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“I ran into Blake and we had some talking we needed to do,” she explains, grinning.
Kallie stares at me again with daggers and I smile.
“Some call it talking, some call it shacking up,” I say. London thinks I’m funny and laughs, Kallie not so much. Her mouth drops open and she looks between us. “Relax, I’m kidding. We had some things that needed attention.” I wink and she shakes her head. London is still laughing, and I love that she isn’t disgusted by my sense of humor.
“Are you done being an asshole?” Kallie asks.
I put my finger on my mouth and glance up, as if I’m considering it. I hear her huff and I turn to London, giving her a wink. She winks back and part of me wishes we’d known each other for a while so I could take her into my room again, but this time have her screaming my name. I’d make sure she isn’t drunk and would remember.
“Blake, did you hear one thing I said?”
Oops. I snap out of my thoughts of having London screaming and focus on Kallie. “Shit, what?”
She rolls her eyes. “I said, does next weekend work for the shoot for London’s book?”
Hell, even if it didn’t, I’d make it work. “If it’s Saturday, I’m free. I have another shoot on Sunday. Does that work?” She glances at London, who agrees that it’s good with her.
“All right, I’ll get in touch with you both and Ivy sometime tomorrow and iron out the details.”
“Sounds good.” I peek over at London. She’s staring at the fire pit. “London, you want to go over to the fire?”
She glances at me before turning to Kallie and Jax. “Oh, umm, sure.” She goes to stand up but stops. “Kallie, have you seen Shannon?”
I look at Jax and he gives me a little nod, and I know just from that, that Brody is most definitely having sex, or at the very least making out with a woman for the first time in years.
“Brody and Shannon went back to his place, actually. She told me to tell you that she would have Brody bring her home and for you to remember who you are,” Jax says.
I stare at London with my eyebrows drawn in confusion. Remember who she is? What the hell does that mean?
She lets out a nervous laugh and stands up. “She loves to make me look stupid.”
I stand up with her and grin at Jax. “We all have a friend like that.” We all laugh, well, until Jax ends up hitting me in the arm on the way to the fire pit. “Jax, I swear to God, one day I’
m going to nut punch you so hard that Kallie is going to pray you can have kids.”
The four of us sit by the fire, and I’ll admit that for the first time I’m grateful there aren’t any chicks over here. Last thing I need is one of them coming and sitting on my lap. Not the impression I want to make with London. I don’t need her thinking right off the bat that I’m a mut…man slut.
Jax gets the fire burning much bigger and we all just start talking. London, to my surprise, starts it. “So, are you all from California?” We all tell her that we are, and Jax explains how we met in high school and have been friends since. “Wow, that’s amazing that you guys have known each other that long. What a great story.” Spoken like a true author.
“Are you from California?”
She looks at me and I see something in her eyes. I don’t know her well, so I can’t say what it is, but it disappears as quickly as it came. “No, I’m from South Carolina. My family is still there. I came to California to further my writing career.”
Kallie starts asking questions before I even get a chance. “Wow, so you came out here with no family or friends? Wasn’t it lonely?”
London pulls her legs under her and stares at the fire. “Actually, no, it wasn’t. It was a little scary since I only had one hundred dollars to my name, but I was excited to see what California was all about. I love it here. I’ll never go back to the east coast.”
I’ve only been to the east coast a handful of times, but I have to agree, I like it better here too. “How long have you been out here?”
She peeks at me and gives me a small smile. “Five years now.”
Damn, how the hell could I never have run into her before?
For the next few hours, the four of us talk about California, our friends, and our careers. Kallie and Jax talk about their brothers, but the only thing London has to say on the subject is she is an only child. I’m an only child too, but I’ve been so lucky to have Jax that I never feel like I am.
“So where did you go to college?” I ask.
She glances at all of us and stands up. “I went to Florida. Listen, thank you so much for a fun night, but I need to get home in case Shannon gets there soon. I have the only key.”
