“Is this Penny?”
It was a woman. “Yes. Who is this?”
“Leila Rylander. We met at the hockey game.”
“Oh, yes.” Penny turned around in circles. “Can I help you?”
“Yes,” she said very seriously. “Yes, you can. Can you meet me at Glacier, that bar on 5th Street down from Callen’s apartment? He needs your help.”
“Of course. Is he all right?”
“He will be. Just hurry.”
Penny hung up with Leila and ran to her room to get clothes. Her hair was still wet when she left, but she pulled her hood up on her jacket to keep the spring chill away. Penny found Leila standing outside the entrance to Glacier, the blue strobe lights blinking through the windows. She waved to her as she approached. “Hey.”
“Thank you so much for coming,” Leila said, pulling her inside. “Austin heard a rumor that Callen’s getting traded, and he took the news really bad.”
“Traded?” Flames ignited in her heart as a tear instantly stung her eyes. “Where? When?”
Her hand was at her throat. Leila would surely see the truth about her feelings for Callen Copley in the way her breath caught, but she couldn’t do anything about it.
“They heard on the plane he could be going to Detroit next week.”
“Detroit. Next week.” The words echoed in her head, but she couldn’t quite comprehend them. Callen couldn’t possibly be leaving her that soon.
“Penny?”
Leila’s hand was on her shoulder. Penny’s gaze slowly rose, and Leila managed a weak smile. “Now I understand why he’s so upset.”
Yes. Leila Rylander knew the truth. The truth that even Penny hadn’t completely admitted to herself. “Take me to him. Please.”
Leila quickly nodded. “This way.”
Penny spotted Callen as soon as they walked through the door. Callen didn’t stand at the bar. He sat on it with an empty shot glass in his hand. He swung it around as if conducting an orchestra of drunks. The rest of his friends were there too. All of them watching him. Penny slowly made her way through the crowd. She glanced back over her shoulder at Leila. “I can practically smell the bourbon from here. How much has he had?”
Leila stayed tight behind her through the mass of people. “A lot. That’s why I called you. He won’t listen to us.”
Callen spotted her, a new shot of bourbon pausing momentarily at his lips.
“Callen,” she said, calling his name above the roar of the crowded bar.
He didn’t smile. Instead, he took the shot.
This was bad.
Penny pushed through the crowd to get to him. He slid off the bar and met her. He could barely stand up on his own. “What are you doing here?”
“Leila called me.”
Callen searched his pockets for his phone only to find it missing. He cursed. “You should leave. Hell, I’m leaving. Possibly next week. Detroit. Tampa. Who knows where they’ll send me?”
She could see it in his eyes. He was spiraling. She’d been there. That first time her mother found her. She’d panicked. She let the pain and the fear take her someplace dark and ugly. Climbing back to the light was hard, but it wasn’t impossible. She had to help him. She had to get his mind off it. Penny grabbed his hand. “Dance with me.”
“What?” He looked at her strangely as if she spoke a different language.
She pulled him into the crowd, away from the concerned stares of his family. An audience would only make it worse for him. “You heard me. Dance with me.”
Once she had him out of view of his friends, she wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him close to her. His arms gripped around her back, hugging her close. His head fell down against her. The truth finally came out. “I don’t want to leave Manhattan. I don’t want to leave us.”
She stroked his cheek with her thumb. “I don’t want you to leave either.”
They stood there like that. Holding each other tight. She had no idea what she would do if he left next week. If for some reason he just vanished. He was a part of her life now. It hadn’t been her plan, but maybe it was her best option. Maybe, for once, fate dealt her a winning hand. He nudged her cheek with his nose. “We are slow dancing.” He said it very seriously, as if he’d discovered a very important secret that could change the universe.
She helped him keep his balance as they swayed back and forth. “I know.”
He let out a soft chuckle. “This isn’t a slow dance song.”
She smiled against his chin. “I know.”
