I don’t even need to think twice, I know exactly what his threat means.
A part of me so desperately wants to flip him off, tell him to choke on bleach while I continue to ignore his instructions, but the real me knows it isn’t worth the ruin of the life I’ve built, even if it’s temporary and not really mine at all.
“You good, Garcia?” Jessie’s voice pulls me from my mental spiral. I’m quick to pull on a fake smile, his concern easing slightly as he stands in the doorway of the café.
“Yeah, nothing I can’t handle.” I pull firmly on my perfected mask of cool indifference, shoving my cell back into my pocket and heading back inside. “Let’s get through some of these edits. Let’s talk about Holly.” I pat his chest on the way past, knowing that his book is partly inspired by his own life, and thisHollyI am almost certain is derived from his ex, Jenny. Though he denies it, the resounding sigh and tense expression of his face when I suggest it tells me I’m right.
“Do we have to?”
“Only if you want your baby to shine.” After that, he follows and slumps into the chair opposite me.
“Fine.”
CHAPTER 16
i’ve been kidnapped…willingly
Caleb
I’m convinced all women are lying cheats.
“You are such a sore loser.”
“You know, I’ve heard that more times this month than I should have. I amnota sore loser. You’re cheating.”
“It’sMario Kart, I don’t even think it’s possible to cheat at this game.” Riley’s shoulder playfully nudges mine from where she is perched on Lucas’s couch next to me.
“Caleb, you can’t even beat a girl?”
“Shut up, Damen, this doesn’t involve you,” I scold, not letting my focus leave Rainbow Road.
“Also, rude. I beat you the other day,” Riley throws back at him.
I didn’t even come here for this. I came here to go on a run with Lucas to burn through some excessive energy, given my texts to Rosie for some playtime have been evaded rather skillfully, I had alotof pent-up energy. And, with Noah now back in Chicago, I didn’t have a running buddy.
But Lucas wasn’t here, Riley was playing with Damen’s PlayStation, and I’m not one to turn down an opportunity to show my game skills, I just didn’t expect it to go this way.
“Ha!Thank you! So nice!” Riley spits with a horrible Italian accent as she throws down her controller, skipping a victory lap around the couch. “I win, you lose, I win, you lose, I win?—”
“I didn’t realize you were also achild.” I throw a cushion at her, sending her tumbling to the ground, and Damen chokes on his laugh.
“What the—Caleb?”
“Hey, man.” I wave solemnly at Lucas as he saunters into the apartment.
“What are you—Riley, why are you on the ground?”
When I look over at her, she has decided to take up residence in the spot where I tripped her with the cushion, lying on her back, her legs in the air while playing on her phone.
“Huh? Oh, Caleb lost Mario Kart and I tripped on my victory lap. Or rather, he tripped me because he’s a sore loser and can’t handle that I’m great and he’s not and he got all grumpy about it and attacked me. Anyway, it’s cozy on the rug and then I got a notification, so I opened my phone and then you walked in the door and that’s why I’m here.” Riley spits her verbal vomit on one exhausting breath. Damen and Lucas just sigh to accentuate their familiarity with Riley’s lengthy sentences, but I catch the twitch of Lucas’s smile before he shuts it down and turns his attention to me.
“’Sup?”
“Oh, right, well I came to see if you wanted to go for a run. Had some time and energy to kill.” I place the controller on the couch and follow him into the kitchen, leaving Damen and Riley, who are now bickering like teenagers over their Mario Kart records.
“Sorry, man, I have a heap of shit to do for tonight. A few of the security guards called in, so I need to get the shifts covered and check stock. Addy’s meeting me at the bar in half an hour.” I nod, absently bumping knuckles on his kitchen counter, my eyes stuck on a bottle of wine Lucas has on his shelf above the sink. And all that pent-up energy I’ve been avoiding comes rushing to the surface.
That’s the same wine Rosie was drinking that one Friday a couple weeks ago.
