Chapter 23 Cameron
twenty-three
Cameron
Ithink I might be becoming obsessed with Zhuri Hart.
That’s a lie.
I am obsessed with her.
I don’t know how it happened so quickly, but she’s my favorite person to spend time with now. I can’t get enough of her.
That probably isn’t a good thing, though, when we’re co-captains with a no-fraternization clause literally written into our contracts, and I don’t think everything I feel toward her is exactly friendly.
This is brand new territory for me, but I’m not so dense that I can’t see it for what it is.
“Fuck,” Nico moans, head thrown back like he’s having an actual orgasm. “You outdid yourself with these, Z.”
Zhuri laughs from where she stands beside me, and the sound brings a smile to my face.
“It’s just a cookie, man.” Wes shakes his head.
Nico looks at him pointedly. “But it’s a cookie I can eat, and that doesn’t usually happen during team dinners.”
“All I had to do was switch out the chocolate chips I used,” Zhuri shrugs. “No big deal.”
She may think it’s no big deal, but it says a lot about her as a person that she was willing to accommodate Nico. We’ve always had teammates who bring whatever they want, even if it has tree nuts, and Nico knows to just avoid it.
Zhuri, though, went out of her way to make sure Nico could enjoy something he doesn’t usually get to, and I think that’s pretty fucking awesome.
“Cam,” she says, looking over at me. “We should do the thing now.”
That piques Elisabet’s interest. “What thing?”
Zhuri waves her off. “It’s a surprise thing.”
“It’s an expensive thing,” I chuckle, and Zhuri shoots me a look.
“It was expensive because you decided we needed the expensive things for this thing.”
Isla rubs her head. “I can’t keep up right now.”
We both laugh as we send our friends out to the living room area with the rest of our team.
Zhuri comes with me to my guest bedroom, where I stashed the boxes of the items I insisted we have for this.
Might as well go all out, right?
“This might be overkill,” she laughs, grabbing a box from the floor. It has another smaller box inside of it since that’s where I placed the one Zhuri brought over with her. I wasn’t allowed to see that one.
I smile at her. “Come on, Hart. This’ll be good for team bonding.”
“I still think Nico might kill you over his.”
I laugh heartily because she’s right. Nico is going to be pissed, but it’ll be worth it.
“So what is this?” Sid asks as Z and I join everyone in the living room.
“Team superlatives,” Zhuri grins. “Cam and I thought it would be a fun thing to do for the team, and since Cameron is so extra, there are personalized trophies involved as well.”
“Don’t act like you didn’t have fun helping pick out the trophies, Z.” She smiles and shakes her head. “Well, I think we should get this started.”
“Start us off then, Cam.”
I reach into my box, and the first trophy I grab has a key on it. “Most likely to lock themself out of the house goes to… Clara!”
Clara rolls her eyes as she walks up to grab the trophy from my hand. “You sound like my husband.”
Zhuri reaches into her own box now, grabbing the trophy with a bed on top. “Most likely to have a one-night stand…” Theo starts standing before she can even say his name. “Clearly, you agree with us.”
Theo laughs and proudly displays his trophy. “Might as well just own it, right?”
The trophy with a married couple on top is next. “Most likely to be late to their own wedding…” I smirk. “Reggie!”
Reggie’s wife laughs hysterically as he walks up to me. “I fucking hate all of you.” His words don’t land the way he wants because he’s smiling as he says them. “I was stuck in traffic.”
“Which made you late, Wilder.” I clap a hand on his shoulder. “You earned this trophy, man.”
We keep moving through the team, handing out trophy after trophy of the most ridiculous things we could think of.
Most likely to own the most pets? That goes to Aili, who apparently shares five dogs with her wife.
Trophy with a Ghostface mask? That’s for Bruno, Most likely to die first in a horror movie.
Venda? Most likely to trip over air.
Lina? Most likely to get distracted by a cute dog.
Marie is Most likely to blab a secret.
Avery is Most punctual.
