Perfect

“Well what did he look like?”

Claire still had that disapproving look on her face as she asked, she was still displeased I went out on my own yesterday. Although I could see an underlying excitement to get in on the investigation I was launching.

“God he had muscles galore Claire, he looked a bit beaten up and I didn’t get a clear look at his face but who doesn’t like the bad boy look. His figure looked mildly familiar but I might never see this guy again.”

“Look I may have been mad at you for adventuring on your own yesterday but that doesn't mean we can’t go out together and go looking for this man.” She sighed dreamily, I giggled at how silly she sounded. “How about after school we go into town and see if we can find this man of god?” I grinned. Claire would never say no to an adventure.

“Absolutely.” I nodded drastically and finished putting the books that’d been sprawled all over my bed yesterday back into my bag. It was back to another ordinary day of school for me. Although I was still wondering how Cameron was doing. After he turned up beaten in the hallway last week I hadn’t had much of a chance to get him off my mind until yesterday afternoon. God knows what those bruises were from and I sure as hell wanted to find out.

I simply had two missions to do instead of one and Claire didn’t have to know about the Cameron mission since she didn’t want me snooping. A little snooping never hurt anyone though. Claire was already at the door by the time I was ready, we’d already had breakfast and Pete was at the kitchen archway waving goodbye. School was starting to get into that boring stage where I didn’t want to go but I knew I had too just so I could pass my senior year.

I’d never have to go again after I finished this year but the thought of coronation scared me more. If it was a choice between school repeatedly or ruling the throne, I’d have no idea what to choose since they’re both as bad as the other.

School was quick, quicker then I would’ve liked it to be. I hadn’t seen Cameron all day and along with keeping an eye out for Cameron, Claire and I had been looking for the man I’d seen in the library store but no luck with that one either. It was just a day full of bad luck.

“Ready to go?”

“Yes please.” Claire exhaled loudly. She hated this place as much as I did I swear. I guess she’d been here longer so that was completely understandable. We walked out into the parking lot and headed towards the wall that we usually waited on until everyone left.

I slid down the wall, Claire sliding down beside me and I watched as all the kids got picked up from school, walked with their friends or drove home themselves. It’d be cool to be able to drive myself home, but my parents wouldn’t allow it without a bodyguard at my side. I understood but it’d be nice to not have to wait for once.

Claire had almost dozed off when I caught a familiar tattoo out of the corner of my eye. He was faced away from me and I could just tell from the outline of his back that this was the guy I saw in the store. “Claire!” I whisper yelled, shaking her arm. She sat up alert and looked in the direction I was slyly trying to point in. “It’s exactly like you described him. Now only if he’d turn around so we can get a look at his face.”

We sat there for a few more minutes casting quick glances in this guys direction. I freaked every time I thought he’d turn his head to the side. The black SUV had pulled up already my expectations crushed. Neither Claire or I was going to go up to this guy and see who he was.

I walked towards the car and as I got inside I took one final look in his direction.

“Cameron?”

Michael shut the door on my face before I even had a chance to react. “Claire, it was Cameron.”

“What? No way, it couldn’t have been.”

“I swear it was, there’s no way I can mistake that boy’s face now.” Her mouth gaped open and it was as if she was lost for words, but I was as well. I didn’t know that much about Cameron but he seemed to have a different air around him in that store.

I turned to Claire, “We’ll have to suss it out, there’s no way I’m letting this go, I need to know that it was actually him.”

“We can always go back to the store today like we planned and try to catch him in the act?”

“It was on a Sunday so we’ll have to wait until then.”

So we did. Four days passed and Sunday finally rolled around, “Claire let’s go, I’m not going to miss anything because you’re being lazy.”

“Oh I’m coming grumpy bum, give me a minute.”

Huffing I finished packing the little handbag I had, just with some essentials and headed towards the front door. As far as Pete and Michael were aware, we were going shopping with some friends and to a movie but really we weren’t.

Today wasn’t necessarily important but it was more just for me to ease my curiosity, or I was going to go insane. I’d waited a week for this and I wanted to know what was going on.

The walk took us maybe thirty minutes this time since we actually knew where we were going and I wasn’t just wandering around on my own. I told Claire that I wanted to act like ninja’s on our walk over here but she told me we’d look too suspicious and not to mention, stupid. I just pouted in annoyance and left her to continue on with the detective work. We walked towards the library that I’d previously been in, I had the books that I’d borrowed and was planning to ‘return’ them as a distraction. Well that’s what I hoped it would serve as.

