Kismet

Chapter 4

Davon

I text Marcus as I pull up to our building.

*Hey you still up*

*Yea man what's up?*

*I just left Cami. I wanted to know if Luci was still there I wanted to talk to her about something*

*Yea she's still here. Are you almost here?*

*Yea I'm in the parking garage*

*Ok see you when you get up here*

I head towards the elevator and punch in the code for our floor. When I get there I stop at my place first to drop off my keys. I walk across the hall to Marcus's and I walk in. "Hey I'm here" I holler.

"Hey man you want a drink?" Marcus offers from the kitchen.

"Nah I'm good thanks. Where's Luci at?" I ask him.

"Right here" she says as she walks into the room.

"Hey sorry for bothering you two so late but I wanted to maybe ask you something about Cami" I tell her.

"Ok. Is everything ok? Is she hurt or anything?" She ask starting to panic.

"No no no nothing like that she's fine. I was just wondering about something" I say quickly to calm her down.

"Oh ok" she says relived.

I proceed to tell her about our night and how she was acting really nervous. I told her about how she was worried about me being upset about not having s*x. She had a look on her face that told me she knew why she would react that way.

"So can you tell me what happened that made her that way?" I ask.

"Well it's not really my place to tell you" she says scratching her neck "it would be something you would need to talk to her about"

"Yea I know" I say "I just wanted to maybe know what to say or how to act. I don't want her to have to worry when it comes to us. You know?"

"Yea I know what you mean" she says sadly

"I just wanted to know if you could tell me things to maybe avoid saying. I don't ever want to see that look in her eyes again" I tell her sadly "it hurt me seeing her so sad"

"Wooow" she says. When I look over at her she has a huge grin on her face with her eyebrows rasied.

"What?" I ask confused

"You really like her don't you?" She ask

"Yea I do. I don't know what it is about her I just can't seem to get her off of my mind. I've thought about her constantly since we first met" I tell her honestly.

"Well I guess I can maybe tell you just so you don't freak when she tells you herself" she says "but you have to swear you won't say anything till she's ready to tell you"

"I promise not to say anything till she tells me herself" I respond "I just want her to be happy and I would do anything to make that happen.

"Ok so when she was 15 she lost her parents. It was really hard on her and she was in a very dark place for a long time. She finally starting coming around when she met this boy when she was 17. His name was Jason and he seemed like the perfect guy" her eyes darken a little at the mention of his name. I notice she looks angry for a minute. "He was really nice and always seemed to say the exact perfect thing. They were friends for about a year before they started dating. She was really happy when he first asked her out. I hadn't seen her that happy since before her parents passed." She gets a sad look in her eyes as she continues the story. "I don't know exactly how long it was before he started to change but at some point he started to hit her" as soon as she said that I was livid. One thing I am strongly against is abuse of any kind. I clenched my hands into fist. "She never let on that anything was wrong. She hid it very very well. They were together for two years before we even knew what was happening." She stops for a minute and takes a ragged breath I see tears starting to form in her eyes. "It was really late when I got a phone call from the hospital. They said that a Camila Rodriguez had been found unconscious in a hotel room. They had found her ID and that's how they knew who she was. I was listed as her emergency contact so they called me." She stops for a minute as the tears start to fall. Marcus grabs her a tissue to dry her eyes. He hands me one as well and that's when I noticed that I had a tear running down my cheek. "When I got to the hospital I was frantic. I had no idea what was going on and nobody would even tell me if she was ok. After about 20 minutes of yelling at people I was finally allowed in her room. When I walked in I lost it. She was laying there in the bed with a tube down her throat but that wasn't the worst part. She was covered in bruises. Her lip was swollen and was split. She had stitches on her forehead. There was a huge bruise on her leg." She had to stop for a moment to calm down and get her breathing evened out. I wiped my eyes as a few more stray tears escaped. "He apparently had got them a hotel room and when she showed up a little late he thought she was cheating on him. So he beat the hell out of her. She said that after he left she felt defeated. She said that it had been going on for awhile and that was it for her. She said she felt unlovable and that she would never find someone. She had a prescription for sleeping medicine she had been taking since her parents passed away. She said she got comfortable on the bed and took a handful. She was ready to be done with life." She paused for a minute wiping her eyes again. "Thankfully someone was in the hallway and had heard Jason beating her. They had called the cops and when the cops arrived they went to her room. When she didn't answer the had the door unlocked and found her on the bed. They immediately called 911 and starting performing CPR. They were able to get her to the hospital on time to have her stomach pumped. She was going to live. With the witness account of what was heard and the fact that clearly she had been abused they had enough to arrest Jason on. He's been in jail since but Cam was never the same. She hasn't been with anyone since him. That was four years ago. I worry that she'll never open herself up to being with someone again." When she finishes the story I feel so many different emotions.

