Chapter 36
thirty-six
Cameron
Nothing to be nervous about.
Just started secretly dating Zhuri after having sex with her last night, only for me to forget Sid was going to be dropping by.
Surely nothing can go wrong.
I take a deep breath to steady myself, trying to seem composed, before I swing my front door open. “Hey, Sid.”
“Hey,” he replies, eyeing me curiously. “Running shirtless today?”
Shit. I forgot to put a shirt on.
“No, I just, uh… woke up when you knocked. Ran down here to grab the door.”
“You… just woke up?”
“Yeah,” I laugh uneasily. “Slept well last night. Guess I needed it.”
Not a lie. I did need good sleep, and apparently, I can find that by having my naked girlfriend in my bed.
Sidney steps by me and into the living room.
Well, I failed at getting rid of him already.
Fuck.
Z is literally still in my room.
I shut the door behind him. “I’ll, uh, throw on a shirt, and we can go.” I don’t want to leave Zhuri, but I need to make sure we don’t get caught.
“Sounds good.” He looks over toward my balcony now. “Did you leave your door open during the storm? There’s a huge puddle of water on the floor.”
No, that’s from when Zhuri and I were frantically clawing at each other before we made it to the bedroom.
“I got caught in the rain when I was putting the tables away,” I shrug. “Didn’t realize I tracked it in with me.”
“I’ll grab a towel then. I can clean it up while you get ready.”
“No, you don’t have to do that,” I say nervously.
“It’s fine, Cam,” he chuckles and starts heading down my hallway.
The hallway that leads to my bedroom.
He stops at the linen closet, noticing more water on the floor. “You tracked it everywhere.” Sid grabs a towel and starts to soak up the water in the hallway when he takes note of yet another thing. I see him reach for something, and my heart flips in my chest when I see a gold button in his hand.
A gold button from Zhuri’s dress.
How the hell did that end up out here?
“Have you had someone over recently?” Sid asks curiously. “I can’t see you wearing something that has a button with flowers embossed on it.”
“Oh, uh…”
Sid pinches his brow. “That’s why you woke up late today. You have a woman here now, don’t you?”
“Yes,” I sigh, thinking that maybe I can play this off if he thinks it’s someone random. I join him in the hall and grab another towel to help clean up. “Sorry, man.”
“No big deal,” he shrugs. “But is that really a good idea?”
“What do you mean?”
“Cam, you have feelings for Zhuri. Is it really a good idea to hook up with someone else just to pretend you don’t?”
“Zhuri was just an… infatuation,” I mutter, desperately trying to play this off.
“Oh, please,” he chuckles. “You wore a Conway jersey at team dinner the other night. Bet told me Conway was her crush when she was younger. You can try to deny it, but you’re different around her.”
I shake my head. “I’m not different. Z and I are friends. Don’t forget about the no-fraternization policy.”
“I didn’t,” he sighs. “Just… be smart. I know you don’t like sleeping around, and doing it when you really want Zhuri isn’t going to help you.”
Sid exits the hallway and heads toward the puddle by the balcony door.
“I don’t know why you think I want Zhuri so much.”
“Because I’m not stupid,” he laughs, bending down with the towel.
And that’s when I see something else.
A pair of shoes on the floor.
Sidney looks at them intently, and with how damn perceptive he is, I know he’s remembering the times Zhuri has worn them before.
“Cam…”
“What?” I ask, not at all as relaxed as I’m pretending to be.
“These shoes… they’re Zhuri’s.”
“Are they?”
“Cam.” He stands up and faces me, but I still have to look down to see him. I’m pretty sure Z would have to do the same. “Is Zhuri here?”
“What?” I laugh. “W-why would Zhuri be here?”
Sid gives me the most disbelieving look I’ve ever seen, and I feel like I’m going to crack under the pressure.
Zhuri, though, must have been listening to our conversation because she walks down the hallway—looking far too damn good in a pair of my sweats and my T-shirt—and comes out to join us.
