Chasing Eden Ch. 04-06

"Oh, so you're Eddie? I'll get the team down here immediately."

"Thank you, Ma'am."

***

When Camilla got back to her room, she noticed her phone vibrating. Before she could even drop her things, she answered the call. "Hello?"

"Hey, Camilla! It's Sasha. How are you this fine evening?"

"I'm good," the talent agent answered before collapsing onto the bed with all her items. "I have some stuff to report to you today. I'll get it sent to you ASAP."

"Great," the woman responded, sounding content. "But I actually have something else for you to do. Greg sent out a disclosure to several of the top employees and you were just included in that email."

"Okay, I'll sign it right now."

"Here's the thing; it needs to be acknowledged on a laptop. If not, the system doesn't recognize the E-Sign for some reason."

"Got it."

"Hey and one more thing, Camilla," Sasha said, sounding more serious. "Peter still hasn't signed his. He says he doesn't have his laptop. Do you know if that's true?"

Scratching her head, Camilla responded, "I don't think I've seen it."

"I don't mean to ask you to pry or anything, but can you go check up on him? Don't tell him about this conversation. I wouldn't want him to think we are spying on him. It's just that this disclosure is really important, and he can be rebellious at times."

Looking around frantically, the Latina answered, "Sure... I'll go knock on his door..."

After ending the call, she walked down the hallway and knocked on Peter's door. Even though she was sweating from how nervous she was, she knew this was really important.

"Peter?" she called out, knocking over and over. Unfortunately, no matter how many times she knocked, there was never an answer from the other side. I guess I'll try again later, she told herself before finally walking away.

***

Later that evening, Camilla decided to give it one more try before calling it a night. This time, when she approached Peter's room, she noticed his door was cracked open. Thinking he had returned, she knocked gently while calling out his name.

Once again, there was no response from the other side. After knocking and calling his name louder, she decided to push the door open so she could get a sense of if he was really there or not.

This laptop sounds really important to them, she told herself, finding justification for peeking into the room. Maybe if I just slowly look around the corner, I can spot it and leave before being seen.

As Camilla pushed the door all the way open, she didn't spot a laptop, but there was something sparkly on the table right in front of her that grabbed her attention. Without really thinking about her actions, she took a few steps in and approached the table. When she was closer, she noticed it was a thin gold chain, and attached to it was a ring.

Observing the ring closer, her eyes got big as she realized, This is a wedding ring... Now completely fixated on the ring, Camilla bent down, taking an even closer look at it. But... does this mean...?

"What are you doing in here?" a voice asked from behind, causing Camilla to jump straight up from the shock.

As she looked back, she was almost relieved it wasn't Peter. But now she had to stumble her way through an explanation as she noticed a frown on Eddie's face. "Hey! I was, uh... I was looking for Peter..."

"Well, he's obviously not in here," the man answered with the most serious look she had seen from him. "I think he just went down to the bar, but you really shouldn't be in his room without his permission."

Overcome with concern, Camilla stared at Eddie with her frantic eyes. "Eddie... this is a wedding ring... Is Peter married?"

After taking a deep breath, the serious expression on Eddie's face disappeared. Looking down at his feet, he answered, "He used to be married..."

Taking a step towards him, the confused woman asked, "Why didn't he ever tell me that? And what do you mean he used to be? Are they divorced?"

Eddie took another deep breath and stared at his feet just a bit longer. "Umm... they didn't get a divorce," he answered, as his voice went quiet. "Unfortunately, his wife passed away years ago..."

As Camilla's eyes went big and she was suddenly frozen in her own body, Eddie continued to explain, "That's his ring; she was buried with hers'. He just wears it on a necklace so it could stay hidden... He doesn't really like to talk about it..."

Suddenly, Camilla thought back to the first time she met Eddie, and all the comments she made about Peter during that time. "Oh my God..." she said with a frantic voice as she was overcome with guilt. "That's what you were trying to explain to me... when I made those terrible comments about Peter not having a wife... He didn't want you to tell me..."

"That comment was off base, but you had no idea, Miss Camilla."

"Oh, my fucking God... I should go apologize to him! Oh, fuck..."

