Page 45
She laughed.
Cam rested his palms on the sand behind him, gazing out to sea. “This is the most relaxed I’ve felt in ages.”
“Yeah?” Nina said. “You’ve been stressed?”
He nodded. “I don’t think I realised how much until I let go a little.”
“I think that’s the nature of Ibiza, isn’t it?” she said, tipping her face up to the sun. “The atmosphere helps people chill out.”
He glanced at her. “I don’t think it’s the island. It’s the company.”
Nina studied his profile. Does he mean me? Or Isla? Or maybe he’s referring to Ash. She wanted to ask but wasn’t sure how to word it without sounding inappropriate. The moment passed and she glanced away. “Isla’s still infatuated with Zac I’m-too-cool-for-a-surname, unfortunately.”
Cam turned to her. “Sorry if that’s difficult for you.”
She raised her eyebrow. “Difficult? Yeah, I suppose it is, in that I’m not keen on my friend answering the booty calls of a douchebag.”
He frowned. “I didn’t realise you’d seen through him.”
“I had him clocked from the start,” said Nina. “That’s why I told him to piss off on my first day here.”
Cam raised his eyebrows. “You did?”
“Course,” said Nina. “I’m not into entitled assholes.”
He laughed then glanced at the sand as he dug his fingers into it. “I thought you and he had a bit of a thing, and that was why you and Isla fell out.”
“What?” she said. How on earth can he think that? “Don’t make me vomit. No. Isla and I have never had the same taste in men.”
He smiled. “It seems pretty obvious now that I know you better. I should’ve guessed he wasn’t your cup of tea.”
She pretended to gag and he laughed. His smile made him impossibly more attractive. She sifted the sand through her fingers. “I hope Isla figures him out soon. At the moment she’s lapping up all his crap about being sensitive.”
Cam shook his head. “He’s got no empathy.” He met her gaze. “You know he cheated on Ash multiple times and gaslighted her into thinking it was her fault?”
Nina raised her eyebrows. She was certain Zac had neglected to tell Isla that part. “That’s horrible.”
“Yeah,” he said. “If she found out and complained, he’d dump her then ask her back as if he was doing her a favour. Then we got together, and she managed to shake him.” He looked at Nina. “Normally I wouldn’t get involved with someone else’s girlfriend, but I can’t say I felt too guilty once I found out about his behaviour.”
Nina shook her head. “I don’t blame you.”
He sat forward. “My mum had a boyfriend like him once. But luckily she saw the measure of him and chucked him out.”
Nina studied him, privileged to hear something so personal. She realised that his feelings toward Zac weren’t driven by jealousy, as described by Ash when she’d spoken to Nina at her first trip to the villa. They were borne out of a protective streak. “Good for her. Are you and your mum close now?”
He nodded. “Absolutely…and my sister. The three musketeers, we called ourselves.” He smiled. “They’re both brilliant. Always there for me, no matter what. Sometimes I feel like they’re the only ones who know the real me.”
She nodded slowly. “They know Cameron, rather than being distracted by Logan.”
He snapped his eyes up to meet hers. “Exactly.”
She continued to hold his gaze. “You invented Logan because you’re an introvert? In order to help you perform.”
He smiled, his eyes reflecting his pleasure that she’d made the connection under her own steam. “Most people don’t guess that. They think my stage name is to try to fit in better with the US market, but I picked it because it embodies confidence in my eyes. It’s like…a name I can trust, to carry me through.”
She smiled, studying him. “I get it. It makes it easier being on stage as him, rather than Cameron Wild, the boy who prefers being on his own with his decks and can’t speak to girls without getting palpitations.”
He laughed. “Yes. You know me too well already.”
