Chapter 47 Mob Boss
My bed shakes violently. My eyes open faster than the speed of light. Then squint shut again. It’s so bright in here.
“Wake up, now you have to see this.” The urgency in Beth’s voice breaks through my sleep.
She stops shaking the bed when I open my eyes fully. It’s bright in the room, meaning it’s at least noon. I got back to the camp late last night after my date with Alec, so I overslept badly.
“What’s wrong?” I ask, still groggy.
She moves her hands together in a hurried motion. “Kai is here.”
That wakes me right out of whatever sleep I had left in me.
“Here, here? Like our cabin?” I get out of bed, almost falling flat on my face.
“No, not ours, but he’s here in the camp.”
That still stresses me, but a lot less than him being here at our cabin.
“Everyone’s out there; we need to go.” She grabs my hand, not even giving me a chance to make myself look less like I just crawled out of bed. I slip on my sandals before she pulls me outside.
She wasn’t exaggerating. People I’ve never even seen before are gathered around the area. Everyone looks in the direction of the main building.
Then I see him, Kai is walking from the main building with a bag over his shoulder. An older person walks beside him, holding a large box.
“That’s his dad, apparently.” Beth says to me.
It would make sense. I can see some of the resemblance between the two. Kai looks about as bad as I expected him to look. His face is covered in different stages of bruising. His nose has a white bandage over it, drawing attention to the fact that it is broken. His lower arm has a black cast. Wow, he actually broke his arm.
Seeing him like this is surreal. It really shows how badly Alec beat him. I knew it was bad, but he looks awful.
“He did a number on him.”
“Looks like he’s leaving.” Of course, I remember Alec telling me he had quit being a counselor, but it’s crazy to see it actually happen.
“I wonder if he got in trouble? Or if he chose to leave.” She thinks aloud.
I don’t really want to tell her that Alec and his friends most likely threatened him out of fear that they might get in trouble.
“At least I don’t think he ratted. If he did, we’d already be in Tim’s office getting grilled.” She adds.
“I’m so glad for that. I was so worried that we’d be the ones getting kicked out.”
“Yeah, you made me second-guess that too.”
He continues his walk, which looks like a literal walk of shame. We stand still watching him on the porch of the cabin. Until we notice him coming closer and closer to us.
“Is he coming to us?” My voice is low, not wanting anyone to hear my concern.
“No way. Why would he try to talk to us in front of everyone like this?”
He keeps walking until he reaches the side of our cabin, passing us toward the back. He walks a few feet from us. He looks at me for a second, but as soon as our eyes meet, he looks away, scared. Is this a result of Alec’s threatening? He doesn’t look back in our direction, continuing to the counselor's cabin behind ours.
“I can’t believe we thought he’d actually do that.” The relief is heard in Beth’s voice.
“I completely forgot he lived behind us.”
“But did you see the way he looked at us. He looks away so fast I thought he’d run away.” She looks at me with an accusatory look.
“What?” My voice is high.
“Did you do something? No, your boyfriend did something. You wouldn’t risk getting in trouble over that guy.” She hits the nail on the head.
I look away from her, taking in the people still watching him go into his cabin.
“Oh my gosh, he did do something. What happened? Tell me everything!!” She demands.
I shush her, not needing everyone to hear us.
“I don’t know specifics, I just know that when I brought up my worries about him talking, he told me not to worry about it. He told me that he heard Kai would be leaving the camp and I’d never have to deal with him again.”
Her jaw drops open, taking in my every word. “Oh my gosh. Anna, your boyfriend is like a mob boss or something.”
Typical Beth, letting her mind run wild.
“No, he isn’t.” I say through a laugh.
“He totally is, that’s so cool though. I want my boyfriend to protect me like that.”
I nudge her, giggling. “We need to find you a boyfriend like now. Maybe we can find one in his mob family.” I tease her.
She looks thrilled at my words, far from taking it as a joke as I intended. “Yes, literally, please hook me up with one of them like now. I’m beyond ready for an Alec of my own.”
I smile sweetly at her. “You’ll find the perfect guy for you someday, I promise.”
“Someday needs to be today.” She grumbles.
The crowd looks over again as Kai and his dad come out of his cabin. He doesn’t look at us again as he walks out of camp. The full-blown walk of shame. A small part of me feels bad because of how severe his injuries are. But I feel more like it’s karmic justice that he’s being embarrassed like this.
“Now that that is over, I have something we need to talk about.”
She turns to me with a curt nod.
“It’s about Cassie.”
Her face hardens at her name.
“Nope, you’re too nice, Anna. I’m not going to be her friend again.” She says before I even have the chance to say anything.
“Don’t be so shut off. I really think that you need to give her another chance. I talked to her recently, and I know she wants nothing more than to be our friend again.”
She sighs, shaking her head. “Anna, she lied to us, disappeared for days with no communication, and we found her with your boyfriend in his house. Not to mention I literally thought she was dead.”
I pout at her. “Please just give her another chance. Just meet her with me and give her an honest chance.”
She looks away from my pout. “Why are you so hellbent on forgiving her?”
“Because we’re her only friends outside of Alec’s little friend group. And we are the only girl friends she has. Please, she misses us a lot. Just hear her out once; if you still say no, then you never have to talk to her again.”
She sighs, and I know by that sound I’ve convinced her. “Fine, when are we seeing her?”
Step one is complete now, just to get her to forgive her.