Page 52 of Challenge
“Forgot what?”
“My sister was coming over.”
“Vi? Oh God. Should I hide?” My eyes are wide with worry. I don’t want his sister to know what’s going on, no matter how psychic his family is. His brother last night was one thing. We were in a public setting. But his sister seeing me here is a whole different thing. I’m still his doctor for the next three weeks. I’m going to be operating on him. This is bad. This is very, very bad.
“No. You’re not going to hide,” he says as he rustles in his dresser for some clothes.
“Cam, I wouldn’t feel right operating on you if your sister knows we’ve—”
“Had the best sex of your life?” he finishes.
“Yes!”
“She’s not going to care. What she would care about is me hiding a girl in my closet. My sister would castrate me. And she’ll know. There’s no use hiding it.”
“This is awful,” I groan. His family is everywhere. How do people live like this? “What should I do?”
“Put some clothes on to start.”
He tosses me a pair of compression tights and a T-shirt, reminding me of our tryst in the hospital bathroom. Gosh, that feels like ages ago now.
“Hey,” Vi’s voice calls from the entry.
I yank the shirt down over my head and bounce on one foot as I shove my legs through the leggings. “She has her own key?”
He shrugs as if it’s totally normal for his family to waltz in and out of his flat.
“Where are you—Oh!” Vi comes face-to-face with Camden as he tries to exit his room to stop her before she walks in. He puts his hand on the doorframe, blocking her view of me, but she drops her head and catches me adjusting the band on the leggings. “Well, hello to the both of you. I didn’t realise you had company, Cam.”
“Hello, Vi.” I give a self-conscious wave, wishing like hell my hair wasn’t still wet from our shower. I wince when I see Cam’s is still wet as well.
“Hiya, Dr. Porter.” She grins lasciviously. “Nice to see you again.”
“I was just—”
“Dr. Porter was just making a house call.” Camden turns away from the door and strides over to stand beside me. “My knee needed tending to.”
Vi looks at the both of us skeptically as he throws a casual arm around me. “I’m sure that’s not the only thing.” She cuts Cam a glare. Her tone isn’t chastising, it’s laughing. It’s laughing a lot. She’s taking the piss as if this is something she sees from her brother on a regular basis.
This is far too embarrassing. I don’t want her to look at me as if I’m one of those girls, even though I am. I know this isn’t going anywhere…and I’m okay with that. But I’m not okay with nice people like Vi getting the wrong impression of me, as if I’m a slut who bangs her patients on a regular basis. I need to leave before I do something stupid like mentally justify my Penis List…out loud.
“I’ll be going now so you two can have your…erm…family time.” I shimmy out from under Camden’s arm and wince at the fact that I’m going to have to put my heels on with these tights.
“Do you like pancakes?” Vi asks as I grab my shoes up off the floor and move past her. “They are Swedish so they’re better than regular pancakes. They’re like a French Crepe and a pancake had a Swedish baby.”
I pause in the doorway, staring back at Vi with Camden standing behind her. He looks as if he’s trying to hide a smirk and failing miserably. I think I die a little. “I’d really rather not.”
“Hush. You must be hungry.”
Camden surprises the both of us by barking out a laugh. “Oh yes, she worked up an appetite all right.”
My eyes turn to saucers just as Vi twirls on her heel and punches Camden right in the abs, catching him completely off guard. He topples over, squatting on the floor and gasping for air. “Fuck, Vi. What happened to your fists of ineffectual fury?”
She crosses her arms and smiles proudly. “This baby gives me super powers. One of which includes smelling an arsehole when I see one.” She looks back to me. “Come on, Dr. Porter. It’s lunch time and you’re getting pancakes.”
After insisting she call me Indie, we make our way down the hall and into the kitchen. It’s the first time I realised that I’ve only seen Cam’s bedroom, the hallway, and the bathroom since I arrived here last night. It’s a standard bachelor pad. Not much for décor, but the furniture all looks really comfortable.
Camden says he has a call to make, so I sit at the kitchen island and watch Vi busy herself by making coffee and food.
