Page 4 of Mess With Me
“Hey,” he said, stopping in front of Cali with Ally.
Cali snapped to attention. “Where were you?” she asked through clenched teeth. “You’re supposed to be my plus one.” She stared at Ally. “Who are you?”
Ethan made the introductions. Then he spoke directly to Cali under his breath. “She’s having a rough night, so dial it back.”
Ally smiled at Cali. “Nice to meet you up close. I saw you with Ethan from afar once at Garner’s.”
“You too,” Cali said, still sounding pissed.
“She’s sitting with us for dinner,” Ethan told Cali.
“Fine,” Cali replied, her eyes darting around the room. “Just don’t leave me alone like that again.” She gave him a fierce glare. “I looked like a loser standing here by myself.”
“Why didn’t you go talk to someone?” Ethan asked, which dialed the glare to death-ray level.
Cali whispered fiercely in his ear, “Two of my enemies aren’t here and the other flat out ignored my hello. Looked right at me and turned his head away.”
He nodded once, his jaw tight. “Sorry.” He was pissed on her behalf at the slight and also pissed he hadn’t been at her side for it. Together they would’ve taken that guy down so fast. Metaphorically speaking. But he hadn’t wanted to leave Ally all alone in her distress.
Cali lifted her chin, stoic in the face of adversity.
“I love your dress,” Ally told Cali. “Where’d you get it?”
Cali looked down at herself. “Thanks. My mom got it for me for college graduation years ago. I have no idea where it came from.”
“Well, it’s super cute,” Ally said.
“Should we eat?” Cali asked.
Ally nodded. “I could eat.”
“Let’s go.” He crooked his elbow, offering his arm to Cali to soothe her ruffled feathers. She gripped his shirt over his bicep and he shifted her hand to rest on his forearm. She wasn’t great with social stuff. He understood her because his “little sister” Mad was the same way—one of the guys and not quite up to speed on the whole woman-man flirting thing. Ally walked on his other side. He considered offering his arm to her too, but decided against it. One woman on his arm was plenty.
After they piled their plates with an assortment of prime rib, lemon chicken, and pasta, they settled at a table. Some people joined them and introduced themselves. Ally knew a couple of them. No one seemed to remember Cali or the other way around. It had been that way all night.
“You sure you went here?” he whispered to Cali.
“I spent a lot of time studying in the library,” Cali responded in a low voice. “Or at the gym.”
Figured. She had a master’s degree in criminal justice and was sculpted muscle from head to toe.
Cali was quiet, staring at her plate. “I shouldn’t have come,” she mumbled. “It was a stupid idea.”
Oh fuck. He’d never seen her upset. He elbowed her. “Hey, we can still have fun. We’ll show off our moves on the dance floor.”
She snorted. “I don’t dance.”
“We’ll slow dance, okay? It’ll be good.”
Cali lifted watery eyes to his. “Thank you.”
A twinge of sympathy made his chest ache. He was no softie, but seeing the tough Cali near tears got to him. Maybe because he was also stoic and tough. “No problem.” He checked in with Ally on his other side, who was attacking a pile of baked ziti with gusto. “Feeling a little better?”
“Actually, yeah. Comfort food helps.” She smiled at him and Cali. “Plus knowing I’m with friends.”
He warmed to be counted as a friend after such a short time. He must’ve done something right to make her feel comfortable with him and cheer up a bit. Women tended to flirt with him, not consider him a friend.
Dinner was quiet at their end of the table. Cali and Ally finished eating and became very subdued. Neither of them wanted dessert. The music started up again, some loud club music, the DJ hollering at them to get out there and dance.
