POV Lauren Jauregui
Two weeks had passed by, two strange weeks, strange in the sense that my world got turned upside down, being more specific, Camila is the reason for that, the Latina brought in me what I believed to be the worst of feelings, the feeling of love. I love Normani, she's like a sister to me, but with Camila Cabello was different, a different love. During these two weeks, the Deputy and I spent good part of our time together, getting to know each other outside our work schedule, of course, but even so the Deputy sometimes surprised me with her visits, according to her, she only went to enjoy my voice.
I had just woken up, I was exhausted, I stayed up late yesterday helping with some things in the club. Camila, just like me, also stayed late at the precinct. I had taken a break from my hobby, but the Deputy was at full blast, Miami wasn't such a quiet place.
I got up and without further ado did my morning hygiene, I got dressed and descended the stairs, I was very excited, today I had agreed to spend the day with Camila and someone else in particular, but first I had to go to Normani's house, I promised her that I'd tell her everything about this "relationship" of mine with Camila. With our busy days, we barely had time to talk.
I was driving in a hurry through the streets of Miami, I missed talking to my best friend. I stopped the car in front of her house, got out and locked it, and walked to her door and hurriedly rang the bell twice. It was possible to hear the footsteps getting closer and closer to the door.
"You were fast, did you miss me?" I asked, being wrapped by Normani's arms.
"Idiot." Normani pulled away, slapping me on the shoulder. "I didn't think you'd take my threat seriously and come here today. I'm glad you realized who the boss in our friendship is." I started to laugh.
"Baby, who are you talkin..." Veronica didn't finish the rest of sentence once she appeared at the door and saw me hugging her girlfriend. The brunette looked at Normani and then at me. If a look could burn, Vero's would surely have charred me.
"Hello, Vero." I approached the brunette with a cynical smile on my lips, and she didn't move from where she was, only brought her hand to my back as I hugged her.
"What are you doing here, Jauregui?" She grunted lowly through clenched teeth, and I let out a nasal laugh.
"What do you mean 'what am I doing here'? This is my best friend's house, I come here whenever I want." I whispered before pulling away and looking at Veronica, who kept a serious countenance.
"Hum..." Normani cleared her throat, drawing our attention. "Is something going on?"
The both of us looked at her, Normani had a confused countenance, her eyebrows were arched and her arms crossed across her breasts.
"It's nothing, baby, can we go to the living room? I made some cookies." Vero said, moving to the side so I could enter.
Normani just nodded, grabbing my hand and pulling me inside. I didn't look back, just kept walking, being guided by Normani.
We sat on her black leather couch, it made me remember the night when Camila and I had had crazy good sex in Sté's office. That morning Camila and I left in a hurry, because surprisingly Sté showed up at the club, luckily I had woken up before and had seen her car arrive.
"Earth to Lauren!" Normani snapped her fingers in front of me, I shook my head and looked at my best friend who started laughing. "Where were you? It seemed like a nice place because the smile on your face doesn't fool anyone..."
"It was nothing... I mean, it was something good... It was Camila." I smiled, biting the corner of my lip. I didn't even notice that Veronica was already sitting next to Normani.
"Awwww!" Normani sighed dreamily, making me stick my tongue out. "Don't make that face, Lauren. I found it strange in the beginning, but now I think you two were made for each other. I want you to tell me everything, you're always dodging the subject."
"Yeah, Lauren, tell us how it all happened... We want details." Veronica said, drawing my attention.
Cynic.
"Why don't we leave it for another day?!" I ignored Veronica and looked at Normani, who pouted and crossed her arms across her chest. Her puppy dog face was my weak spot. "No, Mani, not that face!"
The woman insisted on keep making that stupid adorable cute face.
"Okay, okay, I'll tell." I huffed, burying my fingers in my hair, tossing it back.
Normani smiled victoriously and clapped her hands in celebration. I looked at Veronica, she was looking at my best friend with admiration and passion.
Sucker.
"Well, what do you want to know?"
