I had issues. Right here, in a dingy bar with loud music and way too many damn people. It smelled like sweat and I wanted to punch everyone who got in my way. I blamed it on being tired, not the fact that Callie drew the stares of all the guys in the place. I clenched my beer tighter in my hand and watched Callie dance around with Greta without a care in the world. I refused to ask her to stop because she’d kill me, but I refused to take my eyes off her. She stole the show.
“Dude, don’t blow a gasket, looking all grumpy like that,” Aaron slurred at me, already feeling the shots he’d made everyone take. Okay, we’d willingly taken them, but he’d snuck a few more. Fine by me. I wanted to be coherent enough to watch out for Callie and try to convince her to let me stay the night.Again.
“I’m not grumpy.” Aaron lifted his eyebrows way too high at the lack of humor in my response. I took a sip of beer and checked back on Callie. “Where did your date, err, dates go?”
“Fuck if I know. Bathroom probably. They were a little…what’s the word?” He frowned at Jeff, who also had a good buzz going on.
“Annoying?” Jeff replied with a drunken smile.
“No. No. Not that.”
“Catty?”
“No, save that for catty Callie. I’d put my money on her if they fought. Hands down. She has legs for days so…”
“Watch it.” I narrowed my eyes at him and felt better when his face blanched. “I’d put my money on her, too.”
He laughed, the tension gone. “Ah, shit. Here they come.” The two girls he’d brought had ended up being exactly what Jeff said—annoying. They laughed way too much to be real, they ended up touching one of us somewhere without us knowing it and they seemed to have an agenda. I hated people with agendas. Aaron licked his lips. “Hi, beautifuls.”
I shook my head at Aaron and met Tanner’s knowing stare. If anyone appeared uncomfortable, it’d be Tanner. We shared a small smile and he nodded to the bar. I followed, taking one look back at Callie. Fuck, the feeling in my chest got damn near unbearable. The music pounded, lights flashing and instead of enjoying every second of it I impatiently waited until we could leave. This sucked.
“I don’t want Aaron fucking up his future,” Tanner deadpanned when he’d ordered the drinks. “Veronica has her claws into him and he’s sleeping with literally everything. I’m fucking worried.”
“Shit.” I ran my hand down my face. If Veronica had anything on him…it would be bad as hell. “Are we sure he’s taking all these girls back? I mean, is he just being stupid Aaron who flirts with everything with tits?”
“I thought so, too. But…he’s acting erratic. Drinking more than normal, bringing home girls every night. He’s shown up late to workouts, twice. When he comes, he has a lingering smell of beer or something. I sound like a fucking dad because I enjoy partying and women too but—”
“Not like that.” I set my beer down and unease crept into my stomach. “Do you think coach knows?”
“Hell. I don’t know. He doesn’t miss much.”
“We need to talk to him.”What a shitty friend I am. I should’ve known or seen this.
“Yeah. Tonight is not the night for that.”
“No shit, Sherlock.” He grinned, then it disappeared. “I’m going to try and bring it up tomorrow, casually, but shit might hit the fan if he gets in one of his defensive rants.”
“Yeah. I’ll make sure to be at the house. Jeff, too.”
He clapped me on the back and we got two more beers before heading back to our table. Aaron and Jeff were laughing at something and the girls were gone, thank god.
“There you are. Better check that shit out.” Aaron pointed to the dance floor and I spun around to see Callie hugging some guy. Her arms were around his neck, her gorgeous smile aimed at him, whose face I wanted to break. He had his hand on her lower back, looking happy as hell. Jealousy’s ugly, green and unfamiliar face reared before me. I had no hold on my reaction and let it drive me. I set my beer on the table and stalked toward them. The guy saw me first. He paled and jumped back from her. She faced me, narrowed her scary brown eyes and pressed her lips together in a flat line. I waited for her to say something, and when she didn’t, I studied her, feeling stupid as fuck.
“H-hey, Z-man,” the guy addressed me, nervously. Good. I hope I scared him. “I’m Radcliffe. Callie and I both have special projects. Uh, it’s a pretty big deal.” He held out his hand, a little shakily, and I hesitated. I had two choices here—admit I’d made an ass of myself, or go with it. I refused to concede anything to the schmuck.
“Congrats on that. That’s a huge deal.” I shook his hand and felt better knowing his palm were sweating a little bit.
“I came out to celebrate with friends, like Callie here. I’ll get back to them. See you later, Callie.” He gave her a small smile and walked away. I stared at the spot he disappeared to while Callie shot daggers at me. Before I’d worked out how to apologize, she’d walked away.
I followed her, not knowing where she was going. “Cal, hold up.”
“No. I’m pissed at you. Let me calm down.” She headed down a narrow hallway that led outside to the beer garden. I hated that I’d made her mad. I’d never cared before and now all the fucks I’d never given were coming back in full force. Funny how karma works.
“Callie. Let me explain.” I tried to grab her hand but she yanked it away. My stomach twisted in the worst way. Her eyes were like I’d never seen them before. They were shooting fire at me and I had no idea how to make it right. “I don’t want to walk away with you mad at me.”
“Well, you should’ve thought of that before you acted like a total dick to a friend of mine. Afriend, Zade. I will have them, guy or girl. You can’t control that.” She put her hands on her narrow hips and despite the terrible timing, she turned me on.
“I’m sorry.” I meant it. I stared deep into her eyes and took a small step toward her. She didn’t push me away. I took that as a good sign. The weight in my stomach eased a little. “This is new for me, okay? I saw you hugging him and I flipped out.”
