5. Chapter Five Cam #2
Lakey pulled out her wallet and sent $60 flying across the counter. "Keep the change." She grabbed the brown bag and stomped out of the store, leaving me to follow with a grin.
"You good?" I asked as she swung onto the bike first, relegating me to being her backpack.
"She looked at you."
"People look at me, Lakes. I'm beautiful."
"I'll cut her fucking eyes out."
"No you won't. She didn't do anything wrong."
"She looked at you."
"And you dance naked in front of a hundred men every weekend. Let's not play the double standard game, baby girl."
She revved the engine so hard the bike lurched. "That's different and you know it."
It was different. I did know it, but poking her when she was jealous was one of my favorite hobbies and the sex after was always unhinged in the best possible way.
She took off fast and I grinned, holding her hips as we cut through the empty streets. I hardly noticed as she slowed. She headed down the street opposite from our place and stopped outside the same house she always watched. She flicked her visor up and stared into the big bay window.
No sign of the little girl.
I'd stopped questioning it a long time ago.
The first few times, yeah, I'd asked. I'd pushed.
I'd tried to understand why my girl, who didn't give a shit about anyone or anything besides me, was spending her nights in a tree watching a child sleep.
She couldn't explain it. Not in a way that made sense, and not in a way that satisfied me.
So I'd let it go. Some things about Lakey didn't have explanations.
They just had roots too deep to pull up.
"Sorry, baby. She's sleeping. It's almost four."
"Yeah. I know." Without warning, she took off back down the street, only stopping to open the underground parking and screech into our spot.
I hopped off before she could so I could help her down. We walked to the elevator and waited patiently inside before the doors opened and we could finally get inside.
"Want me to grill these? Or pan-fry?"
She rolled her eyes as the elevator beeped and we got off, heading to our door. "What do you think, Cameron?"
"Grill?"
"Obviously. I'm gonna go shower while you do that. I got Honey's perfume on me, and it smells like ass." She was already stripping her clothes as soon as we got inside, before I could answer, wiggling her hips, knowing I was watching that fine ass before it disappeared into our bathroom.
Tonight’s the night. I’m gonna give her her birthday present.
I set to work on the steaks, firing up the BBQ to heat. I was excited to see her reaction once I laid out the candles and made it all romantic and shit, and more so, her face when she opened the birthday present.
She was gonna flip when she saw that list.
Lakey got all the good parts left of me.
It wasn't much, not after the shit we lived through, but it had always been enough for her.
I could be romantic if I wanted to be, but it was all reserved for her.
Every fucking ounce of softness left in my body belonged to the girl in that shower and nobody else.
The thing people didn't understand about us is that we weren't broken in the same places.
We were broken in complementary places. The parts of me that didn't work were the parts she carried, and the parts of her that didn't work were the parts I carried.
Alone, we were two half-functioning humans with body counts and bad wiring.
Together, we made one whole person who happened to be terrifying.
It was the best deal either of us would ever get.
I found the candles and lit them, setting the table before seasoning the steaks with a simple salt and pepper rub and putting them on the grill.
The sizzle always did something to me. The sound of something delicious coming down the line.
Inhaling deeply, I closed the lid and went to start baking the potatoes and mushrooms. Thank God they were precooked and just needed some heating.
Steaks would be done long before the potatoes if they weren't, which would just piss Lakey off.
She hated uncooked potatoes. She hated a lot of things. Uncooked potatoes, wet socks, people who chewed with their mouths open, and men who thought they were entitled to things they hadn't earned. The last one was a professional hazard given where she worked, but the potato thing was just a quirk.
Everybody's got something.
Grabbing the file I'd hidden with the names and addresses, I set it on the table next to her plate.
Five names. Five addresses. Five people who'd looked at two children and seen something they could use, break, own.
I'd spent years pretending I'd moved past it.
Telling myself the marks were enough, the cliff was enough, the system we'd built was enough to keep the rot at bay, but the rot wasn't from strangers.
The rot had names, and now I had their addresses.
The steak timer went off, almost on cue with the one on the stove.
Opening the grill and squishing down, they were a perfect medium rare.
Setting them on a plate to rest, I brought them in and began to plate everything.
Two rib eyes, mushrooms on the side, baked potatoes split and buttered.
The candles flickered against the windows and the whole apartment smelled like a steakhouse.
Not bad for a kid who used to eat cold canned corn out of Carmen's pantry when she forgot to feed us, which was most days.
I'd taught myself to cook in juvie. The kitchen was the only work detail where they left you alone, and the old cook, Manny, didn't give a shit what you'd done as long as you didn't burn his rice.
A year of that and I came out knowing how to make a decent steak, a passable pasta, and the world's best scrambled eggs (worst, according to Lakey).
I was just opening a bottle of red when I heard the shower turn off. I grinned and poured myself a glass, sipping it as I waited on her to come out, and when she did, she was in lacy red panties and a boob-less bra strappy thing.
"Damn, baby girl. You gonna eat steak with those tits hanging out?"
She smirked. "Yes, and you're gonna take it until I'm done. If you wanna tease me, I can tease you right back." She inhaled deeply and noticed the table. "Aw, babe, is all this for little ole me? Smells amazing. Ooooh, what's that?"
Sliding into her chair, she grabbed the file. Just as she was going to open it, I held my hand over hers. "After dinner, sweetheart. You're gonna want to eat first for that. It's an early birthday present."
Her eyes widened. "Ooooh, I can't wait. I love birthday presents!"
I cut into my steak with a chuckle. "I know, doll, I know."