“She said no, now let her go before I haul your ass outside for the beating you deserve for manhandling a lady.”
Matt pushed her back and raised his hands. “No harm done.”
She finally glanced behind Matt to meet Jeremiah’s gaze. He looked furious. Well, to hell with him. She had every right to be pissed at him, not him with her. She hadn’t done anything wrong. “Jeremiah.”
“Callie,” he said, his voice turning soft.
Don’t fall for it. He’s not worth it. He can grovel all he wants, but he was the one who couldn’t even take the time out to call you and cancel your date before he went off to fuck some cowboy groupie from the ranch.
“I’m sorry.”
“You’re sorry? You should be.”
He held out his hand. She almost reached for him, but kept her arms across her chest where she’d folded them the minute Matt let her go.
“Let me make it up to you.”
“How do you propose to do that, Jeremiah? I’m not falling for your cowboy charm, good looks, and easy way with women. You couldn’t even take the time to call me—”
The band started playing again cutting off her words so she couldn’t even hear herself think.
“Let’s go outside,” he said next to her ear so she could hear him. The sensation of his breath on her neck drove her crazy. Goose bumps broke out on her skin, zipping down and back up to settle right between her legs.
“Damn him.”
“What?”
“Nothing. Fine. Let’s go outside.”
He placed his hand at the small of her back as he led her out through the front door into the cooler night air. “My truck is over there.”
With a roll of her eyes, she walked toward the big silver dually sitting to the left of the doors. She wasn’t going to let him off so easy. He’d hurt her even if there wasn’t anything between them except friendship. Standing her up without even a phone call was inexcusable in her book.
“What can I do, Callie?”
“Nothing.”
“There has to be something, darlin’.”
She stomped her foot. Yeah, it made her look like a five-year-old, but it let off some of the anger she’d been holding in since he interrupted her exchange with Matt. “Don’t you darlin’ me, mister. I’m so pissed at you right now I could punch you.”
“I screwed up. I know that now.”
“Now? It didn’t cross your mind when you made the date with the chick from the ranch that you had already made a date with me.”
“Ours wasn’t a date. We were going out as friends.”
“Whatever, Jeremiah. I considered it a date whether it was between a guy and his girl or two friends. You fucked up.”
“I know.” He rubbed his hand up and down her arm. “I realize I shouldn’t have even made the date with the other girl since I already had plans with you.”
“Why did you?”
“She was available.” He shrugged. “I haven’t gotten laid in months.” He raked his fingers through his hair before putting his hat back on his head. “I don’t know, Callie.”
“I didn’t even cross your mind when you made the date with her, huh?”
“At first no. I remembered after she’d already left. I promise, I planned to call you and cancel, but it slipped my mind.”
“So you would have rather went out with her than me.”
“I was guaranteed to get laid with her. I wasn’t with you.”
“I told you last night I would be up for a one-night stand.”
“True, but it felt like I would be using you.”
“If sex is what you want, Jeremiah, I’m game, but I won’t be used. I’m worth more than that. Every woman is worth more than that even if they don’t think so. Men aren’t on this planet to get laid every time their dick twitches, but they sure as hell think so. As for me, you can find someone else to hang out with, do the dirty deed with or whatever. My value is too high for your bank account, baby. You don’t have enough money to buy me.”
His lips twitched with a grin he couldn’t hide. She wanted to smack him.
“I said I’m sorry. What more can I do to make it up to you?”
“You know what, there isn’t anything you can do. I’m so over you, it’s not funny. I’m tired of wanting you. I’m tired of loving you from afar. I’m done.” She spun on her heels to head back into the bar, but before she got too far, he grabbed her arm and spun her around.
“What did you say?”
She jerked her arm out of his hold. “Nothing. Fuck off.” Without a backward glance, she yanked open the door on the bar and strolled back inside. She planned to get really drunk so she could forget all about Jeremiah Young.
* * * *
“That girl is going to get herself into trouble in there with the rowdy bunch here tonight.” Jeremiah shook his head as he followed Callie back into the bar. I’ll just stay to keep an eye on her so she doesn’t do something stupid like go home with one of those cowboys. He headed for a corner booth and slid in behind the table. The waitress rolled her hips in a come-and-get-me fashion as she walked up to his table to take his order. “Beer, please.”
“Coming right up, Jeremiah.” She leaned in close. “I get off at ten if you want to hook up.”
“No thanks.”
She straightened up and huffed loudly as she spun on her heels to head back to the bar.
Callie rapped her knuckles on the mahogany to get Peyton’s attention. “Peyton, give me a shot of tequila and a Corona.”
“Shit. She’s drinkin’ hard from the get-go. I’d better watch her closely.” He moved in close so he could keep a good eye on her, but also so he could hear what they were saying. Callie couldn’t see him sitting close from where he took up a spot a few stools down from her.
Peyton’s eyebrow shot up. “Patrón?”
“That’ll do.”
“Coming right up.”
Peyton moved down the bar and leaned in toward her friend Mandy. “Hey, keep an eye on her, would you? Make friends. She could use one, I think.”
“Sure,” Mandy replied, grabbing her beer and moving closer. “Hey. I’m Mandy. I’m a good friend of Peyton’s. You look like you could use a friend.”