"I want to know everything from the beginning..."
"What do you feel for her?" Vero asked, running over Normani's 'interrogation'.
Veronica thinks she intimidates me just because she's a fucking cop. I don't accept being intimidated, I could very well break her face on this little coffee table and use one of the pieces to tear her artery, but Normani was there, and it's with her I came to talk to and open up, so it will be for her that I'm going to answer that question.
"I love her." I let the words slip through my mouth as my eyes remained fixed on some spot. "I... I fell in love with her, at first it was just a friendship with benefits, but over time some things happened to us that don't happen in this type of friendship."
"What kind of things?" Veronica asked.
I took a deep breath, looking up, the two of them were staring at me attentively, but my focus was only on my best friend, her eyes were shining.
"Jealousy... I know that that is normal to happen..."
"But not with you." Normani said. "You've changed so much, Laur, even before this 'relationship', despite keeping that tough posture, you've softened a lot." My best friend's hand grabbed mine, initiating a light caress. I looked at my hand, but then turned my eyes to Normani who smiled tenderly.
"Camila changed me a lot, I even opened myself to her." Normani widened her eyes in amazement. "I'd rip someone's head off for Camila."
"Everyone at the precinct noticed that." Vero said, drawing our attention.
She has got to be kidding me...
"What do you mean, baby?" Normani asked laughing.
"Oh heck... Didn't I tell you that the head of the guy who almost killed Camila appeared at the precinct as a gift for her?" Normani was shocked, shaking her head. "Well, baby, it arrived there wrapped up and everything, who knows if it wasn't Lauren and her romanticism."
Vero looked at me with a sarcastic smile, my free hand balled into a fist, my teeth were so clenched that my jaw was starting to hurt.
"Idiot." Normani slapped Veronica's arm before starting to laugh. "Lauren wouldn't hurt a fly."
"I wouldn't be so sure, baby." Veronica said, fake laughing and looking at me. "Especially with her dark looks."
The two of them laughed, and I at the most forced a smile.
The tense moment had already passed and Veronica decided to stop provoking me, but I don't forget things easily, no one provokes me and gets away with it.
"Baby, I'm going to the kitchen to get the cookies." Veronica said, getting up, but before, she left a string of little kisses on Normani's lips. It was very evident how much they liked each other, a pity.
"I'll help you with the drinks." Normani was already getting up, but I stopped her.
"Stay there, Mani, I'll help."
"Amazing, the women of my life working together." My best friend joked, making us laugh.
My smile disappeared as soon as we started to walk towards the kitchen. Veronica was a few steps in front of me, so vulnerable, I could end her right here, but I wasn't a coward to the point of doing that. Once we walked through the kitchen door, I only took two large steps, reaching her and pushing her towards the wall, Veronica tried to turn around, but it was in vain. I grabbed her hand and moved it behind her back, my leg between hers, pinning her against the wall with all my body weight.
"WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS?" Veronica cried out.
I pulled Veronica from the wall and turned her around, pressing her back hard against the wall again, she groaned and glared at me with fury. I brought my forearm up to her neck, pressing it, and the brunette's hands held it firmly in a failed attempt to free herself.
"It's too bad that I know how to immobilize someone, isn't it, Veronica?" I pressed my arm harder against her throat, and her nails dug more into my skin, but the anger that I was feeling didn't let the pain be felt.
"W-wha-t ar-e y-ou do-ing?" She groaned with lack of air. I let out a sarcastic laugh through clenched teeth, looking deep into her eyes, just like she was doing.
"I will be quick, you know very well what I'm capable of, don't you?" I asked, and Veronica remained in silence with her jaw clenched. I took a deep breath and pressed my arm even more against her throat. "I asked you a question, and when people ask a question they have to be answered."
"Y-yes." Veronica nodded with difficulty.
