Page 2 of Wicked Nightmare

Running my hand through my hair, I looked at the time. I’d completely forgotten we were meeting at the diner for breakfast this morning and I was, indeed, late. Lakes was a lot of things, but one thing she was not was late. She hated when I ran late.

Shit, sorry babe... Be there in a minute. I messaged back as fast as my fat fingers could.

Throwing the phone down and grabbing a pair of grey sweatpants, I rushed through getting ready. Effortlessly sexy, as Lakes calls it. She's not wrong.

Another buzz. It's fine, I'm just gonna head to the boutique across the way and grab a new necklace. Text when you're there.

I grinned. She only ever bought herself something when she'd done something naughty. And she'd make it a fun game trying to figure out what it was this time. Though, given that her particular brand of naughty last night involved karambits and a cliff, I had a pretty good idea.

Grabbing my bike keys off the key rack, I locked the front door and headed to the elevator, pressing P to get to the underground. As expected, Lakey's bike was missing, but mine was waiting. The second love of my life. Sitting down and starting the engine, I smiled, seeing a red kiss on the mirror.

Oh, she'd been a bad girl and was looking for punishment. The parking door couldn't open fast enough before I was ripping to our spot. Grabbing a space along the curb, I didn't bother paying. Those fat fucking parking maids can suck my dick.

Here, babe. I messaged her before going to our table, far end at the back, where we both had a view of the street. I took the time to check my GPS, and a small smile crept over my lips. She had been a very naughty girl last night.

After the cliff, she had gone to the gas station and spent an hour there before the dot had moved to the same place it always moved. The tree. The little girl's tree. She'd sat up there for hours, watching through the window, doing whatever it was she did when she went there. At first, I'd found it weird that she'd just sleep in the tree across the street and watch this kid through her window. But she told me she found it oddly comforting. That she had some kind of weird voodoo connection with her.

A therapist might say it had something to do with the trauma Lakes had experienced in her own childhood, but I wasn't a fucking therapist, and this wasn't a paid counseling session, so we didn't go there.

Lakey didn't care about anyone or anything except for me, and the feeling was mutual, but that kid had gotten under her skin in a way I couldn't explain and she couldn't either. So I left it alone. There were worse things my girl could be doing at 3 a.m. than sitting in a tree watching a child sleep. She’d been doing it for seven years already, why stop the tradition now?

The bell jingled and I looked up. My breath caught as she walked into the cafe, her long legs skipping in time to the static beat coming through the speakers. Fuck she was a vision, even if she was wearing some ridiculously gaudy bright pink shirt that said Welcome to Sunny City on it.

She squealed and gave me a hug before settling in beside me and flipping through the menu.

"Hey, babe, how was last night?" She sounded nonchalant to any eavesdropper, but I knew that tone.

"Great, you?" I smirked, sipping my coffee.

"Oh, you know, same ol' same ol'." She hummed, those haunted eyes of hers boring into mine. "Mine was a bit more—" she leaned in dramatically, "—exciting."

"Yeah? Where'd you go? You didn't come home."

She giggled. "I was just around. Doin' stuff. Some guy at the gas station wanted to hook up, but you know..." she held up her thumb and index finger before whispering tiny dick.

I rolled my eyes. She was trying to get under my skin. Lakey would never touch another man, in the same way I’d never touch another woman.

"So, whatcha ordering today?" she asked, her leg bouncing under the table as her brilliant blue eyes bore into mine.

"Same as always, Pinky, eggs benny."

She smacked my arm. "How many fucking times do I have to tell you that I'M BRAIN and YOU are Pinky." She put her arm up to grab the waitress's attention. "Fucking moron."

"Same as always, Trixie," I said, winking at the waitress who giggled and took our order, sliding two coffees on the table before she left.

Lakey grabbed my hand. "Cam, I need you to help me with something."

"You know I can't say no to you, Lakes. You know that. What do you need?"

"I'll explain later. It's just something I've been thinking about lately." She twirled a knife around, the edges catching the light before she slammed it down. "Anyway, after breakfast, whatcha wanna do?"

"Lakey... are we going to talk about what you did?" I sighed when she rolled her eyes at me. I loved this part of it all… the pretending. The banter. "Dani didn't text me back this morning."

"Who the fuck is Dani?" A devilish grin spread over her face. One might assume it was innocent, the way her big eyes widened, and her cheeks tinged with pink, her hand flying to her mouth almost as if in shock. But I knew better. It was a dance we'd done twenty-seven times now.

"You know exactly who she is, babe."

"Oh right... vague memory. I'm sorry for your loss, Cameron. Did your giant dong scare her away?" She giggled and moved into the booth across from me, grabbing the cup of coffee with a grateful sigh. "Mmmmm, I needed this."