“What?” Samuel said, looking up as he paused eating.
She had called his name during a lull in the conversation, and it took her a bit of time to formulate the words. Samuel was patient, folding his hands over each other on the table, ignoring his food as he looked at her. She told herself to hurry up, or he was going to end up eating a cold dinner because of her.
“Um, so the thing is… my mom has been asking about meeting you and Brianna. I’ve been trying to put her off, but she’s getting pretty insistent. I’m worried, one of these days she might just follow me when I come to meet you outside the apartment to ambush you, so I thought I should give you warning.”
“Oh,” he said, looking down to continue eating. “Is that all?”
Camila hesitated. “Is… it not a problem?”
Samuel looked at her seriously. “Not at all. I would love to meet your mother. After all, I am serious about you, and meeting the parents should happen in a situation like this, right?”
Camila could feel her face warm up. He took a drink from his glass as he watched her, eyes practically dancing with mirth at her flushed face, and she ducked her head, taking a drink of water herself.
“So I was thinking that she could come over here for dinner to just meet you both. Still okay?” There was no way she could invite them to her place instead. It was comfortable enough for two, but four people would be crowding a bit. Not to mention the fact that Brianna wouldn’t have been comfortable.
Later that night, long after dinner was over and they’d had a glass of wine in a parlor with an open fire place burning. Camila sat with her legs folded on the seat, leaning against Samuel. She was feeling a slight buzz from the wine, not enough to get her drunk, but she did feel warm. Samuel was leaning back against the seat with his arms wrapped around her. With her hands pressed to his chest, she raised up, as he leaned down, and their lips met in the middle in a kiss.
They had made out a few times after the first time, and it always made her body burn as well as soothed her at the same time. It felt so amazing, that she was afraid to push for more in case she lost this feeling. She realized she had never been so patient with a guy before, and vice versa, in her previous relationships. Compared to this, they felt like a rush to have sex, while this was just the right side of comfortable and passionate.
Unexpectedly, a phone rang, cutting off their make out session. It was Samuel’s, and he answered it with a frustrated look.
“Hello?” he said, his voice low and husky.
He stared at her hungrily the entire time, and Camila couldn’t help shivering. But then, his expression changed and he looked away. She frowned, wondering what was wrong, when he looked at her again with a strange expression.
“Adrien, how are you talking to me right now? Inmates aren’t allowed phone calls in prison. I already know you rejected your one phone call.”
Camila heard the words and went still, the blood leaving her face so fast that she was left dizzy. Samuel saw her expression and dragged her against his chest with his free arm.
Adrien was even violating his protection order from incarceration. Somehow, it didn’t surprise Camila at all, because he was certainly proud enough, and stubborn enough, to do it. Samuel cut the call off and made a different call. Camila didn’t see to who.
“Do something,” Samuel said, demanding. “My brother, Adrien Kane, somehow managed to call me when he should be locked up. Have something done about it immediately.”
Camila was close enough to hear their answer.
“Of course, sir. I will see to it immediately.”
Samuel held her close in his arms as she closed her eyes and tried to ignore what was happening, because she couldn’t deal with it.
“You had better. And call me back when it’s done.” Samuel shut the call down and set the phone on the table.
Samuel pulled her into his lap, cuddling her close. She felt safe and protected in his arms. She was drifting off to sleep when the phone rang again. Samuel gripped her close as he leaned forward and grabbed the phone.
Opening it, he said, “You’d better have answers.”
“Yes, sir. His cell was searched. He somehow acquired a burner. He’s had no visitors, so we have no idea how that was accomplished and he’s not talking. He’s in solitary right now for violating prison rules.”
“Good. I don’t care what it takes, I want to know how he acquired that phone, and you’d best stay vigilant and make sure it doesn’t happen again,” he instructed the man on the other end of the call.
“Yes, sir. Goodnight.”
Samuel didn’t bother replying, he just ended the call. “I will do everything within my power to keep you safe, you know that, right?” he said gently, stroking her cheek as he gazed into her eyes.
“I know,” she whispered, leaning forward to kiss him.
Chapter Five
Samuel dropped her off at her building later that night. She wouldn’t have minded staying, because honestly, she felt safer around him, but she hadn't made any preparations. Both she and Brianna were small, around the same size, but Brianna was smaller than she was in certain areas. Camila had a small frame, but her body was still curvy, and none of Brianna’s clothes would be able to fit over her chest or hips.
The thought of wearing Samuel’s clothes instead was both sexy and ridiculous because of their size difference.
Camila waved at him, and he watched until she’d gone inside the building and disappeared from sight to start up the car and move. He had attempted to insist on bringing her all the way to her doorstep, but she didn’t think it was necessary, and it wasn’t how she wanted him to meet her mom, either, when they were both feeling high strung.
Was it too soon to try and be happy? she thought to herself.