“If you want to get stinking drunk with me, then I’ll be your best buddy.”
“Sounds like a plan to me. I hate drinking alone.”
“Name’s Callie.”
“Nice to meet you. Who are you trying to forget tonight?”
“One of those pain in the ass Young brothers.”
Jeremiah’s heart thumped in his chest. Was she trying to forget him? He hoped she wasn’t so tied up in him he’d hurt her. He didn’t want to do that to her.
“Sounds like you and I will be best friends. I could get used to forgetting one myself.”
Peyton slid the drink toward her. “I’m shooting tequila. You with me?”
“You got it, babe.” Mandy nodded for Peyton to hand her one too as Callie waited for her so they could down the potent liquid together.
The minute they both had a shot glass in their hands, they sprinkled salt on the back of their fist, downed the shot with toss of their heads, quickly bit into the lime wedge on the Corona bottle, then downed a swallow of the beer. “Oh my God, that’s nasty.”
“You going again?”
“Hell yeah!” Mandy’s eyes narrowed as she glanced behind Callie and locked gazes with him.
He wondered which of his brothers she wanted to forget. Obviously she had it bad for one of them and wasn’t getting the attention she wanted. Mandy seemed like a nice girl from what he knew about her. Maybe he could help her out a little if he knew which brother caught her interest. Right now he had to keep an eye on Callie though. At the rate she was going, she’d be shit-faced inside of fifteen minutes.
For the next few hours, he watched her closely as she downed shot after shot of tequila with the Corona shooter. The two women got giggly, laughing at everything. She was kind of
cute when she got like this, he had to admit.
Then she started inviting men to do body shots. He growled low in his throat at each one in turn as they approached. They didn’t heed his warning look and there wasn’t much he could do really. She wasn’t his girlfriend. At this point she wasn’t even his friend according to her, but he still watched out for her.
The men would lick the salt off her neck and then shoot the tequila. His stomach knotted with each jerk who took a shot at her.
Unable to take anymore, he finally grabbed her arm and turned her to face him. “What the hell do you think you’re doing? These men are all over you.”
She just shot back with, “This is my party and I’ll do body shots if I want to. You didn’t want what I offered, well maybe one of these other guys does.”
He didn’t reply to her shot across the bow. She was pretty drunk and it wouldn’t do much good to argue with her. Damn her. Lusting after her wasn’t the hard part, realizing she wanted him too was difficult for him to fathom. She’d been a friend for so long, it was hard for him to think of her beyond friendship, but lately he definitely wanted more from her. Friends with benefits, maybe. He could do something along those lines without a problem.
For now, he would sit back in the corner he’d taken up residence in after she’d told him off, and glower at anyone who got too friendly with her. She wasn’t going to let him get between her and her little pity party or whatever it was. She didn’t want him around so he’d watch her from afar making sure she didn’t get into too much trouble. Yeah, he’d screwed up by forgetting to call her, but the really screwed up part was after he’d gone out riding with the guest from the ranch, he didn’t want to be with the woman anymore. When she’d basically thrown herself at him while they’d stopped to water the horses at the pool, he’d had to practically push her off him. All he could think about was Callie, especially after her phone call. How messed up was it to want to be with her when he had a perfectly willing woman right there?
As soon as Callie had hung up, he’d taken the woman back to the ranch, stabled the horses and drove into town. He had a feeling she would go out without him to The Dusty Boot. Sure enough, he’d found her not long after he’d arrived. He’d tried to talk some sense into her and get her to forgive him, but no. Stupid girl. Didn’t she know he’d do anything for her?
Chapter Five
Sunlight poured through the curtains of her bedroom, blinding her with its intensity and making her head feel like it wanted to split wide open. “Oh God. What the hell did I do last night?”
At least I’m not waking up in a strange motel room with something worse like a guy I don’t know or maybe even worse, a guy I do know…unless it happened to be Jeremiah. I would hope to have remembered sleeping with him.
Her mouth felt like cotton dried up every bit of saliva she had. She remembered shooting tequila with some women she knew from town who seemed to be hell-bent on forgetting a man or two. Peyton’s friend Mandy had been there. They’d become fast friends over several shots of tequila. It seemed they both wanted to forget a Young brother. Mandy had her sights set on one of them and kept getting the cold shoulder. Callie, well she knew what hell she was going through without regard to Jeremiah. The asshole.
Rolling over, she let a moan escape as her stomach revolted against the movement. She jumped up from her bed and rushed for the bathroom only to hug the toilet as dry heaves wracked her body. Jesus, please let me die right here. I promise, I’ll be good in heaven. I can’t handle this.
Her cell phone jingled on her nightstand in the other room, but there was no way in hell she would be able to answer it hugging the commode.
Her father grabbed the phone. “Hello? Oh hi, Jeremiah. No, she’s not up to talking right now.”
“I don’t want to talk to that asshole. Tell him to bug off.”
“She’s hugging the toilet at the moment.”
“Fuck him!” She heaved again, coughing like her lungs would burst from her chest. They burned like they were on fire as her stomach rebelled against any thoughts of contents.
