One Night with Calvin (One Night Series Book 2) (4 page)

“Thanks,” I cut her off. She wasn’t my girlfriend yet, but I was sure she would be after a few more dates.

The fact I was already planning a future with someone I’d known only a few hours was a surprise, even to me. Relationships in my line of work seemed pointless at my age. There was too much fun to be had. But there I was, staring at this girl who I knew almost nothing about, and I wanted more than one night.

Chook wrapped my arm in plastic. “Need to keep that on for at least an hour. Two would be better.”

I nodded and got out of the chair so Chook could clean up. Pulling Sara into my arms, I snaked my hands around her waist and kissed her hard. “That was way too long to go without your lips.”

“Lame.”

I chuckled. “Not much for sweet talk?”

She shook her head.

“Ready for your tattoo?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be. So, no … not really ready.”

“It doesn’t hurt that much.”

“You’re still lying.”

I laughed and walked around her to sit on the edge of the tattooing bed behind us. When I tugged on her hand, she moved between my legs, facing forwards and leaning her back into my chest. The stance was so casual and comfortable, as if we’d been a couple for years and knew where each other fitted perfectly. We stayed like that until Chook was ready for her. I kissed the side of her head and then nudged her in Chook’s direction.

“You’ll have to lift your shirt up,” he said as he reclined the chair so she was on a forty-five-degree angle.

She’d chosen to tattoo her ribs on her right side, just under her breast. She didn’t want a visible tattoo if she was going to be a lawyer.

Sara pulled up her tank top so far that the underside of her boob was showing. I was sure Chook was used to seeing stuff like that, but that didn’t stop me from practically growling every time he had to look in that spot.

“I think your boyfriend wants to kill me,” he muttered quietly when he was applying the stencil. It wasn’t quietly enough because I still heard it.

She snorted, finding it amusing, which only made me glare more.

When the needle started up, the nerves got the better of her and she dug her nails into the palm of her hand.

Before I knew it, I was by her side and prying her fingers away so she could hold my hand. “Breathe, babe.”

She’d scrunched her eyes closed, refusing to watch as the needle touched skin. I was expecting her to grasp my hand tighter. Instead, she opened her eyes and looked relieved. “It’s actually not that … ouch … bad. I think I spoke too soon.”

Chook laughed. “Because of where you’ve chosen to get tattooed, it’ll be pretty sore when I work along your actual rib bone.”

She nodded her head. “I can handle it.”

And she did. Tears pooled in her eyes when he hit those tender spots, but she never complained.

I stayed by her side the whole time, holding her hand and talking to her to distract her. I was an expert at distraction.

I learned she was an only child, her parents were still together, and her best friend’s name was Lana. She learned that Garrett was my only sibling, my parents were also still together, and that I had a penis so that meant I didn’t have a best friend. Guys didn’t do “best friends.” It was dude law. That got a chuckle from her.

Before we knew it, it was six AM and we were stumbling out of the tattoo shop, me with my Maltese phrase, her with Croatian.
Divlji.

“I can’t wait to get back into your bed,” I said. It didn’t contain a hint of innuendo, only a whole lot of exhaustion.

The ringtone from my phone startled us.

Who the hell is calling me now?

When I saw my brother’s name came on the screen, my gut twisted. “Garrett?” I answered.

“Yeah, hey, bro.” His voice was all off. “I’m going to need you to come to Main Police Station and pick me up. Been in the drunk tank.”

The battery on my phone beeped, signalling low battery. It’d been beeping intermittently while we were getting out tattoos, but now it sounded like it was panicking.

“What happened?” Before he could answer, the phone beeped again. “My battery’s dying. I’ll be there as soon as I … shit!” I pulled the phone away to look at the screen. “It died.”

“What happened?” Sara asked.

“Garrett’s been arrested. I have to go pick him up.”

“Oh. Did you want … I mean, I can go with you … if you want?”

I smiled and stepped forwards, bringing her in for a kiss. “Thanks, but I won’t torture you like that. We just pulled an all-nighter, and I know there’s nothing I want more than to crawl into bed.”

She did the glancing around thing again. I wondered if she knew how transparent her actions were. I loved that I made her nervous.