Shaking his head, Eddie quickly explained, "Like I said, he doesn't like talking about it. He understands that you didn't know. He doesn't need an apology."

As more memories started to flood into the guilt-ridden woman's mind, she could no longer stand still. Squirming around uncomfortably, she explained, "No... I said a bunch of other really fucked up stuff before I even met you! Oh my God... I even told him that he doesn't understand what I'm going through, losing the woman I loved. Oh my God, I'm so fucking stupid!"

Slowly, the look of assurance was replaced by one of confusion as Eddie stared at the frantic woman. "I... I don't mean to be rude, but... even if his wife hadn't passed away... why would you say something like that to him?"

Bending over from the physical and emotional pain of her own embarrassing statements, the teary-eyed woman bellowed out, "I was such an emotional wreck... I didn't have the self-awareness to think about how my words could affect others... Some kind of tragedy has been written on his face this entire time and I've been too stupid to not notice!"

As she ran off, completely lost in her own emotions and guilt, Eddie was left standing there with a look of compassion on his face. I wish things didn't have to be this way, he thought to himself, watching the blonde hurry down the hallway.

When Camilla got downstairs, she frantically searched every which way until she ran into the man she was looking for. Even though Peter was exactly where she thought he would be, it still felt like an eternity before she found him.

There he sat, looking just as he always did. There was an uncaring look on his face, and he was sipping a glass of whiskey with nothing but ice in it.

"Peter!" she squealed, standing in front of his table as his soulless eyes looked at her. "I was looking for you... I needed to talk to you! Look... I'm sorry about..."

"Eddie told you, didn't he?" Peter interrupted, looking unamused by her frantic behavior. Then, with another sip of his class, he looked away before explaining, "We don't need to talk about this and I don't want an apology."

"Peter... my comments were so insensitive... I just want to apologize because..."

"You didn't know," he interrupted once again, keeping the same stale face he always had. "So I don't care for an apology."

With tears in her eyes, the blonde woman felt an even bigger splash of guilt as she saw the same expression she had always known over the man's face. "I'm so sorry... I didn't know!"

"I didn't want you to know. "

Twiddling her fingers, the broken woman asked, "I know you don't want to talk about it, but do you mind telling me how she passed away?"

Letting out a sigh, Peter made eye contact before explaining, "She died in a car accident three years ago... I was supposed to take care of something one evening, but I ended up staying late at work to finish a project. She tried to run the errand for me and her car went off the road and crashed... If I had just left work on time like I was supposed to... she wouldn't have died."

"Peter, it's not your fault that..."

"Everyone keeps saying that," the man interrupted, taking his eyes away from Camilla. "Everyone keeps saying I shouldn't blame myself, but the truth is... if I had just said no to that project like I should have in the first place... she'd still be alive... I'm tired of people trying to convince me otherwise."

As tears rolled down Camilla's cheeks, and she struggled to contain herself in front of the man who had suffered such a horrific incident compared to her own heartbreaking moment, she pleaded, "I'm so sorry that happened to you! Is there anything I can do to make up for the way I treated you?"

"I don't care about the way you treated me. However, I do want to know why Eddie decided to tell you."

"It's not his fault... I was looking for you, and your door was cracked open, so I kind of pushed it open to see if you were in there... That's when I noticed the ring on the table right by the door.... I'm sorry..."

"Just do me a favor," Peter said, shaking his head in disappointment. "Don't go into my room anymore. I didn't mean to leave the door cracked open. I stepped out to get some ice, but then I got a phone call so I walked down here to talk in privacy. That doesn't give you the right to step into my room."

"Yes, Sir..." Camilla responded, looking down like she was ashamed of herself. "I won't do it again."

"Now if you don't mind, I'd like to be alone," the man said, still not making eye-contact with his coworker.

Though she knew her presence wasn't appreciated, the guilt inside Camilla forced her to ask for more details about the traumatic situation. Taking a step back, she asked, "I know you don't want to talk about it... but can you tell me her name?"

Shrugging his shoulders, the cold man asked, "What does it even matter? Can't you just respect that I don't want to talk about it?"

