Chapter 26 – Leo #2
A week later, on Saturday afternoon, Willa walks into the bedroom where I am sorting through clean clothes, phone in hand and smiling. We’ve fallen into a rhythm that feels so natural, sometimes I forget we haven’t always been this, Willa and I together.
“We’re going out tonight,” she says, throwing her phone on top of the dress, then stepping over to the closet that, without any kind of real conversation, has become her closet.
She still keeps some things at Hallie’s old place, but the trips there to grab them have become less and less frequent, with most of her essentials finding a new home here.
In my mind, I’m already thinking of ways to make her feel more at home here, things she might need, like turning the smaller closet into a larger walk-in style and talking to Adam about what she might need for an office-slash-music room here.
I want this to be her home, and to make that happen, she needs her own space. She’s not necessarily ready for all of those conversations just yet, though, so I mostly just plot and plan in my own mind.
I stand then, reaching for and snagging her around the waist before she makes it to the closet, and pulling her into me.
“We are?” I ask, my head tipping to press my lips to hers. She smiles into the kiss, then nods when it breaks.
‘Yeah, that was Hallie. We’re all going to the Mill. I think it’s about time we finally have our first night out in Holly Ridge together.”
I couldn’t agree more.
This time, we walk into the Mill together, and when all eyes move to us, there are smiles instead of intrigue; our friends’ warm faces welcome us in rather than watching me enter alone and wondering just what might happen next.
Once the door closes behind us, Willa drops my hand and moves quickly to the girls, hugging each one of them and instantly falling into a quick, excited conversation.
The sight of it settles in my chest, warm.
This is the same woman who, despite being one of the most popular stars in the media, still walks into every room nervously, as if she doesn’t know quite where she belongs.
The woman who, to my knowledge, has never had a night out, a lunch, or a shopping trip with another person that wasn’t preplanned for optimum exposure and who confessed to me recently that she thought girls’ nights and getting ready together were just a cinematic theme, not a real, everyday occurrence.
And now she’s running over to a group of women as if they’re her lifelong friends.
I’m reminded once more just how magical Holly Ridge is.
“Hey, man,” Jesse says as I approach the group, slower than Willa, veering toward the men instead. “You got wrangled into this, too?”
“Your fiancé’s hard to argue with.”
“You’re telling me,” he says, but there’s a look on his face that tells me he deals with that on a daily basis. From what I hear, his daughter is more like Hallie than she is her own father, so I’m sure his house is chaotic at all times.
“You drinking tonight?” Madden asks.
“I’ll have a beer, but I’ll grab it once Will’s done gabbing and tells me what she wants.
” She still mentions the s’mores martini she had here last time, but I wonder if there’s some other drink she’s never had but always wondered about.
I look to the bar to see if there’s a line and should order sooner rather than later, and I’m surprised to see someone other than just Colton standing behind it.
“Who’s the woman?” I ask, my brows furrowed at the pretty brunette standing behind the bar and glaring at Colton.
His arms are crossed over his chest as she talks to him, clearly agitated, but he doesn’t exactly seem fazed, either by the woman or the fact that she’s behind the bar with him. Hallie moves over to Jesse’s side, tucking in under his arm and grinning deviously.
“Oh, that’s the love of Colton’s life,” she says.
I blink my eyes, looking from her to the woman, who is now throwing her hands up in the air, clearly annoyed. To Hallie’s credit, though, Colton is smiling.
“Uh, she kind of looks like she hates him?” I say.
“That’s how he likes his women.”
I raise an eyebrow, unsure of what to do with that, but get momentarily distracted when it seems Willa has done her rounds and comes to my side, sliding an arm around my waist. I return the favor, holding her tight but looking back to Hallie.
“He likes women who hate him?”
“No, no, he likes the chase. And Sloane is most definitely making him chase her.”
“She looks kind of scary,” Adam mutters, and Wren slaps him in the chest chidingly.
“Again, that’s how he likes ’em,” Hallie says with a shrug.
“I get it. Mean girls are kind of hot,” Madden says, and I wonder if anyone else sees his gaze lock across the way on Nat.
“Okay, enough. I’ve given you guys enough canoodling time. It’s time for shots!” Nat shouts, averting her eyes from Madden almost before I catch that it was there in the first place.
“Shots!” Willa shouts, excitedly, and I laugh, something that even I have to admit is hilariously ironic. If you had told me that I would be watching Willa Stone cheer to take shots with a smile on my face, I would have called you out of your goddamn mind.
But here we are.
She hesitates before stepping out of my arm, though, looking over at me and biting her lips, then looking back at Nat. “Actually, I should probably take it slow tonight.”
My hand tightens on her hip, and she looks at me as I shake my head, then tip my head to Nat, who is watching us like a hawk.
“Go on, honey. You’re good.”
“Honey!” Wren says in an excited hush.
“I know, isn’t it so cute?” Hallie murmurs.
“You all make me sick,” Nat grumbles, but Willa ignores them.