The time she’d spent with Samuel now seemed like some interval period, and this was her real life from now on, worrying about what stunt Adrien was going to pull from prison. It worried her almost as much as what he would do after he got himself out of prison. Camila wasn’t feeling too good about her chances of getting out of an altercation with him a second time, and she was banking on it being years away. Maybe he’ll forget about me by then, she could only hope.
When she opened the door to the apartment, it was to find her mom sitting on the couch with the TV on some soap opera. Camila didn’t know if she’d really been watching or not, because the moment she opened the door, her mom turned to look at her.
“You’re back,” she said, and she couldn’t completely hide the relief in her voice.
Camila smiled tightly at her. She couldn’t exactly say a thing about how her mom was feeling, considering everything that happened. After the whole incident with Adrien outside their apartment, and while she was gone, a bunch of neighbors had come over to either complain about all the commotion so late at night or to see how she was doing. None of them had attempted to step in and help and most had returned to their apartments during the altercation. She knew the walls were pretty thin, and especially for the downstairs neighbors, it would have been impossible for them to not have heard anything.
She’d already told her mom about everything she could recollect about that night when she’d returned home after filing the report. Still her mother worried incessantly about her, and it didn’t help that their neighbors continuously brought it up to her. She knew all of the drama made her mother extra wary about Samuel, considering Adrien was his brother.
“Hello, Mom,” Camila said, taking off her shoes at the door, and replacing them with a pair of soft slippers, then walked further into the room.
“How was your date?” her mom asked nonchalantly.
“It was fine,” she said, sitting down on the couch. “I finally told him that you wanted to meet him and his sister. Are you glad?”
Her mom pursed her lips, and Camila didn’t think she looked glad even a little, when she was the one that had asked for this in the first place.
“What did you have in mind?”
“I was thinking, since it would be the four of us, we could just go to their place. It would feel more comfortable for Brianna as well. You don’t mind, do you?”
There was a short silence.
“I wouldn’t say that I exactly mind…”
Camila sighed. “Mom, I understand your feelings, believe me, but there is absolutely no reason to be wary of Samuel. Besides, when Adrien came here to cause trouble, how do you think he got taken in by the police? Samuel showed up to save me, going up against his own brother, even when Adrien had a gun, just to protect me. Samuel is a good man.”
That seemed to make her waver. Camila kept her mouth shut and waited for her mom to make up her mind. If she interfered too much, her mom might just say no to be stubborn. Sure enough, after a long moment, she sighed.
“Fine,” she said. “I’ll go over to your boyfriend’s place for dinner. When is this going to be?”
“We didn’t get that far, since I still needed you to agree, but sometime this week? Also, Brianna’s pretty shy, so I can't be sure she’ll actually be joining us for dinner, but I’ll try talking to her.”
“She’s mute, right?”
“Uh, not really. She can talk, she just doesn’t because of some trauma from when she was little. According to Samuel, she was just fine one day, and the next, she didn’t want to talk to anyone, and ran away from everyone, even him after it happened.” Camila sighed. “He didn’t realize in the beginning, but he’s figured out that Adrien must have had something to do with it. He has no proof, and his parents never shared what happened to her. However, every time he clarified to Brianna that he was Samuel and not Adrien, she would be calmer around him. It was a lot harder to distinguish between them when they were younger, probably because their individual traits hadn't properly matured yet, but now, Brianna can tell the difference just by looking at them.”
“What a complicated family,” her mom muttered.
Camila sighed. “I think it’s more like ‘how unfortunate for family’ having Adrien around. Who knows how he ended up the way he did, but there is no excuse for any of it. And he doesn’t even bother to give any.”
Maybe, if something had been caught earlier, he might have gotten psychological help a lot sooner, but she’d already noticed how smart he was at manipulating people. Was he just as smart when he was a child? She didn’t doubt it, because people didn’t just change so suddenly, which meant he must have been the way he was for a really long time.
“That boy is bad news,” her mom muttered. “A lot worse than your father.”
At the mention of her father, Camila stilled, and the atmosphere between them suddenly got tense. They rarely ever talked about her father, if at all. Camila could just barely remember what the man looked like, not so much because of time but because she had tried hard to suppress his image in her mind.
Her father hadn't been a good person. Maybe, there was a time when he was, because her strong, independent mother wouldn’t have gotten together with him in the first place, but as far as she could remember, her parents had argued regularly.
Sometimes, their fights grew physical. And at some point, all their fights ended up that way.
“You have to be very careful, Camila,” her mom said, turning to look at her with a grim expression. “Men can often be other than what they pretend to be. I was taken in by your father the same way, and this Adrien doesn’t sound much different from what he is. He’s dangerous, Camila. I always hoped you would never meet a man like that and have to go through what I went through, which is why I’m always after you to be careful when you meet guys.”
Camila bit down on her lip. She couldn’t say she regretted not listening to her mother this time. Going to Samuel’s place might have been the catalyst to her whole association with Adrien, but it also led to her having Samuel and Brianna in her life, and that was something she didn’t think she would ever forget.
“This time is going to be different,” Camila said with confidence.
“How can you be so sure?” her mom countered.