“I’m ordering you to go home, get some sleep, then buy yourself a phone today”—I reached for my wallet to grab out the cash I got from an ATM on the way to the tattoo shop—“and then tonight, come meet me at the Lab Hotel on the Broadwater. My friend is having his birthday dinner there, around six.”

“You’re very bossy.”

“I think you said something similar last night.” I went to hand over the cash, but she put her hands up in protest. “Take it. For a new phone and the cab home.”

“I feel like a whore.”

“You were well worth it.” I winked and then laughed out loud when her mouth dropped open and she pushed my chest. I forced the money into the back pocket of her jeans. “Come out with me tonight.”

Her eyes darted around the street again, but she nodded subtly. “I’ll be there.”

I kissed her one more time, pulling her in close. My tongue forced her lips to part, and we both sighed happily as it entered her mouth.

“I’ll see you tonight,” I said when I pulled away. “You get the first cab, another will be here in a sec.”

“See ya, Calvin.”

Maybe if I’d known better, I would’ve kissed her harder. If I’d known that was the end of us, I would’ve made our goodbye count. She never turned up that night, and I didn’t know why.

4

- SARA -

NOW

“Thanks for agreeing to come out with us tonight,” my friend Paige said. “And Cole’s roommate isn’t all bad. If you can get past the manwhore part of him, he’s actually pretty decent.”

I met Paige three years ago on my first day of my law degree. She was a lot like me in the sense she used sarcasm as a defence mechanism and was a complete expert at faking confidence. It was probably why we gravitated towards each other. She quickly became my “person”—the one I’d run to after a bad date, and in return I was a shoulder for her to cry on when guys like her douche-canoe of an ex was being … well, himself.

She’d been dating Cole for about six weeks and was still in the glowing “I’m having regular sex” portion of the relationship. I loved seeing her happy, but I’d be lying if I said a pang of jealousy didn’t hit me every time her face lit up over him. I wanted that. I was all but ready to give up on finding it.

I should’ve told Paige to not worry about me and let her go have a night with Cole by themselves, but we’d made Friday night
our
night. We’d been brutally hit with assignments lately, and I wanted to go out and forget about uni. So Cole agreed to have his roommate tag along so I wouldn’t be the third wheel.

When we arrived at Cole’s place, a sickening knot tightened in my belly. Every step I climbed closer to the top floor of the apartment building, the feeling intensified. By the time Paige was knocking on the apartment door, my stomach was twisted like a pretzel. It was as if my body knew who awaited me before I’d even seen him.

It was Ryan. I had no idea how I knew, but his name fell from my lips in a whisper before he even opened the door.

“Hey, Paige, come on in.” He held the door open for Paige, and then his eyes fell on me.

It was definitely him. He had the same quiff hairstyle as I remembered, but he’d grown a beard since I saw him last. It was a big contrast to the baby-faced model I met four years ago. It was one of those manscaped beards—not bushy, but it shaped his jawline perfectly and made his eyes smoulder.

Unlike my hammering heart and deer-in-the-headlights gaze, his eyes bored into mine with emptiness. Nothing. No recognition whatsoever.
Asshole.

Paige turned when she realised I wasn’t behind her. I was frozen, my feet refusing to step over the threshold.

“Sara? You coming in?”

Ryan still stared, emotionless.

“Uh … yeah. I am,” I stammered.

“Are you okay?” she whispered.

I tore my eyes from Ryan and forced a smile on my face and my feet to move.

“Sara, this is Hunter.”

Hunter. Pfft.

He nodded once and averted his gaze.

A head nod. That was all I got. The guy who took my virginity didn’t even recognise me.

All those years of fantasising about what we had. I was stupid to believe it would’ve made a difference. I was nothing to him. That much was clear by the vacant expression on his face.

A burning sensation crept up my neck. I was angry. No, I was fucking pissed.

I’d spent the last four years wishing I’d never met him. In one night, he broke me. He was the guy I compared all my dates against, and the one guy no one could measure up to. But he was an asshole, and this was the reminder I needed.

“Sara?” Paige asked, her face a mask of concern.

