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Raleigh’s obvious confusion grows.
“You said you’re n-not together,” he stammers, looking between West and me.
“We’re not,” says West.
“Not now, not ever,” I say, doing my best to glare him to death.
“You’re not denying it,” West says to me, arching a brow and referring to his announcement that I want Raleigh.
“Of course I’m not denying it,” I say. I’m so furious with him I’m shaking. “Let’s just clear the air, shall we? I want you,” I say to Raleigh. “And you,” I say, glaring at West. “I want you both. Get it now?”
A beat too late, my brain catches up and I cover my mouth to keep anything else from spilling out.
7
Raleigh
I don’t know where to look, so I look at West. It seems safer than not keeping an eye on him, because I just met these two and I have no idea if Callahan’s pronouncement that she wants both of us is going to result in me getting punched.
I haven’t been punched since the fifth grade. Frankly, I’d like to keep it that way.
West’s eyebrows are sky high, his gaze bouncing between us.
“You’re not seriously surprised,” Callahan says.
“I’m surprised you said it out loud,” says West.
“I should go,” I say, half rising out of my seat. West lays a hand on my forearm to stop me and every hair on my body stands on end.
What the hell is going on?
I tear my focus from his hand up to his face.
“Don’t go,” he says, with less aggression than I’ve seen from him all night. So I sit and try to ignore the warmth of his hand when he lets me go.
Callahan takes a long pull from her drink. She’s not drunk, not by a long shot. Neither of them are. I’m sober, which is a shame because this conversation would be a lot easier to have after a few drinks. Or twelve.
“How old are you, Raleigh?” West asks out of the blue.
“Twenty-five in January.”
Callahan smiles. “Older than I’d have guessed,” she says.
“I get that a lot.”
“I can imagine,” says West.
“Why do you ask?”
“Why do you think?” he says. Callahan sucks in a little breath, barely audible across the table. I feel, rather than see, West tense up beside me.
I’m getting all kinds of messages here, from both him and her, and any other day of the week I’d thank them for the drink and for filming my impromptu performance onstage and I’d excuse myself the hell out of this mess.
But she’s gorgeous, and while he’s scary and intimidating and ought to be keeping me away from the girl he’s obviously into, all that banked aggression just seems to make the night sharper, bringing every moment into sharper focus. It’s exactly the edge I wanted to find getting out of my parents’ house and finding my own life again—or finding it for the first time. It’s pushing a boundary I didn’t even know I had, and I’m too intrigued to walk away just yet.
I don’t know how the evening ends, but I’m not ready for it to be over yet.
Callahan’s bright blue eyes and pale coloring stand in dramatic contrast to the burnished bronze tone of West’s skin. His features are strong, a little rough, traditionally masculine where hers are delicate. Handsome, I guess you’d say.