"Great. I didn't want us to get to this point, but you gave me no choice. Do you have any idea how much I trust you? I left in your hands my biggest secret and for what? For you to keep threatening me all the time only because I killed a piece of shit who almost got your best friend killed?" I let out a nasal laugh, shaking my head. "I thought we were going to be great friends, but with you threatening me like this it won't work. But relax, sweet little Vero, I'm not going to do anything to you... Two special people in my life like you and strangely so do I. But..." I made a brief pause, inhaling a bit of air. Veronica was no longer trying to get free, and my arm wasn't pressing her throat with force anymore. "First, as you can see, I don't like when people threaten me and try to control me, and second, if you want to drag me to hell, I can very well drag you along with me."
"How? There's no evidence." Veronica said, letting out a nasal laugh.
"You're right... There's no evidence at all against me, but I can't say the same thing about you..."
"What does that mean, Jauregui?" Veronica asked, arching her eyebrows.
"Nothing... I just want you to know that if I'm good at hiding evidence, I'm excellent at planting them."
"You bit..."
"No, no cussing." I interrupted her. "Because of an oversight on your part, you have a bounty on your head now." Veronica was breathing heavily, visibly angry. "I'm going to release you before Normani shows up, I just hope that you're understandable and forgive me for this aggressive moment."
I released Veronica and backed away, the brunette looked at me intensely.
"What are you two doing that's taking so long?" Normani appeared in the kitchen, looking at us.
"Nothing, Mani, I was just helping Veronica, and she suddenly got dizzy. I think it's best to take her to a doctor." I pretended to be concerned.
"Baby, for real? Oh My God!" Normani approached Veronica, bringing her hands to her face, and the brunette pretended to be a little sick. And I just watched the two. "Let's go to the doctor."
"No, baby! I'm already starting to feel better."
My phone vibrated in my pocket and its typical ring indicated a call, I excused myself and went out to the backyard, where I grabbed my phone from my pocket and saw that it was Taylor's number. I answered the call and brought the phone to my ear:
"Hey, baby sis."
Taylor and I had improved our relationship since our conversation. During my free time, when I wasn't at work or with Camila, I'd seek my little sister, just like she'd seek me. She showed signs of having stopped consuming any kind of drugs, and the name and subject 'Rob' was extremely prohibited among us.
"Laur-Lauren." A loud sob came from the other side of the call, she was crying.
"Taylor, what happened?" Concern took over me, my sister was sobbing nonstop, I was scared shitless. "Calm down, Taylor, take a deep breath and talk to me, where are you?"
"I-I'm in the hos-pital."
"What are you doing there? Taylor, did you get hurt? Are you drugging yourself again?" I was desperate, walking from one side to the other, filling her with questions. "Taylor, for the love of God, answer me!"
Normani and Veronica appeared at the door, my best friend was looking at me with concern.
"D-da-d, h-he's gonna die!"
She was talking about Mike. I should be happy with this news, but I wasn't, Taylor was hurting badly and she needed me.
"I'm on my way... For you! But first I need to stop by someone's house, I'll be there in 20 minutes."
I ended the call, and the two of them were still staring at me.
"I need to go to the hospital... Mike is dying."
POV Camila Cabello
These last few weeks have been some of the best in my life, ever since Lauren and I started a "relationship" everything has been easier and more exciting, even if work is boring, and that's strange for me because I've never felt this way with someone, not even with my ex-fiancé Rob. I still hadn't told him about my relationship with Lauren, even though he was sending me text messages every day asking me how I was doing, if he could come here or if I wanted to go out, which made Lauren furious, the brunette wanted me to tell him at once, but it was complicated.
"I can't, Rob, I'm sorry, I have somewhere I need to be."
"Camila, you never can... How do you want me to fix our relationship, our engagement?"
I rolled my eyes, letting out a deep breath. I need to tell him, make him lose his hope.
"Rob, I need to tell you something, but it has to be in person..."
"Great, I'm on my way there to pick you up so we can talk."
What?
"No, Rob! I already told you, I have to go somewhere." The intercom began to ring, drawing my attention. Saved by the bell. "Rob, I'm going to hang up, I have to go."
"I miss y..."
