Birdie beamed up at him. “Hadley said she’s going to teach me all the tricks she knows.”
“There’s no one better to learn from than Hads. She’s a total bad—”
I coughed, cutting off the swear that was about to come out of Toby’s mouth.
He winced. “I mean, she’s a total beast.”
An arm slid around my waist, pulling me against a muscled form. I sank into Calder’s heat. He reached out a hand to Calla. “I’m Calder. I know you’ve helped me at the coffee shop before, but we’ve never officially met.”
Her eyes flared the tiniest bit, and I didn’t blame her. Calder was a whole lot of handsome man to take in. “Calla. Nice to meet you, too.”
Calder gave Toby a chin lift. “Good to see you.”
Toby was quiet for a moment, staring Calder down in some weird battle for dominance. “Yeah, sure.”
I cleared my throat. “So glad you guys could come hang. I’ve got all my favorite people in one place.”
Birdie pushed off on her skateboard, clearly done with adult conversation.
Toby rested his foot on his skateboard, glancing back at Calder. “Yeah, it’s a shame you avoided Hadley like the plague for so long. We could’ve hung out sooner.”
I sucked in an audible breath.
Calder simply pulled me tighter against his body. “I get that you might be a little protective of Hadley, so I’ll let that one slide. But hear me when I say that we have a closeness you’ll never understand.”
Toby scoffed. “One that involved you blowing her off for years? You were nowhere, man. We were her friends. Herfamily. Never saw you once.”
“Toby, stop it,” I begged. He’d seen how much Calder had hurt me. That pain had still been so incredibly raw when we began hanging out more. But just because he’d seen it didn’t give him the right to lay into Calder.
Calder didn’t even flinch, keeping his gaze firmly on Toby. “I’ve seen the way you look at Hadley. Friendship has very little to do with it. You might be pissed we’re together, but don’t make her life harder because of it.”
Color hit Toby’s cheeks. “Bullshit, I’ve got a girl. But Hadley will always be important to me. I’ll always look out for her. Just because you decided you wanted to pay attention to her again doesn’t mean she’ll throw us over for you. And you won’t last. You’ve proven your lack of loyalty already.”
“Both of you, stop!” I slid out of Calder’s hold. “That’s enough. Toby, my relationship with Calder is none of your damn business. Calder, you have no idea what you’re talking about.”
There was a niggling kernel of worry in the back of my brain that my statement to Calder wasn’t entirely true. There were times I could feel Toby’s gaze on me for longer than a friend should look. The tears glistening in Calla’s eyes right now told me she’d seen it, too.
She quickly wiped under her eyes. “I’m gonna go.”
“Calla, no—” My sentence was cut off as she turned on her heel and fled. I spun to face Toby and Calder. “That is on both of you.”
I took off to find Birdie. I wanted nothing to do with either of the men in my wake.
I lay curledon my side, facing the wall. I kept my eyes closed as I heard Calder move from the bathroom to the dresser. I heard the sound of a drawer opening and closing, then clothing being tossed into a hamper. A moment later, the other side of the bed dipped. Then, I was being pulled against a bare chest.
I struggled out of Calder’s hold.
“Going to finally admit you were faking being asleep?”
I scooted over to my side of the bed. “I was not. You woke me up when you got into bed and manhandled me.”
Calder raised a brow. “Manhandled, huh?”
“Yes. Freakingmen,” I muttered.
“Little Daredevil.” He spoke the words softly, reaching a hand to gently brush the hair away from my face.
“Don’t you be all sweet now.”