Page 35 of Stitch
Cammy
Iwasfrozen withfear, trapped in the past, and barely aware of what was going on around me. I was stuck firmly in the flight phase of fight or flight, and all I knew was that I needed to get somewhere safe.
“Cammy, babe, look at me. It’s Lissa. You’re safe, Cammy, I promise.”
A cool hand stroked my face, and I flinched for a moment before my eyes focused on the face in front of me. It really was Lissa, and she looked worried.
“Lissa?”
“How the hell did you do that? I’ve been trying for five minutes.” I dimly realised Has-Been was still with us, and I didn’t understand why. Then I remembered that Stitch was upstairs, and he’d be coming back down here.
“I need to go before… before he comes back.”
Lissa glanced at Has-Been.
“He?”
“Stitch?” Has-Been stood up. “Do I need to kick his ass?”
Lissa asked him to give us a minute, and he headed for the bar, leaving the two of us alone. We were sitting on chairs opposite each other.
“What happened, babe? You came here with Stitch?”
I nodded, a tremor going through me at the mention of his name. How could I have been so wrong about him?
“Did he hurt you, Cammy? I’ve never seen you like this.”
Someone approached us again.
“I made her a sweet tea, dunno if it helps. They always say on TV that it does.”
“Thank you, Tommy. Cammy, talk to me, because I’m starting to freak out here.”
“There she is, thank fuck for that.” It was him! I lurched out of my seat, and tried to put distance between us, almost tripping over a table leg.
“The fuck did you do to her, man? She’s practically fucking catatonic!”
“Camille, please, girl. Look at me. It’s just me, you know I won’t hurt you. I’m sorry I yelled, but I wasn’t yelling at you.”
“You did this to her?” There was a thud like something hit something, and a crashing sound, as a table toppled over. The sudden loudness shook me out of my stupor, and I glanced around me, blinking against the details finally starting to stand out around me. Lissa was beside me with Ice, and Reacher was helping Stitch up off the floor. Has-Been was glaring at him like he wanted to kill him.
“What’s… what happened?” Everyone looked at me then, and I backed up a step.
“I’m sorry, I uh… that hasn’t happened for a long time.”
Stitch shook free of Reacher and approached me, and it took every ounce of courage to stand my ground, and not back up again.
“Camille, my god, why were you afraid of me? I couldn’t hurt you, you know that, right?”
I swallowed hard. “I thought I did.”
“Did he fucking hurt you? I’ll put him through that fucking window if he did.”
“Seth! What’s going on! Who’s this?”
Reacher let out a curse, and clapped his hands once to quiet the voices in the room.
“This isn’t a fucking sideshow. Everyone out but them two, and Lissa and me.”
