Chapter 53
Chapter Fifty-Three
CAMERON
“ O ne thing. I asked for one damn thing.” Mom slaps me and Ethan with her spatula.
“Actually, it was my idea to sneak them in there,” Dad mumbles quietly from across the kitchen island.
She turns her spatula to him and starts swinging.
“Save it for the bedroom, honey,” Dad says in between hits.
Ethan throws his head back in laughter and I follow suit. That is until Mom starts heading in our direction and we immediately duck and run. Apparently, she wasn’t a fan of the dirty-shaped cookies my dad molded.
“Yeah, not so funny now when it’s pointed at you. I’m small but fast, boys.”
She gets a few hits in till we eventually tire out and drop down on to the kitchen stools, waiting for the cookies to cool.
“Please pass a penis cookie.”
Mom rubs her temples together while Ethan lets out a small choking sound.
“I’m so happy I didn’t have more than one child because I apparently married another.”
Dad walks over, puts his arms around Mom’s waist and whispers something into her ear. Whatever he says makes her shoulders relax until she has that love drunk look in her eyes. A zing of jealousy hits me, catching me off guard. It’s not something that’s ever happened with my parents before, but after Kamila, my head has been all kinds of fucked up.
“Do either of them know anything at all?” Ethan asks quietly beside me.
The feeling of his eyes on me is intense. “They only know that Kamila goes to Driscoll because of my mom’s friends. She hasn’t asked me anything yet, therefore I’ve kept my mouth shut.”
A sharp pain goes through my shin after Ethan kicks me under the island.
The groan I let out doesn’t seem to reach my parents. “The fuck was that for?”
“For being an idiot,” he sasses. “After everything that went down, I thought you would’ve learned that secrets never stay secret.”
Ethan’s annoyingly always right. Despite that, my parents don’t need to know about this any time soon. Not until her and I are officially together. My mind drifts to thoughts of Kamila and our kiss. I hope that the final card I sent her way didn’t scare her off, but she confused the fuck out of me. My pondering is interrupted by our loud doorbell. Mom and Dad seem to have missed the sound, still nuzzled against each other.
“Is anyone getting the door?” I ask while picking up a tube of icing.
“You get it,” Dad mutters, his gaze not faltering from Mom’s.
My eyes drop to see the elf apron I wear every year and the one I also stash deep into the closet after the holidays are over. The only reason I wear it is to make Mom happy. Decorating cookies on Christmas Eve while we all wear ridiculous aprons has been a staple in this household since I was four years old.
“I look ridiculous and dirty.”
“Such a drama queen.” Ethan sighs. “I’ll get it.” The kitchen door swings open after he walks through it towards the foyer wearing his candy cane apron.
“Cam, pass me a tree, will you?” Mom sticks her hand out.
As soon as the cookie is in her palm, Ethan’s back at the kitchen door. He’s avoiding my parent’s eyes and keeps an eerie fake smile plastered on his face.
“What’s the matter, boy?” Dad asks. “Who’s at the door?”
Ethan laughs nervously. “Nothing’s the matter, just someone asking for Cameron. A friend of his, actually. They need to talk to you privately.” He motions his head to the front door.
I lift my brows at his intense stare that’s silently telling me to hurry the fuck up.
“We’ll be right back.” Mom and Dad exchange looks while I leave their line of sight.
Once the kitchen door swings closed, Ethan speaks up. “It’s Kamila.”
I halt at his words. Anticipation and fear flows through me as to why she would be here. It only takes me a couple of seconds to come up with the most obvious reason.
“Fucking Ana.”
“Has to be,” my cousin agrees.
Ethan follows close behind while I make it the foyer. There, standing in a matching Christmas pajama set with reindeer slippers, a large winter coat, messy hair, and no makeup on, is the woman who’s been driving me to the brink of insanity for months. She still hasn’t noticed my presence, and I take the time to appreciate watching her with Milo tucked into her arms after all these years. Kami’s eyes are closed while Milo nuzzles his face into her neck as she smiles peacefully. My cat is only comfortable around family, meaning he hasn’t forgotten about her, just like I never did. I almost don’t want to interrupt their moment together.
Almost.
“Kamila?” I say quietly, as though I’m speaking to a wounded animal .
She slowly opens her eyes and looks into mine. They’re red rimmed and slightly swollen. She’s been crying a lot, and a barbaric feeling of wanting to hurt the person that caused her this pain takes over me.
“I had nowhere else to go,” she whispers.