Feeling completely devastated, Camilla just looked down at her feet before making one final request. "Can I at least give you a hug?"

Peter looked up at her with an even more offended face than he had ever shown before. "Why? So you can feel better? That's not going to make me feel better, so just leave it alone."

"Right... I'm sorry..."

"Miss Camilla... just do me a favor and pretend you never found out about this. The only other thing I ask is that you not go into my room anymore."

"Yes, Sir," the woman responded before walking away with her head down and her shoulders slumped. "I'll see you tomorrow, Peter."

"Good night, Miss Camilla," the man responded, watching until she finally disappeared down the hallway. He then finished his drink before staring off into the distance. Then a moment passed by, and his glass suddenly shattered at the clutch of his fist.

As the bartender came rushing over, Peter pulled out his wallet and laid some money on the table. "Sorry about that," he said, shaking his head. "Here is some money for the trouble."

The bartender quickly explained, "Sir, I don't care about the money! You're bleeding profusely!"

"That's okay, Ma'am," Peter replied, looking down at the blood coming from his hand. Holding it up to his face, he whispered, "This feels right..."

To be continued...

***

Chapter 6

"Yeah... I guess I'm just having a hard time talking to him ever since he told me about his wife," Camilla admitted, sitting in the same conference room where she first met Agent Parks.

Showing little emotion, the FBI agent asked, "Has he been acting any different since telling you about his wife?"

"He seems the same to me. The only thing of note is that he doesn't want to talk about her. Out of pure guilt, I asked what she was like... I guess I just wanted to know, since Peter doesn't seem to like anyone."

"I bet she was great," the agent said with a smile. But then, focusing more on the woman in front of him, he asked, "How are you handling everything, by the way? This must be so confusing for you. I really wish I could provide more clarity, but I just can't right now."

"Me? I guess I'm okay," Camilla answered, looking down. "I just feel like a shitty person after finding out about his wife. It makes my problems look so meaningless, and yet, I was mad at the world for not caring enough."

"Don't be so hard on yourself, Miss Camilla. We could go on for days, comparing this person's problems with that person's problems. Eventually, we would get to the point where only one person is allowed to complain because they have it the worst. That's not how the world works. Everyone handles problems differently. Just because someone suffered more than you doesn't mean you don't have the right to feel emotion."

Slowly, the frown on the blonde woman's face started to disappear. Looking up at the man, her eyes grew teary before she expressed, "Thank you... That was really nice..."

"I don't want to push you out of your comfort zone," the agent explained, smiling at the young woman. "However, I don't think you should be discouraged from talking to him because of his situation. Who knows? He could secretly like your company."

Letting out a little laugh, Camilla rolled her eyes and responded, "I doubt that..."

"Well, Eddie seems to talk to him a lot, and you never see him getting pushed away. Peter may not be pleasant, but I don't think that makes him impossible to talk to."

"You know what? I agree... It's not like I ever see myself being friends with him or anything, but I think he's a really good supervisor... Maybe not the kind I've enjoyed having in the past, but probably what I needed. I hate that I'm admitting this to you, but even though I pretend I don't like him, I secretly want his approval for some reason..."

"That makes a lot of sense, Miss Camilla... I'll be around for another few days, and I don't think I really need anything else from you. But if anything big comes up, I'll find you."

With an encouraging smile, the blonde got up to her feet before shaking hands with the man. "It was really nice to meet you," she said before turning towards the door. "If you ever need anything else from me, just let me know. Bye, Agent Parks."

The agent waved goodbye as he watched the door shut behind her. Closing his eyes, he listened quietly, making sure the footsteps were getting further. Then, looking behind at a door that led to another room, he said, "You can come in now."

Quietly, Eddie opened the door and entered. "It sounded like you had a lovely meeting with Miss Camilla."

"She's quite pleasant. Were you able to hear everything clearly?"

"Yes," Eddie answered, staring at the door that Camilla exited just moments before. "I just wish we didn't have to play these silly games. Sometimes it feels like I'm playing chess against several opponents at the same time. It gets tough not knowing who's talking to who while keeping track of where I'm at on each of the boards. It's enough to drive a man crazy."

