The Coincidence of Callie and Kayden(34)

I don’t argue with him. He has a thing with being treated as an equal. “I think you left your cigarettes at the table,” I tell him.

We wind our way around the dance floor where an erotic song is playing. People have their hands all over each other, skin to skin, and watching it gives me a headache.

At the table, there are four shot glasses filled with clear liquid. Alongside each shot is a taller cup full of a brownish liquid with a lemon slice floating on the top.

“I didn’t know what everyone wanted to drink,” Luke explains as Seth lifts the shot to eyelevel and peers through the distorted glass. “So I just ordered vodka shots and Long Island Iced Teas. So we have intense and semi-intense.”

Seth glances at me from the corner of his eyes. “Looks good to me.” He raises the shot glass in the air. “Should we make a toast?”

I direct my attention to the dance floor so I won’t be scrutinized and watch a girl jump up and down with her arms in the air, trying to maintain her balance in the neon pink stilettoes on her feet. The guy she’s with is shaking his head at her, laughing.

“Callie, did you hear what Luke asked you?” Seth’s concerned voice flows over my shoulder.

Ripping my gaze away from the dance floor, I concentrate on Seth’s bloodshot eyes and the small glass in his hand. “No, what?”

“He wanted to know if you were going to join us?” he asks with pressing eyes.

I shake my head. “I don’t think so.”

Luke smacks his hand on the table and the vibration tips over the salt and pepper shakers. “There’s an unwritten rule that you have to make a toast if it’s proposed.”

I stand the shakers back up and sweep the spilt salt off the table. “Someone has to drive us all home.”

“We’ll get a cab,” Luke proposes. “Easy fix.”

I stare at the alcohol in front of me, wondering what the big deal is with the stuff, because with the beer I felt nothing. “But then you can’t go spray paint the rock.”

Kayden targets a warning at Luke. “Just let her be, okay? If she doesn’t want to, then she doesn’t have to.”

Setting the glass down, Seth chimes in. “We can have the cab driver drop us off and pick us up later.” He leans over and cups his hand around my ear. “If you want to, then just do it. Pick up the glass and have some fun for once in your life, but if you really don’t, then shake your head.”

My hair is down, I let Kayden touch me, and I’m sitting in a place bursting with sexual tension. It’s the most challenging night I’ve had in terms of facing my fears, so I wrap my fingers around the glass and lift it up in front of me.

“What the hell,” I say over the music. “We’ll get a cab.”

Seth claps his hands and scoops up the shot. “Hell yeah!”

Kayden laughs at Seth and then inclines over the table toward me. “Are you sure you’re good? You don’t have to.”

I nod with assurance. “I’m okay. I promise”

Seth levels his arm so his glass is just above the center of the table, right below the domed light. “Bottoms up.”

Luke puts his hand up, and Kayden and I follow.

“Shouldn’t someone say something like meaningful or something?” Seth asks. “That’s what toasts are for.”

Luke cocks his head to the side, tapping his fingers on the table. “To getting away.”

Seth grins at me. “To acceptance.”

Kayden bites at his bottom lip with his eyelids lowered. “To feeling alive.”

The three of them fasten their eyes on me and I glance to Seth for help.

“This is your thing, Callie,” he tells me. “Whatever you want to say, just say it.”

I suck in a breath and release it out gradually. “To being able to breathe.”

There’s a moment that passes between Kayden and me as our expressions match. Then the four of us clink glasses.

“Fuck.” Seth spills some of his on his hand and he licks it off. Tipping his head back, he pours the shot into his mouth. Then he slams the glass down and points at it. “I’m already ready for round two.”

Kayden watches me as he moves the glass to his lips, arches his neck back, and gulps it down. I observe his neck muscles as they move to force the alcohol down. He lifts his head back up and licks his lips with his gaze attached to mine.

Inhaling deeply, I position the rim to my mouth, and the stench burns my nose as I let my head fall back and suck out the drink. The hot liquid spills down my throat and the heat is almost unbearable. As I bring the glass away from my mouth, my gag reflex kicks in and I choke on the burn, but keep my lips sealed, forcing the alcohol down. My shoulders heave as a strangled sound bursts from my lips.