I didn't let him finish, just hung up, I didn't want to hear those words. I ran to the intercom and answered it, it was just the doorman asking permission for Lauren's entrance. Just by hearing her name, my heart started racing. I gave permission and asked the man to free her access to my apartment without the need to be announced.
I ran to my bedroom, and checked myself one last time in the mirror. I was wearing casual clothes, we weren't going to a sophisticated place, just a walk around the park. I grabbed my purse and went back to the living room, and there she was with her usual look. Sexy as always. Her black hair was loose and curled, very wild, which made her look even more sexy.
I didn't stand on ceremony, I approached the brunette who had a weak smile on her face, and when I got close enough she wrapped her arms around my waist, bringing my body closer to hers. My arms wrapped around her neck, which I quickly pulled to me, and our lips met. Lauren's body, which was tense before, started to relax, and her velvety tongue asked for passage, which I promptly gave in. My fingers wandered to her black hair, and when her tongue touched mine, I couldn't help but sigh. Her hands were firm on my waist, squeezing in that delicious way.
Lauren's kiss was like eating cotton candy, that delicious feeling of having it melt in your mouth, and that's how she made me feel. I melted in her lips. We ended the kiss with a few pecks, and the brunette didn't take long to sink her face in the crook of my neck, as usual. Her breath hit against my skin as I inhaled the vanilla scent of her hair. We stayed hugging each other for a good while, her hand sliding up and down my back as my fingers continued to caress her scalp. A sigh escaped from Lauren.
"Camila?" The brunette said, pulling away from my neck. Her countenance was a sad one, but her eyes remained bright in a very light green.
"Yes..."
"I'm so sorry, but I don't think I'll be able to go out with you." Lauren whispered with a sad look, and my heart squeezed in my chest imagining something bad.
"What happened, baby?" The brunette sighed and held me closer against her body.
"I have to go to the hospital... Taylor... she called and she's not feeling very well, she told me that Mike is dying."
Wait... Mike?
"Isn't Mike your father? I'll go with you." I said calmly.
"You don't have to, Camz, I don't want you to waste your day in a hospital." Lauren was visibly downcast.
"Shhh." I brought my index finger to her lips, making her shut up. "Nonsense, I want to be with you, even if it is in a hospital supporting your sister. Remember?! We're together."
Lauren flashed me a broad smile, the brunette inched her lips closer to mine, sealing them.
"I love you." Lauren whispered with her forehead still resting against mine. I smiled, feeling the delightful warmth that I always felt when Lauren said that to me, those words always made my heart beat faster. "Now let's go, because Taylor is really not well."
"Let's go!"
The drive to the hospital was made in silence, but a pleasant silence, all the while Lauren's right hand was on my thigh, stroking it lightly.
When we arrived at the hospital, a chill ran down my spine and some memories of the time I spent there flashed through my mind. Lauren's hand was intertwined with mine, and we only separated them when the brunette spotted Taylor. They hugged each other tightly. Taylor's face was red and wet with tears. The two of them stayed like that for a while, and that made me remember Sofi and how much I missed her.
"Ms. Jauregui?" A gray-haired man appeared, approaching Taylor and Lauren.
The two of them let go of each other and turned to look at the man.
"Yes." Taylor said, trying to wipe her tears, which was in vain.
"Your father... He's already conscious and said he wants to see you."
From what everyone said, Mike seemed to be very ill.
"It's so good to hear that!" Taylor's tears began to run down her face harder. The girl held Lauren's hand firmly and pulled her towards the room, but Lauren stopped dead in her tracks.
"I... I'm not going, Tay." Lauren whispered.
Why doesn't she want to go see her own father?
"Please, Laur." The younger one begged through sobs. "Please... He told me he wants to talk to you."
"But I don't have anything to say to him!"
Taylor lowered her head, utterly dejected, and started crying again. I approached the two of them, who barely noticed my presence, and my hand touched Lauren's shoulder, making her look at me. She was visibly lost.