I sit there for a minute trying to sort through all of my emotions. I'm sad because nobody deserves to go through that. I'm so angry at that boy for hurting her they way he did. I want to find him and remove him from this life. I thank Luci for telling me all this and get up to head home.

I have so much on my mind I don't think I'll ever be able to fall asleep. I just lay there with a million things running through my mind. One thing I know for sure is that I will make it my mission to make Cami feel as amazing and special as she is. I never want her to be afraid or sad ever. I fall asleep several hours later with thoughts of Cami running through my head.

Camila

I wake up the next day to Luc tickling my nose. I swat her hand away and turn over. Not sure why I thought that would work but I had to try. She climbs over me and starts tickling my nose again. I groaned and rolled into my back.

"Ugh what do you want?" I grumbled sleepily.

"You need to wake up it's late" she said.

"No it's not I'm still tired" I moaned.

"Babes it's already noon" she says.

I jolt upright "WHAT!!?" I screeched. There was no way it was that late. I fumbled for my phone to check and sure enough it was 12:05. "damn it" I muttered.

"You were dead to the world Cam" she laughed "I had been trying to wake you up for like ten minutes"

"Ugh I missed my morning class" I groaned.

"Yea I know I already messaged your professor and said we had a family emergency come up" she said " She said to just meet with her when you can and she'll get you the notes from class today"

"What?" I asked. "I can't believe you lied to her. I am so not ok with that"

"Oh you'll be fine. It was only this one time" she rolled her eyes "You've not missed a single class in four years. What's gonna happen from you missing one class?"

"Yea I guess" I mumbled. I quickly get up to shower I have another class in and hour. As I come out of the shower I find Luc in the kitchen with food. "You cooked?"

"Don't sound so surprised" she said feigning offense then she started laughing. "No I stopped and grabbed something on my way home".

"So did you have a nice time last night?" I asked while sitting down to eat.

"Yea it was great" she said avoiding eye contact.

"Luc what happened?" I asked getting worried. She never avoids eye contact. Not unless she thinks what she has to say will upset me.

"Nothing" she said a bit to quickly.

"Luc I know you better than anyone in the whole wide world" she nodded her head in agreeance "So I know when you're not telling me something."

"Ugh fine. Last night after dropping you off Davon stopped by Marcus's" she said.

"Ok why wouldn't you want to tell me that?" I asked confused " I mean they are best friends, business partners and neighbors. Why would I care if he stopped by?"

"Well it's not so much that he stopped by that you would care about. It's why he stopped by" she said looking down.

"And why exactly did he stop by?" I asked raising my eyebrows.

"Well he was worried about you. He said something about how you were acting nervous and stuff and he just wanted to make sure he didn't do anything to upset you" she said.

"Luc you didn't tell him about my past did you?" I ask raising my voice slightly.

"Not really just that you had a bad experience and that he should just take things slowly" she said quickly.

"Ok good. I'm just not ready for him to know." I sighed in relief. It's not that I'm ashamed of my past. It has made me who I am. It's just I'm not ready for him to know. The only people who know are Luc, her parents and Martha. I just don't feel comfortable with him knowing when I barely even know him. Maybe one day we'll get there but it's not today.

I sat quietly as I finished eating debating on if I wanted to go to class or not. I mean of course I'll go but sometimes I have little debates with myself about it. Once I'm done I grab my stuff and head out the door.

