Page 88 of Wicked Nightmare

"Cam," I called out, my voice tight. "I think you need to see this."

His expression darken as he skimmed the files. His eyes narrowed, a muscle twitching beneath his skin. I'd seen that look before. The calm before the storm, the moment just before he unleashed hell.

"Well, isn't this just fucking great," he said, slamming the folder shut. "Looks like we've been lab rats our whole lives, Lakey. And here I thought our childhood couldn't get any more fucked up."

I laughed, but it was hollow. "At least we're together, right? No matter what they did, we ended up together." I reached out, intertwining my fingers with his. The touch grounded me, even as my world tilted on its axis.

We stood there for a moment, processing. Then, almost in sync, we snapped back into action mode. There'd be time to unpack all this later. Right now, we had a job to finish.

"Let's get our sleeping beauty and blow this hellhole. We can comb through all this shit later."

Cam nodded. He grabbed the laptop that had been sitting on the desk, stuffing it in the front pocket of his backpack before zipping it shut and affixing it to his chest.

I did one last sweep of the room. My gaze fell on a small teddy bear, tucked away in a corner. It was worn, one eye missing, stuffing poking out of a torn seam. Without really knowing why, I grabbed it, shoving it into my jacket pocket.

We didn't talk as we went back up the stairs and exited the orphanage. Grabbing the girl off the grass, I helped Cam strap her onto his back using strap downs he had in his tail bag.

"Ready?" Cam asked, adjusting his weight as he started his bike.

I nodded, my mind already racing ahead. "Yeah. Let's go home and see what other skeletons we can drag out of Chimera's closet."

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Cam

I kicked the door open, my arms full of the unconscious girl I was carrying. Lakey stumbled in behind me, panting like she'd just run a marathon.

"Jesus, she's heavier than she looks," I grunted, maneuvering towards the couch.

Lakey shot me a look that could curdle milk. "Less complaining, more moving, big guy."

Finally making it to the couch, I laid her down as gently as I could manage, which wasn't very. Her head lolled to the side, dark hair spilling across the cushions. For a second, Lakey and I just stood there, staring at each other like we'd both lost our damn minds. Which, let's be real, we probably had.

"Well," I said, breaking the silence. "This is new. Normally we're dragging unconscious girls out of the apartment to the killing spot, not dragging them in."

Lakey ignored me, dropping to her knees beside the couch. She reached out, hesitating for a split second before brushing a strand of hair from the girl's face. Something in her expression softened, and it sent a shock through me. She actually seemed to care about this woman.

"What are you thinking, doll?" I asked, keeping my tone light.

Lakey's fingers lingered on the girl's cheek. "Well, I thought it might be someone I knew. But it's not. So, now I'm thinking we might've just made the biggest mistake of our lives." She paused, a grin spreading across her face. "Or the best decision ever. Jury's still out."

I couldn't help but chuckle. It was always a toss-up with Lakes. She liked to wait until the last possible second to figure out what she was doing and how she felt about it. "And here I thought our lives couldn't get any more complicated."

Lakey looked up at me, those big blue eyes of hers swimming with emotions I couldn't quite decipher. "We have to help her, Cam. We can't just... we can't send her back there."

I raised an eyebrow. "Since when did we start running a charity for wayward lab rats?"

"Since now," Lakey said firmly, her jaw set in that stubborn way that meant arguing was pointless. "Besides, WE are wayward lab rats, dipshit."

"Yeah, well, whatever," I said, running a hand through my hair.

Truth was, I had no idea why I'd let Lakey believe we'd take the girl. I was just going to dump her on the lawn and let whatever happen, happen. But no. If my girl said jump, I said how high. Call me whipped, but at 5’1, she was more terrifying than the assholes I went to juvie with.

Lakey turned back to the girl, her expression a mix of determination and something softer, almost maternal. It was a look I'd never seen on her before, one I assumed had a connection to the way she so badly wanted to be a mother. Only this wasn't a child, it was a full-grown woman. Malnourished, sure, but a woman, nonetheless.

"What have we gotten ourselves into, darl'?" I asked, more to myself than to her.

Lakey's answer was quiet, but it echoed in the stillness of our apartment. "Something big, Cam. Something that's gonna change everything."

And as she tended to our unexpected guest, I had an eerie feeling settle over me. For better or worse, our little family of two had just become a family of three.