“Bella, lets go take a seat at the cafe over there.”

“Why?” I cocked an eyebrow at her, “Aren’t we meant to be going in and finding out what’s going on?”

“Yeah but what time was it roughly when you came here last weekend?”

I shook my head trying to remember, it was only just coming past midday now and I’d been here quite close to probably eight or nine at night. She nodded her head at me gathering that I’d figured out what she was doing and we headed towards the cafe to have a bite to eat, chat and wait for the action to happen.

Eight long boring hours later, we finally saw movement on the other side of the road. We’d ordered enough food for an entire family but doing nothing for a eight hours straight is hard work. Tipping the lady for being a great hostess and dealing with us being the last and only people in the cafe, we headed off to get a better seat for what was happening on the other side of the road.

“I’m sure the lady was glad we left, she finally gets to go home now.” Claire chuckled at my comment but covered her mouth almost instantly. “We have to be quiet.” She mouthed to me, the words just coming out for me to hear.

We watched in wonder as people flooded through the library doors and disappeared never coming back out at all. We looked at each other, the same thought going through our heads. They definitely weren’t in there for library books.

Claire pointed her fingers towards the big burly dude at the front door and I let out a sigh of annoyance. It’d be a nightmare getting past him. “Oi Hulk,” fitting name, “fights about to start, come place your bets.” The man named Hulk gave one last look around the area going straight past our hiding place and then nodded, heading inside. I gave Claire a triumphant look and we started sneaking slowly towards the door.

The last time I’d come in here there was a bell attached to the door but as I opened it nothing rang. I looked up and saw the bell on a high shelf. It was probably so they didn’t draw attention. I could hear a lot of rowdy people underneath my feet and it wasn’t just a few voices. There were at least a hundred I could hear.

Among the cheering and clinks of beer glasses hitting each other I could hear the sickening crack of bones being broken and heavy breathing from two people that sounded like they were..

“Oh Claire, I think I know what this is.” She looked at me with worry evident in her eyes as I’m sure mine were filled with dread. My whole body was on high alert, this place, if my assumption was correct, was not a place to muck around in.

The door to the noise was hard to find, we ended up peaking through the cracks and what I saw made my stomach plummet six feet below the earth. Claire gasped beside me and we both looked at each other in horror. From what I could gather bets were placed on people who were forced to fight each other. Whoever won was victorious and went to the next round and whoever wasn’t was shamed and spat on.

The only question running through my head was how and why Cameron could be involved in all this, I hadn’t seen him yet and I had a feeling he’d gotten here earlier then we did. I’d already spotted the ‘librarian’ as he was commentator by the looks of it.

Claire and I had turned away from the fights as we couldn’t bear to watch, we could still hear everything that was going on though and the only reason I forced myself to stay was to make sure Cameron was okay.

“Next up lads and gents, the one we’ve all been waiting for; ‘The King vs The Beast’.” Hoots and cheers erupted from the drunken crowd and in my interest I peaked back through the door again. This time my stomach almost regurgitated the food I ate at the cafe. Cameron came walking through the crowd with boxing shorts and gloves on. The sickly bruises I’d seen on him five days ago was still haunting my memory. They’d healed slightly over the week but not enough for it not to be noticed.

My breath came out fast and my heartbeat sped up rapidly, I was worried for him. A hand slid into my own and I felt the warm comfort of my best friend. I looked over to her and she was just as scared as I was. The man walking beside Cameron was just as tall as him, maybe a foot or so taller. His features were grim and it looked like he’d never smiled a day in his life. This is exactly the kind of place I would have expected to see Victor. The thought of him sent shivers down my spine and not the good ones. The man roughly chucked Cameron into the ring without a second thought and stood back to watch, a disgusting smile on his face rising as he watched people place bets on who would win. I had no idea who he was but he was no friend of Cameron’s. He just used him as a toy, a tool to win money.

My head shook in disgust and after the fight started I turned up from the door and walked away, I could hear the grunts and fists connecting with flesh. Claire was still sitting beside the door her face emotionless. There wasn’t even a sense of shock, her face was just stone. I couldn’t do it to myself to go back and look. The sound of bones crunching and the harsh breaths of Cameron reached me even over the screaming of the crowd.

Then it stopped.

