Lorena peeked outside, “We will. You be safe getting home.”
“No problem,” She looked at the black car one last time and then got into hers. After she drove away I waved at the driver sitting in front of the house. He waved back.
I backed back into the house and closed the door. It smelled like cupcakes.
Lorena sat down on the couch, “You gonna call Miss Shy?”
“Yeah, we can probably finally leave the house and go see her tomorrow. You think she’ll be at work?”
“It’s Saturday tomorrow. She doesn’t work on the weekends. At least not at the school.”
“Oh, yeah. Right,” I sat down next to Lorena and pulled out my cell phone. Then I dialed Miss Shy, and waited for her to pick up.
“Hello?” She answered after the first ring.
“Hey, Miss Shy,” I said shyly.
“Rose?” she sounded surprised.
“Yeah, It’s me,” I answered.
“Is everything okay? Are you alright?”
“I’m fine,” I chuckled, “It’s just been a while since I’ve talked to you.”
“Yeah, I was told that you were being home schooled.”
“Yeah...”
“I heard about Jessie...I’m sorry that happened, Rose.”
I looked over at Lorena, “Yeah, I am too. Hey, if you’re free tomorrow, you want to go and get some breakfast or something?”
“Yeah, sure, no problem,” Miss Shy answered quickly.
“Oh- okay. Cool then. We can meet up at the bagel spot in downtown.”
“Alright, I’ll see you then.”
“Okay, good night.”
“Night.”
We hung up the phone and I took a deep breath.
“Sound like you were asking her out on a date,” Lorena said smiling.
“Jealous, much?” I teased.
“A little,” Lorena got up and went to the kitchen. “We should start cleaning before your aunt flips.”
“Yeah,” I jumped to my feet and went to help her.
There was still some cake batter left in the bowl and I dipped my finger in and ate it.
“You’re going to get sick,” Lorena took the bowl and put it in the sink before I could get another lick.
“Yeah, sure,” I put my hand in the spilled flour on the counter and blew it at her. The flour flew off of my hand like dust, and sprinkled all around her.
“Rose, we’re supposed to be cleaning,” She was trying to be serious, but I could tell she wanted to smile.
“Yeah, I know,” I did it again a second time and watched her expression. Lorena just stared at me for a moment, then grabbed a hand full of flour from the bag and smashed it against my face. When she saw the surprised look I gave her, she burst out laughing.
I took the chance, while she wasn’t paying any attention, to do the same thing to her. She stopped her laughter and stared at me with flour falling from her face. A few seconds later, we both went at it with the flour, getting it everywhere. The kitchen looked like a fire had started, because it was so much flour in the air being tossed around.
I ended up grabbing the bag of flower and tried to toss the whole thing on her, but I ended up slipping and falling to the floor and the bag emptied on top of me. Lorena burst out laughing even louder, which looked funny, yet scary, since her face was completely white.
Aunt Shannon came marching down the hall again just to stare at us for a long moment, then turned back around, shaking her head.
I grabbed some flour from my head and tried to throw it up at Lorena, but it just floated back down on top of me. “Ugh, we have to clean this up.” The kitchen was a mess.
* * *
I nervously walked into the bagel shop with Lorena, and looked around for Miss Shy. When we didn’t find her, we sat far away from the windows at a booth, where we ordered our bagels and orange juice.
“Maybe she had things to do,” Lorena said, trying to cheer me up. “Miss Shy doesn’t seem like the type to stand people up.”
“Yeah,” I said, looking out the window. Instead of looking for Miss Shy, I was making sure our escort was where he was supposed to be. It was the first time Lorena and I left the house since the incident with Arnold, and I really didn’t want to have another run in with him. He was way too strong.
My phone rang and a very urgent Miss Shy answered the phone, “Hello?”
“Rose!?”
“Yeah? Is everything okay?” I asked.
“Everything’s fine. I’m so sorry, but I won’t be able to make it to breakfast.”
