Page 32 of Law Of Love

As Ty walked away with our order in hand, I glanced at Kaleb, noticing his blazing eyes locked in on my old friend. His eyebrows were pulled together, and his jaw flexed. He was looking at him as if he was a meal.

The evening mainly consisted of Jackie and my mother giggling, and Kaleb pulled out his phone every couple of minutes to type while I attempted to keep my focus away from his fast-moving fingers. He seemed to always be in the middle of an important and heated conversation with someone.

“So, Christmas is coming up soon.” Jackie laughed—now on her third glass of red wine. “Do either of you have anything planned for it?”

I hadn't really thought about Christmas, but I hadn't imagined that we’d spend it anywhere other than my house. The way things were going, though, it looked like my mother and I would be staying with Jackie and Kaleb a little longer than we’d first expected.

"I think—“

My mother cut me off with a loud curse, and Jackie stared wide-eyed at the wineglass she'd just smacked onto my mother's lap, red wine coating her black pencil skirt and white, knitted sweater.

“I'm so sorry!” she complained, reaching for some napkins.

“That’s my fault for insisting we drink red tonight,” my mom cackled. “I'm just going to head to the bathroom. Wine stains.”

“I'll come.” Jackie worriedly knitted her brows together at Kaleb and me as she followed my mother around the corner.

I cleared my throat, continued to chew on my chicken curry, and stared at the plate as if it were the most interesting thing in the restaurant. It was far from it—the most interesting thing was sitting right next to me.

“We should talk about what happened,” I blurted out. It had to be done. I needed to stop chickening out.

Kaleb sighed, biting the inside of his cheek as he studied me. “Freya.”

Why did he have to look so gorgeous when he was trying to let me down?

“You don't have to say it. It was just a kiss. Friends, it is.”

At my comment, Kaleb's eye twitched, and the corner of his mouth curved downwards as he ran his hands through his dark hair. As usual, his tongue caressed his front teeth. “I—“

“Hey, I brought over some extra napkins,” said Ty cheerily from behind me, placing them on the table, his hand on my shoulder.

“Oh, thanks.” I reached over the table, wiping up the spillage. “I'm sorry about the mess.”

Ty waved my worries away, flashing his perfect white teeth again. “No, don't even sweat it. Oh hey,” he suddenly said, turning his attention to Kaleb, holding his hand out. “I'm sorry. That’s rude of me. I'm Ty. You must be Freya's boyfriend.”

“Oh, he's—“ I began, but Kaleb cut me off, taking Ty's hand and shaking it firmly.

“Yeah, that’s me.”

Sixteen: Kaleb

Iwasn't sure what came over me. Yeah, that's me.

Shit.

I couldn't help it, though. The way he'd put his hand on Freya’s shoulder and the way she’d smiled up at him—it pissed me off. It shouldn't have, but it did, and I knew how big of a problem that was.

Freya all but choked on her curry as I half-smiled at Ty, looking him up and down. He was a good-looking guy—tall and muscular. There was no doubt in my mind that any woman would find him attractive, and that only bothered me further.

“Kaleb,” I introduced myself, pulling my hand away from his. I didn't care if he didn't see Freya romantically. He genuinely seemed like a nice guy, but sometimes, they were the worst type of people. They could get away with anything because everyone around them saw them as so nice. I'd learned not to trust anyone until they proved otherwise.

Ty's eyes scraped over my heavily tattooed forearms with a curious expression, causing me to raise my eyebrows at him, and he excused himself to take another table's order.

“What the hell was that?” Freya spluttered, taking a sip of her water.

I shrugged. “I was saving you. He was going to ask you out.”

Freya cocked her brow, crossing her arms over her chest as she glared at me. “Ty? We've known each other since we were fourteen. We're platonic.”

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