Chapter Eight
MARS
I waited impatiently for Cam as he walked toward the car and away from Josiah Sterling.
My heart was still thundering in my chest as he silently climbed into the backseat and slid down.
I’d felt nothing but horror as I’d listened to that gobshite tell Cam he’d be what amounted to forced labor, working for Sterling stealing cars or whatever else he had planned for him.
The moment he’d said he was relocating Cam’s mother to California—giving him no say in it—I knew Cam was at his mercy.
Sterling had the power over their life and death, and I was bloody ropable. I wasn’t about to let it happen.
I turned in my seat but he wasn’t looking at me, just staring out the window.
I wanted to tell him everything would be all right, but I couldn’t promise that.
Sighing deeply, I turned back and started the car, driving away before switching on my lights.
I drove us in silence for several miles, making turns in and out of residential and commercial neighborhoods to lose any kind of tail the way Cam had done.
No one seemed to be following, but you can’t be too careful.
Then I headed back out onto the Strip and in the direction of his apartment.
Mickey twisted in his seat and said to Cam, “You weren’t kidding. Sterling is a serious asshole.”
I watched Cam in the rearview mirror as he nodded, still looking out the window. “I told you,” he finally said. When his hand came between our seats, I saw he was holding the earwigs tucked into their foam lined box.
Mickey took them. “Thanks.”
“I’m really sorry I couldn’t get him to come out.”
“It’s not a problem,” Mickey said. “It’s more important that you’re safe.”
“Where are we going?”
I flicked a glance in the rearview mirror and met his haunted, blue eyes. “I was going to drive ya home, but I’m not so sure it’s a good idea now.”
He shook his head and right before I was forced to look back at the road, his eyes flooded with tears as he broke eye contact.
I silently cursed myself for feeling scared, but for the first time in ages, I was.
I had to keep Cam safe but at the same time, he was in a dodgy and dangerous situation which would take some real thought.
We needed a bit of a debrief with Candy, and we had to stay outside Josiah’s grasp until we worked out how to help Cam and his mum.
Taking him back to the apartment exposed him too much with Sterling’s thugs lurking about.
I didn’t worry about our own safety so much as Cam’s.
Being seen with him wouldn’t be good for him or his mum.
When a red, neon, diner sign close to his apartment building caught my eye, I turned into the car park.
“What are you doing?” Cam asked as I parked. “I have to go pack my things. You heard Josiah. His men are coming to move me to L.A.”
I shut off the car and turned around to look at him. “We need to talk, Cam.”
He stared at me with the most hopeless expression. “I don’t know what to do. If I cross him, he’s gonna hurt my mom.” His eyes filled with devastation again as he broke eye contact and looked back out the window.
I reached back and laid a hand on his knee.
When he looked up, the misery in his expression nearly stole my breath.
“Come on, Cam. Let’s talk.” I squeezed his knee before letting go.
I exchanged a glance with Mickey, who nodded, then got out of the car.
We walked into the diner and as we did—with Cam flanked by Mickey on one side and me on the other—I felt an overwhelming urge to wrap my arm around his shoulders and pull him close.
For some unknown reason, I felt the strong urge to protect this vulnerable man.
In a single day, the young dodger had managed to get under my skin, and I wanted to help him any way I could.
I was relieved when the hostess showed us to a half-moon shaped booth at the very back of the restaurant, so we didn’t have our backs to the door.
Cam slid into the booth and Mickey and I sat on either side of him.
Protection was an instinct that had been drilled into both of us. It just came naturally.
Cam smiled shyly at the hostess before taking the menu she offered.
After assuring us our server would be by in a few minutes, she walked away.
Cam was studying the menu like it was the most interesting thing ever printed.
I opened mine and hurriedly decided on a Western style burger which promised the best barbeque sauce in town.
“What are ya ‘aving?” I asked Cam.
He looked up and fluttered his eyelashes. Where was the cocky son-of-a-bitch from earlier? Sterling had really knocked the stuffing out of him. “I was thinking about the Western burger even though we only ate a few hours ago.”
I snorted a laugh. “That sounds good. I think I’ll ‘ave that too.”
Mickey cleared his throat, and I eyed him across the table, his expression serious.