Suddenly, his sway became a little more pronounced. He lost his balance, but Penny quickly corrected him. “Sweetie, I think you need to sit down.”
He hummed into her hair. “I like it when you call me that. It makes me all warm and bubbly inside.”
Penny tried not to laugh. “You mean warm and fuzzy.”
“Sure. That too.”
He was so drunk. He lost his footing again, and Penny held him up, positioning him back in place. “Okay. We need to get you somewhere to sit down.”
They couldn’t make it back to the bar through the people that had filled the space they came through. Penny escorted him to the back hallway that led to the bathrooms. She propped him up against it and tried to wave across the room for reinforcements. Callen leaned his head back against the wall, his eyes drifting shut. Penny took his hand, intertwining his fingers with her. “I think I need to get you home before you pass out.”
Callen smiled. “I’m not that kind of guy. I at least want dinner first.”
She playfully slapped him on the arm. “Oh. So, you have jokes, huh?”
He finally opened his eyes and looked at her. “I’m wasted. Of course I do.”
Penny cupped his face in her hands. “You don’t need to get drunk to talk to me. I don’t like this Callen. I want mine back. The quiet one I can make blush. The one who came into the Bistro a thousand times just to see me.”
His face leaned toward her. “I like you. A lot.” Then his eyes narrowed at her. “That’s scary. Because I’m leaving.”
She brushed her thumb over his lips, touching the hard metal of the lip ring. “I’m scared too.”
His hand caught on her hip, and his eyes fluttered closed. She couldn’t stop it. She didn’t want to. She hadn’t said it, but she liked him too. No one had ever put so much effort into trying to claim her attention.
Callen’s other hand clutched into her hair, and he kissed her. It wasn’t quick, and it wasn’t gentle. His lips were eager, and they lingered. It caught her by surprise. She could taste the bourbon on his tongue. He wouldn’t even remember it tomorrow. It wasn’t how she wanted her first kiss with him to be. A foggy memory from a bar hallway. He meant more to her than that. Penny touched his chest, and Callen jerked away. His brows were pulled together, and he had trouble standing back up.
“You didn’t kiss me back.”
Penny cupped his face in her hands. “Sweetie…you’re drunk. Let me take you home.”
Callen pulled back. “You didn’t kiss me back.”
“Callen—”
“You lied. You are friend zoning me.”
“No.”
It was too late. Callen backed away from her. “I should have known.”
He fell back into the crowd, so much pain and confusion on his face. Penny tried to grab him, but it only made the pain worse. She could see it so clearly on his face. He turned around, stumbling against people as he pushed his way through them. She darted between two girls to go after him, but Austin stopped her. “Let me,” he said, touching her gently on the arm. “It will only make it worse at this point. He’s upset. He’s drunk. Just give him some time.”
Austin went after him, and all Penny could do was stand there with those stupid blinking lights flashing in her eyes.
Leila came around behind her. “I’m so sorry. I had no idea you two were actually—”
A couple? Leila didn’t finish. No, technically they weren’t anything yet. Now
Penny didn’t know if they ever would be.
“I’m so sorry,” Leila said again.
Penny patted her hand. It wasn’t Leila’s fault. “It’s okay.”
Penny had lied to him. Not about how she felt. All of that was true. So painfully true. She lied to him about her name, though, along with other things. She didn’t deserve him. Maybe it was better this way. Maybe she should be nothing but a foggy memory. She stood there with Leila, watching helplessly as Austin and Henrik led him out of the bar.
And she cried.
Chapter Fourteen
CALLEN’S DATE NIGHT
There was a very annoying sound in the distance, but Callen couldn’t make his head move to locate it. He opened his eyes and saw blue. It was soft and smelled flowery. It reminded him of Penny. There was a heaviness in his stomach, and his mouth tasted like dried grain. Suddenly, the noise in the distance became a little clearer.
“Cookies. Cookies. I love cookies.”
