Chapter Thirteen Charlotte
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHARLOTTE
H ave you ever almost died from regret? Not like a real death, but an ego one. Like the mortification made the thought of melting into the snow easier than accepting reality. That was how I felt knowing I not only jumped onto Hayden, but then said, I could almost kiss you right now .
Why? Why would those words come out of my mouth?
Plus his entire body turned to ice. Was it in horror? Was he remembering the last time we kissed and didn’t speak for years? We had moments of flirtation, and sure, we’d always had that, but we had just decided to be friends again. What the hell was I doing?
Avoidance. That’s what I should do.
That’s what you did for three years. Worked out well, huh?
Wiping my palms on my thighs, I took a deep breath. I could face him. I’d just say I got carried away with the win or the relief of Penny and Christian acting more like themselves. Yeah. That made sense. Content with my plan, I felt more confident facing the group.
Penny and Christian accepted the money prize, waving their hands like they were in a homecoming parade. I filmed the entire thing, obviously, and couldn’t stop chuckling. They were absolute weirdos, but at least they were on track with the wedding.
“I hate to bring this up now, but we should talk about it,” Hayden said, his deep voice coming way too close to me. He stood with his hands in his pockets, his glasses perched on his nose, and damn. Just damn.
Have you ever slipped on ice? That sudden loss of balance where you swerve left then right, and you aren’t sure if you’ll make it? That was the same feeling I had, where prickles of unease zigzagged from my spine to my feet. I was falling. He wanted to talk about what I said. “It was an accident.”
“We beat—wait, what?”
“No, you go. What?”
Just when I thought I couldn’t be worse, I surprised myself. I crossed my arms to put up a barrier of protection against those glasses. They had superpowers or something. “What do we need to talk about, Hop?” My tone came out a bit too icy. (Ha, which was fair because his comment felt like me crashing through ice.)
He frowned for a beat, confusion swirling in his gray eyes. He opened his mouth but then closed it as he studied me. He must’ve been okay with what he saw, because he smiled. “I think this’ll make you happy to know, but I downloaded the app and checked the scores for the first competitions.”
“Okay.” I didn’t track his line of thought.
His smile shifted to a very Grinch-like playfulness as he tilted his head to the side. “Char. We beat them.”
“We beat everyone?”
“No. Well, yes, but we placed higher than Penny, Garrett, and your brother.” He beamed at this point. “Guess who has to do a dance tomorrow for us? Coordinated and filmed?”
It was slow, but the words finally made sense, and my smile also turned Grinch-like. “Hell yes. We don’t have to DJ!”
“Exactly.” His joy was contagious. “This might be my favorite moment of my life, you know, minus having Gwen.”
“Obviously. That’s hard to top.” My own laughter eased the mortification and tension that lingered. Some of it remained, but not all of it. I could use this, latch onto the fact that those competitive a-holes would have to dance for us.
Something niggled the back of my mind, like a small scratch. It made me pause. “Wait, Hayden.”
“Hm?” He stepped closer. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong, but… come here.” I grabbed his elbow and guided us away from Garrett, Penny, and Christian. Hayden stared at my fingers on his arm, and I dropped them. “I know we won overall, and they do seem back to normal, right?”
He nodded.
“I don’t… I don’t want to cause stress to them. What if they really need a DJ and not having one is part of their arguing? We could volunteer, to make sure the wedding happens?”
“You’re killing me, Char.” He groaned and stared up at the ceiling. “How selfish is it for me to not care about that right now? We won and they lost, and those are facts. I want to enjoy that.”
“Even at the cost of not having a wedding?” I whispered, even though we were far away from them. “Trust me, I also want to see them dance and blackmail them for the rest of my life, but we can’t… maybe it’d be…” I paused, nervous to finish the sentence.
How silly of me. My face heated, and I rubbed my fingers together, hoping the worries escaped with the motion.
“Maybe it’d be what?” he asked, his voice kind.
“A nice way for us to hang out again.” My stupid voice cracked at the words hang out . “If you want. You know. There’s no… We could also make them separately on a shared playlist. That would be easier.”
Be more awkward. Please try. Reach a new personal record.
“Charlotte.” He released a soft chuckle and tugged the end of my sweater in such a sweet, intimate move that my head spun.
I stared up at him, the rest of the room disappearing. He had the ability to do that. When he focused on me, it made me feel important, like I was the only thing that mattered. My heart thudded so hard against my ribs that it was a shock he couldn’t hear it. His thumb brushed against the bare skin of my stomach, and I sucked in a breath.
“I’d love to hang out with you and make playlists. Sure, I’m not a fan of being the bigger person when I could make your idiot brother do a dance routine, but it’s the right choice.”
“So we vow to not tell them that we won?” I asked. His finger remained on my hip, moving left and right in small circles. How was that tiny little movement the most erotic thing I had ever felt? I couldn’t catch my breath.
“Correct.”
“Penny will know though.” I swallowed, swaying a little toward him. “She’ll check and be pissed they lost. She’s honest to a fault.”
“True.” He twisted his lips as he glanced over my shoulder. “We could… hm.”
I turned to see what the rest of the group was doing, and the motion caused me to put distance between us. But his grip on my hip tightened, almost like he didn’t want to stop touching me. I didn’t know what to do with this information, but that sensation of falling through ice increased. “Uh,” I muttered, unsure where my ability to speak full sentences went. I was an educated woman! I was a chatterbox, yet no words would come out.
