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Yeah. She didn’t look like this ten years ago. Callahan Hale grew up fucking luscious.
Fuck off, West. You’re not noticing her now, either. Get your head in the game.
She makes a beeline straight for Finn, not looking my way at all. As it should be, damn it. I don’t need her looking at me like she did the other night at Finn’s, all wide-eyed and a little stunned and flushed, like maybe she liked what she saw.
I know what I look like. I have no trouble finding lovers, men or women. But thinking about Callahan and lovers in the same train of thought is a non-starter, so I pin my eyes to my drink and pray this night ends quickly.
“Hey, stranger,” says a voice I don’t recognize. A tall, prepossessing man leans over the bar with his hand outstretched. If I didn’t recognize him from the engagement photos set up all over the place, the bright red GROOM button on the front of his shirt would have given him away.
“I’m West,” I say, shaking his hand. “Finn’s plus-one. Congratulations on your wedding.”
“Alex,” he says. “And thanks. Are you coming to the ceremony too?”
I shake my head. “I won’t be in your way for that. Just promised Finn here I’d help out tonight.”
I keep my gaze level with his, wondering if this is going to be a problem for him. I don’t do drama.
“Hell with that,” says Alex, surprising me a little. “Come to the wedding. If you’re Finn’s date, you have to.”
“He’s not my date, asshole,” says Finn, coming up and snapping Alex with a towel before swapping out his empty glass for a full one; whiskey, by the smell of it. “He’s my best friend. Other best friend,” Finn says, nodding at me.
If that doesn’t put me right back in my place, nothing else will. Ignoring Callahan’s approach, I stay focused on Finn and Alex.
They’d been friends as children, Finn told me. Next-door neighbors. Alex and his family had actually known Finn’s parents, and had known Finn before the accident.
I suspect Alex Weaver and I had befriended two very different people.
Still, from everything I’d heard, I liked Alex. Hard not to like a man who’d somehow convinced not one, but two highly attractive people to marry him. And maybe I had a soft spot for the bi card.
Not that I can tell him that. And just like that, the brief lift in my mood is gone and the old, familiar anger at my family is right back in place. In Chicago, I can be myself—out, open, and on my own. But back here, nobody knows. For the next twelve months, I’ll have to keep it that way. Then I can go back to my real life.
I catch sight of Callahan sneaking around the corner toward the balcony doors and excuse myself, leaving Finn and his friend to their party. I’m not a fan of those balconies being unattended with a bunch of inebriated wedding party guests, but this isn’t my show. That doesn’t mean Callahan should be out there by herself though.
You have no idea if she’s alone out there, jackass. You just want an excuse to talk to her.
Ignoring the little voice in my head, I find the balcony doors.
The balcony is wide, wrapping around the building on both sides, but there’s no one at the railing. The last of the sunlight is beginning to fade and already I can see stars popping out over the horizon. The breeze off the water is perfect, and jaded as I felt walking out here, I have to admit it’s a beautiful night.
“West.”
I turn around and there’s Callahan, back braced against the wall.
“What are you doing hiding out here?” I ask her. Moonlight glints off her hair and my throat goes tight. Her blue eyes are so dark, they’re almost black.
Callahan shrugs.
“Taking in the sights?” I ask, making it a tease. “Enjoying the ocean air?”
“Something like that,” she says.
She’s pressed up against the wall as though the waves might somehow reach over the balcony and snatch her away.
She did that at her parents’ funeral, too—stood at the back of the room until the absolute last moment when the family were invited to say their last goodbyes. Finn had to help her.
Even as a teenager, it struck me how much strength that must have taken for both of them. Him to be there for his sister, and her for even standing upright. For all the problems I have with my family now, and had even back then, I can only imagine that kind of pain would have put me on my knees.
“Should be quite a party,” I say, letting it go for now. Maybe she’s just tense from the trip out here.