He flicked a glance between Cam and me, as though more interested in my unspoken interactions with Cam than at anything I said.
For that matter, I was interested myself.
I was sitting closer to him than I needed to, but something stopped me from scooting over.
Being this close to him felt right. Not for the first time today, I realized I was acting overly protective of him.
He was even more vulnerable than he even realized.
He acted tough, but I could sense his insecurity.
A bloody great sign around his neck wouldn’t have made it any clearer.
The server returned and flipped over the cups. After filling theirs with coffee and taking our orders, she left to return with my tea half a minute later, which didn’t give me confidence in it. Almost as soon as she was gone, Cam looked at me. “What am I gonna do now?”
I frowned at him. “Well, ya sure as ‘ell aren’t gonna be that bastard’s little puppet,” I said with more force than I should’ve considering the way he flinched and looked away.
I scooted back, separating our thighs which had been touching, before turning to him.
“Sorry. I’m just pissed off at ‘im. ‘Ow dare ‘e think ‘e’s got power over ya?”
“He does, though. Doesn’t he?” He shook his head. “If it was just me, I’d leave Vegas, but with Mom, things are different. I wish I could just take her with me…relocate us somewhere he couldn’t ever find us, but he knows where I live and where she lives.”
“Has he always known about her?” Mickey asked.
“I don’t know,” Cam replied. “Shortly after I’d started bringing him cars, he changed things up and started demanding certain models. That’s when he subtly asked me how my mom was doing.”
My eyes widened. Of course he’d done that. Issuing subtle threats without coming out and saying them was classic bullying behavior. “Before that, ya brought him whatever ya could get your ‘ands on?”
Cam nodded. “Yeah, what was easiest to take. I guess I should’ve been flattered when he asked me if there was any way I could get a red 296 GTB Ferrari for him.
I knew there was one in town because I’d seen it around several times at various higher end casinos.
I told him I could do it because I was confident I could, but it took me almost two weeks to find it again.
“I brought it to him and he seemed pleased enough because not long after, he started telling me exactly what models and colors he wanted. Sometimes, it wasn’t easy to find a specific color, but I always brought him the right model.
I began to notice that if I did bring the exact color and model he’d asked for, the pay was better.
” He reached into his pocket and produced the envelope I could only assume Sterling had given him. “You probably want this, right?”
I nodded. “Yes, that’ll be evidence going forward.
” I glanced at Mickey who pulled an evidence bag out of his pocket.
He handed it to me, and I checked to make sure we weren’t being watched before opening it for Cam to drop the envelope inside.
I was impressed that he did it without blinking an eye, knowing he was low on cash.
He needed the money, but here he was, handing over what had to be a big payday, without asking whether he’d get it back.
My heart squeezed a little at the trust he was putting in us. At no point all day had he questioned whether we were on the up and up. He just trusted the FBI to have his back and I had to admit, it was very humbling.
I tucked it inside my pocket. “Thank you. I know you didn’t expect to ‘ave to turn it over, but now that you’re considered one of our CIs, there’ll be some compensation, though, it won’t be anywhere near as much as this.” I patted the envelope in my jacket.
He looked sheepish. “It should be five grand since Josiah didn’t specify the color.”
I felt myself blanche. “Definitely not then.” Mickey was staring at me with a knowing look.
“I understand why you do what you do,” he said.
“I should bloody well say so.” I looked at Cam again. “You don’t stop to count it…when ‘e gives you a payment, I mean?”
Cam shook his head. “No. He makes me nervous, so most of the time, all I want to do is get paid and get the hell away from him as fast as I can.”
I took a sip from my tea, cringed when I realized the water definitely wasn’t hot enough, then topped it off with the cream. I said to Mickey, “I don’t think it’s safe to take Cam back to ‘is flat tonight. They’ll be watching it.”
“I agree,” my mate said.
“I have to pack up my things, Mars,” Cam whined. He sounded worried, so different from the cocky guy we’d met earlier in the day. “You heard what Josiah said about my mom.”
I exchanged a glance with Mickey who was watching me as well. “If I wasn’t afraid we’d scare the crap out of her, I’d suggest we pick her up tonight just to keep her safe,” he said.
“Can we do that?” Cam asked, looking at me with pleading eyes.