouble.
"I need your help," Cameron said.
"With what?" I felt my eyebrows scrunch in with confusion.
Just then, Finn stepped into the hallway and shut the door to his and Annabeth's room behind him. He stuck his tongue out at me as he passed us but I grabbed his arm.
"Is Annabeth okay?" I questioned.
I had seen her when I first entered the room Scully had been in. I saw her face go cold. She wore the same face that I'd had on when I first got wrapped up in the Caseys years ago: fear. The two times that I'd spoken with her dad, he seemed to have no regard for his daughter in the grand scheme of things. I doubted that developed in prison and Annabeth's face confirmed it.
Annabeth held herself like the bang of an explosion. Like people were expected to have their heart race for a second seeing her, like they were supposed to be afraid of her, like they were expected should run. But that wasn't the Annabeth in that room.
Finn only gave me a small smile as an answer and continued to the kitchen.
"What do you need help with?" I asked, pursing my lips to the side as I focused on Finn walking away. So Annabeth wasn't okay, either.
"I need you to go somewhere with me."
Cameron's words snapped my attention back to him.
"Go somewhere with you?" I repeated, figuring he'd misspoke. Cameron was very calculated with the words he did say.
"Where? Why?" I shot out.
"Now," he answered a question I hadn't asked.
"Now?" I whispered, thinking he was nuts. "But Travis needs-"
"He's perfectly fine. Ben's with him."
I bit back the 'oh' that was forming at my lips because my initial thought was that Travis would come with us and I didn't think he was up for that sort of thing right now. It hadn't occurred to me that Travis wouldn't be coming.
Cameron nodded his head forward to the living room. "See?"
I turned to look at where Travis was seated with Ben on the couch. Only now, Finn was standing behind the couch between where they were and they were angled slightly to face him. Finn was holding two glasses of water, one presumably for Annabeth. He held one in his hand and the other was pressed between his chest and his arm. Ben had a lighter in his hand once again only this time, Finn let his free hand hover above the flame like he was summoning it into existence.
Ben flicked the switch and the flame shot up. With a magical grin on his face, Finn danced his hands around the flame, eyes drifting between the flame and Travis.
"Now watch closely, kiddo," Finn teased him before he stopped the dance. A fingertip was placed into the lighter flame and he began to dance his fingers around inside of it. Travis' half-awake face filled with jealousy.
Travis scoffed.
"Dipshits," Cameron interrupted. Three heads turned to face us, the lighter went off. "Lacey and I are going to get my phone. We'll be back."
A phone? We were going out for a phone after Scully and Dylan just attacked us?
"Why?" Travis asked as his face transformed into something harder and he stared at Cameron.
"Because people think I'm dead and I'm clearly not," Cameron said. "I think they need a reminder."
Travis and Cameron looked at each other for a moment before Travis looked at me and a smile coated his face.
"Stay safe, gorgeous," Travis said easily before looking back at the guys. "Let me try it, show off."
The guys all turned back to the ignited lighter.
Cameron went to get his crutches and walked with me to the car.
"He's going to burn himself," I said as soon as we were walking down the driveway. It was one of the first times I could ever remember being alone with just Cameron, aside from breakfast, and the silence was eating at me already.
"Yes, he will," Cameron said with a small sigh. He grabbed the keys out of his pocket and hit a button on the pad. The trunk to the black SUV opened and he nodded his head toward it, instructing me to go there instead of to the front of the car.
There were many duffle bags back here and I guessed half of them were full of weapons.
When Cameron met up with me behind the car, he surveyed them before grabbing one and dragging it from the back of the pile. They all looked the same to me but if they were his, the gangs, he probably knew which was which.
He unzipped the bag, balancing barely on his crutches and inside were a bunch of tools. I opened the bag all the way for him.
"I need a screwdriver. A flathead and..." he stopped talking and I looked up at him to see his eyes down the driveway.
Hannah pulled in from wherever she had been, making sure to park out of the way of the SUV so we could still get out. My eyes flew to Cameron, watching his face as I heard her turn off the car and start to get out. But his face was blank of any emotion.
He looked back to me before I had a chance to look away. "A flathead screwdriver and a hammer."
"I thought we were getting a phone," I said quietly.
Cameron set his jaw and taking one of the crutches out from under his arm, he sat down on the edge of the SUV trunk and started looking through the bag himself now that his arms were free. He pulled out both tools and stood, a tool in each of his hands as he readjusted his crutches.