“You should be allowed to get drunk this time,” she whines, and I bite back a laugh, because I intuitively know laughing at her will not go well. Instead, I pull her in close and lower my voice.
“I have to be sober to do what I want to do to you tonight.” Her eyes go wide, and her lips drop open.
“Because I’ve been thinking about fucking a drunk Willa for a while now.
Tonight’s my night.” I lower my voice and lean in until I’m barely whispering into her ear for only her to hear.
“Don’t know if you know this, but the night you touched yourself in my bed, I sat outside and listened.
Been looking to recreate that but make it much more enjoyable for both of us, honey. ”
When I pull back, her lips are parted, her eyes wide, completely speechless.
That is, until she turns to Nat. “Shots. Lots of them.”
“Oh my god, that was hot,” Nat says. “I need to get laid.”
“I’m here whenever you’re ready, baby,” Madden says in his normal, joking, Playboy way, and when she gives him a look of utter disgust, then turns on her heel and tugs Willa to the bar, Wren and Hallie in tow, I can’t help but let out a bark of a laugh.
Once the hilarity dies down, I notice Adam is watching me.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever seen you laugh out loud like that. Seems like Holly Ridge has been good for you,” Adam says, grinning at me. I look from him to the bar where Willa is throwing back a shot like a champ and find myself smiling.
“Yeah, I guess it is.”
But I know that it’s really the blonde carrying a beer in one hand and a cocktail glass in the other as she walks the way that’s been good for me.
“There’s no way the pop princess can shake her ass,” Hallie says a couple of hours later.
There are a few appetizers on the table, decimated, but despite all of our efforts to get the girls to eat and combat their drunkenness, they’re all long gone.
And even though it’s happening from the other side of the table, I can tell that Hallie is baiting her.
“Are you joking me?” Willa asks, eyes wide and disbelieving. “Have you ever seen my sets? I very much know how to shake ass.”
“You know how to pop star dance. You never had to go to a homecoming dance in a high school gym and grind in the darkest corner so a teacher doesn’t come in and separate you.”
I think for a moment this will go poorly, Nat reminding her of things she never had, but Willa just rolls her eyes.
“Just because I was very much lacking in childhood experiences does not mean I don’t know how to throw ass, Nat.”
“I think this calls for a competition!” Madden yells, clear excitement in his voice.
“Oh fuck,” I groan, because Willa might be soft and sweet, but if there’s one thing I’ve learned in the past few weeks, it’s that she cannot, for the life of her, step down from a challenge.
“Yes!” Willa yells, then grabs Hallie’s hand and tugs her to the jukebox, flipping until they find some song. Eventually, the familiar sound of “Low” comes over the speakers, and I close my eyes and sigh. On the other hand, Adam starts laughing loudly beside me.
“Oh, this is going to be good,” he says, not even watching the women, instead, watching me.
It’s going fine, the girls dancing and cheering, grinding on one another drunkenly and laughing until about two-thirds of the way through.
I watch as Hallie stumbles and is caught by Willa, both of them bursting into a fit of giggles before Willa pauses and says something to Nat, whose eyes go wide.
“Do it!” Nat says, loud enough to be heard over the music. Willa laughs and shakes her head, but Nat says something else, clearly challenging my stubborn girl.
Then it happens.
Willa pulls out a chair from one of the lower tables and puts her foot on it.
Then she steps up.
Then she steps up again until she’s on top of the table, and she starts to dance, Nat, Hallie, and even Wren hooting and hollering, encouraging her as she gets more confident on top of the table.
“No way,” Adam says, but I continue to watch in shock as, with the beat of the song, Willa drops it low. I’ve never been more grateful that she’s wearing shorts instead of a skirt.
“Holy shit,” Jesse says.
“Okay, that’s my cue,” I say, shaking my head, grabbing her bag, and standing, hearing a chorus of men’s laughter behind me as I move to where Willa is dancing, standing before her with my arms crossed on my chest.
“Come on, honey. Time to get you home.”
She gives me the sweetest glare, still in a squat, and I try my best not to laugh.
“I’m not ready to go.”
“Remember what I told you before?” I ask, stepping closer and putting my lips to her ear. “You’re good and drunk, baby. I don’t need you tipping into the blackout zone before I get my fill of you.” Her breath hitches.
“Okay. We can go,” she murmurs, and I smile.
I shift, putting my hands on her waist, then bend and slide her over my shoulder. She giggles, and I wave goodbye to our friends as they laugh while I turn to the door, Willa over my shoulder.
“Told you it would happen,” Adam calls across the bar, and it reminds me of what he said that first night here, something I didn’t understand but do now. At the memory, I smile.
“Later,” I say.
“Bye, guys!” Willa calls.
“Girls’ night Tuesday!” Nat calls. “I want all the details!”
“Deal!”
Willa giggles from over my shoulder as I take her outside, then I take her home and make the night memorable, so she has something to share with the girls.