Camila closed her eyes and sighed, feeling exhausted suddenly. “I don’t care what you talked to my mom about, she doesn’t like you any more than I do. And you have to kill this habit of yours of calling me whenever you’re drunk and bothered. We no longer have anything to do with each other.”
“I’m not drunk,” he said, though it was obviously a lie. She could hear the slight slur in his voice. He was just good at hiding the fact he was drunk, but how could she not be familiar with this after putting up with it for the past several months? Then, he followed up with, “Are you really dating Samuel Kane?”
“Ah,” Camila murmured, the reason of his call becoming clear now. Her mom must have told Jordan about her meeting with Samuel on two occasions, one in his house, and Jordan jumped the gun. “I’m not dating Samuel Kane,” she said honestly.
There was an obvious sigh of relief from the other end. “Good—”
Camila cut Jordan off, “The one I’m dating is Adrien Kane, his twin brother.”
The other end of the line went silent, and Camila smirked to herself. She might have been jumping the gun, but it was worth it to bother Jordan.
“So if you wouldn’t mind never calling me again, I would appreciate it.”
“What? No!” Jordan said quickly, suddenly all fired up. “I mean, I was shocked when your mom said it. I thought it was a lie, but I still called because I was concerned for you. Really, Camila? A man like Adrien Kane would only use you and then dump you!”
“You mean like you did?” Camila said back with a sneer, not taking any of what he said seriously. “Don’t pretend concern now, Jordan. It just bothers you that the man I’m seeing is a billionaire, right? You’re jealous about me moving on, and even if he just toys with me, being a billionaire’s toy is still way better than getting toyed with by trash like you.”
Immediately after giving her little speech, Camila cut the call, feeling extremely satisfied with herself. It was pretty rare that she got the upper hand on Jordan, and she could just imagine how much he was steaming with what she said.
She also decided to shut her phone off, just in case he tried to call again. It would mean missing Adrien’s text if he sent one, or if he called, but he might not call today. It hadn't been that long ago when they agreed on the date, anyway, and it was midweek, so maybe he was waiting for the weekend to ask her? It was her hope, anyway, so she could always call back later if he really did miss her because of this. Besides, it would be an excuse to actually talk to him, since she was too self-conscious to make the call first, even though she had his number.Before she could, though, her phone rang again, and another unexpected name flashed on her screen. Her smirk dropped, and with a frown, she answered. “Samuel?” she said uncertainly. “Can I help you with something?”
Her heart beat uncomfortably as she wondered if he was calling her for another date or something. She had been waiting for Adrien’s call for the two of them to go on a date, if Samuel was the one that asked, she wouldn’t know whether to be happy a man like him was actually interested in her, or not.
“Camila,” he said, his voice sounding grave and putting her on the alert.
“Did something happen?” she said quickly. “Was it the article? Is there anything wrong with it?”
She was a bit anxious about it, since it was supposed to go up on the blog any day now. They’d already advertised it, and her name was put in as the interviewer and photographer, so this would not only affect the blog but her as well if anything went wrong with it.
“This isn’t about the article,” Samuel refused bluntly. “I’m calling because of my brother.”
Camila was struck dumb with surprise. Of all things, this wasn’t what she was expecting.
“What?” she blurted out.
“I don’t know what happened when I left the two of you alone during our…coffee date. But Adrien isn’t the kind of man to retreat. I called to warn you. Whatever he said to you, ignore it. Don’t try to see him again.”
Camila flattened her lips, because while the words were different, they were still familiar. She had just gotten the call from her jealous ex, and Samuel wasn’t even an ex, but what else could be the reason behind a call like that?
“Thank you for the warning,” she said, her voice of professional politeness, though the words still came out sounding cold. They carried a tone of dismissiveness that she didn’t even bother to hide. “But while I accept your concern, I will ask you to please not speak of my private life, Mr. Kane. Can I help you with something else?”
The only reason she was still being polite, as compared to when she spoke with Jordan, was because he could still recall the article and make things difficult for her. She didn’t know if he would stoop that far just to get her not to see his brother. If he did, all respect for him would vanish.
Instead, there was some hesitation, before she heard him sigh.
“There’s nothing, Miss Blake,” he said formally. “I apologize for overstepping. Have a good day.”
He cut the call, and Camila’s heart felt a bit restless by how he’d addressed her, but she pushed it aside. She shut off her phone, and faced her computer, ready to get back to work to distract her from the irritation swirling in her chest.
Chapter Six
On Friday, as she’d hoped, Adrien finally called her about the date. The article on Samuel had gone off without a hitch, so she didn’t have to worry about him hindering her in any way, and could only respond to Adrien’s call with total enthusiasm.
They agreed to meet up for lunch, and the date would last until evening. Camila couldn’t keep her excitement hidden, and her mom of course noticed. She saw her mom’s disapproving look, but Camila ignored it, too giddy to placate her mom.
Her first task was to get ready. She had no idea where Adrien could be taking her, since he hadn't said, but if they were meeting for lunch, they were obviously going to a restaurant, and she could only imagine it was a high class one.
