"Fine," Cami mumbled.
She forced herself to stay quiet, though she kept stealing glances at Claire.
It was a funny dynamic. Cami was gorgeous, had a fiery temper, barely had any female friends, and usually hung out with a crew of guys.
Yet, she was completely captivated by Claire.
Cami chalked it up to an attraction to alpha energy.
She despised overly delicate, dramatic girls. But a woman as terrifyingly competent as Claire? That commanded pure respect.
By the time the meal ended, Cami hadn't spoken another word to Claire, but she was practically bursting at the seams.
The second the check was paid, she immediately asked for Claire's number.
"Can I just call you Claire?"
"Lunch is on me next time."
"What do you do for fun? We should definitely hang out."
She secretly wanted to invite Claire to the racetrack, but a quick glance at the imposing man named Dane told her that wouldn't fly.
Wisely, Cami kept that part to herself.
"I like to read," Claire replied, a response that completely derailed Cami's momentum.
Cami stared. It was the first time she had met someone who actually read for fun.
"What kind of books?" she asked hopefully. *Maybe romance novels? We could bond over that.*
"Clinical anatomy."
"Oh, and *Advanced Physiology*, *Fundamentals of Holistic Medicine*..." Every single title Claire dropped sounded like an absolute nightmare to Cami. She knew it. She had absolutely zero in common with this beautiful genius.
"Don't you like extreme sports too?" Cami winked, trying to steer the conversation back to safe territory.
Bungee jumping, skydiving-she was down for any of it.
Even if racing was off the table, they could find something.
Was this gorgeous young woman really going to let an older guy dictate her life?
Dane didn't seem like family. Why was he acting like her warden?
"Do I?" Claire laughed softly. "I dabble occasionally. It helps me decompress."
Even that mild admission made Dane frown.
But his expression smoothed out quickly.
Claire was busy with university
courses, the workload was het
and she loved studying. She
probably wouldn't have time for
extreme stunts anyway.
"Well, the next time you need to decompress, you have to invite me!" Cami insisted.
"Sure," Claire agreed politely.
Whether or not she actually would was another story.
But Cami was thrilled just to get a yes. The details could be worked out later.
If they actually hit the track, she'd definitely drag Mina Rhodes along!
Once the dinner wrapped, Cami tactfully excused herself. Any longer and she'd just be overstaying her welcome.
She already felt like a massive third wheel.
No one tried to stop her from leaving.
Tilda watched her go and turned to
Dane and the others. "She heard net
was getting dinner with Van and insisted on tagging along
"I told her family about her illegal street racing a while back, and they completely cut off her credit cards. She's probably just sticking to us as payback
That made sense.
Dane didn't comment. He didn't mind the extra company, since it wasn't supposed to
be a private date anyway.
The only issue was the girl's sheer inability to read a room.
Claire had been dead on her feet, and Cami had kept talking her ear off. That was what had rubbed Dane the wrong way.
"So, what really happened with that student?" Tilda finally asked. With Cami around, she hadn't wanted to pry.
She assumed there was some massive cover-up.
"Nothing happened," Van muttered, his expression darkening at the mention of the incident.
Camp Blackwood had airtight security protocols. Who could have predicted a student would do something so unbelievably stupid?
Stuffing his pockets with stolen rations and hiding out in a tree? What was going through the kid's head?
Did he think he was some kind of acrobat? That climbing trees would fix his problems?
"The kid literally dug his own grave," Claire chimed in, unable to hold back a sigh.