Callen wasn’t positive, but he was fairly sure he didn’t have a roommate. And if he did and somehow forgot about it, it definitely wasn’t the Cookie Monster from Sesame Street. He pushed himself onto his elbows, staring down at the blue blanket beneath him. The blanket on his bed was gray. This one had little pink flowers embroidered on it.
“Cookies.” The mechanical voice of the familiar cartoon sounded closer now.
Callen glanced at the end of the bed to find the blue head of a Cookie Monster toy slowly rising above the end of the bed. Its mouth moved. “I love cookies!”
Okay. Either he was hallucinating or he was still asleep. “I like peace and quiet,” he said to the toy.
Giggling erupted from beneath the bed, and then he spotted the curly red hair. The smiling toddler popped up from the end of the bed. “Good morning, Cali.”
Well, at least that solved the mystery of where he’d passed out. “Good morning, Lucy.”
Lucy Rylander crawled up the bed and sat, legs crossed, in front of him, clutching her Cookie Monster toy in her lap. She had on Cinderella pajamas and what looked like a chocolate milk mustache all the way around her mouth. “You went night night at my house,” she said, grinning from ear to ear.
“I see that. Do you know why?”
Lucy patted his head. “You sleepy.”
That he was. He tried to tame his hair from what he could only assume was a major case of bedhead. “Where’s your dad?”
“I’m right here.”
Henrik stood in the doorway, his arms crossed over his chest, smiling. He walked over and picked his daughter up off the bed. “Sweetheart, why don’t you go tell Mommy that Uncle Cali is awake and will be joining us for breakfast.”
“Okay.” Lucy wiggled from his arms and disappeared out the door at a sprint.
Callen rolled over on his back and rubbed his hands down his face. “What the hell happened last night?”
Henrik pursed his lips. “Maybe you should have some coffee first.”
Callen looked up. “It couldn’t be that bad. I was with you guys the whole time.”
Henrik looked down at the floor, staring at something on the hardwood. “Like I said, maybe you should have some coffee first.”
Callen sat straight up. “What the fuck happened?”
Henrik sat on the edge of the bed. “You don’t remember anything?”
Callen wracked his brain, trying to reform his thoughts from the previous night. “I remember the plane ride and talking to Austin. I remember forcing you guys to take me out for a drink.”
Callen studied Henrik, and his expression kept getting worse. “What did I do?”
Henrik winced. “You kissed Penny.”
“That isn’t funny.”
Henrik’s expression softened. “I’m not joking.”
“I was with you guys. We went to the bar straight from the plane. Penny wasn’t there.”
Henrik took in a deep breath and stood. He started pacing the room. “You were getting pretty out of control. Leila took your phone and called her. She showed up, and, well…”
Callen stood. “No. You wouldn’t have let me do that. I did not kiss her.”
“You did.”
He felt sick. He bent over, his hands falling to his knees. “I fucked it up, didn’t I? Did she leave?”
Henrik came over and helped him stand back up. “Actually, no. You left.”
“Me? Why the hell would I leave?”
“She was trying to take care of you, and I think you misunderstood her intentions. You were pretty out of it, Cali.”
Callen sat back down on the bed, his head in his hands. “We were supposed to go on a real date tonight.”
“Go talk to her. She wanted to go after you last night, but Austin convinced her it was best to wait until your thought processes started functioning again. She wants to see you.”
Callen glanced up. “Really?”
Henrik smirked. “I’m as surprised as you are.”
He rolled his eyes. “Asshole.”
Henrik dragged him back to his feet. “Come on. Eat breakfast then I’ll drive you home and you can get a shower and go get your girl back.”
He doubted he could stomach anything, but he would try for Lucy. He didn’t want her latest memory of him to be of him passed out in their guest room. “Okay, fine. But I want blueberries on my pancakes. And the syrup poured in the shape of the Superman symbol just like you requested.”
Henrik groaned. “Just because I got drunk and made you take me to Waffle House the first night we met, doesn’t mean you still get to throw it in my face. It’s been three years.”
