by LS Anders
“Positive,” Callie said. “Look at him. He’s perfectly groomed, not one hair out of place. No straight man is that well-kept… never mind. I'm going to the bar for more drinks.”
“I'll go with you.” Rayna got up and followed her.
She knew of at least one straight man that was that well-kept, and that man was Vehn, she pondered as she and Rayna wove their way through the crowd of screaming women over to the bar.
Damn it! Couldn't she have at least one moment that didn’t remind her of him?
He was always on the periphery of her consciousness. As hard as she tried, as much as she wanted to, she couldn’t stop her thoughts from wandering back to him no matter what she was doing, and it was absolutely impossible to ignore the hole her love for him had left in her soul. As bad as she hurt, she was surprised every time she looked down to not find a visible wound. It was what she imagined a shotgun blast to the chest would feel like. Maybe a little worse.
Their too-short romance was over. Done! And she had only herself to blame. It had never occurred to her that he would be disappointed in her because she had questioned the trust she should have had in him. She was furious with herself for not giving him a chance to explain his side. Now she would never get the chance to hear it!
Vehn remained the photographer for Exotic Ink, so she knew she would run into him again eventually. As a matter of fact, he was scheduled to photograph the shoulder piece Tegan had done in a few days' time. Plus, it was just a matter of time before they crossed paths at Mr. Petersen’s office or in the courtroom for the trial against Regina and Frito.
The corner of her lip lifted at the nickname she had dubbed for Regina's girlfriend, Freda. At least her sense of humor was beginning to kick back in. People at the shop had seriously begun to worry about her state of mind when Cale couldn't even get a rise out of her.
What a couple of pathetic bitches, to use Vehn the way they had and attempt to take advantage of their budding romance to gain publicity! She had heard Freda's side of the story, that she had confessed to the police, from Mr. Petersen. How much of it was true was anyone's guess, because both those girls were nothing but liars, Regina being the worse of the two.
Callie couldn't help but believe most of what Freda had confessed about the fabricated story Regina had told to the media and how her suicide attempt was a sham. She believed the girl was really in love with Regina and was just doing her lover’s bidding, but it still didn't excuse Frito's part in ruining her relationship with Vehn before it barely had even gotten started.
Maybe Vehn would allow her the opportunity to say her piece when he came to photograph Tegan's client. Dr. Z had said she needed to start the mending process by getting some closure. She needed to apologize to him for shutting him out and ignoring him the way that she had. Plus, she owed him a big fat apology for not trusting him when she knew she should have.
Living in this bizarre state of limbo, not able to move forward, was killing her, but she guessed she was getting back what she had dished out to him when she had blocked him nearly a month before. She swallowed hard, trying to push down the bile of guilt over cutting him off the way she had that had settled in the back of her throat. He had not deserved to be treated that way and she was deeply ashamed at herself for doing it.
Taking a deep breath, she tried to relieve the constant pressure weighing heavily on her sternum. Not only was she nursing a broken heart, but guilt and shame seemed to be her two new best friends, and neither one of them seemed ready to leave her alone any time soon.
Rayna's voice drew her back to the present when the girl placed their drink orders with the bartender. Callie was glad Rayna had followed her over, because she had already forgotten why she was at the bar. She had been doing that more and more of late, just wandering around lost in her own head, completely brain-dumping what task she had set out to do.
“You ladies need some help carrying all those drinks?”
Callie turned her head to look in the direction the deep male voice had originated from and came nose-to-nose with the ruggedly handsome bartender. Normally, she would have been impressed by his hotness and flattered by his obvious interest in her. But not anymore. Not now that she had had a taste of perfection. This guy just paled in comparison to her Vehn.
Well, not hers. Not anymore, and didn't that just make her want to cry into her watermelon margarita!
Callie cleared her throat, talking around the lump that had formed there. “No, thanks.”
