Chapter 13
CHAPTER 13
ARLOW
Silver’s reason for claiming me as her teammate for the maze becomes clear as we make our way through the stalks of corn. “Tell me about Lee. Is he single and does he now or has he ever had felony charges against him?”
“I see why you and Calli are friends. Did she ever tell you she suspected me of grave robbery?”
My attempt to change the subject doesn’t work. “To be fair, you live in a graveyard. I’m not trying to end up chained in a basement of a stranger so answer the question.”
“Lee isn’t dangerous, but he also isn’t interested in dating.”
“I’m not looking for a date, just a night.” Silver grabs my wrist, stopping us with the exit in sight. “Wait, are you two into each other?”
“What? No, why would you think that?”
She shrugs and starts walking again. “Neither of you date, and you spend a lot of time together. It wouldn’t have been a big deal.”
Calli, Lee, and Lacey wait on the other side, sitting in the grass. “It’s about time. We were getting bored,” Calli calls. “Hurry before the face painting booth closes!”
Joy shines on her face and it reminds me of how she looked that first day I saw her by the creek. So relaxed, without a trace of worry in her features. I love to see her happy. “Fine, but then we hit the food trucks because the smell of barbecue is torture.”
At the face painting tent, there’s a brief huddle between the three of them while Silver and I wait. Once a consensus is reached, Calli mumbles to one of the artists while Lee talks to the other. We aren’t allowed to know what we’re getting until it’s done.
Calli sits beside me to watch with a growing smile as the guy paints on my forehead. “How’s the edible treating you?” I ask her.
“Like I might want the other half after we eat.”
“I take green tips, you know,” the artist says at the mention of edibles.
“Tell me what you’re drawing, and we’ll talk.”
Calli shakes her head at him, and he chuckles. “Sorry, dude.”
He finishes quickly and Calli snaps a picture with her phone. I expect it to be something completely goofy, but when she holds up her phone to show me my reflection in the camera, my glare goes straight to Lee. Because I know damn well whose idea turning me into a giraffe was.
“If you’re jealous of my height, just say so, asshole!”
There’s laughter from both artists and the few people gathered around to watch or wait their turn. I slip the guy an edible. Calli is the only one who notices. Everyone else is too busy looking at Silver as her artist finishes. “Tattoo artist?” I guess, and he nods, thanking me under his breath then nodding toward the other artist. “He is too. Easy extra money.”
Silver gets a first glance at mine and cracks up which is hilarious because hers is so much bigger. My artist only painted my forehead and nose. It’s very good and detailed. He’s put an ear above each of my eyes and the little giraffe horns between them. Yellow paint covers a thin strip of my forehead, spotted with brown splotches, and leads down my nose, turning black at the tip. It’s unmistakably a giraffe but done minimally compared to Silver’s.
“Who are you laughing at?” I ask, spinning the little mirror on the table near her around so she can see.
Her jaw falls open at the sight of the shark that’s tail takes up most of her forehead. The body bends around her cheek, and her mouth has been turned into the shark’s mouth. Her lips are even painted. So much dark blue. She grins up at the artist. “That’s fantastic.” She opens and closes her mouth, making the shark do the same and everyone laughs.
“It suits you,” Lee tells her as we all leave the tent. “You look like you bite.” She leans to say something directly in his ear that I’m glad I don’t hear, judging by the reaction on his face.
We grab dinner from the food trucks and have a few more drinks before piling into Lacey’s SUV to go back to the cabin. I accompany Calli into her little kitchen to help cut up the cake while the others wait in the living room, and she asks me for the other half of the gummy.
“These hit you better, huh?”
Her glazed eyes and instant smile say it all as she chews the other half, then uncovers the cake. “They’re great. No anxiety and I’m not tired at all. I could eat this whole cake though, even after those corndogs.”
“Calli.” She pauses and her eyes widen slightly when I put a hand under her chin to keep her gaze on mine. “Thank you for tonight. No one has surprised me like this on my birthday since I was a little kid. It was so sweet.”