“Because I’m not alone,” she pointed out. “For one, I have you. For another, I have Samuel, and even if it’s his own brother, he won’t let him hurt me. No one will die in this.”
Her mom looked unsure, but Camila couldn’t blame her. After all, in her last fight with Camila’s father, her mom had killed him.
At that time, Camilla had been hiding in her room under the bed, like she always did when her parents went at it. Her mom consistently pushed her into her room, even when she didn’t like it, to protect her from the arguments. Camila couldn’t say what happened, but she’d been under the bed for a long time, eyes squeezed closed, hands over her ears. She hadn't moved even when things went silent, because she usually waited until her mom came for her before she moved.
She had waited, even as she heard sirens, until some cops had walked into the bedroom to get her out. She refused to move from under the bed, though, calling for her mom, until the police just had to release her mom for a moment to get Camila out. In the end, she had to watch as her mother was handcuffed and put in a police car.
Her mom was sent to prison, and she stayed with their neighbors for a bit, before being carted from foster home to foster home for a few years, until her mom came out and they reunited.
Of course, people talked. She was known as the daughter of a murderer, because people conveniently forgot about her abusive father. She’d known her mom killed him to protect them both. Her mom had always shielded her, or she didn’t doubt she would have gotten hit by her father a few times, too. She couldn’t fault her for any of it.
So when her mom came out of prison during her college years, when she was mostly independent from any foster home, she took her mom in so they could leave together, and they had stayed that way ever since. Prison had changed her a lot, but she was still the strong, caring mother Camila remembered, if a bit more paranoid and broody on occasions.
“If it really does come to that,” her mom said. “I’ll take care of it.”
Camila frowned at that phrasing. “What do you mean, ‘you’ll take care of it’?”
“Exactly what it means. What happened to your father… was completely intentional, Camila, because I knew he wanted to hurt you. Even if I went to jail for it, I at least made sure you were looked after. I wouldn’t mind going another stretch if it means protecting my baby girl again.”
Camila bit down on her lip, blinking back tears. Yeah. Her mom had changed from what she’d been like before she’d gone to prison— drinking too much in particular was one of the things she did now that was so different—but in other ways she was still the same as always.
Seeing Camila’s expression, her mom sighed and gently patted her head, stroking her hair.
“Honey, I’ve already been there. If this really goes too far, I don’t mind doing it again to save you. I’m old, and I have the experience, if I go to prison again, I won’t mind. Besides, I wouldn’t be able to stand by as you’re hurt, so it’s really saving the both of us.”
“It’s fine, Mom,” she managed to say through the sudden itchiness in her throat, trying to reassure her mom. “Things will be fine this time, okay? I’m being careful, and Samuel and the cops are being careful. There’s no reason for you to go to prison because of me. Everything will be fine.”
The words were as much for her mom as for herself, and she leaned over until she rested her head on her mom’s shoulder. Her mom ran gentle fingers through her hair as they both looked at the TV, but neither of them saw what was on it.
Chapter Six
Samuel came to pick them up, alone this time. He was dressed up, and it was a little different from how he was when it was just the two of them, or them and Brianna. Camila herself was in a pretty dress. They were both trying to impress her mom so she would give them her blessings.
Camila knew it wouldn’t be so easy, though. Samuel’s clothes were nice, but understated. The car looked really expen
sive, though, there was no way to hide that. Her mom wasn’t interested in his wealth. If anything, she was more worried about it.
“Good evening, Ms. Blake,” Samuel said, voice polite.
Camila turned to her mom, who just hummed and nodded back at him, eyeing him like she expected him to attack her daughter in front of her. Camila wanted to do a face palm, but held herself back.
Samuel was a perfect gentleman, opening the rear door for both of them to sit in the back together, and still her mom wasn’t moved.
This is going to be impossible, she lamented to herself.
Her gaze met with Samuel’s in the rearview mirror, and she felt her nervousness calm down a bit. She sighed and leaned back in the chair, glancing at her mom every so often.
She wanted her mom’s opinion on this, and she hoped it was positive. But Camila wanted to be in a relationship with Samuel, and with or without her mom being okay with it, she didn’t think she would just give it up. So she mostly wanted her mom to accept this so they wouldn’t have a fight between them over it.
The drive back to Samuel’s place was silent, and Camila almost felt suffocated by it on several occasions. She didn’t know what to say, and neither of the two people in the car with her were naturally talkative people. They were probably used to the silence, but she wasn’t. It wasn’t just awkward, it almost felt painful. She would glance at Samuel, at the mirror, and only after he met her eyes would she calm down before it started getting to her again.
Finally, they made it to Samuel’s place, and she let out a sigh of relief as he opened the door for her and her mom, then led the way inside.
“Food should be waiting for us inside. Do either of you have any allergies I should know of beforehand? I’m sorry, I forgot to ask.” There was the slightest crinkle on Samuel’s forehead that told Camila this was something he’d only just realized and was really worried about.
Tangled Obsession: Book 2 of the Obsession Trilogy Page 3
