Chapter 7 Cameron
seven
Cameron
“Cap!” Wes shouts as Zhuri walks over to where he, Nico, and I are by the pool.
“Co-captain,” she corrects, laughing while she does. “Gotta share the title with that one.” She jabs her thumb at me.
“So much for all that getting along,” I grumble.
Nico looks at me in amusement. “You two have never gotten along, from what you’ve told us.”
“And then we bonded over our mutual taste in music while hiding from a demonic goose.”
Zhuri throws her head back and laughs, the sound carefree and light. It’s a lightness I don’t think I’ve ever seen from her. I’ve never known her to let loose, and her energy right now is inviting. “I don’t think we could call the goose demonic, Cameron.”
I look at her and scoff. “It waited for us on the trail while we hid. That goose was a demon sent straight from the fiery pits of hell.”
“You’re so fucking dramatic.” She shakes her head and chuckles.
Wes drawls, “Most dramatic on the team.”
“No, that’s definitely Nico.”
“What the fuck?” Nico asks. “What the hell did I do to get dragged into this?”
“You were nearby,” Zhuri shrugs, and that earns a hearty laugh from me.
“Didn’t take you long to get comfortable.”
“Confidence is not something I lack,” she smiles.
“Oh, I know, Zhuri baby.” I wink at her, and she rolls her eyes.
“And just like that, you’re annoying me, Cammy.”
Nico and Wes watch me in amusement as Isla, Bet, and Sid come over to join us, dodging the tidal wave created by Lev, Venda, and Theo cannonballing into the pool. The rest of the team cheers raucously around them, giving out ratings apparently based on splash size.
“Z!” Isla chimes, already sounding a bit drunk.
Zhuri bites down a laugh. “How much have you had to drink, Icy?”
“Not enough,” she slurs, pink hair flowing in the breeze that blows by.
“I don’t understand how she’s this much of a lightweight,” Elisabet laughs.
“You need water, Isla,” I assert. “You can drink more later, but you need to hydrate first.”
Zhuri and Elisabet both sling arms around her and start steering her away. “Bet and I have her. Gonna get her away from the pool for the time being so she doesn’t drown.”
Sid comes over to join us, and we all watch the girls walk away. Once they set her up on one of the lounge chairs with a bottle of water, I turn around to see Nico and Wes staring at me while trying to hide their smirks.
I cock my eyebrow. “What?”
“Zhuri baby?” Nico asks in amusement, and I roll my eyes.
“What’s wrong with that?”
Wes shakes his head. “Well, supposedly, you hate each other.”
“We did,” I shrug. “But we’re moving past that for the sake of the team. I call her that to annoy the shit out of her, though.”
“And you hid from a demonic goose for the same reason?” Nico is acting like he doesn’t believe a word I’m saying.
“We hid from a goose because it chased her down the trail. She ran by me, so essentially, the goose was chasing me, too.”
Sid looks at me curiously. “Were you running together?”
“No,” I shake my head. “We were both out for separate jogs, and then she ran right into me and knocked me on my ass. After that, she kept running until Goosifer decided to hunt us down.”
Nico scoffs. “And you say I’m the most dramatic.”
“Are you and Zhuri trying to be friends now?” Sid asks.
“We spent eleven years despising each other. We’ll never be friends, but we can get along well enough to lead the team.”
While we may have only hated each other for shitty reasons—Zhuri hating me because of everything Jack told her, and me hating Zhuri solely because she hated me—it’s still been long enough that I can’t see us just forgetting that.
I never thought I’d have to work in close proximity to her, but I’m happy we’ve both agreed to leave everything behind us so we can move forward in a healthier way.
God knows I don’t need another unhealthy relationship in my life.
Hockey players are goddamn heathens.
The mess left behind after the team finally left makes it look more like a fucking EF-5 tornado swept through my pool deck.
Or a hurricane. Hurricane Comet.
I sigh and start picking up the Solo cups lying around, readying myself for a long night up here cleaning everything up.
“Want some help?” I’m caught by surprise when Zhuri walks up to me.
“I thought everyone left,” I say.
She shrugs. “Everyone else did. I wasn’t going to leave you to clean up after the grown-ass toddlers that are our teammates alone, though.”
I throw my head back and let out a genuine laugh. “They are fucking toddlers, aren’t they?”
“I can’t even say it’s just the guys because I lost count of all the cups Isla grabbed throughout the day. They’re probably on every table up here.”
“She was really putting them back.”
Zhuri sighs. “I love Icy dearly, but that girl is fucking wild. Someone needs to tame her.”
“Why do you call her Icy?” I ask, giving up on cleaning for the moment and just enjoying another non-hostile moment with my co-captain.
“Icy is a nickname for Isla,” she answers. “And considering she’s a pro hockey player, it’s extremely fitting.”
“Does she go that crazy during the season?”
“Oh, God no,” Zhuri replies emphatically. “She lets loose during the offseason, but she’s very disciplined during the season. There’s a reason she was our first-line center.”
“The guys are the same,” I add. “Tonight isn’t typical for them.”
She laughs. “So they don’t normally play loud games of floating beer pong in the pool?”