“Well, that’s okay, sounds like you have something more important to get to,” In the background I heard loud popping noises, “Miss Shy?”
“Officer down!” Someone yelled, “Officer-” The line went dead.
“Is everything okay?” Lorena asked.
The store door flew open and our escort motioned for us to come back with him, “We have to get you guys to safety.”
“Why? What’s wrong?” Lorena asked standing up.
The woman approached us with our bagels and I took them from the plates and walked out of the store. The popping noises that I heard over the phone sound like they were somewhere around here.
“Miss Shy!” I was about to run to her rescue, wherever she was, but one of the escorts grabbed me, and pulled me into the car. Miss Shy must have gotten caught up in some sort of shoot-out.
“What’s happening!?” Lorena asked looking out the back window.
“We just need to get you guys to safety, that’s all,” the escort said. We drove back to the house, and when we pulled up, there were two other black cars and Detective Carter outside.
“No, not here,” I heard Carter say. “Take them to the station.”
I tried to open the door, but it was locked, “Detective Carter!” I yelled up front.
Carter only looked at me for a second, then quickly walked away.
“What’s going on?!” I asked the escort.
“Roy will talk to you when we get to the station. We just need to keep you guys there for a little while.”
I looked over at Lorena and then back to my phone and hoped that Miss Shy was okay. When I dialed her number again, no one answered.
“Everything’s okay,” Lorena said trying to comfort me, but she didn’t know. She didn’t know anything.
Chapter 37
When we got to the station, we were rushed in through the back door. There were cops and other employees going about their business, and there wasn’t as much commotion as I thought there would be. Me and Lorena were led to one of the rooms in the back, and were told to wait for Roy.
We sat across from each other at the table and didn’t say a word, because we were both lost in thought. I pulled out my phone and was about to call my Aunt, but the door opened and Roy walked inside.
“What’s going on?” I asked. Lorena had on the same confused expression as me.
Roy sighed and closed the door behind him. He looked drained and dehydrated, like he did the last time we saw him.
“Roy?” Lorena said.
Roy pulled out a chair at the end of the table and sat down. He had nothing but bad news written all over his face, and I couldn’t take the anticipation.
“There was an issue a block away from you- I’m sure you heard the commotion,” Roy started. He was talking about the gun shots, “Some of Arnold’s men tried to take your friend.”
I held my and I could feel my face turning red. Roy was talking about Cameron.
“I thought that he might go for the kid, so I had a few extras staying on Cameron for the extra protection. Once they made their move, about four of my men went after them. It turned into a gun fight, and Cameron got hit.”
“What? Is he...” Lorena didn’t finish.
“He’s fine, and under protection at the hospital now.”
I stared in the opposite direction at the stone walls, “Did he know he was being used?”
“To a certain ex
tent, yes. He just didn’t know that he might have been Arnold’s next move. We knew Arnold wouldn’t come straight for you two. If anything he would have taken Cameron, then Lorena, then you.”
I took a deep breath.
“Why?” Lorena asked.
Roy shrugged. “It’s just how he works. He-”
“He tries to take away everything and everyone that’s important to you, so then you have nothing left but him,” I said.
They didn’t say anything for a moment after that, and I could feel their eyes on me, but I didn’t look back.
“Can I go see him?” I asked.
“In a little while. I doubt Arnold would be trying anything else today, but after we take you to see him, you will be under our protection. This is too dangerous-”
“Clearly,” I snapped, “And what about my Aunt? Where is she?”
“Headed to the safe house already.”
“Safe house?” Lorena asked.
“Yeah, we’re going to send you guys away from here for a while, until we think it’s safe for you to come back.”
I wanted to argue, but I didn’t have the energy. All I could do was hope that Cameron was okay.
“What about my grandparents? Will they know where I am?”
“No, we can’t get them involved.”
Lorena sighed and didn’t ask anything else. Roy got up and left the room, leaving me and Lorena to sit in silence again.