Amalia is the Most likely to have read the most books. She apparently has an entire library at her house in the suburbs.
Michael ends up with the cell phone trophy for Most likely to take a week to reply to a text.
Zhuri grabs the next trophy, one with a racecar. “Most likely to win at go-karting… Elisabet!”
She laughs as she grabs the trophy, and I add, “We figured that was close enough to Mario Kart.”
Bet winks. “I’ll kick your ass at Mario Kart anytime you want, Kovacic.”
“Most likely to have a secret affair…” I hold up the trophy with the shhh emoji. “Sidney!”
Sid stares at me with wide eyes. “What? Why would you think that?”
“You don’t tell us shit about your relationships,” I shrug. “As far as we know, you could be dating someone right now and haven’t told us.”
“Nope,” he says quickly. “Still single.” Sid grabs the trophy and hurriedly sits back down.
That was fucking weird.
Zhuri grabs the trophy with a pair of lips, looking right at our pink-haired friend. “Most likely to make out with a stranger… Isla!”
Isla struts over to us and takes a bow with the trophy in hand. “Not ashamed of that one bit.”
The next trophy has a giant three on it. “Most likely to fantasize about having a threesome… Asher!”
Asher falls off the back of the sofa, rubbing his hip as he stands himself up. “What makes anyone think I’ve fantasized about having a threesome?”
I cock my eyebrow. “Have you?”
He grumbles something that sounds like yes as he snatches the trophy, chuckling as he walks back to his seat.
Zhuri holds up the trophy with a heart. “Most likely to marry their high school sweetheart goes to Lev!”
Lev takes a hard swallow and forces a smile. “I didn’t get that lucky,” he says quietly, still thanking Zhuri for the trophy.
I think that’s more than any of us know about Lev’s love life since he refuses to talk about it.
The next trophy is probably my favorite one, and I pre-emptively apologize. “Sorry about this one, Nico, but you know you earned it.”
He looks worried. “What the fuck is that, Cam?”
I hold the trophy with a laptop up high, proclaiming, “Most likely to get caught watching porn is Nico!”
Nico immediately turns beet-red, and his eyes are full of murder. “That one was one goddamn time!” He glances around the room, and that’s when I take note of a certain redhead sitting next to Blake and Wes.
Didn’t realize Ivy was here tonight.
Whoops.
He hastily grabs the trophy and sinks back into the sofa, covering his face with a pillow as he tries to die from embarrassment.
“That leaves us with Wes,” Zhuri says, smirking devilishly as she holds up the trophy of two people holding hands. “Most likely to hook up with their best friend.”
Wes groans loudly as Blake shouts, “What?!”
Zhuri throws her hands up. “I promise it’s a joke. We know you two are just friends.”
“And y’all always insist there’s somethin’ more,” Wes chides, rolling his eyes. I always forget how pronounced his accent is when he’s irritated.
Isla looks around the room. “So is that everyone then?”
“Nope,” I reply, reaching in and grabbing the last trophy in my box. “Got one right here for everyone’s favorite co-captain.”
“Favorite, huh?” Zhuri smirks, and I can’t deny that her playful side does something to me.
Does things it really shouldn’t.
“Don’t get hung up on that,” I chuckle. “For you, we have Most likely to see the bright side in everything.”
Zhuri laughs and smiles, taking the trophy from me.
“I’ll definitely own that. Life’s more fun when you look on the bright side.
” She lightly elbows me. “Got one here for you, too, Cam.” She grabs the final trophy that was in the box she brought over, this one with a sign that says Keep Out.
“Our final trophy of the night goes to everyone’s second favorite co-captain.
.. Most likely to have a super secret hiding spot. ”
I throw my head back and crack up at the ridiculousness. “Damn fucking right I am.”
Zhuri lights up at my reaction, and now all I can see is her.
Dinner winds down, but I don’t even notice, so focused on my ljepota.
Fuck, she’s going to learn what that means one day.
The closer we get, the more nervous I am for the day she finally does…