Hannah walked up behind us and Cameron pressed a button on the keypad and the trunk started shutting itself. I stepped to the side to avoid getting hit by it.
"You're leaving," Hannah spoke, a few steps from us. Her eyes were assessing Cameron's body as if he was about to break.
"I'm better," Cameron said in an even tone.
"You're using crutches." Hannah pointed out one finger to them, as if Cameron thought she couldn't see them.
The two stared at each other; Hannah with pleading behind her eyes like she was begging him not to go anywhere but her mouth didn't make any move to voice the plea and Cameron with lips in a tight line as his eyes hardened on Hannah. Despite the lack of words, I felt like I was intruding on whatever this weird confrontation was but before I could even take one step away to give them privacy, Cameron was turning and getting into the passenger's seat.
Hannah stared at where he had been standing before smiling gently over to me.
"Please keep him safe," she said in a whisper and then walked away without waiting for my reply, all the way into the house.
I stood there, still confused about what the heck had just happened, when Cameron hit the horn on the car and I jumped before running to the driver's side door and hopping in.
He tossed the keys into my lap when I got in. I turned behind me to see the crutches had been discarded in the backseat.
"Where are we going?" I asked, backing out of the driveway.
"Left."
I sent him a look because that didn't answer my questions.
"I'll tell you where to go," he added, making no attempt to tell me where the final destination was. "And go slow over the bumps," he paused as we went over the small curb that started the driveway. "It hurts my leg."
So I followed his directions, making sure to tread carefully over any bump in the road and saw that we were on our way to Melkin. We drove in silence and I recognized the long road, full of overgrown grass and weeds on either side that I'd reunited with Travis in.
I kept my hands tight on the wheel, not enjoying the awkward silence between us.
"Why didn't you ask one of the others to go with you?" I eventually asked because any of them would have been better than me. We hardly spoke.
"You're the only one I trust to listen to me when I ask you not to speed over the potholes. The others don't know how to use the brake," he answered easily.
"Oh." I focused all of my attention to the road so he wouldn't see how surprised I was at his quick and wordy answer.
"If Hannah asks you anything about what we did, unless we're bleeding out and close to death, you tell her that nothing happened," he ordered, authority coming into his voice.
"Okay."
"Repeat it so I know you know."
I rolled my eyes at him, "I think I can remember to say nothing happened."
"When you say it to Hannah, try using less attitude," he said but his voice was back to his normal, emotionless self.
"I thought Ben was a good driver. You could've taken him," I answered because Ben was probably used to Cameron's personality and orders.
Cameron examined the screwdriver. "No. Ben drives with a lead foot and he wouldn't leave Travis' side if I paid him right now."
I wondered if I was being a bad girlfriend by leaving. But I told myself Travis didn't need to be coddled and he didn't need Ben and I fusing over him. And at the same time, the certainty Cameron has spoken with about Ben made me aware of how much he probably knew about all of my friends. How he had to know about the way each of them worked, their strengths and weaknesses if they were going to survive. He'd sent me into the jail, sure that I would be able to deliver the message to Scully when he had plenty of people at his disposal to do so.
"Is it hard?" I asked.
Cameron looked at me.
I clarified, "Keeping everyone safe. It sounds tiring." I couldn't even keep Josh from listening to me back when we were training. I didn't know how Cameron managed it so flawlessly.
"If something isn't hard, then it's hardly worth accomplishing."
"Hard like leaving Melkin," I said. "You told me you had been working on the plan for a long time."
"I've been tired for over ten years. Exhaustion has made its home in my bones. Leaving Melkin is the only thing that keeps me awake, no matter how long it takes."
I bit my lip as I thought over his words. "Do you think it'll happen soon?"
He looked out the window for a moment and when he spoke, there was no doubt in his voice. "Yes. It will."
We drove for a bit more, with me taking turns whenever he pointed in a direction. I tried to slow down over uneven parts of the road but each time, Cameron still tensed his arms like he was bracing for pain and I wondered if I should've said I wouldn't drive him. Maybe Hannah was right to worry.
"Wouldn't it be easier to continue having people think you died? To leave Melkin?" I asked, because maybe it would cause him to change his mind and we'd turn around.
I peeked at a glance to Cameron as I asked it and I regretted it because there was a shift in his expression and he quickly looked like the Cameron so many people feared, including me when I first met him.
