Fucking pricks.
“Never, baby. There’s a minifridge under the TV with drinks to tie you over, and I’ll run to the kitchen for some snacks.”
Ten minutes later, we’re sharing a bag of chips, having a soda, and talking about things we hadn’t before.
“There’s a question I’ve been wanting to ask you for a while now.” One that I wasn’t willing to until everything was okay between us.
Kami waves her hand. “Shoot.”
“Would you consider taking an offer from Ethan and I to be our publicist when we start putting the shop together?” She sits up to look at me with narrowed eyes. “We would pay you, of course.”
She waves a hand in the air again, shutting me up. “Wait, wait. I don’t want this job just because I’m your girlfriend. You haven’t even seen my portfolio yet.”
I nod. “That’s true, but I have seen your posts for King’s Wolf, and I think your designs are great. The website got neater and a lot easier to navigate after you started working there. The number of followers went up significantly on all their social media accounts—” I pause when she scoffs, looking at me like I’m an entirely new person. “What?”
“You’ve been keeping up with my posts this whole time?” Kami looks delighted to learn about what I’ve been doing for the past few weeks.
“Not the whole time.” I lift the soda to my lips and wink at her. “This offer isn’t on the table because we’re together. If I didn’t think you were great at what you do, I wouldn’t be offering you the job. There’s too much riding on this for Ethan and I to hire someone with no experience.”
She hesitates before replying. “I’ll do it on one condition.”
Frowning at her stubbornness, I dip my chin. “Go ahead.”
“I’ll work with you guys for as long as I can, however I will also continue submitting job applications to entertainment companies in the city. That’s been the plan for years, and I don’t intend on ever giving it up,” she says with conviction and confidence.
This woman still doesn’t understand how highly I think of her.
“Ethan and I would never expect you to give up on your dream.” My eyes stay focused on hers so she knows that I mean every word.
Kami nods and smiles. “We have a deal then.” She sticks her hand out. Still so formal. I pull her to me before kissing her deeply, our tongues swiping against each other’s. She lets out a small moan that makes my dick jump in my pants.
Down, boy, not now.
When I break away, I catch the intensity of desire in her eyes. As much as I want to give her what we both need, there’s another pressing matter I should address first.
Once I offer her a cookie and turn her to sit beside me for a couple of minutes, I ask her the one question that’s been lingering in the air all day.
“Do you want to talk about why you came here?”
Kami lets out a deep breath and I know this is the last thing she wants to talk about, but it’s necessary. She can’t keep bottling all this up, and if anyone knows how her sister can be, it’s me.
“Ana tried apologizing, but it wasn’t genuine. Mom forgave her, and I couldn’t. Not when it was dishonest and forced.” She adjusts herself to face me fully. “Ana’s my twin sister Cameron, so I will always have love for her even after everything that happened, but I can’t deal with all of this until she gets help, and that’s exactly what I told my mom.” Her eyes turn glossy. “If things don’t get better by my senior year, I’m moving out.”
“Wow.” I knew it was bad but not her thinking about moving out kind of bad. Kamila has always been so close to Nora and Rafael, yet her psycho sister is ruining that.
She shrugs. “It’s only if things don’t get better or they somehow get worse. I do hope Mom comes to her senses.”
A small tear rolls down her cheek, and I lift my thumb, wiping it off her face.
“Kami…” Seeing her in pain will never stop hurting me too.
She shakes her head. “It’s okay, I’ll tell my mom it’s because I want to become more independent or something like that. The last thing she needs is to be hurt by another daughter.”
Even after everything, she’s still willing to lie to make her mom feel better when it should be the other way around. I take her back into my arms. “I’m sorry this is happening.”
“Me too.” She kisses me tenderly. “Thank you for being here for me.”
“Always.”