After hours of sitting at the police station, we were finally allowed to go see Cameron at the hospital. Roy said that he would be joining us after he’s released.
No one would tell us where they were sending us, and when I was able to contact my aunt, she wouldn’t tell me either. I imagined that we all would be cooped up in some small house for months together, while waiting to finally to go home. The only upside to this was being with Lorena all the time.
Our two escorts led us into the hospital, and then to Cameron. When I saw him lying in the bed unconscious, I felt like flipping out and having a tantrum, but my body wouldn’t let me do that.
Cameron’s mother was sitting by his side and holding his hand. I knew she was Cameron’s mom because of her light skin and big brown eyes. They looked just alike.
“Hi...” was all I could get out. Cameron being shot was my fault. I was the reason that his mother was crying.
Cameron’s mom looked up at me and wiped her eyes, “Rose,” she knew me from the wrestling meets, “and Lorena,” She sniffled.
“Hey, Mrs. Roberts,” Lorena said.
Mrs. Roberts tried to smile, but then she went back to wiping her eyes again.
“Has he woken up yet,” I said walking to the other side of him.
“Yeah, he just took some medicine and fell back to sleep. He was asking about you...”
I took a deep breath, “Well, how is he doing? What did the doctor say?”
“They said he’ll be just fine,” she sniffled again. “He just needs to recover. “
I nodded slowly, “That’s good.” I traced my finger down his arm and to his hand. He was cold. Cameron actually looked like he was dead, and it scared me because he could have been. Arnold was going to try and take him and use him against me, or he was just going to kill him, and move on to either my aunt or Lorena. I’m really glad that Roy had extra men on him for protection, but the thought that he didn’t take him in- take us all in, made my blood boil. He should have moved us away from here after I told him about Arnold’s attack. At first I was okay with us being decoys, but now that I see how dangerous it really is, I’d rather just go into hiding.
I thought back to all the times Cameron made me smile or blush, and almost let my tears fall. I closed my eyes and faced the ceiling so to keep from losing control.
“Feeling guilty?” Mrs. Roberts said. I opened my eyes and turned to her, “I knew that somehow you were going to hurt him.”
“Mrs. Roberts-”
“No, let me finish,” She cut Lorena off, “Cameron told me about you- about how he had feelings for you, and I knew...I knew you were going to hurt him,” she said shaking her head. “Then I found out who you really are- about Cali- and I was so afraid for my son. He kept defending you, and defending you, that I actually started to believe him. Then you broke his heart. I don’t know what you did, but you hurt him, and now you almost killed him. I should have never let-”
“Ma...”
All three of us looked to Cameron, who barely had his eyes open. He was looking directly at me with a dull expression, and then he smiled, “I was wondering when you’d show up.”
Mrs. Roberts kissed his hand. “You shouldn’t be awake right now, baby.”
“I guess I didn’t want to miss her visit,” Cameron didn’t take his eyes off of me.
I smiled down at him, “How do you feel?”
“Fantastic. I just had a bullet taken out of my side,” he could barely get a laugh out, “I guess I’ll have to go and get shot all the time for you to come see me,” his smile faded and he blankly stared at Lorena, “Hey.”
“Hey,” Lorena gave a fake smile. She knew that he was jealous of her, and it made her feel uncomfortable.
“So, what’s going on?” Cameron asked me.
I took a deep breath, “They’re sending us into hiding.”
“Where?” Cameron asked.
“I don’t know,” I shrugged. “They won’t tell us.”
“Yeah, Roy said he was putting me into hiding as well. Arnold Kiboski is a pretty dangerous guy,” he said sarcastically.
I gave a slight smile, “Yeah...”
“So you were one of his girls, huh?” Cameron asked, “I always wondered where you got that super strength from.”
I nodded, “Yeah, and I guess he’s been having a hard time since he lost me.”
“I bet he has. I would,” Cameron smiled up at me.