His voice was low, "They burned my house. They let Sullivan Taylor out of his cage. They hurt my family. I'm not going to run like a coward to let the Caseys die at their hands. They're going to wish I died."
I felt fear trickle through me as he spat out the words.
"I'm sorry about your house," I whispered.
"Don't be. I've fantasized about burning that to the ground for years. I'm just pissed they beat me to it. I think they owe me." A cruel smile formed on his face as he seemed to think about it.
"You're not afraid about Dylan letting Scully out?" I asked because I was. Scully terrified me.
"Dylan is a pest," he said. "I heard you left him handcuffed to the stairwell."
A small, miniscule smile shot in my direction from him and pride swelled in me. That, and an ache in my head as I thought about the altercation. Dylan had dragged me out of that room Travis and Scully were in by my hair. I thought he was going to throw me down the stairs and that would be end game for me. I could still hear my screaming in my ears and feel the hard tugs on my head, like a phantom.
"I did," I said wearily. "Barely."
"But you did," Cameron said. "You're better than he is."
"Not Scully, though," I added quietly after a moment.
Cameron didn't say anything at first and I didn't think he was going to at all but his voice came out just as soft as mine had. "My uncle is a different breed."
"Annabeth showed me the mark on her back," I said, picturing the Casey mark that had been branded onto her from Scully. I could still see the mark, part of it distorted like it touched her skin and she moved away or twitched before it was pressed again. "It looked..."
Cameron raised a hand and pulled his white t-shirt up to reveal the same brand tattoo right above where his heart was. I glanced a few times, quickly to try to get a glimpse of it and keep my eyes on the road. But from what I could see, his looked like he hadn't struggled.
"If you're in the gang and a Casey by blood like Annabeth and I are, it's seen as tradition to get this," he lowered his shirt. "You can get a tattoo erased. I'm a Casey by blood. I can't remove the scarring that brand left behind without making a bigger mess. It's so we can't erase who we are and it's always apart of us."
"It didn't look like Annabeth wanted that tradition..." I said quietly, trying to figure out if I was crossing the line.
He shook his head, "Neither of us did. For us it was a punishment. It used to be a game to our family. They would get the brand on their arms, somewhere out in the open and brag about how untouched and intact it was. It was a sign of strength if the mark wasn't hurt by other scars - bullets, knives, scrapes. It was a challenge to them to gloat about how great they were in fights."
I kept my eyes on the wheel and could feel my knuckles straining from how tight I was gripping the wheel as he continued.
"Our parents put it over my heart and said if we let anything come near it to ruin the scar, we deserved to be dead. And they put Annabeth's on her back to remind us to always have each other's backs. They used to check the scars to make sure they weren't ruined by other scars."
My eyes widened and my gut dropped as I pictured children having to go through that.
"Annabeth's was on her back so she didn't know when they were about to press it to her, she had no warning and she flinched. They held her tighter so she wouldn't move and did it the second time."
"That's terrible," I finally managed to squeak out.
"No, they considered it tradition. My dad and uncle did far worse things than that to us. So I'm not afraid. I want Sullivan Taylor to find me so I can make him regret everything he's ever done."
Silence wrapped over us for a few minutes, Cameron looking out the window as the fire in his eyes slowly simmered.
"We're not going to find him right now, are we?"
A sly smile on his face made my gut drop for a moment before he spoke. "No. We're going to get my phone."
I groaned, not quite believing him but I had to trust that he wasn't guiding me to my death.
"I think I like you better when you don't talk," I confessed.
Cameron's laughter filled the car.
We drove through random streets in Melkin and I kept waiting for him to sink down in his seat or hide but he didn't. Anxiety started to bubble in my chest because I realized I was in the middle of Melkin with the Casey gang leader everyone thought was dead in the seat next to me and he wasn't even trying to hide who he was.
Thankfully, not many were out on the street right now.
"Stop here," Cameron said.
I looked down the alley we had stopped in front of, Cameron already looking. We stopped in front of the alley that contained the wall between the two cities. The wall I'd climbed with Travis and any time I wanted to get back into Melkin with Josh or while running from Dylan.
I peeked around Cameron to look deeper into it and there was a guy perched on top of the wall. One of his legs were bent at the knee, resting on the wall and the other was swinging lazily.
"Go see who that is," Cameron ordered.
My eyes went wide. "Are you kidding?!"