Callen laughed and shoved Henrik out the door. “Yes, it does.”
“Next time I’m leaving you on the floor of the bar.”
There wouldn’t be a next time, but Callen didn’t want to admit it to himself yet.
***
After a very long shower and some extra strength headache medicine, Callen went by the Bistro, but Penny wasn’t there. The guy filling in for her said she had the day off. That meant he had to go to her apartment. It was getting close to dinnertime, a couple hours from when he was supposed to pick her up for their date. It was too late to make reservations anywhere, so he decided to take a chance on something a little more intimate. He grabbed a box set of shows from his room and picked up Chinese food.
He found her apartment and knocked on the door. It swung open a couple seconds later. Her blonde hair was down and wild. She had on an over-sized t-shirt that covered whatever she wore beneath it. Her blue eyes lit up instantly. “You’re early.”
He let out the breath he held. “You still want to go?”
She stepped back so he could come inside. “Of course.”
“I’m so sor—”
She flung herself at him, her arms wrapping tightly around his torso, her face snuggling deep against his chest. “I’m so glad you came. I’ve been worried all day.”
Still holding the bag full of Chinese food and movies, Callen hugged her back. He pressed his lips against her hair at her temple. “I was worried I’d ruined it. I don’t remember why I left, but I shouldn’t have.”
He wanted her. All of her.
She pulled back, but her hands didn’t leave him. She finally noticed his full hands, though. “What’s all this?”
He held up the bag of food. “I don’t know…I thought maybe we could stay in tonight. Have our date here?”
He couldn’t keep his eyes off her bare legs. She had shorts on beneath the shirt. For the sake of his sanity he had to pretend it was true. Penny smiled, her teeth tugging at her bottom lip. She snatched one of the movies out of his hand. It was the entire first season of Gilmore Girls. She laughed. “Please tell me this came from your private collection.”
He walked over and set the bag on the counter in the kitchen. “I plead the fifth.”
She laughed. It was a beautiful singsong sound that reminded him of the wind chimes on his back porch in Anahim. Except much, much better.
<
br /> Her hand ran down his wrist, the contact light but playful. “Make yourself at home. I’ll be right back.”
His fingers caught hers. “You’re not going to change, are you?”
His gaze dropped back to her legs. He jerked her closer, pulling her into him. His hands touched the thin fabric at her hips. A distinct aroma of strawberries floated around her. He liked her like this. Natural. She looked fresh out of the shower. Pieces of her hair were still damp at the ends. “No. I was shaving my legs. I still have one ankle to go.”
When he grinned, she blushed.
“I planned on wearing a dress tonight. Remember? That was part of the deal.”
He nodded. “Next time. I promise.”
She pulled him forward. “Like I said. Make yourself at home. Start the show, and I’ll be right back.”
He groaned when she pulled away, but he followed her orders. He started the show and brought over a couple boxes of food and set them on the coffee table. Penny’s couch was purple and quaint. His large frame took up almost half of the space. Good. That meant she’d have no choice but to sit close to him. His breathing picked up, and he had to concentrate to keep from getting nervous.
It was Penny.
They were on a date.
He would not puke on her purple couch.
When Penny returned, thankfully, she hadn’t changed clothes. She slid past him and sat on the couch, directly next to him. “This food smells amazing.”
“Good. I didn’t know whether or not they had Chinese food in Kansas.”
She sniggered and elbowed him. “And they did in Anahim?”
He laughed. “Hell, no.”
She got a box of noodles, and he followed suit. He hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast. Anything would taste good to him. Penny broke her chopsticks in half as she studied him. “Was it hard growing up there? So secluded from everything?”
Callen shrugged. “At the time, no. It wasn’t until I left home that I realized how much I’d missed out on. I didn’t know how to hang out with the guys. My first semester at Boston U was a disaster. I think the guys on my team thought I was the weirdest person they’d ever met.”
The Girl With Daisies (Midtown Brotherhood #3) Page 12