Liv's POV
The broad, crooked smile of Theo comes into my view the moment I open the door to his bar. Thank God, this place came into my mind. Here I can shut down my mind. At least for a short while.
"What do I owe the honor?" Theo greets me and approaches me from behind the bar. His smile fades when he notices my reddened eyes. "Are you okay?"
I give him a sad smile and shrug my shoulders, "Mmh... Not really. But I don't want to talk about it."
"Whiskey?" Theo asks and I simply nod in exhaustion. Exhaustion from another disappointment in my life. Will this ever stop?
Just as Theo hands me my drink, I hear the door open behind my back and I close my eyes knowing exactly who just entered the bar.
"I'm genuinely impressed by your speed, princess," Caleb states, casually walking over to me. His eyes fall on the drink in my hand, and he utters a throaty chuckle, "So, you think alcohol helps?"
"What do you want, Caleb?" I huff and down half of my drink, grimacing as the burning liquor runs down my throat.
"Join you," he just replies and then turns to Theo. "Get me a whiskey too."
Theo raises his eyebrows but turns away to get Caleb his drink. Without a word, he hands him the whiskey and then his brown eyes meet mine again.
"Can I leave you alone with this bull?"
"Yes, Theo. I'm fine," I give him a thankful smile before he draws his attention to another customer at the other end of the bar.
"Should we take a seat?" Caleb makes a gesture with his head in the direction of a table near the bar.
I just shrug and sit down.
"Honestly, I don't care. I came here to drown my feelings and to escape my stupid life." I take a gulp of my drink again. "I don't feel like talking, Caleb. Especially not with you."
Caleb lifts his glass to his lips and watches me with amusement dancing in his dark green eyes.
"You know what?" He takes a sip and then licks his thin lips in appreciation. "You're not that vanilla cry baby I thought you were."
Something comes into his mind, and he gets his phone out, typing a quick message. Immediately, a reply comes in.
"Zach?" I ask knowingly and roll my eyes as Caleb nods with an annoyed head shaking.
"This man is such a drama queen," he states, reading the new text.
Without answering, he puts his phone back into his pocket and leans back on his stool.
"What was your visit about, Caleb?" I ask, looking directly into his eyes.
"None of your business." He easily holds my gaze and smirks.
"Listen," I say, putting down my drink and leaning forward. "Either you tell me now, or you leave me alone. I'm bloody serious."
"Shorty is going to kill me if I tell you!" Caleb thinks for a second but then shrugs. "But who cares. I don't believe that keeping everything from you just to protect you is a good idea anyway."
For the first time, I actually like Caleb's attitude. It's easy for me to get some information out of him because he doesn't give a fuck if he's angering Zach or even ruining our relationship with the things he's telling me.
He looks around to see if anybody is listening before turning towards me again.
Moving his head closer, he lowers his voice, "Clarks is still suspecting me."
"Clarks?" I ask perplexed. "That annoying officer?"
"Exactly," Caleb nods, quickly declining an incoming call and typing a fast text before he speaks on. "He still hasn't given up yet. Last week alone, he called me twice and even visited me at my home. Unannounced, of course."
"What does Zach have to do with it?"
He answers to another message. Damn, Zach is really freaking out, I guess. That's if those texts are all from him, but I'm pretty sure they are.
"What Zach has to do with it? Do you fucking remember that night?" Caleb asks with a disbelieving head shaking.
"Which night?" I try to hold back my self-satisfied grin as Caleb looks at me as if I just told him that I'm actually a man.
"Ah, now you feel like joking again?" He states with a throaty chuckle after realizing I'm just leading him on.
Another text is coming in, but this time, it's
my phone. I look at it and roll my eyes.
*I'm coming to get you. You won't fucking drink with Caleb!*
Narrowing my eyes, I lock my phone again and then smirk up into Caleb's face. Zach has no right to tell me what to do. Not after I just found out he was lying again.