Looking around the club, between the wait staff and the performers, there were more hot guys in this one area than she had ever seen in one place in her freaking life. And she couldn't have cared less. She wondered how long it would be before she expressed interest in any other men.
She tried for a genuine smile when Rayna gave her a concerned look. It didn't fly. Rayna just returned it with a sad smile of her own. Callie wondered if Rayna was mimicking her on purpose or if that was her attempt at a bona fide smile of her own, both ladies falling short as they both tried to front. Callie knew Rayna had her own issues with whatever jacked-up super top secret relationship she had begun with Tegan.
Either way, she was doing her damnedest to pretend to be in a party mood for her friends, but Callie just couldn't bring herself to enjoy the outing. At one time, not long ago, she'd have been looking forward to this and would have been first in line to be dry humped by one of those men, but now she couldn't care less about the buff guys gyrating all over the stage.
She now had first-hand knowledge of what the color blue felt and tasted like, and she fucking hated it. She had been dragging her ass through molasses all this time, pretending to be upbeat in front of clients so no one would ask any questions.
She had plastered a smile on her face in the limo ride over as if she didn't have a care in the world, knowing her friends would try and cheer her up, but she was determined not to take away any of Avie's thunder. This was her night, and it would be unfair of her to put a blanket on everyone's fun.
Callie looked over at their table when Dylan's shrill whistle was heard above the entire crowd as the next act began. This time it was a construction worker, and as soon as he dipped his head to remove his hard hat, a thick mane of long black hair spilled out.
“Goddamn!” Rayna breathed.
“Remind you of someone?” Callie teased.
Obviously so, since the girl didn't even take the time to respond to Callie's ribbing, just wandered off towards the stage in a trance.
Callie paid the bartender, brushing off his second attempt to flirt with her, and managed to make it back to their table through the crowd with an arm load of drinks while barely spilling anything on her silk blouse.
Passing out the drinks, she took a moment to observe Avie cheering Rayna on as she tentatively tucked a bill into the waistband of the construction worker’s worn out blue jeans. Avie was currently sporting a sparkly tiara and had a sash bedazzled in clear rhinestones that read Bride.
All the other girls had on obnoxious flashing buttons that informed every single person on the planet that they were bridesmaids. Callie swore she could hear a low voltage buzz every time the damn thing lit up and wished with everything in her that she could take it off and just blend in with the rest of the men-hungry crowd, but she didn't want to run the risk of hurting Arin's feelings.
“You can blink now, RayRay. He's gone.” Callie smiled against her glass.
“Kiss my ass, Callie,” Rayna sassed back as she reclaimed her seat.
The next fine male specimen to grace the stage was wearing a doctor get-up, which immediately made Evana sit up a little straighter. Something about Evana was different, but Callie couldn't quite put her finger on what it was. Normally, her boss wouldn't glance twice at a man in professional attire. She had always been into men emanating a bad boy vibe, not ones that had college degrees. Apparently, that was not the case tonight.
“Oh, hell, yes! But, he looks a little too young for me.”
&n
bsp; Evana’s comment took the entire table by surprise, but she didn't seem to notice anything else except the doctor and what he was doing with his stethoscope.
Yep, there was something happening with her boss. Some sort of change had recently occurred, because the woman had switched from zombie-trance to carefree, the way she was back before Kyle had passed away. It was as if time had rewound itself for her, but Callie had no idea why. She was glad to see the other girl smile in her newly found joy instead of being cloaked in the sadness she always seemed to carry with her.
Dr. Sexy ditched his white lab coat revealing a set of pecs and chiseled abs you could bounce a quarter on. Evana over-turned her chair rushing to the stage to show her appreciation. She yelped when he unexpectedly lifted her by the waist and placed her in front of the chair center stage, gently pushing her down to sit while he proceeded to get very up close and personal.
Avie and Arin jumped out of their seats, squealing with excitement as they all watched Evana latch onto his hips while he thrust several times right in her face. The good doctor then ripped off his pants, which left him in only a white thong with a red cross over the most male part of him and proceeded to give Evana a full-on physical, which she seemed to thoroughly enjoy.
