Page 147 of Collateral Love
He looked over my shoulder, and something shifted in his face.
Last time he saw her outside of those gates, she was a Baby Bear for real.
Now she walked toward him in heels that didn’t wobble, in a blazer that said I will eat you alive in court, with eyes that had seen too much.
“Channy,” he whispered.
She stopped a few feet away, like she wasn’t sure she was allowed to touch him.
““We got you out.”
He smiled through the tears.
“I knew you would, counselor,” he said. “Even when I told you not to waste your life on me.”
“Too late for that,” she replied, lip trembling.
He opened his arms again.
This time, she moved.
She crashed into him with less control than I had. He staggered back half a step, laughing and crying all at once. He pressed his forehead to hers.
“My Baby Bear,” he said.
“I’m not a baby,” she sniffed.
“You always gon’ be the baby,” he said.
Camilla hovered near the edge of the group, arms wrapped around herself, eyes shining. She looked like she wanted to move and couldn’t remember how.
Jared noticed her.
His smile softened.
“Come here, Mila,” he called.
She froze.
“I look crazy,” she muttered, wiping at her face.
“You look beautiful Lovey” he said. “That smile was all I ever wanted to see again.”
She walked toward him slowly.
When she got close, she punched him in the chest.
It wasn’t hard, but the intent was.
“You stupid ass,” she snapped, voice shaking. “You left me with these two and went and made yourself a martyr. You know how annoying they are when they miss you?”
He laughed, clutching his chest. “I see you’re still as dramatic as hell.”
She cracked then.
Tears spilled over.
She grabbed his face in both hands and kissed his forehead like a blessing, then pulled him into a hug so tight his back popped.
