Chapter 24 Zhuri
twenty-four
Zhuri
“So, tell us about the photoshoot!” Nia says excitedly, glass of wine in hand, as she plops down on my sofa.
My sister texted me toward the end of our team dinner tonight and wanted to come over. Naturally, Bet and Icy decided they were coming too.
“Ooh, yes!” Isla exclaims, looking over at me in rapt attention. “Every detail, please.”
“You guys realize it was just a photoshoot, right?”
“But it’s a photoshoot you did with Cameron Kovacic.” Nia pretends to swoon.
“Need I remind you again,” I chide, eyes on my sister, “you are married, Nia.”
She waves me off. “I told you before that Ty doesn’t care what gets me going when he’s the one I come home to. And after a glass of wine here, he won’t be complaining at all when I get home tonight.”
I visibly shudder, and Elisabet laughs her ass off.
“Can we talk about anything other than my sister’s sex life, please?” I groan, throwing my head back against the couch cushions.
“Yes,” Bet prods. “Tell us about the damn photoshoot.”
I roll my eyes but give in. “It was a fun shoot. Rana Dagon is so lovely in person, and her designs are beautiful. I thought it might be awkward to take some of those pictures with Cam, but it wasn’t bad at all. We basically just tried to make each other laugh the entire time.”
I also decided to tease him after I accidentally rolled my ass over his dick, but I’m going to keep that one to myself.
I don’t have a way to explain why I did it.
Isla pushes her bright locks out of her face. “Are you and Cam actually friends now?”
I let out a breath. “Yes. We went out for lunch after the shoot, and we’ve agreed to be friends. We judged each other far too quickly when we met, but we get along really well now.”
“Have you seen any of the pictures?” Bet asks.
“Rana emailed us some of her favorite proofs earlier. The rest we’ll see when the campaign launches for her winter collection.”
“Grab that phone then, sis. You’re showing us those pictures.”
“Fine,” I say. “I didn’t actually get a chance to look at them since she sent us the email while we were at dinner.”
The girls all crowd around me now as I pull up the email from Rana and go right to the images.
Holy shit, these are good.
Bet stares at my screen. “That gold gown is absolutely stunning on you, Z.”
“I loved that one so much.”
“Which one was your favorite?” Isla eagerly questions.
“Probably the red gown. I felt so sexy in that one.”
Nia looks up at me playfully. “Oh, Cameron agreed with that.”
“What do you mean?” I look at her curiously. “He only ever said that I looked nice.”
“Because his eyes are always on you,” she shrugs.
“We were doing a photoshoot. His eyes were supposed to be on me.”
Bet bites her lip nervously. “Z, that doesn’t necessarily look like it’s just the shoot.”
Isla zooms in on the current picture. The one from our pose where I told Cameron not to get handsy. “Look closer.”
I do as she asks, not because I believe I’ll see what they do, but because I want to humor them.
I’m stunned, though.
They aren’t wrong; Cameron is looking at me in every picture. Even the ones where he doesn’t need to look at me.
I scroll through the pictures, ending on one from our last pose. The most intimate pose we did where he’s practically holding me.
His eyes are on me like the others, but there’s a fire in them this time. A blazing inferno that might consume me through the screen of my phone.
But I can’t let them know I see that, because what am I even seeing?
We’re friends.
“They’re just pictures,” I try to say nonchalantly.
“His hand is practically on your ass, Z,” Isla deadpans.
“That’s the pose they wanted. He didn’t do that because he wanted to.”
“Okay.” Bet throws her hands up in surrender. “It’s nice to see you two as friends.”
“It’s much easier being friends than it was spending time hating him,” I shrug. “He’s pretty fun.”
“Sid and I both like getting to hang out with our whole group of friends finally.”
“Speaking of Sidney,” I say, sitting myself upright. “He was being weird earlier, right?”
“Yes,” Isla says at the same time Bet says, “No.”
“What happened earlier?” Nia questions.
“Cam and I did team superlatives, and we jokingly gave Sidney the one for Most likely to have a secret affair. He got really weird about it after.”
Elisabet shrugs. “He didn’t seem weird to me. It probably just caught him off guard.”
“Maybe,” Isla replies. “Surprised he’s still single, though. He’s very cute, and he doesn’t seem like the type for just a hookup.”
“People are full of surprises,” Bet says softly.
I look at her curiously. “Okay, now you’re being weird.”
She rolls her eyes. “I’m not being weird. Just pointing out that people can surprise you. Icy said she’s surprised Sid is still single.”
“What about you then, Bet?” Isla asks. “We haven’t heard anything about your love life in a long ass time.”
“Nothing has changed.”
“Which means you’ll admit that you’ve slept with someone somewhat recently but won’t tell us anything about them or what your relationship status is.”
“Precisely,” she smirks before now directing the conversation at me. “What about you, Z?”
I cringe. “Can we not talk about that while my sister is here?”
“Nope,” Nia smiles. “Spill, sis. Tell us everything.”
“You’re so fucking weird, Ni.” I shake my head. “Still perpetually single over here. There aren’t a lot of men interested in six-foot-tall female athletes.”
Isla looks at me curiously. “Not even for a hookup?”
“I don’t do hookups, Icy. You know I have to be careful about how I’m seen by the media and the fans.”
She rolls her eyes. “You would be totally fine to indulge in some fun, Z. Theo does it all the time.”
“Theo is a man,” I reply curtly. “He might be black, but he’s a man. He gets more grace than I do. If I want to be taken seriously, I have to keep a squeaky-clean image. We already have fans pissed about the fact that we have a black woman on the Comets.”
“Fuck them,” Elisabet bites. “Fuck everyone for making you feel like you can’t have any fun and enjoy your life.”
“I still enjoy my life,” I admit. “I just don’t sleep around or get too crazy.”
Nia smiles at me. “Maybe you should, Z. You’ve always lived your life to please everyone else. Do something for you.”
I think over the words as they carry on in conversation when my phone vibrates in my pocket. I grab it and find a text that makes me smile.
Cameron
What are you doing the rest of the night, Z?
Zhuri
Icy, Bet, and my sister are over right now
Cameron
Damn
Zhuri
Miss me or something, Cammy?
Cameron
Or something…
Zhuri
They won’t be here much longer
You got something in mind?
Cameron
Come over after they leave
We can watch a movie
My place is way too quiet for me right now
Zhuri
I’ll be there then
See you in a bit, Cam
Cameron
See you soon, Zhuri baby
I’m still smiling when I slip my phone back into my pocket.
Alone time with my co-captain is something that the media would love to run with.
But I’ve spent my life being careful.
Maybe this is how I start living for me.