Chapter 49
His eyes stared at me so intensely that he's probably leaving a hole on my face. I gulped nervously at the sight of that look. This was not going to end well.
"Okay, what do you want to know about?"
"Those guys, three nights ago, they seemed to know you and you seemed to have recognized them."
A look from him and I knew he suspected something that I'm not ready to tell him yet. I didn't want to share it with him because I knew he would make me stop fighting and stop accepting the money. I kept his gaze even though all I wanted to do was cower away from his stare and avoided his eyes. It was as if he could see right through me and in that flitting second, I felt truly vulnerable.
I forced my eyes to remain neutral. Not expressionless enough for him to suspect something and not hard enough to tip him off that I was hiding something from him.
The last thing I wanted him to do was stop accepting that money and letting Carla's soul float away from her body and the life extinguished from her eyes.
The thought was burnt before I can dwell on it and panic. I focused on Adam instead, trying to form a decent sentence to answer his unvoiced question.
"I do know two of them. The short, bald, slimy ass old pervert was the guy that cornered me and Penelope that night after the party while that guy who greeted us inside McD's was an opponent I fought with once." I explained to him, my voice low but I made sure that my tone didn't waver.
It wasn't exactly lying to him since I did fight him. I wasn't twisting the whole story; I just cut out some parts of it. I knew this would land my ass in a complicated position because he would eventually find out but I couldn't afford Carla's medications to be cut short.
Pio and Cali needed their mother to watch them grow up and teach them the rights and wrongs in this world. Someone needed to keep Preston in line until that day where he would meet a strong woman with a strong morale who can set him in his place.
Last but not least, the man before me. Adam may not admit it but anyone can see the love that shines through his eyes whenever they landed on his mother. I knew that even if he would probably stop accepting the money and realize that he was struggling with the medication bills, he would still fight for the sake of his mother.
He wouldn't let her leave him and his siblings without fighting for it. He loved Carla and I knew that he would fight for her to his very last breath and that thought made me smile.
"What?"
I shook my head, the small smile still there and he looked at me like I grew another head.
"Anyways, aren't we supposed to visit your mother or something along those lines?"
He looked at me in deep thought before finally answering. "That depends."
I felt myself frowning at that, "On what?" I asked incredulously. There shouldn't be anything more important than visiting your sick mother that is lying on a hospital bed.
"Are you feeling fine?"
My eyes widened and my jaw went slack as I turned to him. This guy must be fucked up in the head or something. He had got to be shitting me.
But you love him.
I was in love with him, an infatuation if you might but I have yet to confirm ‘love'. I mean yes, I cared for the dude, a lot; and it wasn't why I didn't want to voice it aloud but it was because I was conflicted.
I had never been in love and obviously, I didn't know a single thing about crushes and love and relationships. It was a mystery to me.
Denial, denial, denial-
Ugh, so much for the heartfelt talk.
Jumping off the couch and onto my feet, I bounced up and down, trying to prove to him that I was feeling more alive than I ever have.
"I have no idea what you put in that porridge, or maybe it was the cak- whatever it's called, but I have never felt healthier. Now, let's go." I rushed out, pulling him up and practically dragging his ass towards his bike.
He laughed the whole way and picked up his phone, wallet and keys on our way out.
"One, it's ‘cakwe'. Second, are you sure?" The concern was back and it overlaid the teasing tone he sported.
Nodding, I started dragging him out the door, determined to get him to Carla. "I'm positive."