I speak at a low volume while trying to control the anger and hurt building in my chest. “Ethan, please distract my parents for a while. We need a minute alone.”
“Will do.”
As soon as the kitchen door swings closed again, Kamila lets out a small sob, squeezing Milo softly.
Fuck that sound is the final straw in keeping my composure. It takes me four strides to reach my girl. I gently lay Milo on the floor while she talks.
“I didn’t know where else to go. My mom and Ana,” more tears and sobs escape, “I couldn’t do it anymore.”
Gripping her shoulders, I pull her into my chest as she wraps her arms around me tightly.
“Shh, it's okay, baby, it’s okay. You’re always welcome here.”
Kami nods and we bask in the loud silence together while she shakes in my arms, letting out her final tears. There are so many questions building up inside of me, only I know it’s not the right time. What I do know is that her mom was always good to me and to Kami, but she’s probably blinded by the love she has for her daughters. Nora has a big heart, although right now, it might be doing more harm than good.
Kami came here. To my house. Sure, she mentioned not having anywhere else to go, still knowing how stubborn Kamila is, she would have booked a hotel or slept in the car if she still hated me or resented me in any kind of way. Maybe she’s decided to forgive me.
No, I won’t let in too much hope. Not until I hear the words come out of her mouth?—
“Kami?”
“Hm? ”
“How did you get my address?”
“How did you get into my dorm room?” she retorts back.
Fuck. That’s one secret I planned to take to the grave.
She lets out a giggle when I stiffen and lets the topic go, saving me a very long, embarrassing story.
“I’m ruining your apron with my tears.” Her golden eyes meet mine, and she lets out a half smile. “It’s too cute to ruin.”
A chuckle escapes me. “Don’t be. You might’ve just given me the perfect excuse to replace it.”
Her grin falters. “Please tell me I didn’t ruin your Christmas Eve.”
I shake my head, wipe her tears, and lean down touching my forehead to hers. “Never. I wish you were here under different circumstances, but I’m so fucking happy to have you in my arms again, Kamila.”
The breath she lets out is a shaky one, full of emotion underlined with lust. My dick twitches in my pants. So not the fucking time.
Her lips lift. “Cameron, I?—”
“Kamila Morales, is that you?”
She jumps and pushes me away. “Mr. and Mrs. Kahlo, hi.”
Ethan meets my eyes. “Seriously, man? Not even ten minutes?”
“There’s only so much I can fucking do.” He shrugs. “Liz is too smart.”
Mom walks towards Kamila. “Gosh, it’s been so long.” She scans her face and beams. “Look at you, all grown up and beautiful as ever.”
Kami’s features relax. “I’m sorry for intruding on your Christmas Eve activities, Mrs. Kahlo?—”
“Honey, I couldn’t give a shit about that. Also, please call me Liz.”
“I can do that, Liz,” Kami says the nickname awkwardly and forces a smile.
“And call me Mark.” Dad gives a small wave .
“Are you okay, sweetie?” Mom uses her most soothing voice while asking her, treading carefully onto unknown territory.
She’s always loved Kami. Mom treated her like family from the get-go and was sad to see her walk out of my life that summer.
“Not really. I’m sure the evidence is all over my face.” Kami shrugs.
“Do you need to spend the night here?”
My girl nods reluctantly. Of course, Mom would offer for her to stay; she’s one of the sweetest people known to man. That is unless she’s mad, which judging by the scowl she just gave me when Kami wasn’t looking, she’s furious.
Mom palms her face. “What do you need, honey?”
Kami’s surprised at the touch. “A shower would be great.” She looks around. “I didn’t bring any clothes except for what I’m currently wearing.”
She scowls down at her pajamas, scrunching her nose adorably. The action makes me want to carry her over my shoulder and stick her in that shower myself.
“You can borrow my clothes,” I say without hesitation. Our clothes now, really. Whatever is mine, is hers.
Mom shakes her head. “How about I lend you some sweatpants, and Cam can give you one of his shirts.”
Kami’s chest is on the bigger side, making my shirts fit her perfectly. Meanwhile, Mom and her have larger hips and thighs. It makes sense that she would offer them, but I catch a flash of doubt across Kamila’s face before she smiles again.
“That sounds perfect.”
“Great.” Mom leads Kami downstairs telling her all about the newly refurbished basement that used to be a game room turned into a guest room with its own bath. It’s practically a large hotel suite.
Yeah, she still likes Kamila. Otherwise, she’d have given her the extra fold out bed in Dad’s office upstairs .