Letting out a chuckle, Kenny explained, "As we all know, this is just the way it has to be. The rules of the game are pretty clear, even if we haven't discussed them before."

"I understand," Eddie replied with the serious look. "And the game just keeps heating up. As a matter of fact, my phone is being tracked now too... Speaking of that, I need to call Miss Camilla."

"I think you're right about her. I never thought that would be an option for us, but now it might be our best option."

"So you saw it too?" Eddie asked before calling his coworker. Then, as she answered, he switched back to his more pleasant voice, explaining, "Hey, Miss Camilla! Peter and I are getting breakfast downstairs this morning. Would you care to join us so I can go over some of the documents with you?"

***

As Camilla took a seat at the table, Peter sipped on his drink while watching her carefully. Like usual, the blonde wasn't acknowledged by her coworker. However, encouraged by her recent conversation with Agent Parks, she attempted to push a conversation with him.

"Is that all you're having for breakfast?" she asked, smiling as she pointed at his glass. "I guess I shouldn't be surprised since I haven't seen you eat or drink anything other than alcohol."

"Can I help you with something?" the man asked, taking another sip of his whiskey.

"I'm just joining you and Eddie for breakfast. Didn't he tell you?"

"He didn't, actually..."

Suddenly, Eddie arrived at the table with a big smile on his face. "Sorry about that. Had to finish up some work from yesterday. How are you guys?"

Peter just stared at Eddie and answered, "I'm having breakfast, apparently", before sipping on his drink.

Scooting her seat closer, Camilla asked Eddie, "So, what paperwork did you want to go over with me?"

"I just wanted to go over all the contracts you recommended. But you know what? Since we only have a few days left, I think we should just enjoy breakfast. I mean, when have three of us had a chance to spend some time together?"

"I guess we haven't," Camilla answered, thinking back to how secluded she had been from the others. "But I like the idea of spending time with you guys. I mean, if that's okay... with Peter..."

The mysterious man looked at both his coworkers before explaining, "This project was designed so we would have a lot of individual time. Our focus should be on efficiency, not enjoyment."

With a sudden sense of guilt, Camilla nodded her head at Peter and let her emotions flow. "I'm still sorry about what happened the other day. Maybe that's why you don't want to spend time with me. I shouldn't have put you in a position that forced you to explain what happened to your wife."

"It has nothing to do with that at all. Nothing has changed since we arrived. This is a business trip and nothing more. "

"Well, if there's anything I can do to make things better..."

"I think I recall asking you to just pretend it never happened," Peter interrupted, giving the blonde a glare. Then, getting up to his feet, he finished his drink before saying, "Now if you'll excuse me, I have work to do."

"I should get going too," the defeated woman said, shaking her head as she got up from her seat. "Thanks for the invite, Eddie. I think I'll just grab something on the way to my meetings."

Although not walking together, Peter and Camilla went the same direction. She followed behind him at a slow pace, hoping not to bother him anymore than she already had.

As they were walking by, one of the hotel attendees was sitting at the piano that was inside the bar. Just as Peter was about to pass him, the man started to play a classical piece, but was having trouble remembering the keys.

Stopping for a moment, Peter stared at the man as he struggled with his right hand. Surprisingly, the mysterious man walked over to the piano before quickly showing the stranger what he was doing wrong.

The man smiled and showed his gratitude, but Peter just walked off without saying anything. With her mouth now wide open, Camilla chased him down before asking, "What was that?!"

Peter stared at Camilla for a second before turning and walking away. "It was nothing..." However, as he left the blonde woman behind him, a crazed stare came over his face as he reached the elevators. His eyes were huge and his pupils were dilated. Veins covered his forehead until he finally changed back to his normal demeanor.

***

After grabbing her things from her room, Camilla came downstairs, still shaking her head after the discouraging conversation she had with Peter. However, her eyes lit up once they came across a woman standing by the exit.

"I just can't get rid of you, can I?" the blonde joked, smiling as she approached the raven-haired woman.

Leah gave her the comforting smile she needed in that moment before answering, "You definitely can't. I thought I made that clear by now."