I didn’t know what to do. My mouth was dry; I was unable to respond. I tried smiling but ended up gritting my teeth instead.

“Okay, what’s going on? I’ve not known either of you to be so quiet before,” she said.

We both stared at each other for a moment, and I saw something beginning to crack in him. His gaze was no longer hardened.
Did he recognise me after all?

“I know him,” I finally managed to mumble.

“You know him? How?”

Cole interrupted us, walking in from the hallway. “What’s going on?”

“Uh … yeah …” Ryan said. “Turns out I know Sara.” He tore his eyes from mine, looking at Cole.

“And?”

“Apparently we’ve fucked.”

“Apparently?” Paige yelled at him. “You
apparently
fucked?”

I couldn’t have been more thankful to have her in my corner—saying the things I should’ve been saying but couldn’t because I was still in shock.

“You can’t remember it?” Cole asked.

The fact Cole didn’t even sound surprised made something in me finally snap. I was just another notch on Ry— no,
Hunter’s
belt. I felt the rambling come out of my mouth but couldn’t do anything to stop it. “Maybe if you’d given me your real name four years ago, I would’ve put two and two together. I wouldn’t have come tonight, and we could’ve avoided this.” I waved my hand between us both. “When Paige told me you were an underwear model—”

“
Model
. Just model. I’m not always in my underwear, and it pisses me off when people pigeonhole me like that.”

Before I could yell at him some more, Paige beat me to it. “You gave her a fake name?”

He threw his hands up in surrender. “No, I didn’t. I happened to have just landed my first major modelling gig, and it was for Calvin Klein. I met
her
out while celebrating, and
she
started calling me Calvin.”

“Oh, so you
do
remember me?” I snapped. He clearly remembered; he just didn’t care.

“Wait …
he’s
Calvin?” Paige asked me in shock.

Hunter’s lips turned up into a smirk at the fact I’d told Paige about him.

“Don’t get too cocky. You don’t know what I’ve heard about you,” Paige said, looking at Hunter.

She knew the whole story. I’d told her when she asked me why I was so inept at love.

He shook his head. “I did nothing wrong back then.”

“Nothing wrong?” I yelled.
Is he fucking kidding me?

“No,” he said, staring directly at me. I could’ve sworn his eyes were trying to burn holes in me.

Oh, hell no.
There was no way I wasn’t going to call him on his shit. “Nothing at all,
Ryan?
I may’ve nicknamed you Calvin, but I do remember the fake name you gave me.”

Cole stepped in front of me. “Sara, umm … there’s been a misunderstanding. Hunter’s name
is
Ryan.”

“Huh?” Paige asked for me. My mouth seemed to be glued shut again.

“Hunter’s my middle name, and everyone has called me that since before I can remember, except for my brother who always calls me Ryan to piss me off.
He
was the one who introduced me to you that night, if you remember at all.”

I was shrinking under his gaze and his words, and the world seemed to fade around me for a moment.

No, it wasn’t like he couldn’t have told me during that night. We spent the whole night together, and he couldn’t even tell me his name?

“Is there any way we can put this all behind us and go out to dinner? It was four years ago,” Cole asked.

Hunter and I stared at each other, neither one of us willing to back down first. My head was spinning, but I wasn’t going to cave.

“I have no problem with her,” Hunter eventually said. “If she can’t even handle sitting at the same table as me, then that’s all on her.” Even though he was replying to Cole, he continued to pin me with his stare.

I narrowed my eyes while my head continued to fill with obscenities I wanted to throw at him. “No issues here,” I lied. I tried to make it convincing, but the look Paige gave me let me know I wasn’t successful.

***

The drive to dinner was quiet. Cole was the designated driver—apparently, he had issues with alcohol so he abstained. When Paige told me that, I got worried for her. Her last boyfriend was controlling and verbally abusive, and I didn’t think getting involved with an alcoholic was going to be any better, but she assured me Cole’s problem was under control. She told me it wasn’t really a problem at all, but I didn’t want to crush her by telling her she was being naïve.

