Page 70 of Lorcan's Obsession

You would have thought I had dropped a bomb. Total silence reigned, and then they all spoke at the same time.

“Jesus fucking Christ.”

“My boy is an idiot.”

“Have you gone mad?”

I pinched my nose. “Are you all done?”

“No!” they shouted in unison.

“Look, after everything you’ve told us about your trip, maybe this Tristen can match your energy,” Keaton admitted. “But don’t jump into this, Lor.”

“I wanna meet her,” Brad declared.

“Bradley, no.”

“I gotta know if she’s that hot or if Loki’s gone full simp.”

“Not gonna happen.” My voice left no room for argument. “Tristen isn’t meeting any of you until things are solid between us. And Keat’s right, she does match my energy, and I'm going to pursue her. And speaking of going, I have to drop you guys and catch up on work and call my woman.”

“Fucks sake, Loki. You sound like someone who just got a new puppy, and you want to live inside it,” Ashton sneered.

“I’m on the top of the world, baby. No negativity can touch me, sucker.”

I did a little dance on call to irritate him further. Riotous cries of laughter burst from all my friends as they cracked up, and we ended the call in good spirits. Now, I had to put on my big boy pants and be a CEO.

Listening through hundreds of emails on the cusp of serious litigation was draining. After a few hours, I closed my eyes and crashed on the couch for thirty minutes, enough to get some energy back.

It was past eleven at night when I jolted up.

Shit.

Tristen was probably in bed by now. But I had to call her, or at least leave a voice message. What kind of impression would I leave if I didn’t check up on her after our first time together? The phone rang a few times, my heart pounding, worried that I'd missed the chance to make a good impression.

“Hey.” Her voice was husky with sleepiness.

"Hey, beautiful. Sorry if I woke you up." I spoke softly.

"It’s okay," she whispered, "I have an afternoon class tomorrow.”

“How was your day?”

“You tell me. I was with you for most of it.”

“And I’m jealous of every minute you weren’t by my side.”

She giggled. I could listen to that sound forever.

“Well…I hung out with Kora, went home for a quick change of clothes, then class. That sums it up.”

“How about I drop you off at school tomorrow and take you somewhere after class?” The line went quieter than an abandoned graveyard. “Tris? Still there?”

“Uhm, yeah. Don’t you have work or something?”

“I do. But I want to take the afternoon off and meet you for a coffee or something.” Light chuckles cut through the tension. “C’mon baby, I’m almost begging here.”

“My schedule is really tight this week, but you can pick me up from school on Thursday, and we’ll have a sleepover at yours.”

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