AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“That’s because the license is in my name only,” I say absently, pushing open the door to the first place I see that looks like it might sell coffee. “It’s okay, Lucy. We’ll be home in a couple of days. I’ll handle it then.”
“Will you?” she asks, sharp enough that I stop and look at my phone, like she can somehow see my reaction. “I’m sorry,” she says immediately, her regret clear even through the tiny speaker. I bring the phone back up to my ear. “I’m really sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”
“It’s okay,” I say. “Is there anything else?”
“Mrs. Hanson called again to cancel. Or ‘reschedule.’”
“That’s the third time in four weeks,” I say. My heart just about stops when I recognize two figures standing at the end of the counter. “Don’t worry, Lucy. I’ll take care of everything when we get back. Thanks for letting me know.”
I hang up and give the teenager behind the counter my order, making my way through the midday crowd to where my brother and West are ogling the pastry display case.
“You went home with somebody,” Finn is saying as he elbows West. West looks like he’s about to puke, kind of sick and furious. Finn heard us last night? Oh, God.
“It’s a fling, not some happy-ever-after romance. One-night stands are called that for a reason—they don’t last. And they sure as hell don’t matter.”
My stomach bottoms out.
“And you say I’m a pig,” says my brother.
“You are a pig,” I agree.
Finn smiles widely, coming over to hug me. West tenses up, but he doesn’t turn around right away. Instead, he goes to pick up their order first, following a moment later as Finn leads us to a vacant table nearby.
“Morning, Callahan,” he says gruffly.
“Afternoon, Weston,” I say. “I hear you had a long night.”
West winces, but Finn’s too busy laughing at him to notice.
“This guy,” Finn starts. He’s cut off—praise the Lord, Jesus, and all the saints—by the ringing of his cell phone. “Oh, hell, that’s Joelle. More wedding emergencies. Excuse me.” Finn heads outdoors as he picks up the call.
I sip my coffee, staring at the wall somewhere left of West’s head. It’s hard not to look at him. He’s so handsome. Even as tired and worn out as he must be, he still looks like a walking ad for GQ—all city polish on a short holiday from the fast lane. Then I remember him as he had been last night, hands fisted at his sides, his eyes locked on my face as I stood naked before him, close enough to touch. Close enough to kiss. Again, I remember how empty the room felt after he left Raleigh and me, which made no sense at all.
Remembering all that, avoiding his gaze isn’t hard at all.
“Callie,” he says, his voice quiet. There’s enough noise in the shop that we’re unlikely to be heard back here, but better to be safe.
“What?”
West tries again, shifting his chair closer to the table. Our knees bump and touch as he moves, as though some gravitational force between us keeps pulling our bodies together, forcing us to collide.
Maybe that’s all this is. Just another mysterious force in the universe. Total chaos, things bumping into each other at random. Nothing more than that.
“Callahan,” he says. West is much closer than he was when he sat down, leaning over to rest his forearms on the table. I’m immediately reminded of last night, when he leaned in to quiz Raleigh about his age.
“You left.”
West huffs out a breath.
“I had to,” he says. “It should never have happened in the first place. You know that. You know.”
West’s always been wound a little tight, which I never quite understood. He comes from a good family, and unless there’s some big hairy secret Finn never told me about, there’s nothing traumatic or awful in West’s past.
Then again, I guess that’s not the kind of thing you go talking about in front of your best friend’s little sister. God, this is humiliating.
“I know you didn’t have to kiss me last night,” I say, watching Finn through the shop window as he laughs at something. “I know you didn’t have to take Raleigh and me back to your room. I know you sure as hell didn’t have to participate.”
I look at West then and he closes his eyes, and I know he’s as haunted by the memories of what we all did together as I am.