"I've got your back," he reassured.
"You have a screwdriver."
He was certainly leading me to my death.
"And a hammer," he added. All of the anger from earlier when he spoke about his uncle had drained from his voice and he was back to his usual self who sounded bored with every word he said.
"What are you going to do? Throw the hammer at him from the car?" I snapped out.
A small chuckle came from his lips and I glared at him.
"Lacey," Cameron said, all amusement gone from his voice.
"Cameron," I mocked in that slow voice he liked to use like it was paining him to speak. This conversation was paining me.
"Go check. I'm not walking out there just to have to turn around."
"You cannot use that leg excuse on me. You wanted to come out here!" I argued, clenching my fists.
He rolled his eyes at me. "There's a bag of guns in the back. I'll cover you."
Cameron had definitely gone insane. "What am I supposed to tell that guy? Don't kill me yet, sir. Let my boss limp to the trunk to find a gun, please and thank you?"
Cameron groaned like I was being unreasonable.
"Do you know any Caseys that would be around here right now?" I asked, trying to ease my mind at the idea of going out there in the hopes it was one of them.
"I don't track them," he snapped, "That's Ben's job."
"You're making me want to throw that hammer at you."
Cameron grinned.
I looked around him and out his window at the alley again. The guy on the ledge of the wall had definitely noticed this suspicious SUV parked outside because who wouldn't and had taken a more defensive position.
"I feel like a lamb about to get slaughtered," I said and went to turn the car off.
Cameron's hand shot out and grabbed my own, stopping me. "Don't turn it off."
I narrowed my eyes. If he was trying to ditch me...
"In case we have to speed out of here," he explained like that made me feel any better.
"That's not reassuring at all!"
Cameron just made a shoo motion with his hands, waiting for me to get out of the car. "You're not a lamb. You're a weapon and people should be afraid of you, not the other way around."
I sighed and ever so slowly and trying to be as quiet as possible, exited the car. I kept one hand in my coat, gripping onto my knife as I crept around the front of the car and eyed the person sitting on the ledge. He had a hood up so I couldn't see who it was. I took cautious steps as I entered it, straining my eyes to try to see. I didn't dare glance behind me to see Cameron even though I wanted to. But I could still hear the car behind me so I was at least glad he hadn't ditched me.
"Lacey?" the guy on the ledge called out when I'd made it about halfway down the alley.
Relief washed over me so hard that I put a hand on the alley wall to steady myself as Josh's voice filled the space. He jumped down the ledge, shaking off his jacket hood and walking over to me.
I heard the SUV turn off, then the door open and close. I glanced down the alley as Cameron came walking closer to us, his handy dandy screwdriver and hammer in his hand.
Josh was frozen by the wall when he saw we weren't alone.
Cameron didn't grab his crutches and didn't appear to be limping at all. He strolled into the alley, looking like it was effortless. And only every few steps would I see him stiffen or lean only slightly more on the other leg to support himself. If I hadn't known he was injured, I wouldn't have noticed.
He strolled over to where I was and I walked next to him as we walked to the wall and Josh. I stayed probably a bit too close to him, just in case he fell. I didn't know how he wasn't limping right now.
"See? You were fine," he said.
I glared at him. "Luckily."
Cameron shook his head as we neared Josh. "It wasn't luck. Dacostas would've shot the SUV on sight."
He could've told me whoever was there wasn't a threat. I clenched my jaw and looked up at Josh who looked like he was about to pass out as he stared at Cameron.
Cameron paid Josh no attention as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper. It looked like it had been torn out of a composition book and I wondered if that was from what we had gone to the Casey house to get.
It was a bunch of numbers scribbled onto it and that was it. Cameron took a few steps back and started counting the bricks in the wall.
"What are you doing here?" I asked Josh, not letting my guard entirely down even though Cameron didn't seem worried.
Josh didn't answer, eyes glued to Cameron.
"It's rude to stare," I told him.
"I've been coming here when I'm free. It's the only place I know you go to that I'm still allowed in," he whispered like he was trying to keep Cameron from hearing and my mind flashed to him getting banned from going into Joy's Ice Cream Shop. "Elle came back."
A small smile formed on my lips. I still didn't know what happened with that but I was glad to know that had been a success.
"Thank you," he said despite looking like he was going to puke at who I was with.
"Shut up," Cameron said. "I'm counting."
