Camilla

 

My foot is tapping, and I’m tasting blood from my lip by the time a white SUV rolls up next to me. Burly Bruce gets out of the driver’s side.

He’s in jeans and a tight black t-shirt that hugs his massive biceps. Two men, almost as tall and muscular, get out and stroll up beside him. One is African American, like Bruce, and the other Caucasian.

“This is Rob and my brother, Bing. They love cleaning up messes. Lead the way.” The men nod hello to me and look toward the apartment building. I start to walk up the sidewalk, so they follow behind me.

“Let us go inside first to get the situation under control, and then you can come in and find your sister.”

“OK. I can’t thank you enough for this. Rusty has long, dark hair. Just don’t let my sister get hurt, and I really need this to happen without the cops showing up. I mean, I know you can’t be super quiet—”

“I got this, Camilla,” Bruce says, grabbing my shoulders. I suck in a noticeable breath and pull free to shove the key in the door. I unlock it and back out of their way.

Like the chain lock’s made of paper, Bruce busts right through it with his friends storming in behind him. I hear his deep voice over the music, and then I hear Rusty’s and another male’s.

Next, there’s yelling and the sound of some thuds and rumbles, maybe someone’s back slamming against the wall. If the cops don’t show, it will be a miracle. The only saving grace is the fact that most of my neighbors don’t want them here any more than I do.

Sasha. Where is she in all of this? Knowing my sister is safe is all I can think about, so I step through the doorway. Bruce is putting a beating on Rusty, and his friends have laid out a couple of other guys I don’t recognize.

There’s a girl in only panties curled in a ball on the sofa, and she’s crying. The music, fighting and yelling combined with the scent of drugs and filth is all too much for me.

My throat’s closing up, and my sight blurs as fear consumes me. No. I have to get it together for Sasha. My eyes dart around, looking for her, but she’s not in the family room, so I swing open my bedroom door.

My sister is sprawled out on the bed in a tank top and panties. There’s a rubber band tied around her arm and a needle next to her. Running to her side, I rip off the rubber band. I clutch her shoulders and shake them.

“Sasha, wake up. Sasha.” She opens her eyes, but they roll back in her head. Her mouth is hanging open with a film of drool at each corner. “Sis, can you hear me?”

“Yes,” she mumbles.

“I’m taking you to the hospital.”

“No.” She tries to shake her head. “I’ll be OK. I’m OK,” she slurs.

“Then you’re going home with me, and tomorrow I’m taking you to rehab.” Realizing I can’t pick her up, I stride toward the door to see if Bruce can carry her out. I come to an abrupt stop when I spot Greyson, Ellis, and one of his security guys.

With a puffed out chest, Ellis rips off his sling. The Velcro makes a loud noise over the music as he pulls it apart, and lord, could this night get any worse?

He’s yelling at Bruce, with a finger in his face, as anger drips from his words. The security man and Greyson are toe to toe with Bruce’s friends. Spotting me, Ellis exhales in relief. I run and slide between him and Bruce.

“He’s my friend, Ellis. He came to help. I’ll explain later, but right now I have to get Sasha home. She’s in my bedroom.”

The girl on the couch is still crying as she dresses. Bruce shuts off the stereo and begins talking to her. I follow Ellis and Greyson into my bedroom, and standing next to my bed, Ellis grumbles something under his breath.

“Can you carry her out for me?” he asks his cousin. After Greyson wraps my sister’s exposed body in the blanket that’s beneath her, we head back to the living room.

I approach Bruce and nod toward my sister’s three so-called friends who are lying lifeless on the floor. Their scrawny asses didn’t stand a chance against him and his friends, especially while high.

“Will they be OK?”

“They’ll live, but they won’t forget it. I told that Rusty he better never step foot near this place or your sister again. I think he was about to cry, but I didn’t give him the chance.” He brandishes a grin like this event was no big deal. “I’ll tend to this mess. You go.”

“Thank you. I’ll call you tomorrow, and I owe you dessert.”

“Camilla!” Ellis shouts at me from the door. Bruce scowls and points at him.

“Are you safe to leave with that guy?”

“Yes, I promise.” Landing a kiss on his cheek, I scurry toward the door. Ellis says something to the security guy before the man strides toward an SUV.

Following Ellis and Greyson to an expensive car I don’t recognize, I then help Greyson put Sasha in the backseat. She falls over, her body limp on its side.

Leaving her be, I walk around to the other door. With flared nostrils and a locked jaw, Ellis holds it open for me.

“I’m sorry,” I utter.

“Get in. Now.” Lowering my gaze, I do as he says, lifting Sasha up to make room for myself. The door slams shut, and I jump.

Greyson starts up the car, and soon the silence is deafening, seeming far more chaotic in my mind than the various loud noises I heard inside the apartment. Greyson must feel it, too, since he turns on the radio.

The ride across the city seems like an eternity. Sasha moans on occasion, rolling her head from one side to the other, and I keep saying a prayer she won’t puke in a car that I would guess costs a few hundred grand. Worrying she’s cold, I pull the blanket snugger around her.

This is humiliating. Greyson and Ellis saw my drugged sister in her panties and were in my apartment at its worst. Hell, they’ve probably never seen the inside of a place like that before.

I worry Ellis will struggle to forgive me for this. We can’t go a day without issues, and it’s quickly wearing on us. Even after what he said to me in my study, I can’t help but feel like baggage he won’t be able to handle.

It’s why I tried to leave him out of this ordeal tonight. I needed someone to get rid of Rusty, and that’s what Bruce and his friends did, but I betrayed Ellis. I really screwed things up.