"Another one?" I ask, nodding at the empty glasses in front of us.
"Whatever you say." A bit surprised, Caleb returns my smirk and then orders Theo to refill our glasses.
Is it my imagination, or is there a flirty energy between that slimeball and me?
We wait until Theo returned to behind the bar again before we both take a sip. For a few minutes, we sit there in silence, and I stare at my hands until the conversation we just had occurs to me again.
"So, tell me more about Clarks," I demand, tracing the rim of my glass with my forefinger. "What does he know?"
"Not much. I'm not even sure if he found out about Franco's death yet." Caleb shrugs and thinks for a moment. "But he's definitely suspecting me to be involved in T's and Jack's businesses. With what he's not entirely wrong."
I frown. "He doesn't know about Franco's death? How's that possible?"
A dark and evil smile forms on Caleb's lips. "My men made sure there isn't much left of him."
My eyes widen in horror as I watch the devil sitting opposite of me. Did he really say what I think he just said? I gulp. Damn, this feels like a horror movie.
"Liv," Caleb looks at me with an almost soft expression. "That's not something I enjoy doing, but I had to. If they would've found his body, I'd be a fucking haunted man forever. Do you get that?"
Nodding my head, I chug down my second drink as another text comes in. This time, I don't even bother to check what it says. I look out of the window, lost deep in my thoughts, and watch the few people passing by. It's already getting dark, and I think it's going to rain soon. What the fuck have I got myself into, and what's more, why am I sitting her with Caleb?
His harrumph is drawing my attention back to him and I look at him, biting on the inside of my lip.
"I'm not telling him anything if that's what you want to hear." I sigh. I don't want to talk about illegal deeds or dead people anymore. This topic is making me feel sick.
"Have you heard anything from my stupid cousin?"
"Jack? No, why should I?"
"They arrested him. After they found out that the drugs they secured were littered with his fingerprints, they made further investigations and apparently found a lot more at his home," Caleb explains and then closes his eyes for a second, taking a deep breath. "Since his arrest, this worthless piece of shit insists that I am the one to blame for everything. And this fucking officer seems to believe him."
"I'm confused," I admit quietly, biting my bottom lip. "If Clarks doesn't know about Franco, what exactly does Jack try to blame on you?"
"Basically the whole drug business which Franco loaded onto Jack's shoulders. He kinda tries to convince Clarks that it was my drug business. It's not even a lie that I have absolutely nothing to do with that. Franco was a thorn in my side, and I would have never made any businesses with that guy. With his last action he overstepped the mark and paid for it."
"Which action?" I gulp at his last words, remembering the night he killed Franco.
"He burnt down my warehouse," Caleb growls through gritted teeth.
Warehouse? Damn, I don't like the sound of that. I haven't read a single book in which a warehouse was a good place. Either they were loaded with drugs and guns, or it was the place where the villains brought their victims to either torture or kill them.
God, I need to stop overthinking this. I'm not part of any mafia book.
"What was inside?" I'm not sure if I actually want to hear Caleb's answer to that, but the alcohol in my blood paired with my natural nosiness made it almost impossible to hold back that question.
"Oh, princess," Caleb chuckles. "I can't tell you about my businesses. That's too dangerous. For the both of us."
My attention is drawn to the outside were a furiously looking Zach just arrived. Our eyes meet and I silently warn him to not make a scene.
Not a second later, he storms through the door and stops right in front of our table.
"What the fuck is going on here?"
I stare at him, unfazed about his alpha male behavior.
"You said you'd bring her back home," Zach continues his tirade. "Why are you slurping fucking drinks with her now?"
Caleb chuckles to himself and I cross my arms raising an eyebrow.
"Are you done?" I ask in a cold tone, making Zach frown.
"I... Liv, I'm..." He runs his hands through his already messy hair and tilts back his head. "Fuck, Liv. I'm sorry, okay."
"I don't want to talk to you right now," I mutter, looking away in annoyance.