Josh held onto the wall with surprise clearly written on his face.
"You're actually here?" Josh questioned. I wondered if he thought he had imagined Cameron at first.
"I have to start over now," Cameron sent a hard enough glare at Josh that caused him to back up a few steps.
We were silent as Cameron recounted, eyes narrowed and mouth silently moving. Eventually he walked forward and pointed to a brick in the wall.
"This one," he said to me.
I shrugged at him, having no idea what he wanted me to do. "What about it?"
He handed me the hammer and screwdriver while he leaned against the wall. It looked casual but I knew he was doing it to take the weight off his leg.
"Get it out," Cameron further instructed. So we were back to him barely speaking or giving instructions, it seemed.
I raised the screwdriver to the grout around the brick he mentioned and started hitting the top of the screwdriver with the hammer.
Josh must have walked around us because he was now on my other side, opposite Cameron.
"You have a black eye forming," my former partner pointed out.
"Dylan," I said as I concentrated and bits of grout and gravel chipped away from the brick.
Josh sucked in a breath through his teeth.
I glanced at him for a second but he was still looking at Cameron.
"Tell your boss about me, Josh Walton," Cameron said in his even tone but when I looked at him, he has amusement dancing in his eyes.
Josh looked like he was about to wet himself when he realized Cameron knew his name. I didn't even know how he knew that but my guess was he'd researched some during the weeks he was stuck in the house.
"Go be somewhere else," Cameron barked and Josh practically jumped away.
I could hear him speed walking down the alley, probably to linger in a corner store until we were gone.
"I'm glad you trust me and my hammer throwing skills enough to walk blindly into any alley," Cameron teased as soon as Josh was gone.
I grit my teeth and glared at him. "Yeah, so much faith in you."
"Your boy scout is terrified of me. Most people are. If you're not scared of me and you can walk in here with nothing but a small knife, you shouldn't be scared of anyone," Cameron said, staring at me hard.
Our earlier conversations whirled in my mind.
It felt like hours had passed until we finally had the brick wiggling. We had taken turns chiseling away at both the brick and the grout surrounding it. Cameron had said it wasn't going to just slide out and that it was deeply sealed into the wall to keep it from falling out accidentally. The small blisters on my hand were proof of that.
But with me scraping at it with the screwdriver and Cameron holding the few bits we'd managed to wiggle it out with the tips of his fingers, we managed to get it out of the wall. Cameron leaned down and peered into the hole.
He reached in and pulled out a phone.
"I just spent hours taking apart a wall to get a broken phone," I complained, wiping the sweat on my forehead as I looked at the item in his hand with half of it missing. Except it was the important part of any phone that was missing - the battery.
"Give me your phone," Cameron ordered, ignoring me.
He held his hand out expectantly like the idea that I'd say no was unheard of.
I pulled it out of my jacket pocket and placed it in his hands. Cameron snapped the battery out of my phone and slipped it into his, handing me back my now worthless one.
"Hey," I protested but it wasn't like I was using it much. Cameron pressed the on button and as it started up, he put the brick back where it was in the wall. It was obvious it had been removed but he didn't seem to care. Nothing else was in the hole that needed hiding.
I peeked at the phone lighting up as he sent a text out to a group saved in his phone. There were no words, just more numbers. My snooping was worthless.
He looked to me as he slipped the phone into his pocket. "Let's go back to the car."
I didn't know why he had to say it, he could've just started walking and I'd follow but as I took a step away from him and felt a hand on my shoulder gripping hard, I understood what he meant.
I took that step back to Cameron and stood close to his side as he kept his hand on my shoulder. Together we took small steps to the car with Cameron leaning heavily on me with each step and his fingers squeezing my shoulder. I wasn't sure if it was from the pain that he was squeezing it or he was trying that hard to stay upright.
Either way, I didn't question him as I led him around some of the obstacles and trash in the alley. I didn't know how he'd faked it in front of Josh based off how much trouble he was having right now.
A few steps away from the car, when we would be out in the open for all the street to see, Cameron let go of my shoulder, stepped away from me and somehow faked it even more the last few steps before getting into the car.
I rushed to get into the driver's seat.
"Thank you," he said, pulling out his phone from his pocket again.
I smiled, "Where to now?"
______
Cameron and Lacey bonding time wooo. But will she get a hug from him? Signs point to no. lol
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Have a great rest of your day and don't forget to smile!