Her cheeks practically glow under the ceiling light and her words slip out in a near whisper. “You’re welcome.”
The urge to kiss her is almost unbearable. I felt awful when she asked if I was avoiding her because if I’m going to be truthful with myself, that’s what I was doing. I didn’t lie to her. I was caught up in my art, but I let it happen because it’s so hard to resist the chemistry between us. As soon as she stood in front of me, I was lost to her again. To the connection that only grows stronger the more I fight it.
Her lips twitch and she starts to giggle. “I’m sorry, but…”
Alright, I may have forgotten that I look like a giraffe. “Giraffe, right. I’m going to go wash this off.”
“There are some cloths under the bathroom sink that you don’t have to worry about staining.”
It takes some scrubbing, but the colors used were light and that makes it easier. Even on the patches of vitiligo, it comes off. Calli hands me a plate when I return to the living room to sit between her and Lacey.
“Silver, I have bad news and good news,” I announce, scooping a bite of cake into my mouth. It’s fucking delicious. Calli is looking for new hobbies, but she mastered baking in my opinion. Pies, cobbler, muffins, cake, bread. I’ve had them all from her and all have been phenomenal. “The bad news is the dark paint doesn’t come completely off no matter how hard you scrub.”
Silver looks up at me, alarmed. Poor shark. “What’s the good news?”
Shrugging, I take another bite before answering. “Only the tip of my nose was dark.”
Laughter runs around the room, and Silver narrows her eyes at me. “I went to jail for kicking a man in the balls, smartass. You might want to keep that in mind.”
“Threatened by a shark. That’s a new one.”
Calli tries to help her clean the paint off after we finish eating, but nothing removes all that blue. “You look like you’re running out of oxygen,” Calli teases.
“My makeup remover at home will take care of it,” Silver says, shrugging it off.
I lean down, dropping my voice to ask Calli, “Bonfire?”
A brilliant smile leaps to her face. “Sure.”
Everyone is happy to move our party to my firepit but when we reach the entrance of the graveyard, Silver hesitates. “This feels like one of those horror movie moments where I’d be screaming at the women onscreen for being stupid.”
“Just don’t twist your ankle when you run,” Lee says, and she glares at him.
“I’ll push you down first.”
“You should see it on a cloudy night when it’s also full of fog. Can’t see your hand in front of your face,” Calli tells her, moving to walk with her through the gravestones. “I was thinking we could host a big game of hide and seek, maybe on Halloween.”
“You need psychological help.”
Despite her reservations, Silver can’t take her eyes off the sky full of stars once we crest the hill. Lee and I carried up the cooler of drinks and Calli brought a wireless speaker. She connects it to her phone and turns on some music while I get the fire going.
The second half of the gummy hits her much harder but not in a bad way. Her cheeks are going to be sore from the constant smile on her face.
Lee has walked with Lacey down to my place to use the bathroom when Calli moves from sitting on the log to lying on the grass. Okay, it’s probably time to intervene.
“You’re going to be bug food,” I warn. Not to mention the ground is cold and damp this late in October.
“Look at the stars though,” she breathes, remaining on her back. Her gaze moves from the sky to me when I walk over to her. “You are so tall. Like a big gorgeous tree.”
She’s high as hell.
Silver chokes back a laugh. “Girl, you have to shut up.”
“A tree? I thought I was a sexy beekeeper.”
She grabs my ankle, staring up at me. “You are. A big sexy treekeeper bee. Beekeepering tree.”
“Okay, come on.” She doesn’t resist when I pull her to her feet as Lee and Lacey return. “Log or chair, pick a seat.”
She glances toward the dark forest. “Let’s go to the creek!” She looks over at Silver, who shakes her head adamantly. “It’ll be fun!” she adds, undeterred, excitement ruling her voice. She gets about two steps in that direction before I grab her from behind and hold her a few inches in the air. Going into the woods fucked up at night is not a bright idea. I’m not trashed but I have a great buzz and Lacey is the only sober one.
“Put me down!” Calli giggles, kicking her feet.