There was no noise for a few seconds until cheers erupted through the crowd, wild hungry cheers. Someone had won. I raced back to the door my stomach in my throat and Claire put an arm in front of me as if to say are you sure?

I nodded at her and looked through the crack in the door to see an exhausted Cameron and the body of the other challenger on the ground, my heart swelled with pride but also dropped at the realisation that this is what he did every weekend. This is where he was most likely dragged, against his will to fight for his life.

I stepped back from the door and Claire followed me putting an arm on my shoulder to keep me steady, lord knows why I cared so much but I was so worried and disgusted that it chilled me to the very bone.

“Let’s go.” My voice was hoarse and dry like I hadn’t used it in years. We hadn’t spoken to each other the whole time we were inside. It had just been a bunch of gasps and fast breathing, mainly from me. She nodded at me and we headed straight for the door.

We didn’t reach it fast enough.

A whole lot of footsteps were coming from behind the door we were just sitting at for over an hour. It sounded almost like a stampede. I dragged Claire to the hiding spot I’d taken cover in last weekend when I’d hidden from just Cameron and the librarian. I’m just hoping none of these men had super smell or we’d be gone. I stopped and giggled at the though in my mind. I was going crazy.

We both took refuge behind the long curtain and prayed that no one would see us. The hiding spot was simply perfect though. It had a two person wide hole in the wall behind the curtain so the curtain lay perfectly still against the wall. The sound of voices reached my ear before I saw them. Men tumbled out from behind the door intoxicated, I’m glad we were hidden because people had no morals when drunk. I shuffled in nervousness and Claire grabbed my hand again for the second time that night, I squeezed it tightly. We were comfort for each other. Some of them lingered around and talk about the fight.

“So King won again. That’s gotta be good money for his father.”

“We all know he’d get his ass beat if he didn’t win this tournament.” The one with the beer in his hand boomed loudly.

“Kinda feel sorry for the kid. But it was a bloody fucking good fight.”

“Oath it was brother. We’ll be seeing more of him in the future since daddy’s earning fortunes off him now.” The men all nodded at his statement and all I could see was red. I can’t believe his father used him to earn money. What kind of father does that. I wanted to go out and pummel their heads in but I knew it wouldn’t get our little investigation anywhere.

“Seeya men.” One of the tall blokes yelled out as he left the store. Men? More like pigs. I watched as they all eventually piled out and the store was empty at last. I stepped out from behind the curtain and threw a punch at the wall, the wall creaked underneath the impact of my hand and sparks of pain shot up my arm.

“Bella! What the hell!” Claire shouted at me. She looked around quickly to see if anyone heard her and once she was satisfied she sighed. “I was right here too Isabella. I heard what they said.”

“How could someone do that, to their own child?”

“I don’t know.”

“I’d gladly chuck him in that ring and see how he liked it.” I smiled smugly.

“I’d happily watch you do it Bella.” The deep husky voice coming from behind me. I whipped around and there was Cameron, freshly showered in all of his glory. Droplets of water fell from the end of his wet hair and the bruises on his face and neck shone brightly even in the dim light. Instinctively I reached up to cradle his face in my hands and to my surprise he relaxed at my touch.

“Why do you let him do this to you?” I whispered softly staring into his emerald green eyes. They held sadness, anger and self loathing. “Because I don’t have a choice.”

“You do now.” He laughed at my reply sadly. “There’s nothing you can do for me Bella, people have tried before and they’ve failed with consequences for trying to help me.”

“If you’ll let me Cameron, I want you to come back to my house so I can let you in on a little secret of mine.”

“An invite to your house hey?” He winked, a little bit of a mischievous glint returning in his eyes. I lightly smacked his shoulder, making sure it wasn’t where he was hurt. He laughed gently but he got serious again. “I don’t want you protecting me Bella. That’s not my nature, I don’t even let Seth help me.” He said stubbornly.

“Well Mr Stubborn pants, you have a choice; come to my house and allow me to let you in on a big secret with some protection involved. Or you can keep coming back to this every weekend.” The hurt was seeping out in my voice without me even realising it. He detected it instantly and turned to look outside where I now realised Claire was standing. He looked back at me while I was looking at Claire, a concerned look on her face as usual and I could feel the intensity of his stare burning my skin. He grabbed my chin softly before pulling it up to look at him, his intense emerald eyes looked deep into my own.

“Alright, so which way is home Bella?”