“Feel like catching us up, Son?” Dad squeezes my shoulder harshly, making me groan, and drags me into the living room.
Ethan laughs maniacally.
“Doesn’t seem like I have much of a choice.” I wince at his strength.
“Nope. Now speak.”
A while later, I’m knocking on the basement door with one of my shirts in hand. I would’ve given this to Kamila earlier if it wasn’t for my parents sitting me down and asking me a shit load of questions about everything and anything they could think of.
Ethan sat back watching the show, thoroughly entertained and kept mumbling, “I told you so,” whenever my parents raised their voices at me.
Of course, I fessed up to everything and I do mean everything . Not that they gave me much of a choice. It was either telling them the whole story and getting it over with or spending another hour being grilled before seeing Kamila.
They were both stunned at how little they knew about what had happened over the years, but managed to keep most of their opinions to themselves. My father more so than my mother.
Mom gave me a hard time for everything that happened. I believe she not so secretly, like Ethan, had hoped Kami and I would get together one day.
Both of my parents were gracious enough to let me know that Kamila could stay as long as she wanted. If it were up to me, I’d have her stay the rest of winter break. Not here though, no. I would book us a hotel suite, order room service, buy a bottle of something fancy, and get a little tipsy until we finally really kissed again. That could lead to us going to third base and then finally after what seems like forever, we could…shit. For the first time in my life, I thought up a whole romantic scene in order to picture myself having sex with a girl .
I miss sex.
Scratch that, I miss sex with Kamila.
I’m jolted out of my thoughts when Kami opens the door in nothing but a towel that’s barely covering her upper thigh area.
I already have a semi, for fucks sake.
“Hey, is that the shirt?” She smiles nervously.
“Um. Hi. Yeah, yes, it is,” I stumble over my words like a horny teenage boy.
Kami laughs. “Okay.” She stares at me for a moment with an almost blank expression. “May I have it, please?”
Jesus, get yourself together, dude.
“Yeah, sorry, here.” She takes the shirt. “By the way, we’re having a movie night if you want to join in. We usually do?—”
“Three movies,” Kami interrupts. “You told me about it in high school.” She tucks a strand of her freshly washed black hair behind her ear.
Of course, she remembers. I nod and silence falls around us a second time. There’s no little devil on my shoulder telling me what to do or giving me a slight push. Then again, he hasn’t been around for a while now.
“Anything else?” She’s looking at me as if I’m going crazy, which I have been for the past couple of weeks because of this, us.
Shaking my head, I clear my throat. “See you in a few? We have snacks.” I’m running back up before she can answer, scolding myself for sounding so stupid.
Mom is at the top of the stairs where I almost knock into her.
“Jesus, Mom, you scared the crap out of me.”
Her eyes narrow. “You really love her, don’t you?”
I cast a brief look over my shoulder, making sure that Kami’s door is closed.
“Yeah.” I turn back to Mom. “Is it that obvious?”
“Only a little,” she teases and makes her way to the couch.
Ethan left to spend time with his parents, so it’ll only be the four of us tonight .
“Oh, and if by any chance you were thinking of going downstairs later tonight to talk to her…”
Here we go.
“Be my guest. You guys should talk.” She lays a hand on my arm. “I also understand if you need to have makeup sex. We can’t hear a thing from upstairs, so you’re good to go.”
“Nope.” I take a few steps back. “We are not talking about this.”
She snorts. “You should see your face right now. Jeez, Cam, calm down.” She swats me. “But seriously, don’t have sex again until she’s your girlfriend. This is Kamila we’re talking about. The Kamila. Don’t fuck it up.”
“Amen,” Dad’s voice booms in the living room.
My head lands on the back of the couch. “Eavesdropping, I assume.”
“Always, and I agree with your mother. This is the Kamila. She’s way too good for you, and somehow, after all the shit you’ve pulled, she’s still giving you a chance. So like your mother said, don’t fuck it up.” He throws me a box of movie theater candy.
I eye them suspiciously. “How long have you both been waiting for us to get together?”
Mom gives me a side-eye glance and sits next to Dad on the smaller couch, sipping on her wine. Dad stuffs popcorn into his mouth.
They’re not even trying to defend themselves.
“I said, how?—"
“Hey, did I take too long?” Kamila sneaks in wearing my Sleeping With Sirens tee.
Mom smiles. “Not at all. Come sit next to Cam.”
She turns her gaze to me and I know what her answer to my question was. They’ve been waiting since the second they met her.