“I’ll tell her to call you when she’s feeling better.”
“I’m not calling him. He can go to hell.”
“All right. Talk to you later then. Bye.”
“Why didn’t you tell him to go to hell?”
“Because we don’t talk like that in this house, especially on Sunday.”
“Sorry, but he deserves it.”
Her father placed a cool washcloth on her head. “I’m sure he does.”
“Oh lordy, that feels like heaven.”
“How did you get home? Your car isn’t in the drive.”
“I took a cab, I guess.”
“Got a bit drunk?”
“Yeah, just a little. Mandy is my new best friend.”
“Mandy?”
“Yeah, she’s a friend of the bartender who is married to one of the Young boys. Mandy is her friend, but she’s my new best friend too. We were doing shots of tequila.”
“Oh, boy.”
“With beer shooters.”
“No wonder you’re sick. I’ll get you some Alka-Seltzer. I’m sure I have some in my bathroom.”
“I love you, Dad.”
“I’m sure you do, honey. I’ve been where you are a few times in my life so I know what it feels like to be hung over.” Her dad disappeared out the door, but was back in a few minutes with a glass of water with something fizzing in it. “This will either cure what ails you or make you throw up.”
“I’m already throwing up.”
“It’ll help calm your stomach, sweetie. Trust me.”
With a dubious glance at her father, she took the glass and sipped at the fizzling liquid.
“Shoot it.”
She made a face, plugged her nose and swallowed the entire glass in a matter of a few gulps. “Good God, that’s nasty.” Her stomach heaved a few times, but nothing came up as she rested her forehead on the cool porcelain. She’d never leave the bathroom again.
Her father took her hand to bring her to her feet. “Now up you go.”
“I can’t.”
“Sure you can. You need some ibuprofen and a few more hours of sleep. You’ll be good as new.” He helped her to her feet and slowly walked her to her bed. “Lie down.”
Once he placed the cool cloth over her eyes and she’d taken the ibuprofen, he told her to sleep. He’d hold off the hoards of admirers until she felt better. She wasn’t sure what the hell he meant, but right now she didn’t care. Her head hurt, her stomach felt a little better for now, and she wanted to close her gritty eyelids to rest. A little sleep would do her wonders.
Several hours later, she groaned as she rolled over in her bed to the chirping of her cell phone indicating she had a text message. When she picked up the phone so she could press the button, her eyes widened to see twenty-five messages that weren’t all from the same guy. “What the hell?”
“Apparently you were pretty free last night with your phone number and address. I’ve had at least ten men here today wanting to talk to you while you slept. Your phone has been chirping like a bird in heat for the last few hours.”
“Shit.”
“Callinda.”
“Sorry, Dad. I wish I could remember what I did.”
“You might ask Peyton since she was probably one of the few people there who weren’t drunk last night.”
“But that would mean going out to the Young ranch. I don’t have her number.”
“I still think you should find out before your popularity gets my lawn messed up with the cars and trucks going across it.”
“Maybe Mandy will remember. I think I have her number.” She pushed her hand into her jeans pocket only to come out with a wad of papers. “What the heck is this?” She spread them on her bed before opening one to find a guy’s name and number. “Holy crap!” She opened two more. “These are all phone numbers.”
“You’ve become one very popular young lady.”
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“I need to call Mandy.” She grabbed her cell phone off the nightstand and flipped through the numbers until she found what she was looking for. After she pushed the button to call Mandy, she waited until her new friend picked up with a groggy reply. “Mandy?”
“Yeah. Who is this?”
“Callie.”
“Oh, hey, sister in crime. How are you feeling today?”
“Better right now after my dad plied me with home remedies for hangovers, but I still need to get some food in my stomach.”
“Don’t mention food. I’m so sick my eyes are crossed.”
“Listen, I need you to tell me what the heck happened last night.”
“Why? You don’t remember?”
“No. My phone is about to blow up from text messages, my dad said there have been at least ten guys at my door today, and I have a pocket full of phone numbers.”
“I tell you what, let me rouse myself out of bed to get a shower. I’ll meet you at Anne’s diner for some coffee and food. We’ll talk, because honey, you need to be better prepared. You made a lot of friends last night.”
“Crap. Okay. I’ll meet you there in half an hour.”
“Sounds good. See you in a few. Oh, and you’re gonna love what you said to Jeremiah when he tried to break up your little party.”
With a swipe of the button, she hung up with Mandy as she tipped her head back on her shoulders, wondering what kind of mess she’d gotten herself into this time.
When she walked into the diner a half an hour later, she kept her sunglasses on and took a table in the back. She didn’t want anyone to see her in case she was recognized from her escapades at The Dusty Boot last night.
Anne moved to her table and asked, “Coffee?”
“Definitely, two cups. I’m meeting someone in a few minutes. I think she’ll want some too.”
“Callinda?”
“Shh.” She put up her hand to shush Anne. “I don’t want anyone to see me.”
“Why? You usually come in here every Sunday with your dad anyway. Most people would expect you to be here.” She tapped her fingernail on the table. “Where is your father, by the way?” She tilted her head to the side. “And why are you wearing those dark glasses?”
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