My lips curve up in a smile. “Truth or dare beer pong.”
“What the hell is that?”
“There are cards at the bottom of the cups with different truths and dares written on them. You have to drink the cup your opponent sinks a ball in, and then you do the truth or dare that is listed on the card.”
“That sounds insane.”
“Is that so?” I glance over and see that the table is still floating on the water, and I think I can make this night interesting. “Let’s play, Zhuri baby.”
“Playing truth or dare feels like a high school thing,” she breathes.
“Truth or dare beer pong,” I say. “Come on, that’s gotta at least be college.”
Zhuri can’t fight her laugh. “You know what? Fuck it. Let’s play.”
Since we already gave up on cleaning for now, we just get what we need. I grab a couple of cans of beer for each of us, and Zhuri grabs some Solo cups. I throw on some Del Water Gap to play on my speaker and strip off my T-shirt, jumping back into the pool in my swimsuit.
I watch as Zhuri walks over the edge and pulls her sundress over her body, and fuck me. She should not look this good.
I remind myself—and my fucking dick—that we didn’t get along before. So I shouldn’t be staring at the swells of her breasts under her hot pink bikini. Or the shape of her ass as she steps into the pool. And I really shouldn’t watch the water droplets cling to her skin as she comes over to join me.
I clear my throat as Zhuri starts setting the cups up on the table, swaying along to Glitter & Honey. She mentioned listening to that song when we ran into each other in City Park, so I figured it was a good starting point.
I take the cans of beer and divvy them up between all twenty cups—ten for each of us—after making sure each one has a card on the bottom.
Once the game is set up, we take positions on opposite sides of the floating table.
“Guest gets first throw,” I say, tossing her the ping pong ball.
Zhuri is quiet as she readies up her shot before tossing it right into the first cup on my side. She claps, and I sigh as I drink the beer inside before pulling out the card.
“What’s it say, Cammy?” she asks playfully, apparently proud of getting me to drink already.
I let out a breath before responding. “Before I tell you that, I forgot to warn you that these are mostly dirty because Theo is the one who brought this over, and he’s the biggest fuckboy on the team.”
Zhuri groans. “I’m going to learn a lot more about you tonight than I want, aren’t I?”
“That depends on whether or not you really want to know if I’m dominant or submissive in bed,” I chuckle.
She pinches her brow. “I could go my entire life without knowing that.”
“And I would have been okay with you never finding out,” I shrug. “I’m dominant, by the way.”
“Of fucking course you are,” Zhuri laughs. “Shoot your shot, Kovacic.”
I grab the ball and quickly toss it to her side, sinking it in a cup on the back row before she chugs the beer down. “What’s it say, Hart?”
She shakes her head. “How many sex toys do you own? Goddamn, Theo.” I throw my head back and laugh while she answers. “Four.”
Consider my curiosity piqued. “What kind?”
Zhuri smirks at me. “That’s not the question, Cammy.”
No, it’s not the question, but that doesn’t stop me from wondering what toys Zhuri Hart uses to get herself off…
She quickly grabs the ball again, sinking it into the middle cup on my third row. I drink the beer and grab the card. “Ooh, a dare this time.”
“What’s your dare?”
“Demonstrate your oral skills on a piece of fruit.”
“I don’t need to see you eat out a peach, Cameron.”
“Don’t have any peaches,” I smirk. “But I think a strawberry will do.”
I hop out of the pool and grab a strawberry from the bowl on the table before climbing back in. I remove the stem and then bite off the back of the fruit as I come stand right next to Zhuri.
Eyes locked on her, I take my tongue and run it over the bitten part of my strawberry, just the way I would do if my head were between a woman’s thighs.
I see heat flash behind Zhuri’s eyes, and my dick likes that look a little too much, so I quickly eat the rest of the strawberry and move back to my side of the table before I get any insane ideas… like wondering what would taste better: a strawberry or Zhuri?
I forcefully shove that thought from my head because, wow, where the fuck did that come from?
I don’t even like Zhuri. Why the hell am I wondering what she tastes like?
“Well,” she chuckles uneasily, “it seems like your partners have been happy with you, which is more than I can say for most men.”
“Never thought I’d hear Zhuri Hart complimenting my oral skills.”
“I’m going to ignore that,” she says. “The guys I’ve been with have all been pretty selfish, though.”
I cock my eyebrow. “Even Jack?”
“Especially Jack.” Zhuri rolls her eyes. “I’m not sure he’s actually capable of making a woman orgasm.”
“His loss then,” I shrug.
“Your turn,” she says softly.
“Right,” I mutter, grabbing the ball and lobbing it right into another cup of hers.
Zhuri sighs and drinks the beer before pulling out her next card. “Are you good in bed?” She shakes her head before answering the question. “I’ve never had someone tell me I’m not, so I’d say yes.”
“You weren’t kidding about what you said before.” She looks at me, confused. “Just because you don’t exploit your sexuality doesn’t mean you don’t have any.”
She practically cackles. “I have an image to uphold, but that doesn’t mean I’m some innocent thing.”
She winks at me before we continue the game, and I’m starting to learn that Zhuri might not be exactly the way I imagined.
And I’m really starting to like what I see now.