There was a knock on the door and one of the escorts peeked in. “We have to head back to the station,” he said.
I turned back to Cameron, “You should get some sleep, Cam. I’ll see you later,” I looked to Mrs. Roberts to say goodbye, but she was frowning at me. “I have to go, Cam. Hurry up and recover.”
“I’ll do my best,” he smiled at me one last time before I left the room.
Lorena shut the door behind her and gave me a fake smile. “He seems like his old self already. He’ll be up in no time.” She was trying to fake her jealousy, but I could see it in her eyes.
“Yeah, he should be fine,” I said. We headed out the back door, and into a black truck, where we were driven back to the station. When we got there we found that our clothes had been packed and thrown in suitcases for us.
Roy took us to a room with a few twin beds and I wondered what beds were doing in a police station, but was too tired to ask.
“Get some sleep, you guys will be leaving around six tomorrow morning,” Roy said.
“You’re not taking us?” Lorena asked.
“No, I’m having some of my guys do it. Just be ready to go.”
“What about our other things?” I asked, “My parents’ picture...”
Roy sighed. “I’ll try to get that to you when I have time.” He ran his fingers through his hair. “Everything will be taken care of,” he turned the light off and shut the door.
I nodded, and laid back on the bed. Lorena was on the bed next to mine. Neither of us could sleep, and kept switching positions to get comfortable. I thought it was the bed, but it was really just me. There was so much running through my head, and I didn’t know what to do to stop it.
Why couldn’t things turn out the way that I hoped? Why did all of this have to happen to me, and when was it going to stop? I’ve been through so much, and I don’t know if I can handle anything else. Maybe another move was good for me, but then again, I didn’t want to move away. Who knew when it would be safe? If they never caught Arnold, he would always be out there looking for me. He would always be there to hurt the people that I love, and if they found him
, how could we know that they’d actually get him into prison this time? I don’t want my life to be like this forever, I don’t want to always have to hide...
Lorena wiped away the tears that ran down my cheeks. She heard me crying and came to comfort me, just like back at Cameron’s party. “Things will get better.”
“I hope so,” I whispered. “I hate this.”
She wiped away more of my tears and smiled. “They will. Move over,” Lorena laid down facing me. “Once everything is over, you could finally live a normal life. You could live one with me, and we could repeat our senior year together.”
That made me laugh. Lorena and I have missed way too many classes, and most likely wouldn’t be graduating. I knew that I wouldn’t, but I didn’t see a problem with starting over again. I would start over with a better life, and easier problems to solve. I would finally be able to worry about pointless things.
“Me and you are going to be together forever, you know that right? I’m never letting you go,” Lorena said.
“That sounds a little creepy,” I laughed, then sniffled.
“Yeah, I know,” Lorena stared into my eyes for a long time, and I wish I knew what she was thinking. I wondered if she feels the same way that I do for her, but I didn’t ask. I didn’t want an answer, and I really didn’t want to freak her out.
“We have to get some sleep,” I said.
Lorena nodded. She was already on her way to dreamland. I watched as her eyes closed, and then I closed mine. Tomorrow would be a new day, and maybe a new freedom.
* * *
It was still dark out when the escorts woke us up to move out. I grabbed mine and some of Lorena’s bags and put them in the back of the truck. Lorena was right behind me, yawning and rubbing her eyes. It felt like we only gotten a few hours of sleep.
“Come on, we have to get going,” one of the men said.
Lorena and I got into the back seats, and the doors locked shut. I leaned on the window and Lorena leaned all the way onto my lap. She was out like a light in minutes.
There were only two escorts with us, because the rest of the men had to stay behind and find Arnold. From what I heard around the station, there were no traces of him around town.
The driver pulled off, and we were now headed to our new home. I was nervous that Arnold would be around to ambush us, and tried to stay awake, but I couldn’t help but fall asleep.
Caged (Caged series Book 1) Page 24