Chapter 9
Chapter nine
Camelia
Camelia holed herself up in her room the entire weekend, and by the time she came out on Monday, she was all out of sorts.
She had texted Aria where her car was once she had gotten back to the dorms safely, and then had proceeded to ignore every message that her friend had sent after that, content to order food to her dorm and avoid any human interaction unless absolutely necessary.
It was absurd of her to feel so affected by two men that she had only ever interacted with twice.
Absurd. It didn't make any sense why her hormones were so out of whack, why it felt like something was missing deep inside of her that had never felt empty before, why she spent the entire weekend that she was alone longing to go out and find one of them, or both of them. ..
No, none of it made any sort of sense, and her roommate's blatant hostility did nothing to improve her mood either.
All that combined to create a very foul mood for Camelia when she attended her classes on Monday, stomping around campus and drawing far more attention to herself with her snarling than she really should have.
She couldn't help it. There was a part of her, tiny though it was, that could sense them. They were there, somewhere on campus, and she wasn't with them. It was wrong, it was against her nature, it was...
Fuck, she didn't know what it was. All she knew was that by the time she lunch rolled around and she was sitting next to Aria in the commons, picking at a salad that she hadn't even wanted, the only thing that she could think of was Evan and James.
Not her classes, not her need to keep a huge part of herself secret until she graduated. Them.
"Mmhm." Camelia stabbed at a piece of spinach, grimacing when it fluttered away from her plastic fork.
Aria continued talking, completely unbothered by Camelia's silence, and Camelia's gaze swept the room for the umpteenth time, searching each and every face for the two that she wanted to see.
Not that she was looking for them. No, she needed to know where they were so that she could avoid them. That was all it was.
Speak of the devil. Camelia swallowed hard as a familiar, dark-haired head strolled into the commons, a burrito in one hand and his phone in the other, pressed firmly against his ear.
He nodded to whoever he was on the phone with, taking a bite of his burrito as Camelia watched, and she swallowed against a sudden wave of lust that swelled in her stomach and made her want to stand up and leave her friend to seek him out.
Fuck, but he looked good. Even in a t-shirt and jeans, he exuded power. Confidence.
"Aria," Camelia said abruptly, interrupting whatever her friend had been talking about. She nodded at Evan when Aria gave her a questioning look, and she swallowed hard against anxiety before she casually said, "Can you tell me anything about that guy? I know his name is Evan, but that's about it."
Aria nodded, completely unperturbed that Camelia had completely derailed the trajectory of their conversation.
"Evan Nichols. He's a senior, major in business administration, though he's on his fifth year.
Nobody is really sure why. He's not a top student by any means, but he does well enough to have graduated within four years, easily. "
Camelia nodded, internally crowing with the new information; she knew that she could trust the college gossip mill to give her some leverage against the man.
"Any important connections, or anything like that?
If his grades are just average, I mean, he must have some sort of influence to be going here.
.." Camelia gestured around with one hand, stabbing at a carrot and popping it into her mouth before she could say anything else that might incriminate her, or betray that her interest was much more than casual.
Aria arched an eyebrow at her, giving her a quizzical look. "Evan Nichols, Camelia. As in Nichols Mining."
For a moment, Camelia's mind still blanked, even as Aria looked at her as if the connection should be more than obvious. Then the pieces slid into place, and her mouth opened a little, the unchewed carrot dropping back into her salad. "Nichols Mining. The jewelry conglomerate. That Nichols?"
Aria nodded. "Trust fund baby. You wouldn't know it talking to him, though; he isn't the kind of person that throws his family's money around willy nilly.
" She lifted one shoulder in a shrug, taking a sip of her smoothie.
"He's nice enough, but keeps mostly to himself.
He's one of those people who everybody knows and he seems to know everyone, but he isn't close to anyone, you know? "
Camelia couldn't stop herself from rolling her eyes a little at the assessment that Evan was nice enough.
Coming from money certainly explained the cocky overconfidence that Evan projected every time they interacted, but it didn't explain the mysterious, frustrating pull that she instinctually felt for him.
No, that was an unanswered question that still needed to be solved.
"What about the blonde guy that's usually with him?
They seem close." Camelia forced herself to take a small sip of her Coke to project casual disinterest, despite the way that her stomach churned with the need for answers.
Evan sat down at a table across the room, still talking on the phone, and Camelia forced herself not to stare at him, or look around for James.
If Evan was here, he couldn't be that far off, right?
Aria nodded, as if the question didn't surprise her. "James Devin. He and Evan are best friends."
Camelia swallowed, looking down at her plate as she forced her tone casual. "Just friends? They're always together. Is there something more going on there?"
Aria made a small sound that made Camelia's head snap up in mild alarm, but when she looked at her friend, Aria's expression was nothing but thoughtful.
"James and Evan have been friends for years, from what I understand.
Back to high school, or maybe longer than that.
" She tilted her head to the side as if lost in thought as she continued.
"James' dad is some kind of big shot intelligence guy.
Not for the government, for a private company. "
"A spook?" Camelia mulled the information around in her head, and Aria nodded.
"Just rumors, of course. Nothing confirmed.
" She lowered her voice, leaning a little closer as if she were saying something confidential that she didn't want heard.
"If you believe the rumors, which I only do sometimes, James' dad wants him to follow in his footsteps once he graduates.
Apparently has a job set up for him and everything. "
Camelia furrowed her brow. "A little detailed for the casual rumor mill, isn't it?"
Aria giggled softly, nodding. "There's a few people on campus who have made it their business to know everything about everyone. Rich kids with nothing better to do that hire people to snoop out secrets, you know?"
Camelia openly rolled her eyes this time. She knew the type very well, and she couldn't stop herself from shivering a little at the thought of that particular attention being turned on her. She certainly had things to hide.
Aria drew her attention back to the conversation before she could spiral too deep into her anxiety pit, though. "I guess that James isn't interested in following in Daddy's footsteps, but his dad foots the bill for college, so." Aria shrugged, turning her attention back to her meal.
Camelia felt an unexpected stab of sympathy for James; the man walked around as if he had the weight of the world on his shoulders, and while that might be a slight exaggeration, if what Aria was telling her was true...
"That really sucks," Camelia finally said, huffing out a breath. Aria nodded, mouth full of pasta, and Camelia couldn't stop her eyes from tracking back across the room to Evan's table. Only when her gaze fell on him this time, he was off the phone, and he was looking directly at her.
Camelia swallowed as she met his intense blue gaze, lifting one hand in an absurd, tiny wave before she forced her gaze back down to her salad.
Still, she could feel the weight of his eyes on her, heavy as lead, and she forced herself to shovel spinach and lettuce into her mouth as she mulled over the new information that Aria had given her.
She was only interested in getting to know the enemy, of course. With how her body responded to both of them, that was the only way that she could think of them. It only made sense for her to know their histories, their weaknesses.
And if her heart twisted with mild sympathy for James' apparently shitty relationship with his dad, and her skin still prickled with the knowledge that Evan was watching her every move.
..well, she wasn't going to share that particular information with anyone.
She would tuck it away in a tiny box in her mind, right alongside her Omega status, never to be mentioned or looked at again.