Page 36 of Stitch
“I’m not going anywhere, Pres.” He rolled his eyes at Ice.
“Fine, but that’s it. Everyone else out.” The young girl who’d called Stitch ‘Seth’ looked worried, but I caught her eyeing Has-Been, and then she hurried out of the room before anyone yelled again. Why didn’t it freak me out when Reacher raised his voice, but somehow Stitch had scared me so much?
Twenty
Ihad no fuckingidea what had gone wrong. I knew she’d been nervous when I shouted, and smashed my phone, but somewhere between her house and the clubhouse, that had turned into some kind of cold terror, and it made no sense, because surely to god she knew she was safe with me.
“Tell me what happened.” I glanced at Camille, but she just chewed her lip quietly, leaving me to respond to Reacher’s demand.
“I spent the night at Camille’s, and we uh… were intimate.”
“And she’s now shit-scared of you? The fuck did you do, man?” Reacher jabbed a finger at Ice, shutting him up pretty fast.
“I let you stay because she’s your old lady, but I didn’t give you permission to get involved. Shut it or get out.” Ice folded his arms and then rethought it, and wrapped his arms around Lissa from behind instead.
“It went fine until we noticed the blood.”
Lissa gasped, and turned to check Camille for injuries.
“For fuck’s sake, how can you all look at me like I’m some kind of monster? It was good, okay, until we realised I’d torn a fucking stitch or something. It wasmydamn blood.”
Ice grimaced and pulled Lissa back into his arms.
“Jesus, man.”
“So how did that become this?”
Lissa cleared her throat. “It was like some kind of extreme trauma response,and she just shut down on us. I’ll deal with that, okay, I’ll help Cammy, but I don’t understand what caused it. Cammy, can you tell me, babe?”
She released her lip from her teeth, wringing her hands together.
“He lost his temper, and it scared me, it uh… it caused a flashback of a bad memory. I’m sorry, it’s my issue not his. He didn’t hurt me.”
What the hell had happened to her that one yelled out curse, and a smashed phone, could send her out of her mind with fear? I had no idea, but I’d fucking find out.Add that to my fucking bucket list.
“Can I just have a minute alone with Camille? Is that okay with you, girl?”
She let out a breath and nodded slowly.
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I know I overreacted, and I feel stupid now. It… it was, it wasn’t something I could control.”
Lissa nodded, pulling away from Ice to go to her friend.
“We’re going to talk about this later, babe, and I’m going to help you deal with whatever it was that caused it.”
Camille accepted a hug from Lissa, and then they cleared out of the room, or at least, they moved far enough away that we suddenly had privacy.
“Girl, I’m so sorry. I’d never want to scare you like that. I was freaked out and I lost it, but that was out of character for me, you have to know that. I’m not an aggressive person, I promise.” I was slowly approaching her as I spoke, and she wasn’t retreating anymore. Thank fuck for that.
I didn’t even mind that I’d take a fist to the jaw from Has-Been. I knew he was super protective of women, and I appreciated that fact, especially on behalf of this sweet woman. In a reverse of this situation, I’d have planted my fist firmly in his smug face too.
“Did the doc fix you up?” I blinked, not ready for the change of subject.
“Uh, yeah… can’t say I want to look him in the eye anytime soon, but he fixed me up. The stitches are out now, but apparently one of them got twisted or something, and I dunno… it shouldn’t have happened, but it did. He’s patched me up for now, and sworn me off sex for a few days, but I’m guessing that won’t be a problem right now.”
Cammy
Ifelt my strengthsurge inside me when my anger returned. Men! It was always about their dicks!
