An Angel's Vice

Chapter 19 - Nobody Fucks With My Girl

WARNING: a strong stomach is needed if you're squeamish and trigger easily.

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'But how do you expect me to live alone with just me? 'Cause my world revolves around you, it's so hard for me to breathe.
If you ain't here, I just can't breathe. There's no air, no air.'

She gets it now—the chaos of Lauren's life and the perpetual helplessness that leads her to drink 24/7 and run away as far and fast as she can. Candy gets it. And up until this point, there has been no greater agony. You could hold a pillow over her face and put weights on top of it, she'll tell you that kind of suffocation is beyond nothing compared to this one. Suddenly, Candy is a little girl again, and her army of men have all turned to the softest, defenseless teddy bears in her possession.

It stuns her, how quickly and randomly it happens. One minute, she was finally crawling out of bed, shaking off her depressed stupor and beautifying herself in front of the full body mirror in her master bedroom with a flat iron in hand and scattered makeup items by her feet. The next, she's shaking like a dog in the middle of firework explosions, clutching her chest and tearing at her shirt, struggling like hell to find her breath and respond to Sasha, who speaks from her dropped cellphone. Candy screams as though she's being murdered, as if she's immune to damaging her vocals and has an unlimited supply to dish out into the universe. Her knees give in as she's tiring out her lungs. And as she wails, she begs Sasha for assurance that Lauren is okay, to please tell her she's fine, tell her the details of what happened and who did this. But Sasha doesn't know anything yet as she's on her way to the hospital to find out, and that makes her hysterical condition so much worse.

"Patróna?" Orion addresses before Wandel does, stepping inside her room with the intention to console Candy. "What happened? What do you need?"

"No puede ser, no puede ser, no puede ser..." (It's not possible, I don't believe it, I don't believe it...)

Candy weakly holds her throat as she rocks back and forth, her cries softer but her tears more abundant than ever. She shakes her head and brings her arms around her stomach, supporting the life she has growing inside of her. She prays in her head that they won't be left alone...and she'll do anything to keep the one she loves with them. Orion crouches beside Candy and offers her a glass of water, insisting that she drink and breathe so that she doesn't pass out. She rejects it at first, but with persistance she caves and helps herself to a sip or two.

"Qué paso, patróna?" Wandel asks, moving Orion out of the way to help his boss off the floor. He ditches formalities and holds her head against his upper abdomen, offering the support she truly needs with a strong hug that gives the illusion that nothing can hurt her anymore. He suspects that Lauren has died.

"Ella fue atrapada..." she indistinctly states, her voice hoarse and small. Her breath hitches in her throat and she shakes her head again in denial, staining his shirt with more of her tears. "Ellos llegaron a ella..." (She was caught. They got to her.)

"Qué??" Orion steps up, his heart dropping. This wasn't the plan. "Who did? Is it Lauren? She's dead??"

"Get the car ready," Wandel commands him. "We're going to find her. Where is she?" he asks Candy.

"The hospital. Kendall...I think," Candy mewls, backing away to find her shoes. She wipes her face and settles into anger. "The one closest to West Perrine."

"Who got her? What happened?" Orion says again, demanding a solid response.

"Pendejo, go bring the fucking car around! You don't listen!?" Wandel barks at him, practically running him out of the room. "Get everyone and go!"