Dylan leaned closer to Callie, staring incredulously at Avie as she jumped up and down with excitement as Evana was molested on stage. “How in the fuck is her hair platinum blonde today?”
“Don’t try and figure it out, Dylan. You’ll just give yourself a headache,” Callie said, taking another sip of her drink.
“Wow, he was amazing. And I don't think he's gay,” Evana beamed.
“I thought you said he looked too young,” Rayna commented.
“Well, that's before I knew he was packin'!”
Callie choked at Evana’s unexpected comment as her drink ventured down the wrong pipe, causing tears to flood her eyes.
It seemed like all the people in Callie's world had been cloned or something while she had been busy with her own issues concerning her mega-star boyfriend... make that ex-boyfriend. She felt as if she had tripped and landed in an alternate universe where she and Evana had traded places. A place where her normally regal bearing, no-nonsense boss had become the life of the party. Not that she wasn't happy for her, but something had changed in her, and Callie couldn't figure out what in the hell it was.
While Rayna, the somewhat prudish one, was having some sort of elicit secret liaison with Tegan. Cale, the rumor monger, had stayed tight-lipped no matter how hard she had tried to get him to talk, and Rayna had just skirted her questions all together.
Who were these people?
“Can I be first for a cavity search, Mr. Po-leese-man?” Dylan belted out as a uniformed officer moved to stand at the back exit.
“Dylan!” Callie grabbed her arm, forcing her back into her seat. “That's a real cop.”
“That only means one thing. Those handcuffs are real, so let go of my arm so I can go do something naughty and get arrested.”
Well, at least Dylan seemed to be acting the same.
Callie noted that it had been a week and a half since Vehn had made his way up this elevator to the third floor to shoot Lizbeth's tattoo. She was to meet Evana to help do some sort of rearranging of… something. She wasn't exactly clear on the message that Tegan had passed on to her.
Taking a turn around the large open space, she trailed her fingertips along the photography equipment that Vehn had thoughtfully arranged, envious of the inanimate objects that had been touched by him. She missed being touched by him, and not just in the pleasure-seeking way, but in the simplest ways, like hand-holding.
Hearing the familiar sounds of the elevator clanging its way up, she wondered what it was Evana wanted to move. They had worked for days getting all the junk cleared out before the contractor had come to renovate the space, and unpacking and repacking everything Evana wanted to keep that was now in a room being used for storage. Callie thought they were finished, but here she was, in her old grubby sweat pants and worn t-shirt, ready to help her friend and employer.
The sound of Vehn's voice echoed outside the room, freezing her to the spot.
What the hell! Evana hadn't said anything about him being here to help, and he wasn't scheduled to shoot Janet’s tattoo until the following week. Surely Evana realized after the cold shoulder the week before, she would need time to prepare herself to face him again, and here she was, all slummed out in her cleaning clothes. She couldn't face him now, especially looking like a bag of hammered ass!
Maybe she could hide somewhere until they were gone?
“Fuck! Shit! Shit!”
Looking around for a place to hide and coming up empty was about to throw her into a real panic, but short of jumping out onto the fire escape, she was trapped.
Running her hands over her messy ponytail and tugging on the hem of her shirt in a vain attempt to make her appearance a little more presentable, she debated on putting back on her winter coat to hide her outfit.
Vehn stopped dead in his tracks as soon as he swung open the door, locking eyes on her. Tegan ran into his back at the abrupt halt. It would have been comical had there been anything to laugh about, but this situation was not the least bit humorous.
“Sorry, I thought I was supposed to meet E...” Callie trailed off, wrapping her arms around her middle, hugging herself.
She attempted to make a run for the door, but Tegan pushed Vehn the rest of the way into the room, then stepped back gripping the door knob.
“I lied, Callie. Evana isn't meeting you.”
