TWENTY-ONE
Elle
One night. That was all it had taken for me to cross the line intoreallyhaving feelings for Cal. Sure, a lot had happened. A shit ton had happened, but I was eighty percent in love with Cal Holt. The way he defended me, the care afterward, dressing me and cleaning my wounds. The fact heread to me.The guy who didn’t like reading, had read to me for an hour. His voice had gone hoarse, and I knew he’d been tired, but he’d done it anyway.
Then when I had a nightmare and he held me and took my mind off it?
Then the breakfast after?
Fucking shit. I had it bad.
I showered quickly, keeping my hair up in a pony, and dressed in old jeans and a Central State tank top. Today was going to be rough. Not just because my emotions for Cal were confusing and he didn’t seem to have a handle on it either. But because of the bar and everything that happened. That had been fucked up. Really, really fucked up. I could’ve been seriouslyhurt—hell, any one of us could’ve been. The fact no one had more than some bruises and chipped teeth was incredible.
Todd probably had a concussion, but that fucker deserved it. I shivered, replaying the crazed look in his eyes. Drunk guys without consequences were the worst humans of all time.
I made as little noise as possible before leaving a note on the door.Something came up, be back later!Daniella and Gabe would flip out when they learned what happened, but I wasn’t ready yet. I had enough mental things to sort through before talking to them.
Cal…the bar…the fight…my feelings…hisfeelings. Yeah, before telling them, I needed to process everything on my own.
Cleaning relaxed me, and maybe getting the bar back in shape would be closure for last night. I locked my unit and almost jumped at seeing Cal’s tall frame leaning outside my door. “Jesus.”
“Sorry.” He looked it, his face all pale with bags under his eyes. “I waited for you and tried to keep distance to not scare you.”
“Some people text.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.” His mouth almost curved, and for a few seconds, everything returned to normal. Elle and Cal, buddies.
Then memories of what happened all came back. “Guess we should head there?”
He nodded.
We walked in a comfortable silence. I was stunned at the scene in front of the bar. There were at least ten people. Gregg and Big Ben, and a bunch of other regulars who were there last night too. “What’s this?” I asked.
“Huh.” Cal walked faster, and I kept pace. Gregg saw us and smiled.
“Glad you’re both alright. Last night was a bitch, huh?”
“What are you doing here?” I asked, waving as they turned to look at us.
“Helping clean, of course. Charlie’s place has been a second home for years. I’m not letting him deal with this alone.”
“Plus, you shouldn’t be the ones cleaning up when they were the fuckers that started it. How are you feeling, Sunshine?” Big Ben asked, his eyes moving toward the bruise on my arm.
My eyes welled up at the display of friendship. “Better now.”
“Good. Now, let us in. Albert put a post on social media, so we got a good crowd.”
Cal smiled, a real one, and held out his hand. “You’re a good man. All of you are.”
“Don’t let Cindy hear you say that. She’s here too.”
Cindy waved, her cigarette hanging from her fingers. I couldn’t believe it. This was incredible. All these people. Here to help Charlie, us. My heart fucking soared. I’d wanted to find my own place at college, and despite my family and Gabe thinking the bar wasn’t it, it was. People who had each other’s backs no matter what. My eyes prickled. “Cal, let’s get a plan going, and we can divide and conquer! Oh, this is amazing. I thought this would take days.”
“Charlie’s a loyal motherfucker.” Cal laughed as I unlocked the door. The smell hit me first. Then Cal muttered, “Shit.”
“Horrible.”
I flicked on the lights and winced at the scene. Glass, beer, tables, shoes? It was a hot ass mess and smelled even worse. “Give me two minutes, then we start.”
