“Are you mad at me?”
“No. Why would I be mad?”
“I don’t know, maybe your clipped voice and short answers made me think that.”
“Don’t worry about my voice. It’s just fine.”
Now he definitely sounded pissed. But so was I if my raised voice was to be believed.
“Glad you’re so thoughtful. Now can I hang up or is there a point to your call?”
“Nope. None whatsoever. Have a great night.”
The last part was hissed, like he didn’t want to say it.
“I will,” I shot back and hung up. Moody asshole.
I stared at my screen, confused. Why did he call when he didn’t sound like he wanted to talk to me in the first place?
I was still staring at my screen when a message came through from Cassie.
Cassie: “Outside near the Tiki bar.”
Me: “OMW”
I went around the side and spotted my friend straight away. She was laughing, one hand braced on the table, the other on what I assumed was her latest fling’s shoulder. She spotted me mid-laugh and shrieked. Definitely in her second stage for the night. It should be known that Cassie had stages of inebriation that had to be closely watched. You never wanted her to get to the last stage because once she was passed out, there was no way to wake her. She once fell asleep on my couch and I was so paranoid that she’d throw up and choke on her vomit that I watched her sleep. Sounds creepier than it was. It was also four hours of my life I would never get back.
“Emmi,” she yelled and waved again, as if I hadn’t seen and heard her the first time.
She hugged me tight once I made it to the table.
“This is Callum.” She introduced the huge man next to her. He had muscles on his muscles and was almost as big as Gunner. Almost. Very different to her normal type of skinny nerd. She beamed at me and pointed to a guy across from us. “And this is Landon.”
I held out my hand and he took it.
“Pleasure to meet you. Cassie didn’t mention how gorgeous you are,” he said.
I didn’t reply at first, just stared at him. His hair was dirty blond, a bit longer on top, shaved on the sides. The tattoos on his muscled upper arms were half covered by his t-shirt, fitting him to perfection. If anyone could be called gorgeous, it was him.
“Hi. Nice to meet you too,” I finally said. Always original. That was me. He pulled out the chair next to him, patting the seat while shooting me a grin.
“Can I get you a drink?” he asked.
“Mmh, sure. I’ll have a beer.”
He nodded and winked at me. Winked. “Be right back.”
Cassie pulled me off to the side and whisper-yelled at me. “What do you think?”
“About who? Callum or Landon?”
“Landon of course. Isn’t he gorgeous? And he lives in Humptulips.”
Cassie tried winking at me but failed miserably. Humptulips was just a few towns over and home to the world’s best cake shop, Sweet Dreams. Everyone knew how much I loved to go there and did so frequently. Not sure why I needed to know this information about her date’s friend though. If she was trying to set me up with someone, she was failing miserably. Because this woman was closed for business.
Landon returned a few minutes later with our drinks. He managed to get to the bar and back in record time and I had to admit I was impressed. He handed me the cool drink, and we clinked glasses.
“To a great night,” he said.
