I sit on the wall surrounding The Loop and quickly give her a play-by-play. I don’t specify what he said about her, and she doesn’t ask. Her giddiness is palpable by the time I finish the story.
“That is…amazing,” Lexi sighs out. “It might even beat the time I threw an iced coffee at Vivi’s ex.”
Calypso’s eyes are twinkling as she looks at me and says, “Yeah, it’s definitely up there.”
There’s muffled talking on the other end but all I catch is Lexi stepping away to help a customer. She quickly says she’ll see me later and leaves the call.
When it’s just Calypso and me, she’s still staring at me like I hang the stars in the sky.
Chuckling, I grin at her. “You know, I thought you’d be angry. Not turned on.”
“Why would I ever be angry about this?” she asks, amused. “I’ve never had someone defend my honor before.”
Smirking, I say, “Oh, so now you don’t mind if I ‘protect you or whatever’?” I’m teasing her about the first night we met, when I stepped in when that creep wouldn’t leave.
She twists her lips to the side. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. You did that just as much for yourself as you did it for me.”
Maybe a small part of it was for me—though I expect there to be a problem later because of it. The majority of it was for the strawberry blonde goddess whose spell I’ve fallen under.
“He deserved it.” No point arguing about that fact. “And a woman named Sally was my witness that nothing happened.”
Calypso chuckles. “I worked at the tourist shop during the summers; I know Sally and her broom well.”
My lips lift, starting to appreciate how predictable this town can be.
“Are you still meeting Lucas for lunch?” she asks.
“Yeah, I just stopped to text you but he’s waiting for me.”
“Go enjoy lunch, and I’ll see you after work?” She frames it as a question, like I wouldn’t crawl across the entire state to get to her.
“I’ll be there to pick you and the cakes up,” I say with a wink. “Bye, honey.”
She doesn’t say anything, just smiling and waving before the screen goes black.
Hoping the rest of the day goes by quickly, I find Lucas and tell him about my run-in over tacos. He agrees that things with Stefan feel too calm, like something is coming, but neither of us can predict what.
I’ll be here for Calypso when the time comes.
I’ve been on edge since running into Stefan earlier. The satisfaction of seeing him almost crumble to the ground is still pumping through me, but so is something darker—more possessive.
All afternoon, Calypso was all I could think about. Never in a million years would she go back to Stefan—I know that for a fact. It drives me up a fucking wall to know he ever had her to begin with. That a piece of shit like him was ever lucky enough to touch her at all.
If it were up to me, no one else would take up a second of her time ever again. I feel like a fucking caveman, which has never happened before.
Calypso, mine. Bed, mine. House, mine. Mine, mine, mine.
Jesus fucking Christ.
I enter Brighter Daze, waving at Gavin and some of the employees I’ve gotten to know, but make a beeline straight to the back. The door swings open, banging on the metal counter. Calypso is expecting me, but she looks up in surprise at the loud noise.
“Hey, bab—”
I cut her off when I grab her cheeks and lay a fat, sloppy kiss on her lips. She scrunches her nose and pushes me away with her elbow, laughing. She has a piping bag in hand and is currently finishing Jo’s birthday cake.
I insisted Calypso didn’t need to make one, but she wouldn’t hear it. My sister’s going to love it.
“Hi, honey,” I say, still holding her mouth to mine. “How was your day?”