He seemed so normal and unfazed. No erratic breathing or inability to speak. Just confident and sexy Hayden. Maybe I should poke his hip and see how he liked it? No. That was the wrong choice.
“What we could do,” he said, his lips curving up on one side in a smirk, “is create the playlist tonight and tomorrow at brunch, and we make a big deal about it. Like how selfish and amazing we are to do this even though we won.”
“Oh, I like that. They won’t enjoy knowing we have something over them.”
“Nope. That’ll annoy Christian for months.”
“Yes!” I grinned, forgetting about his touch. “And we aren’t working against the wedding either. So we come across as heroes, we still won and get bragging rights, and we save the wedding. That’s a real turkey.”
“Um, I’m sorry? A real turkey?”
“Oh.” I snorted. “Right, this is a newer Calhoun expression my dear father started as a joke, and I unfortunately adopted it. Kind of like how my dad texts neat in all caps every other day.”
“I’ve received my fair share of neat s from your dad in my lifetime. You’re going to have to explain the turkey comment though.”
“In bowling, when you get three strikes, you got a turkey. Whenever three good things happen, it’s a real turkey.”
“Calhouns are so strange. Wonderful, but strange.”
“It’s our family mission and vision. Be wonderful, be strange. ”
He chuckled, the deep rich laugh hitting me right in the chest like an arrow. Between his glasses, the sound of his laugher, and the way his sweater fit him, he was a real turkey.
“Incoming.” He released his grip on me, his face almost falling in disappointment. Huh. That was… wonderful and strange to see.
“Look at the prize basket!”
Ah. That’s what he meant. Penny arrived carrying a huge basketful of crap. Christmas crap.
“Babe, you shouldn’t be carrying that.” Christian yanked it out of her hands.
“And why shouldn’t I be carrying this?” she said through clenched teeth.
My brother’s jaw tensed, irritation flaring behind his eyes. “Because you are to be my wife, and I take care of you.”
“Caveman doesn’t suit you.” Penny yanked the basket right out of his hands. “Let’s look through this. Oh my gosh, I am so excited!”
While winning the competition had made them act more normal, there still was evident strain. It assured me that Hayden and I had made the right choice in deciding to create the playlist. I wanted to ease any burden from them so the wedding would go on as planned. Even if that meant spending more time with Hayden alone.
“Babe, you are strong and beautiful and my favorite, but set the basket down at a table so we can go through it.” Christian’s tone didn’t match the words, but it worked.
Penny marched over to a table and set the basket down hard. “There.”
“Can you guys either go… I don’t know, screw this tension out? You’re killing my buzz.” Garrett pulled open the ribbon and pulled out a holiday mug. “Nice. I love a mug. Dibs. I call dibs .”
“He’s right.” Christian eyed the basket. “I will be taking my fiancée and this basket to our room. We can go through the prizes tomorrow.”
“Oh, will you?” Penny asked.
Christian grinned before picking her up and hoisting her over his shoulder. “We’ll see you at brunch in the morning.”
“Christian!” Penny yelled, but she smiled. But her tone shifted really fast. “Put me down.”
“Nope.” He smacked her butt before grabbing the basket. She laughed, and just like that, they walked down the hall, her squeals echoing back toward us. She seemed happy with the turn of events, and that’s all I cared about.
To repeat Hayden’s words, they were wonderful but strange.
“I wanted that mug.” Garrett stared after them with a sad look. “It was really nice.”
“G, you can get your mug tomorrow.”
He shrugged and stared at us with mischief. “What’s our wolf pack gonna do? Wanna play a game, drink at a bar? They might think they won’t see us until morning, but I have a surprise for them.”
“What does that mean?” Hayden demanded.
Garrett shrugged, looking way too proud. I didn’t like it one bit. “Oh, nothing.”
“Dude, what did you do?” I asked, pointing a finger at his chest. “Tell me right now.”
“You’ll see.” He wiggled his eyebrows. “Let’s say it’s a fun little gift for them.”
“You don’t understand,” I argued, annoyed that Garrett was being so nonchalant about it. “We can’t do anything to ruin this weekend or wedding. If you pulled a prank, it could upset them.”
“Char, I love you, babe, but if they can’t handle this joke, then they are doomed.” He yawned and had the audacity to look surprised. “How am I more tired than you both? I’m way more fun.”
“They can’t handle any more stress than the wedding itself. Can you please tell me what you did? I don’t want to ruin this for them.”
“It won’t, okay? I promise. I think my hangover is starting now. God, is this what it means to be thirty? Not a fan. Four out of ten stars so far. I might go to bed so we can go wild tomorrow.” He clapped Hayden on the shoulder and pulled me in for a hug. “Don’t worry so much, Char.”
“Please don’t ruin this.” I debated telling him what we knew, but Hayden shook his head slightly, almost in warning. I trusted Garrett but wasn’t sure what he would do if I shared my concerns. “What can I do to get the prank out of you?”
“If I was on top of my game, I’d say marry me, but I just need sleep. It’ll be fine. Plus it’d be too late to cancel anyway. I already paid for her. Anyway, night, y’all. Don’t have too much fun.” He kissed the top of my head before marching away.
“I really don’t like him sometimes.”
“He said her . Paid for her . He ordered a stripper. Fuck.” Hayden took off his glasses and ran a finger over his eyebrow before meeting my gaze. His intense gray eyes, the same color of snow under moonlight, narrowed. “We have to stop this.”