Page 12 of Dope Boys: Most Wanted
She winced slightlyas Camden gently blotted the makeup sponge over her face. Reign had avoided the mirror for days unable to look at her face – her eyes. She tried to drown out her regrets and traumas with sleep but there wasn’t any use. The self-inflicted judgement and harsh words were worse than any hands and feet Javier could lay on her.
“You would think that by now I’d be used to that pain,” she muttered.
“You never get used to being beaten. The moment you get comfortable, you’re dead,” Camden replied, locking eyes with Reign. “Do you hear me?”
“I hear you.” Reign’s eyes dropped to her hands.
How’d she lived in a mansion with everything at her beck and call for the last six years and still managed to be a prisoner was beyond her. There was no one else she could blame. Not her mother and the lack of nurturing skills she possessed. Not her absentee father. Landing here was all of her doing. A mind too young to understand how a man almost twice her age would use what she wanted most in the world against her.
She’d been played, hustled, beaten and led astray.
“Good. Listen to me,” Camden softly spoke, as if the two were surrounded by meddling ears.
Reign’s lightless eyes lifted from her hands to Camden’s intense orbs. Whatever she was going to say next was important and Reign needed to heed every syllable. “What?”
“The moment you can get away from KC, you run like your life depends on it,” Camden directed.
Reign croaked, the fear of the thought of running caused her to shake. “I can’t run, he’ll kill me. You know he will. He’ll have KC drag me back and beat me worse than he did before.”
Camden gripped her chin to silence her. “Be quiet. And listen to me. If you let him bring you back here, I’ll kill you myself, Reign. You aren’t a slave to Javi. You aren’t indebted to Javi. You’re only trapped in your mind. The moment you realize that, this place would look exactly like what it really is – a prison. He doesn’t own you.”
“Where am I supposed to go? I don’t know anyone in Majestic Heights. What if they-”
“You get to a hotel where they won’t look. One that doesn’t bring too much attention. You stay there. Get a burner phone, let me know you’re safe. Find a JoyUnion and I will make sure I send you something every week until you’re on your feet. Get a job where no one cares about your business. This is five thousand, this will help, plus whatever I can send.”
“Why are you helping me?”
“Because I’ve watched him snatch lives and light from women left and right. You have so much to do and be in life, you can’t do it here and you can’t do it from the grave,” Camden replied, folding the money she pulled out of the make-up bag and motioned to Reign’s bra. “Lift it up and put it under so no one knows it’s there.”
Reign nodded and obliged. “What about you?”
“Don’t worry about me, Reign. I’m here to guide you. I can at least do that before it’s too late,” Camden shared just as a knock sounded against the door. “Remember what I told you.”
Nodding in agreement, Reign straightened up.
“Come in,” Camden called over her shoulder from the bathroom.
KC opened up the main door to the bedroom, his voice coming through and sobering the moment. Making the reality of this burn a hole in her throat, the lump serving as searing coal. “Car’s here. Where are the bags?”
“We’ll be ready in just a moment,” Camden replied. “Finishing makeup.”
“Hurry up,” KC ordered gruffly, making Camden roll her eyes. The door shut and she returned to her instruction.
“I covered up all the bruises on your face. Did you put the leggings on?”
Reign nodded. “And I put the t-shirt over it.”
“Even if it’s not tonight, whenever you find the right moment, be prepared to run, okay?”
“Okay.” Reign reached out and hugged Camden. Whether she knew it or not, she’d given Reign the strength to at least try to run. Even if KC found her and dragged her back by her hair, at least she’d tried. For Reign, the power of trying was the first step to getting free.
“I’m going to be waiting for that call. Tell me my number again,” Camden requested, holding Reign closely.
“690-652-4580,” Reign recited.
“Good girl. It’s time to go. Run like hell and don’t look back.” Camden kissed her cheek and released her. “Make me proud.”
Reign gave her hand a squeeze. “I will.”