“Shit,” she muttered to herself, frozen in the middle of her room. “What the hell do I wear?”
Camila really didn’t have a lot of nice outfits, the kinds that you could go out to a date to, especially not the kind that you went to anything high class in. She’d already used up two good dresses, and while Adrien hadn't seen her in the peach dress, she would feel too embarrassed to put it on after wearing it for his brother. Sure, it was for work purposes, and it wasn’t as if Adrien would know. But while they were twins, Camila was doing her best to separate the two in her mind by whatever means necessary, including this.
She attacked her closet, hoping she had something in the back somewhere that she’d used for an important event and never touched again. There were actually outfits like that, but she also had to pick something appropriate. Then, she had to worry about her make-up, her hair…
Adrien had called early, and she now wondered if it was so she could have the chance to prepare herself. She could only feel grateful for the consideration if it was indeed true.
I should have something, she thought, a little frantic as she pushed clothes aside. Most of her closet was filled with a bunch of t-shirts and flannel shirts, khaki pants and shorts, and heavy jackets, and there were some track clothes as well for working out in. She only had two pairs of jeans, one skinny, one straight leg, and a few flowery tops she’d bought back in college.
There were occasions when she went out with friends to parties and such, and she’d graduated nearly two years ago. She had only bought a few nice clothes after that, but they should all be available because she didn’t get to wear them often. As for the outfits she wore in college, they might be a bit outdated, but she wasn’t looking for anything spectacular. She was already cursing herself for wasting the simple little black dress she’d put on to go to visit Samuel at his mansion.
Once she had all her good clothes placed on her bed, she took her time looking over them. She had a few skirts and nice tops, but they were more business style than casual, so
no skirt. Her only chance were the dresses, and she wasn’t sure which one to pick.
She fretted, because none of them had been particularly expensive, so the quality couldn’t match to anything Adrien was used to. But maybe it was okay to have hope that it wouldn’t matter so much? Banking a lot of faith on this, she picked an outfit out. It was dark blue with a halter neck that mostly bared her back, with crisscrossing fabric going from the neck to her waist. The top part of the dress was a slim fit with a flared skirt. It was a style she preferred when picking out outfits, otherwise they’d be uncomfortable for her, who was not used to dresses and skirts, to wear.
Now that she had the perfect clothes, it was time to prepare everything else. Well, when she actually did look at the time, it was to realize she had quite a bit of it still, but wouldn’t it be more worthwhile to use that time to get ready properly?
Camila ducked out of her room to go and shower. Her mom didn’t say anything, even though she could probably guess that Camila was going against her wishes, but she didn’t try to stop her or argue, and Camila felt relieved for it. She ducked back into her room with a towel wrapped around her.
She started with drying her hair off, combing through it as she did to straighten it out. She’d think about styling it once she was dressed. After her hair was done, she applied some lotion and then got her make up kit out. She’d already used a scrub on her skin the evening before, so her skin was feeling smooth and she took advantage of it. She didn’t usually use a lot of make-up, but she was determined to go all out for this date.
Only when she had everything else ready, did she pick up the dress she’d chosen and pull it on. Next were shoes, but she’d already decided on those. She had a pair of strappy sandals in silver that had a short heel and were comfortable enough if she was going to be walking or standing on her feet for a long period of time.
Fully dressed, she looked herself over in the mirror on the inside of her closet door. She thought she looked pretty good, and she tried to play with her hair a little bit, pulling it this way and that, trying to come up with a nice hairstyle. In the end, though, she just left it to fall around her shoulders.
By the time she was done with her meticulous preparation, it was about time. She wasn’t sure how they were going to meet up, if Adrien was going to pick her up or if she would go to him.
As if he could tell she was thinking about it, Adrien texted her with an address and told her he would be waiting for her there.
Camila was actually more relieved by this plan, because it meant he wouldn’t have to come to her neighborhood. She lived in a pretty good place, considering just how much it cost to live in New York City, but it would be too obvious how different their worlds were. Also, she didn’t want to risk her mom following her and bombarding Adrien with an inquisition in front of their building. She quickly sent back a confirmation to him. Then, she picked a purse from the small collection she had, a light grey one with a silver chain in place of a strap. She put her phone and wallet in it, a small make-up kit and some other essentials. Then she picked up a jacket and headed out.
Finding a cab wasn’t difficult, there were always plenty of them passing the street, and she only had to flag an empty one down. Then she gave the address Adrien had given her, and waited anxiously to get there. It really wasn’t that far and there was no traffic, so it didn’t take long for her to make it there. She paid the driver and stepped out. Before she could even look for Adrien, he found her.
“Camila.”
He called her name from close behind her, and she whirled around, face warming up as she looked up at him, because he’d spoken too close in that low, sexy voice of his. He was smiling warmly down at her.
“Hey,” she said, smiling back, relaxing under his warm gaze. “Sorry, did you wait here long?”
Adrien shook his head. “I actually just got here. I parked my car and got out, then I saw you coming out of the cab.”
“Oh,” Camila murmured.
