night after night (camren)

18.

"My reward will be torturing you when you least expect it"

"I will count down the seconds until that kind of torture comes my way"

......

Her phone woke her up in the morning.

She'd turned the damn thing of last night, seeing as she was spend and exhausted from her time with Lauren, but now it was buzzing. Dinah probably wanted more details on last night, since they always shared these kind of things with each other - not the nitty-gritty sex details, but the so you really like her part. t had been a long time since Camila actually liked someone. With Shawn, the really like him feelings had faded way before the relationship ended. Sure, she'd fallen for him in the start, for his self-depreciating humour, for his dull brown eyes, for the sweet nothings he whispered to her that made her feel special.

She met him when he was one of her students at a weekend class she'd been teaching at a boutique bar in Downtown Miami on the art of making cocktails. She'd taken on this class before she bought a stake in Cubic Z; the class helped supplement her bartending income. And Shawn had been her finest student, his keen eye for detail giving him a leg up as he mixed and matched the perfect amounts.

"You, sir, concocted a most excellent margarita" she told him.

He'd tapped the side of the glass, and said, "Someday I'll be sipping this in Bora Bora or the Bahamas"

"Wouldn't that be nice? Sitting on a hammock in the sun with a nice cool drink"

"Blue skies and mixed drinks" he added, "A perfect getaway"

One time, after everyone else had left, he'd hung back, raised his hand as if in a classroom, and asked, "I have a question. I know teacher-student relationships are generally forbidden. Does that apply to the bartending school too?"

"Terribly forbidden. Violates all sorts of mixed-drinks laws" she teased.

"Call me guilty then" he said, and then asked her out. They'd gone to a Turkish restaurant along Miami Beach for the first date, then for a walk through the neighbourhood nearby. A photographer, he'd made a decent wage shooting interiors of homes in the city for realtors, so he showed her the outside of some of the home he'd shot, including a rather tiny one that he'd made look palatial in the picture. He used to say that with the right-angled shot he could make any room look "spacious, open and well-lit"

Later, after they became a couple, he was the one that encouraged her to expand her role at Cubic Z, and to invest in the bar. She didn't regret that decision, not one bit, though she sure as hell regretted him, and wished she'd gotten out sooner.

All his sweetness had leaked away by the end, and they were merely holding on, until he left. The unravelling of that relationship isn't what hurt; it was the way it fell to pieces that stung like snake poison. The way she to bear the brunt of the breakup and all he heaped on her, and she couldn't even tell Dinah the specifics. At times, Camila ached to pour out all the sordid details, especially because her best friend understood heartache. But Dinah understood happiness, too. Newly engaged to a woman who made her wildly happy, Dinah was in that haze of believing that every new relationship would turn out to be the one, so Camila fully expected a text from her best friend asking when she'd be getting engaged too.

Ha. As if Camila were ever going to do that.

She fumbled for her phone, unlocking the screen. Dinah's name popped up and the first word she saw was size. She shook her head in amusement. She wasn't sure if her best friend was talking about ring fingers or other measurements, but before she could open the note another text flashed.

Where is the pretty bartender? She wasn't at the bar last night. She should hope she's not skipping town. I wouldn't want to have to inquire with that other woman behind the bar. She seems like she might be preoccupied, and more so in a few months . . .

Her blood ran cold. He'd noticed ally and her pregnant belly.

She wanted to punch the screen. That slime ball had gone to Cubic Z for one of his pop-ins. Those were the worst, when she had to serve him, and act like she didn't detest him as she poured his martinis. She hoped he hadn't bothered Ally, her hubby, Troy, or anyone else they worked with last night. She didn't want him near her co-workers. She could only imagine how that would go down, especially when Austin took out his knife and nonchalantly scratched his chin. Those gestures were meant for her - reminders of what he was capable of.

And he was capable of much more than just scratching an itch. She'd gotten glimpses of Austin's cold-blooded nature through Shawn. He'd hinted of things he'd seen while shooting pictures of the limos. Punches thrown, knees whacked, noses broken, eyes blackened . . . Austin was a man that got what he wanted by any means possible.

Her skin crawled as she imagined him shaking down sweet Ally, the true definition of an innocence bystander.

That was the real rub, though. Everyone in her life was an innocent bystander, and she'd have to keep them innocent. The less anyone knew, the less they could get hurt. If they knew about her troubles they'd try to help her, and then they'd be in his debt somehow, and his crosshairs.

She swallowed back all her anger, and replied quickly. Of course not. I have the weekend off. Don't worry - I'll be at the game Thursday, and I plan on winning big again.

Seconds later, he replied. That confidence is so alluring.

She sneered, then her heart beat faster at the next message, from Ally. You'll be pleased to know there were no unsavoury types here last night. Only he usual assortment of hipsters and VC's. So Miami, xoxo.

If only Ally knew there was an unsavoury type there last night, scoping them all out. But she planned to be back at the poker game on Thursday night, working on winning more to line Austin's pockets, playing hard, and taking down the marks to get out from under his yoke as soon as possibly good.

She wrote back: Glad to hear Cubic Z is representing the city so well. Love you madly. See you soon.

She took a deep breath, reminding herself to push her troubles out of her mind for the weekend. She was far away from all her obligations, and she planned to enjoy her temporary break.

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chapter 18 guys, enjoy.