AMELIA

"Kaiser?" I yell. "What the fuck."

"Kaiser, tell them to put it down," Carl warns his friend in the stilled air.

He is rubbing his jaw, sitting on the pool table with busted lips and brows, looking extremely furious.

"I could easily let them pull the trigger," he shrugs arrogantly.

"Well, you aren't doing yourself a favor; imagine spending thirty years in prison and tarnishing your family's reputation," I bite back while he fumes.

"I do not give a fuck." he stubbornly says.

"Kaiser?" a panicked voice calls, and that girl with long hair comes running, probably having loosened from the guy who had her.

I guess she's the prettiest girl he talked about earlier. My eyes roll even thinking about it.

"Not again. Not again. Stop it right now," she scolds him, panting terrifyingly as she reads the room.

Wait, what? Did I hear her say; not again?

"You shoot people for a living?" I am baffled.

"He does nothing of that sort," the girl defends immediately, turning over to me with wild eyes.

"Well, can you tell Mister mafia that he can't easily pull a trigger on everyone?"

"Can you tell Mister Weapon that not everywhere is an octagon?" she retaliates equally as harsh.

I shrug nonchalantly at her, and she rolls her eyes, taking them back to her man, who then signals his men to put down their weapons.

We are done with this.

"Let's go," I rush over, pulling Cam, whose knuckles are bleeding and he has some bruises on his face.

Argh, Cam! Argh! He was this close to getting himself in trouble.

The fireworks are being shot by the lake so there is no one paying attention to us while we sneak away, and the house is empty when we exit the entrance door.

"Cameron, really? beating the governor's son?" I angrily scold him as we reach his parked car in the driveway.

He doesn't say anything; he's still seething.

"What did you say to him?" I yell frustratedly at the mute man.

Carl is behind us, leaning against some red SUV, not getting involved.

"Nothing," Cam grumbles.

"Cameron?" I warn because I don't trust what he is saying.

Someone had to have provoked someone between them. Who did it? is my question. What was said and why? is what I want to know.

"He's a dickhead, okay?" Cam spats, enraged. "He's so much worried about his drunk girl which he can't control. He was mad at me because I was right," he snorts then.

So he did something.

"Cameron?"

I saw the way he reacted to what Kaiser uttered about me and that girl. It must have instigated what happened.

Blowing out a breath, he stops pacing and rubs his eyes, straining himself to calmly explain, "He thinks it's easy to turn your head because of whatever he thinks he is, and I told him I never lose in anything. He is just childish and stupid, Princess. Suddenly, this girl appears and she looks at me and says something like; 'Am I drunk and seeing things?' he then goes crazy."

"What the fuck? So while you were talking, you two are betting on your girlfriends?" My eyes widen in shock.

"No! What?" Cam scoffs, swallowing. "You know I will never do that."

"That's what it sounds like, Cameron."

This was supposed to go well, but look where we are at? Over some childish and arrogant conduct. Look at our situation now.

Just great!

"His ego is broken, and he turns it into a war that he can't win," Cam remarks sarcastically.

Exactly what I was saying. Arrogant.

"Cameron, you beat up a powerful figure, do you understand? If he wants to send troops or whatever authority to bring down my house tonight, he would do it. Do you understand? You just don't get in a fight with everyone." I spelled it out infuriatingly.

"I do not give a fuck. I am scared of no man."

Clearly!

"Goodness." I rub my hurting temples. "What do you think my mom will say when she sees you looking like this in the morning? You are supposed to change, Cam."

His face falls, and he grumpily grumbles, "I am trying."

"If this is what trying is then you are not putting any effort," I retort. I can't have him acting like this everywhere we go. One thing that the annoying girl was right about is that not everywhere is an octagon. He will just get in trouble. "You are not supposed to entertain things that will get you in trouble, Cam. If you can't do it for yourself, think about me. You are not single anymore. You can't get in trouble anymore, Cameron." I am panting furiously when I finish.

His eyes are dark and blazing. He is calm but the scary kind. "I will not stand back and let someone mistake me for a fool. I will not stand back and let someone try to flirt with you or demean you in front of me."

And there it is. He admits to it. It was all about that comment Kaiser made. Affirmative, I took offense from it but he didn't see me letting it harm me. He can't beat up everyone who says certain things to me or about me.

"Maybe you shouldn't have bet on each other's women."

"There wasn't any flirting on my side, Princess. I was breathing in my space. You didn't entertain him, he got mad, I suppose, or he's on some drugs because it doesn't make sense. I didn't bet on shit, he just went wild when his girl appeared and complimented me. Why won't you trust me? That drunk girl just looked at me and suddenly I am guilty. You should know I will never bet on you. You are not a plaything to me." Cam is hyperventilating, his eyes wild and pleading.

I don't know what to think or do. I look over to Carl for help, and he nods at me.

"Hey, okay." Swallowing, I reach for Cam's fingers, his jaws clenched. "Cam? Cameron?" I call, but he wouldn't answer. He is staring at me with unblinking eyes, his chest rising and falling laboriously.

Argh! This is so exhausting.

"Okay, I will drive." I heave a sigh and grab his key from his hand.

"I will see you both in the morning before you leave, that's if the trip is still on," Carl says to us while I tug Cam towards the passenger side of the car.

"Oh, it is." I chuckle. I am getting our asses out of this town as soon as possible.