Not that I was a big expert on love. Here I was, sitting in the back seat with a guy I had a one-night stand with four years ago, and I couldn’t get my heart to stop hammering in my chest. The car seemed way too small for four people, and I started thinking we should’ve taken two cars. There wasn’t enough air in this one. Hunter was sucking it all out. He took my virginity, and now he was taking my damn oxygen.

“So where should we go for dinner?” Cole asked from the front seat.

I gave a noncommittal shrug and stared out the window, refusing to look in Hunter’s direction.

“You know where I haven’t been for a while?” Hunter said. “The marina.”

My eyes snapped to him and I found him smirking.

“Works for me,” Cole said.

“Me too. Sara?” Paige asked.

“Whatever,” I muttered.

I should’ve protested. As soon as we pulled into the parking lot, memories of that night came flooding back to me. I tried to shake them free, but one look at Hunter and they came straight back. After that, I made it a point to avoid looking in his direction.

Hunter and I were making Cole and Paige nervous. It was obvious by their lack of conversation and awkward glances at each other. We were all silent as we found a table at one of the hipster restaurants. The walls were black, and the waterfront seating area had rustic wooden tables with pretentious arty centrepieces. From that alone, I knew there was a ninety percent chance there’d be a full-bearded hipster making drinks behind the bar. I laughed to myself when I turned and found I was right.

We were all relieved when a waitress came to take our drink order and successfully broke the silence hanging over us. Both Hunter and I ordered a scotch. I had mine on the rocks, and he had his with Coke.

Getting weak in your old age?
The quip was on the tip of my tongue, but I couldn’t bring myself to say it. I couldn’t go there with him.

Looking out at the water, I was assaulted by the memory of diving off the docks. I could almost hear his laughter again. I had to turn my head away from the canal, but then that proved to be worse because Ryan was sitting right there, right across from me.
My Ryan.

“So, Sara,” Cole started. “Paige tells me you’ve had some pretty disastrous dates lately.”

I officially hated Paige’s new boyfriend.

“Please give me some reassurance here,” he continued, “I need to know that there’s still hope for Paige and me after I poisoned her on our first date.”

Okay, maybe I didn’t hate him. Laughing, I threw him a bone. “I’ve had a lot worse dates than that.”

“Ooh, tell them about the felon,” Paige said excitedly.

I inwardly groaned. It wasn’t a story I liked reliving.

“Felon?” Ryan asked. His face was grim, and his lips pursed into a tight line.

I had to admonish myself for glancing at him again.

Clearing my throat, I started, “So, this guy asked me out but told me his car was in the shop. I offered to pick him up, and when he got in the car, he asked me to go via his friend’s place first as the guy owed him money and he needed to pay for our date.”

Cole cocked his head to the side. “Drug dealer?”

“You’d think that would’ve tipped me off, right?” I exclaimed. “We pulled up to his friend’s place, he ran in and was back out a couple of minutes later, set to go. We only made it through the next traffic lights when the siren and lights started up behind us.”

Paige laughed her head off at me, and I couldn’t help giggling with her. It was a little funny now after some time had passed. At the time, it was scary as hell.

“Were you arrested?” Cole asked.

I shook my head. “I pulled over and then the guy started freaking out, yelling at me to gun it and outrun the cops. When I refused, he leaned over, opened my door and undid my seatbelt, and then literally pushed me out of the car. Then he took off.”

“He stole your car?” Cole asked.

“Yup, but that ended up being a good thing. If he hadn’t, the cops would’ve suspected I was involved in the drug deal that I was an unwitting accomplice to.”

“Oh my God, what about the married guy—tell that story,” Paige said now I was finished with the felon story.

I winced. “Can we not talk any more about my love life? Please?”

“Okay, I’ll go,” Paige said. “So I was on this date, and things were going well. When we got halfway through our dinner, he turned and said, ‘I need to ask you something now before it gets too serious. You have to know that I’m into some weird stuff …’ Then he proceeded to ask me what I was and wasn’t willing to do in bed. It was the first date.”

The table laughed, and I was thankful for her again for taking the heat off me. Even if that was actually another one of my stories. For some reason, I attracted the worst types of guys. I gave Paige an appreciative smile. Suffering through this night wouldn’t have been possible without her. Then again, if it wasn’t for her, I wouldn’t have been there in the first place.