Class was boring as per usual. After I head to my favorite place. The diner my parents used to take me too. I love coming here I always feel so close with them when I'm here. I head to our usual table and Martha comes over to take my order.

"Hey sweetie why you look so down today" I love Martha she is the sweetest person I know. She reminds me of my mom. Thinking of my mom always makes me tear up a little.

"Just missing mom and dad" I tell her. I wish they were still here I need to talk to them. I never would have been with Jason if they were still here. Which means I wouldn't have gone through what I went through.

"Awww sweetie" Martha sits down next to me and puts her arm around my shoulder. "I'm here if you want to talk. I know it's not that same thing but I'm always here to listen."

"It's just I'm scared" I say with a sigh.

"What's got you scared sweetie?" She ask with worry in her eyes.

"Well you know that guy I was with last night" she nods her head "well I really like him and I think he likes me but what if it ends the same way it did with Jason" my voice gets small when I say his name. It's been four years and he's in jail but I'm still scared of him.

"Well sweetie you'll never know if you don't give it a try" she says "and beside he seems like a really nice boy"

"Yea I know and I feel like he's different but it's still a worry" I say sadly. Will I always be this way? Shutting people out worried about being hurt? I hate Jason so much for what he did to me.

"I know sweetie. Unfortunately it will always be in the back of you mind. Will this one be the same as the last one" she says "but you can't let that stop you from living your life. You'll never know if you just shut everyone out before even giving them a chance".

I hug Martha tightly. I knew I would find what I needed here. She takes my order and then walks to the counter. I decide to text Davon to see what he's doing. I wish I didn't have to work tonight so I could see him but oh well.

*Hey how are you doing today*

I wait patiently for a reply knowing he's at work and probably busy. I start eating my salad as I wait. A few minutes later my phone vibrates on the table. I look and see it's a text from Davon.

*Not much just heading out for a early dinner or a late lunch depends on how you look at it*

*Late lunch for sure. It's only 3 lol*

*Well then late lunch then. What are you up to*

*Having a late lunch. I have to work later but I was starving after my class. So late lite lunch it is*

*Oh yeah? Where at maybe I can join you*

*I'm at the diner we went to last night*

As soon as I hit send I hear the door bell chime I look up and see Davon walk in. I stare at him making sure I'm seeing what I'm seeing.

He is looking down at his phone and then stops in his tracks. He looks up and starts looking around until he spots me. He gets a huge smile on his face and walks over to me.

"Well this is a coincidence" he says as he sits down. He has a weird look in his eyes as he looks at me. I'm staring at him trying to place the look when is hits me.

"You know don't you?" I ask him.

"Know what?" He asked confused.

"About me Luc told you didn't she said she only told you a little bit but I can tell from the way you're looking at me you know everything" I say my anger beginning to rise.

"Please don't be mad. I was worried about you after last night. She didn't want to tell me but I wouldn't leave her alone till she did" he says earnestly "please don't be mad I'm sorry"

"It wasn't her story to tell though" I say getting angrier. "I didn't want you knowing because I didn't want you looking at me the way you are now"

He starts scratching the back of his neck looking nervous. We sit in silence for a few minutes. Martha comes over to take his order and after she leaves he looks at me with saddened eyes

"I really am sorry please don't be mad at your friend. She just worries about you. She was only trying to help" he says.

"I know" I groan. "it's just I don't usually tell people because I know they'll treat me differently if they know"

"Well how about I promise not to treat you any different if you promise not to be mad at Luci" he says with a smile.

God his smile is beautiful. I don't realize I'm staring untill I hear him clear his throat. "ok fine I promise"

We sit and talk for awhile before I have to leave to get ready for work. He walks me to my car and leans in to kiss me. It started off slow then it became so intense. I had to pull away to slow my breathing down.

"I'll talk to you later and I can't wait to see you Wednesday night" he says as I get in my car.

"Me either bye" I say before closing my door. The whole drive home my mind is on that kiss. God I want him bad.