“Hey, Sid.”
Sid stares at her with wide eyes. “Zhuri.”
“It’s not what it looks like,” I blurt out.
Zhuri shakes her head. “Really, Cam? That’s what you’re going with?”
“I have to try something!” I exclaim.
I’m starting to sweat with how fucking nervous I am right now.
“So you two…” He gestures between the two of us. Zhuri just bites her lip and nods. “Shit.”
Sid pulls out his phone and shoots off a text.
“What are you doing?” I ask warily.
He sighs. “Don’t worry. I’m not going to rat you guys out. But there’s something I want to show you…”
“What could possibly be considered an emergency at Cameron’s place at nine in the morning on a Sunday?” Elisabet asks as Sid lets her into my penthouse. Zhuri and I sit side by side on the sofa, and when she sees us, she stops in her tracks. “Oh. My. God.”
“Um, hey, Bet…” Zhuri says nervously.
“The two of you…” She actually smiles. “Holy shit!”
I take a nervous breath. “Want to tell us why you decided another person should know about this, Sid?”
He rubs the back of his neck sheepishly. “There’s a specific reason.”
Bet looks over at him as she apparently finally realizes why she’s here. “Oh. Oh.”
“What are we missing?” Z asks.
Sid looks over at Bet. “Should we just show them?”
She lets out a breath and nods. “Yeah. It’s probably time.”
Zhuri and I watch curiously as they come to stand beside each other… and our jaws drop when we watch Sidney lean over to give Elisabet a kiss.
“What?!” we shout in unison.
“Surprise,” Sid laughs uneasily.
“What the hell is happening?” I ask.
“So, Sid and I have been dating for about a year...”
“A year?!” Zhuri shouts in disbelief. “And you never told us?”
“Our best friends didn’t get along,” Sid says. “And with us both being high-profile athletes, we decided not to announce the relationship. We wanted to still have privacy.”
“When you two started getting along,” Bet continues, “it was after we were all on the same team. Our relationship preceded that, but that doesn’t mean it still wasn’t forbidden.”
“Holy shit.” I scrub a hand down my face. “We were fucking joking when we said you were most likely to have a secret affair, Sid.”
“Well, you weren’t wrong,” he chuckles.
“You had Bet come over so you could tell us that we weren’t the only ones,” Zhuri says knowingly.
“Yes. I figured you should know you aren’t the only two in this position.”
Sidney finally takes a seat in the chair and pulls Bet down onto his lap.
“So what exactly is happening here?” Elisabet smiles.
Zhuri stares at her. “Bet, I’m wearing Cameron’s clothing right now. You know damn well what’s happening.”
“You hooked up.”
I look at Zhuri and smile. “We’re not just hooking up.” I lean down and press a soft kiss to her lips. “We’re together.”
“I fucking knew that Conway jersey was intentional,” Bet laughs.
“Am I really that obvious?”
“Yes,” Zhuri smirks. “I knew exactly why you picked it.”
I let out a deep laugh. “I told you I’m obsessed with you.”
“I’m a big fan of that obsession.”
“I’m sure you are, ljepota.”
“Don’t tear off each other’s clothes while we’re still here.” Sid fights a teasing smile.
I flip him off.
“So,” Zhuri says, circling the conversation back, “should we keep this between the four of us?”
“There is a zero percent chance you guys can keep this from our friends successfully,” Bet chuckles.
“I think we can trust them,” I reply. “Nico and Wes won’t say anything.”
“Icy won’t either,” Zhuri adds.
“It’s settled then,” Sidney states. “We’ll tell our friends.”
I’m nervous about our friends finding out, but I was also worried about Sid, and it turns out he had his own secret relationship.
We can trust our friends; I know we can.
We’ll just make sure it doesn’t get out beyond them.
It will be nice to have a group of people we don’t have to hide around.
The last thing I want to do is hide Zhuri, but our careers are on the line.
We have to be careful.