Page 20 of Loathe

“We came to go over the plan one more time to make sure everyone knows what their job is, but if you need more rest, we can come back a little later,” Tony said with a grin and a wink. Leave it to Tony to think dirty at this moment. Never mind the peril we were all in.

I rolled my eyes. “No, it’s okay, we need to get down to business and get this over with,” Phoebe said from the bed.

She climbed out of the bed and pulled her hair up in a messy bun on the top of her head. Shit, she looked so hot that way. Maybe Tony did have the right idea. When this was all over, I was going to take her to bed and not let her leave for at least a whole day.

We sat around the small table on the other side of the room, making sure that the details of the plan were going to work. I watched as Phoebe listened to Tony as he started laying out the plan, and her face was unreadable. I wondered what she was feeling as Tony talked about the fact that she was going to have to sit in front of her father and blow a hole in his head. I saw her tense up a few times, and I knew that she would need some time to heal once it was all over with, even though she’d told everyone she hated him. I would be there for her. I had already decided that. I always would.

Though, I thought she always would doubt it. Doubt me. I would make sure when this was all over, she wouldn’t have to doubt me.

Once we talked our ideas out and made the plan solid, Phoebe and I made our way back to bed. We knew we were going to need more rest than what we’d gotten before we put the plan into action.

I woke up from a dream with a start and realized it was almost time to meet up with Tony and the others, so I shook Phoebe awake and started getting ready. Her eyes were circled in darkness, and I felt bad that she had to bear this part of the burden alone.

We left together and headed towards the estate her father was holed up in. A private car and tinted windows would hide the fact she wasn’t alone.

Phoebe sat beside me in the car, trembling as we made our way through the busy streets of the city to the outskirts where mansions were sprawled out on many acres of land. About a mile from the estate, we met up with the others and made sure everything was in place for the battle that was about to take place. My nerves started to let me know they were here, and I had to shove them down, so I didn’t fuck things up.

We stopped around the corner from the estate and tested the equipment we’d be using to listen and make sure Phoebe stayed safe. We gave the others time to get in their places before pulling into the driveway, making ourselves known to him and his goons. Once I knew I’d be able to hear everything that went on once she was inside and out of my sight, we pulled up the drive, seemingly unnoticed by his men.

“Seems like your dad needs to hire better security,” I joked as I tried to hide my own nerves. Though, a man like him I was sure had cameras and hidden security everywhere.

“I-I don’t know if I can go through with this, Cameron. I don’t know if I’ll be able to keep myself from freezing up once I see him. It’s been so long, and I’m afraid the memories will come flooding back and I won’t get the job done,” Phoebe said as her body tensed beside me.

I pulled her to me and hugged her tight. “You can do this, Princess. You are stronger than you think you are. Trust me, I’ve seen it in you. You’re going to walk in there and do what you set out to do. You’re going to do great I just know it. Plus, I’ll be right here, listening to everything. If something goes wrong, I’ll be in there in the blink of an eye,” I tried to reassure her that she would be okay.

“Before I go in there, I need you to know that you are the best thing that ever happened to me, and I am falling for you for real. I know this started out as pretend, but I’m not pretending anymore, Cameron. I can’t begin to thank you enough for how good you’ve treated me, and I want you to know it really means a lot to me,” she said as tears filled her eyes.

I didn’t think I’d seen her so vulnerable before and was more than humbled by the fact she was showing this to me.

I couldn’t believe the things she was saying to me. I’d waited so long for someone to value me the way that she did. My past had been filled with abandonment and abuse. My parents hadn’t wanted me or couldn’t care for me. It all added up to the same thing. Being passed from home to home and never belonging. To having to be tough and do things I’d never wanted to, and no kid should, to keep the foster families from starving or beating me.

No matter what my past looked like, I realized that Phoebe wouldn’t care. This was real from the first moment I was in her bed; we had both been so blind not to see it. Two dark souls had found each other.

I prayed that the plan worked, and she didn’t get hurt. I couldn’t think about the possibility of losing her. I saw her as my forever and I wanted that to come true. I wanted to tell her that I felt the same way, but every time I tried to speak, she put a finger over my mouth. That was fine, I would tell her when it was all over. Since she had to come out of this alive, and I for damn sure would.

Before I could say a word, she pressed her lips to mine and kissed me with so much passion like it was going to be the last time she saw me, and I held her to me. I hoped that wouldn’t be the case, but with assholes like the one we were dealing with, you never knew what was going to happen. If I had anything to say about it, he’d die before she did.

She reluctantly pulled away from me and after placing one more chaste kiss on my lips, she slid out of the car and out of my arms. I watched as she walked away from me and prayed with all my might that she would be okay.

Chapter Twenty

Phoebe

I was sitting outside the estate where the man that had raised me now lived. I sat beside Cameron, staring at the well-thought-out architecture and design of the place.

I couldn’t believe I was sitting outside his place after so many years of running from him, so that I wouldn’t have to open my legs for his mafia friends or him anymore. I’d spent so much time doing things to keep myself safe that I normally wouldn’t have done, and now that seemed all for nothing as I sat outside his home.

I knew that it had to be done, but my hands shook as my nerves took over.

Cameron knew that I was scared, and he held me close as I spilled my guts to him about how much he meant to me. I wasn’t sure exactly how he felt about me, but I wasn’t dumb enough to think that this was going to go off without someone getting hurt. I had to tell him how I felt so that he would know.

I had never felt about anyone else the way I felt about him, not even Tony. I gave him one last kiss and stepped out of the car. I slowly made my way up the cascade of steps that led to the front door of the sprawling mansion. Why one man needed a place this big, I’d never understand.

I stepped to the door and was about to knock when it opened on its own, and a tall man in a black suit motioned for me to step inside.

“Hello, Phoebe, your father has been expecting you. He’s in the room down that hall to your left,” the strange man pointed out. Good. Maybe we’d be alone. The less people I had to fool, the better.

I smiled a thank you and headed down the hall alone. I felt my breathing pick up as my nerves started to take over again. I wasn’t sure if Cameron could read my mind or not, but at that exact moment his voice rang out through the earpiece hidden inside my ear so I wouldn’t lose contact.

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