She was looking Adrien over, and she realized his style had changed slightly. He wasn’t dressed as flashy as before, but instead was wearing more formal attire. He had on black leather shoes and slacks, and a blue shirt with a black coat over it. He’d skipped the tie, though, for a silver chain around his neck. On his wrist, she still saw some leather bands and a few rings, but even without those she knew it was undoubtedly Adrien in front of her.
“We match,” Adrien said, his grin turning to a smile when he noticed the blue dress under her dark coat.
“I guess we do,” she said shyly, tucking some fluttering strands of hair behind her ear.
“Shall we?” Adrien said, offering his arm to her.
Camila gladly slid her hand into the bend of his arm, moving closer to his side. She was a little self-conscious of the height difference between them, since she was used to guys that were only an inch, maybe three, taller than her, but Adrien was a lot taller. She also felt a thrill from it, though, especially when she could feel the muscles in the arm she was holding underneath the clothes. It was only their first date, and already she had to stop her thoughts from leaping ten steps ahead.
They didn’t walk far before stopping at the entrance of a restaurant. Camila couldn’t tell what kind of place it was just from the outside, since it was plain red brick, but when they were led inside, she realized the outside appearance was deceiving. The inside was a lot larger than she expected, with the tables fairly spaced throughout the room. The place was done up with bright colors, in white, silver and gold, and the tables were obviously set with this scheme in mind. There were white tablecloths with silverware and gold decorations in the middle of the table.
A host stood at a booth just inside the entrance, and once Adrien confirmed his reservation, they were led to a table.
“Have you ever been here before?” Adrien asked as he pulled her chair out for her like a gentleman, gently pushing it back in as she sat, then circled around to his seat. He watched her expectantly.
“I honestly had no idea this place even existed,” she said with a small laugh.
Adrien grinned. “I’m glad. This place has some really good food. I like to come here whenever I can. The chef is good at coming up with masterpieces.”
“I’ll take your word for it.”
There were menus set on the table, and they each picked one up to look through. The names and description of the dishes all sounded pretty delicious. She could mostly tell by the description, because some of the names of the dishes weren’t in any language she could understand. But then she noticed the pricing next to the dishes and winced.
“This is…all really expensive, isn’t it?” she said doubtfully.
“It’s fine,” Adrien said almost dismissively. “I’ll handle it, so you don’t need to worry.”
No date had ever spent nearly so much on her before, but she was still bothered. As far as she could tell, the cost for their cheapest dish could be enough to buy groceries for her and her mom for a couple weeks, three if they really squeezed it. As nice as it would be, having a man pay everything for her, she was too independent for this to be completely okay with her. Still, it wasn’t as if he couldn’t afford it, when she was pretty sure she couldn’t. Also, she didn’t want to argue, or end things between them before they could get anywhere.
Taking a deep breath to calm herself, she went on looking over the dishes. She’d probably just pick the cheapest ones on the menu, but she still read over the other dishes in interest.
“So, my brother mentioned that the two of you met over an interview?”
Camila looked up to find Adrien hadn't even opened his own menu. It was on the table in front of him, and all his focus was on her. Camila blushed. She couldn’t face that kind of single-minded attention and not be flattered.
“We did,” she agreed, lowering her menu. “I work for a photoblog and I had an open spot for a new project. I interviewed him for an article.”
“It’s so unlike my brother to do someth
ing like that,” Adrien commented with a chuckle, leaning back in his chair. “What kind of blog is it, exactly? I feel like I should have come instead, and you’d have gotten a better story out of it. Big brother isn’t always the best at talking. Though I am curious what his interview was about, but when I asked, Samuel just ignored me.”
Camila wondered why. Was he regretting the interview already, or was there a reason he didn’t want his brother to know?
“Well, it’s a blog with a fairly large readership, and the theme is around the people of New York City. We get to interview and make posts with important, influential people. The choice of who to look for is usually based on popularity. And popularity isn’t necessarily based on the factors you’d expect. This one time, there was this guy that posted this video online—”
“If,” Adrien said, cutting her off as he leaned forward, folding his arms on the table. “If I was out in the open like Samuel was, and if he didn’t go to great lengths to make sure no one knew he had a twin brother, could I have ended up on an interview with you, maybe?”
Camila frowned, partly at the interruption, and at the thought that Samuel was suppressing knowledge of his own brother.
“Why would he do that?” she asked.
“Who knows?” Adrien shrugged. “Samuel does what Samuel wants and doesn’t care what I think.”
Well, it certainly explained why she hadn't found out someone as high profile as Samuel Kane was hiding a twin. It didn’t seem as if Adrien wanted to hide or anything, either, so it must all be on Samuel’s end? Especially as it seemed, judging by Adrien’s words, that Samuel did whatever he wanted. Which made her consider something else. Samuel and Adrien also had a sister that she had never even met yet. It made her wonder, was Samuel embarrassed of his family or was it something else entirely?
“I guess it’s possible you would have been asked for an interview,” she answered him seriously. “Though you probably would have had to come with Samuel, what with you two being identical twins, it would garner a lot of interest.”
Buried Obsession: Book 1 of the Obsession Trilogy Page 5