“Did you just put her in air jail?” Lacey snorts.
The laughter from everyone has her laughing too until I murmur in her ear. “Are you going to sit down, or do I have to carry you back to your cabin?” The fire in her eyes when she turns her head to look at me isn’t anger. It’s far more dangerous. Her gaze stays on mine as I gently set her on her feet. “The edible is at its peak. Let me keep you safe.”
Nodding, she takes a few steps and sits in one of the Adirondack chairs beside Lacey. They start talking about the song that’s playing while I try to hide the hard-on that popped up at the way she looked at me.
The effects of the edible slowly wane, and she comes down. The next few hours are filled with music, laughter, and conversation. It’s the best birthday I can remember, and I can’t stop looking at the amazing woman who put it together.
Everyone is at my house and getting ready to leave when I find Calli in my kitchen, perusing the refrigerator. She doesn’t hear me come in, and I watch as she takes a cherry from the container before choosing a bottle of water.
Her body jolts when she turns to see me standing right behind her. “Jesus, Arlow, you scared the hell out of me!”
Chuckling, I pluck the cherry from her hand and wave it in front of her. “Still haven’t changed your fruit bandit tendencies.”
“You knew what you were getting yourself into.” She reaches for the cherry, and I hold it up above her head. Her smirk is adorable. I want to kiss it off her face. “Do you seriously think I’m going to jump for that?”
Before I reply, she jumps and tries to snatch it, cursing under her breath when I raise it just in time. “Not even close.”
She turns her back to me, reaching for the fridge handle, and I loop my arm around her middle, pulling her back to me as she laughs. “You’re supposed to share with your friends.”
Her back lands against my ribs as my hand splays over her stomach, holding her there. “Only if they say please.” The words come out huskier than I intend, and I feel her take a deep breath. The mood between us shifts from playful to something more in half a second.
Her body relaxes, and she tilts her head back a bit, resting it against my chest. “Please.”
Fuck, what that one word does to me. I want to hear her moan it with my face buried between her legs. The thought alone has my cock hardening, and she presses her ass against it as I bring the cherry to her mouth an inch at a time. My self-control flees as I watch it disappear between soft lips.
The slight shiver she exhibits when my mouth hovers under her ear is as satisfying as the way she tilts her head, giving me access to trace my lips down her graceful neck with light, brushing kisses.
Her eyes fall closed. Still firmly in my arms, she reaches up behind her to graze her fingers across my nape. “Arlow.” My name floats out on a breathy whisper. “What are you doing?”
Excellent fucking question.
With a sigh, I lean my head against hers. “Fuck if I know.”
Turning around, she gazes up at me while I bring my hands to her hips. She reaches to run her fingertips through my scruff, and my eyes briefly close at her soft touch. “You’re drunk.”
Ignoring my instinct to deny it, I nod, looking into her beautiful eyes that shine under the kitchen lights. Everything about her shines.
“I think it’s time to call it a night.” Raising onto her tiptoes, she drops a quick peck on my lips. “Happy Birthday, Arlow.”
“Good night, Peach.”
It takes me a few minutes to convince myself not to go after her. Fuck. Fuck. Let her go . Lee pauses when he walks in the kitchen. “You alright?”
“Yeah, I’m good.”
Wordlessly, he holds out a hundred dollar bill to me, continuing our tradition, and I accept it with a nod, tucking it into my pocket. The sight of faint blue smears on his chin makes me grin. “That’s one way to remove makeup.”
“Fuck off. We’re heading out. Happy Birthday.”
Silence settles thick over the house after everyone has left. It’s late, well past three a.m. when I climb into bed, but I can’t sleep. Every time I close my eyes, I think of how Calli softened under my touch, the hoarseness of her voice when she asked me what I was doing. Thank fuck she had the strength to walk away. I’m the one who told her we can’t be anything more than friends and here I am, losing control and leading her on when that hasn’t changed.
My last thought as I finally doze off is that I’ll apologize to her tomorrow because drunk or not, that wasn’t fair to her.