"Hey." I whispered. "Go with her, if something happens, I'll come in and get you out of there. She needs you, Laur."
Lauren studied me for a few seconds, and then she took a deep breath.
"Okay... I'll see what that man wants and then we'll leave." Lauren inched closer to my face, sealing our lips, and Taylor, who was in front of us, widened her eyes in surprise.
"If you need anything, I'll be there for you, okay?" I said with my forehead still resting against hers, and the brunette nodded, opening her eyes.
Lauren walked away from me and disappeared into the hallway. The room where her father is, wasn't too far away. Three minutes had passed when Lauren's loud and altered voice echoed in that place. I got up and ran towards the room, stopping at the door, and a nurse also appeared at my side.
"Everything's fine, no need to worry, I'll call you if something happens." I said to the worried nurse.
"Look, lady, I need to get into this room." The nurse placed her hand on the doorknob, and I grabbed it.
I can't believe I'm going to do this, I thought to myself.
"Deputy Cabello." I grabbed my badge and showed it to the young nurse. "This is an order to not enter this room."
"You can't do that."
"Look, I can, but I'd rather ask you nicely to go do your job on another floor." After saying this, I saw the young nurse glare at me and turn around, striding out of that floor.
I opened the door and no one had noticed my presence.
"How dare you call me daughter?" I heard Lauren ask, visibly altered. "Don't think that just because you're dying I'll give you that pleasure!"
"Laur, please..."
"Don't, Taylor!" Lauren glared at her sister, who backed away, crying even more. "Don't interfere. And you!" She pointed to the chubby man lying on the bed. "Don't tell me that you made me come here to call me daughter. After everything you did to me and my mother..."
"Shut up, Lauren!" Mike yelled, making all of us jump in fright. "Don't you dare talk about your mother!"
"Don't YOU dare talk about her, you've let me think during all these years that I was to blame for her death, I'll never forgive you for what you did, how could you?" Lauren was red, the veins in her neck were pulsing, I was scared because I had never seen her like this.
"D-did w-what?" Taylor asked, entering the conversation.
"Tell her, Mike, you disgusting man!" Mike remained silent, his gaze towards Lauren was one of fury, which made me angry at him, how can someone look at her like that? How can a father look at his own daughter with hatred? Lauren let out a nasal laugh, shaking her head. "You're going to continue to play the victim in front of her? You're going to continue to throw all your mistakes on my back?"
"I. Already. Told. You. To. Shut. Your. Mouth!" The man said slowly, breathing heavily, to then close his eyes, grimacing, in pain.
"Lauren?" I called her.
Automatically she looked at me, there was fury, fear and disappointment in her gaze, and my desire was to get her out of there and hug her as tight as my body could. It broke my soul to see Lauren like that. I approached her, grabbing her hand, intertwining our fingers.
"Let's go, your sister too, it's not worth it to stay here arguing, it's only going to hurt you and your sister." Lauren just nodded.
"Come on... Taylor." Lauren called her, and the crying girl looked at her. "I'm sorry, but I can't stay here, do you want to come with us?"
"N-no, Laur... Thank you anyways." The younger girl answered, standing beside her father, who was glaring at us.
"Alright, if you need me, you have my number and you know where I live and work, don't hesitate to come and find me when it's about you, because from this man I don't want to know anything else."
Taylor just nodded, and Lauren and I turned around, walking towards the exit.
"Running away as usual..." Mike said, letting out a sarcastic laugh.
Lauren was going to turn around, but I stopped her, turning and striding towards the man sprawled on the bed.
"Listen here, I don't know you, but I don't have any consideration for you. I don't know what you did to Lauren, but I hope to never know, because if I do, only God knows what I can do to you! You better not talk to my woman like that ever again, are we clear?" I was huffing with anger, and Mike was looking at me in fear, I bet he wasn't expecting this from me, I bet no one expected this from me, not even myself. "I'll take your silence as a yes... Have a good day!" I turned around and walked over to Lauren, who was looking at me in amazement. I grabbed her hand and dragged her away from that place.