Vehn’s head whipped around. “What the hell, Tegan? You set us up?”
“Remember that advice I gave you about not taking people at face value?”
“Yeah?” Vehn replied, sounding unsure about what Tegan was going to tell him.
“It’s the wrong time to take the right advice. Enough is enough, damn it! This is an intervention. I'm tired of watching the two of you moping around because of some bullshit caused by a jilted ex. You're making everybody miserable. You love her and she loves you. Work your shit out, because you're not leaving here until you do. Call me after you kiss and make up because I'm locking your asses in.”
The door slammed shut. The key turned and pulled free of the lock. Vehn immediately grabbed the knob, twisting it, pounding his open palm against the wood. He obviously didn't want to be locked in here with Callie, and didn't that just give her the warm and fuzzies!
“Is he serious?”
“Apparently so. You don’t by chance have an extra key on you, do you?” Vehn asked, jiggling the knob again.
Callie shook her head, looking down at the floor, suddenly feeling really small in the cavernous space.
“I'm surprised he’s gotten involved; he normally doesn’t interfere in other people’s business.” Vehn ran his hand along the top of the door frame, apparently hoping to find a hidden key. “So, it looks like we have no choice now but to talk, huh?”
Callie nodded, wandering farther back into the room where two matching arm chairs and a table had been set up. She sat on the edge of one chair, hoping to put some distance between them so she wouldn’t feel so overwhelmed.
The annoyed look on his face spoke volumes. He wasn't any more thrilled than she was about this forced meeting. Hell, he couldn't get away from her fast enough last time. Having treated her like a total leper, he'd run away from her as fast as he could in front of the entire shop. Humiliation didn't come close to how that had made her feel.
Vehn's shoulders hunched forward as he wandered towards her, jamming his hands into the front pockets of his slacks and looking about as uncomfortable as she felt.
“Ladies first?” he offered, sitting on the edge of the window sill.
“All right, might as well get this over with,” she mumbled, taking a deep breath to steady her nerves and arrange the tornado of thoughts whipping around in her head. “I'm sorry for blocking you and not talking to you after I saw the news. I
should have believed you, and you're right to be mad at me for not trusting you when I should have. But in my own defense, you did pretend to be someone else for an entire week when we first met.”
“Callie, that was a necessary little white lie, and I’ve already explained to you the reasons behind it. You said you understood.”
“I did understand at the time, but when I saw all that shit on the news, I didn’t know what to think. You’d already lied to me once about who you really were!” Callie exclaimed defensively.
“Because you would have freaked out!” Vehn seemed to be getting more and more agitated as the conversation progressed. “I just wanted one fucking night out where I didn’t have to be famous. I didn’t know I was going to fall… like you as much as I did! Tegan told me you were a fan, and then I was stuck being Lee. I took it as an opportunity for you to get to know the real me.”
Callie could only nod. He was right. It was still a lie, necessary or not, but her heart was telling her to forgive him this untruth. She knew firsthand what it was like for him to be in public. Just a few minutes on the sidewalk in front of that restaurant on their first date had yielded several tabloid covers.
“You not trusting me about Regina seriously pissed me off. I can’t even begin to express how shitty you made me feel when you ignored me and don’t even get me started on how devastating it was that you left me in the fucking hall to beg. Jesus-fucking-Christ, Callie, do you even own a soul? How could you be so heartless!?”
“I know. I'm sorry, Vehn, but it's not every day a girl sees her boyfriend’s fiancée on TV accusing him of cheating.”
“It was all lies, Callie, and she was never my fiancée!”
“Yes, I know that now, and stop yelling at me or this conversation will be over before it even gets started. Tegan can kiss my ass, because I’ll bust down the damn door!”
“Where was that fiery girl when all this happened? Why didn't you fight for the truth? I came to your condo that morning to try and talk to you,” Vehn questioned, throwing up his hands in exasperation. “And don't pretend you weren't there, because I know you were.”
