Final Call (The Call #2) Read Free Page A

friendship is kind
of skewed, I’m realizing.
    One bottle of wine
appears on the table in front of us. “A bottle? Big spender
tonight?” I tease her, grabbing it and pouring two glasses.
    “Ha! As if.” She grins
and nods her head behind me. “Nope. The two guys in the suits
bought it for us.”
    Of course. Only my best
friend could walk in somewhere and get the first drinks bought for
us.
    I glance at her chest.
The girls are definitely out to play tonight. “I wonder why.”
    Her smile widens. “Hey,
if they get us free drinks, are you going to complain?”
    I want to remind her
that I can buy my own drinks, but even that reminds me of Aaron. Fucking hell. Is there anything that won’t?
    “I have a job this
weekend.”
    “Hmm? Where to?”
    Liv chews on the inside
of her lip and hides behind her wine glass. “I didn’t want to tell
you before, but I took your advice. I went to the Stone
agency.”
    “Why wouldn’t you tell
me? Regardless of the asshole level of the guy in charge, they’re
still an incredible agency. Are you signed with them?”
    “Not yet. This weekend
is a kind of trial, too. If the pictures come back okay, they’ll be
drawing up a contract next week.”
    “I’m happy for you.” I
grab her hand across the table. “Really, I am.”
    Apparently even now my
best friend will remind me of him. Maybe I should move to
Australia.
    “I thought it would be
kind of awkward.”
    I force a laugh. “No.
What happened with us happened. One of those things.”
    She arches a perfectly
shaped eyebrow. “Right. We can go with that.”
    “I was planning on
doing so.” I sigh into my glass. “Can we stop talking about him
now, please? I’m done moping over him.”
    Liv stands and grabs my
hand. “Let’s finish this then find somewhere we can go dance. And
with any luck, there’ll be some hot guys to look at.”
    She has a one-track
mind.
     
    ***
     
    “My feet hurt,” I
whine, sitting on a stool. I pull my shoe off and rub the ball of
my foot with my thumb. Two hours of nearly solid dancing has just
about killed me.
    “Wine?”
    “The drink or the
action?” I mumble. “If I can, both.”
    Liv laughs and leans
over the bar. She gives her eyelashes a quick flutter, squeezes her
boobs together, and grabs the attention of the bar guy right away.
I’d roll my eyes if I weren’t so used to it.
    Two glasses of wine
appear in front of us. I pull out the money, but a hand rests on my
forearm. “Let me get those for you,” a deep voice says into my
ear.
    I turn to face the guy
offering with a polite smile. “Thank you, but no thank you. I owe
her a round.” I’m done having drinks bought for me.
    “Really, let me get it
for you.”
    “That’s very kind of
you, but no, thank you.” My voice firms toward the end. I don’t
give a crap if he’s good-looking and has that rugged thing going on
that melts panties. My panties aren’t melting, and I’m buying my
own drink.
    He opens his mouth to
speak, but he’s interrupted by another voice. One that sends
shivers down my spine and stops my heart.
    “You heard the lady.
She can buy her own drink”
    Liv’s eyes widen, and
my throat goes dry. No. He’s not supposed to be here. America or
Seattle. No. No.
    “And who are you?”
    “I’m the owner.”
    Liv’s eyes are as wide
as saucers, but I’m not even surprised. Am I surprised he’s here?
Yes. That he owns the place? No. I know nothing about his business.
Not really.
    More words are
exchanged behind me, words I can’t make out through the spinning
inside my body. Every part of me is on edge, and my stomach is
clenched with apprehension. I can’t breathe.
    I grab Liv’s arm and
shake my head. I can’t stay here—not with him. She understands,
grabbing my hand and leading me toward the door. I step out into
the night air and take a deep breath, leaning against the wall, but
the eyes I look into aren’t the blue-green ones of my best
friend.
    They’re the
electric-blue ones of