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“Same,” Calli laughs.
“What did he do”
“Hugged me.” My eyes widen as her words hit me. “He was… really sweet. Supportive. Everything I hoped he would be.”
“Maybe last weekend helped knock some sense into him, because it would have been a very different story if we made it here. He was like a caged bull.”
“I hate that you were hurt, Bri. But I also think you’re right. He needed that wake-up call. In more ways than one.”
I nod, unable to find any words to respond with. She’s right, of course. Nico was on a one-way track to a serious collision. I just wish… Hell, I don’t even know what I wish.
“I should let you shower,” Calli eventually says. “And then we’re all going to enjoy ourselves and try not to worry about what the boys are out there doing.”
Our eyes collide and I look deep into her blue ones, searching for the answer to all my questions.
“It’s happening tonight, isn’t it?”
All it takes is one single nod for the world to fall from beneath me.
Thoughts of Nico finally getting his chance at revenge. It fills me with as much relief as it does fear.
“Everything will be fine,” Calli says again, but this time, there isn’t as much certainty in her voice as when she said it previously. She’s nervous too. Terrified, actually. She’s already come too close to losing Daemon; I can’t imagine that level of fear will ever leave her. Hell, she’ll feel it every time he leaves this place to work. But unlike me right now, she isn’t letting it rule her decisions. Instead, she’s embraced it and jumped right into what she really wants.
If only it was as easy as she makes it look.
“By the end of the weekend, it’ll all be over, and normal life will resume,” I assure her, trying to be as strong as she is for me.
A laugh falls from her lips, making my brow pucker.
“Normal?” she asks. “I thought you, of all people, would understand that nothing is ever normal around here.”
“Well, as normal as you ever experience. You and Daemon could walk out of the building together as a couple. He could take you out on a date.”
“Daemon on a date?” she blurts. “How hard did you hit your head, Bri?”
“Oh shush, that boy loves you something fierce, he would do anything for you.”
Her eyes hold mine for a beat before she pushes to her feet with a soft smile playing on her face.
“He’s not the only one,” she whispers before excusing herself from my room and leaving my head spinning again.
* * *
By the time I emerge from the guest room freshly showered and in my pyjamas, it’s obvious from the way Stella, Emmie, and Jodie are grinding it up to a classic Usher song that they’re more than a few drinks in. I might have been somewhat hiding, but I didn’t realise I was gone for that long.
“Bri, come dance with us,” Jodie calls, a happy, lazy smile playing on her lips.
If I were anyone else, I would probably miss the concern darkening her eyes, but I don’t. I see it, and I know it’s one of the reasons she pushed me earlier. Every single woman in this room is terrified for their men right now. I guess that explains how fast the alcohol is flowing.
I help myself to two of the shots lined up on the coffee table and down them without a second thought before my face twists up in disgust.
“What the fuck is that? Lighter fluid?”
“Why do you think I’m avoiding it like the plague?” Calli asks with a twinkle of mischief in her eyes.
“It’s good shit. Emmie special.”
“If this is what you all drink in Lovell, then I can understand why most people down there are half brain-dead.”