"Too bad, because I want to talk," Zach states, crossing his arms.
Theo comes over and eyes the three of us with a skeptical look.
"Guys, I'm sorry to interrupt whatever you were talking about, but I have to ask you to keep your voice down," he nods at Zach and gives him a casual smile. "Hey, Zach."
"Theo," Zach greets him back without really looking at him before turning back to me again. "We're leaving!"
He grabs my arm and pulls me to my feet.
"Yo, shorty. What the fuck are you doing?" Caleb gets to his feet as well and removes Zach's hand from my arm. "That's no way to treat a woman."
"Since when do you fucking care about how to treat others?" Zach hisses and yanks away his hand. "Get your fucking dirty hands off me!"
"Zach, calm down!" I warn him. "You are not in the position to behave like a total shitface."
"Shitface?" Zach looks at me through crazy eyes. "Are you okay? I am not the one sipping drinks with other women, Liv."
"That's what you are focused on? Really?" I make a step towards Zach and flash at him with my anger boiling over. "The fuck, Zach? You were the one who fucked it up. Again. You were the one who was keeping secrets from me, again. And yet you have the audacity to blame me for drinking with another guy."
I close my eyes for a second to calm my raging mind. Fuck, I'm beyond furious in this moment. Zach pisses me off so bad right now, I don't know whether I should cry or scream in rage.
"Leave. Go home!" I order quietly, looking directly into Zach's brown eyes. "I don't want to see you right now."
Zach's face falls and his eyes turn soft. "Liv, please. Let's talk like two normal people. Please!"
"Maybe tomorrow," I reply. "But tonight, I need a break. Go home, Zach."
With a sudden whiff of sadness flashing over his face, Zach nods and turns to leave. Before he opens the door, he shoots me a last look over his shoulder.
"Will you come home tonight?" he asks feebly.
Feeling sort of bad for him now, I give him a small smile. "Yes, Zach. I will come home."
With that, he leaves the bar and vanishes in the dark outside.
"Sorry for that," I mumble towards Caleb and Theo before I sink back on my stool.
"No need to apologize," Theo retorts, gently squeezing my shoulder. "You want another drink?"
"Ah, yes, please!" I sigh and lay my face into my hands.
"Make two out of it." I hear Caleb saying and look up to see him taking a seat opposite of me again.
"There's no need to keep me company, Caleb."
"Mmh," Caleb thinks for a moment before smiling devilishly.
"What?"
"You can be a real bitch, you know that?" He remarks and gives Theo a short nod after he put our drinks down in front of us.
"I have every reason to be," I defend myself.
"You think?" Caleb stares at me, swaying his glass in his hands and casually leaning back in his seat.
"What is that supposed to mean?" I narrow my eyes.
"Nobody is forcing you to be with the drama queen, right?"
I huff in annoyance and roll my eyes. "If you are trying to piss me off as well, you can just leave me alone. I don't need another jerk who's throwing shit into my face tonight."
The throaty laughter Caleb utters hearing my last sentence is kinda infectious and I can't help giggling along. The fact that I'm holding my third glass of whiskey in my hand doesn't make it any better. On the contrary. As much as I hate it, I can't stop laughing.
Caleb watches me with amusement and curiosity on his face and waits with his next comment until I regained my composure. "I never thought you'd have the balls to stand up against me, to be honest."
"A bit full of ourselves, aren't we?" I counter, shaking my head in disbelief about this man's cockiness.
Chuckling deeply, Caleb raises both his eyebrows. "Not at all. But I wouldn't mind to fill you up with myself later."
What the fuck? I choke on my whiskey and start coughing uncontrollably. This guy is absolutely impossible.
"Calm down, princess." Caleb's face is filled with pride about his success of shocking me with his saucy remark. "I was just joking. Besides I'm not into this whole vanilla, romantic fucking thing."
"Oh, come on," I say after I finally managed to stop coughing. "Stop acting like you are the coldest and toughest guy on this planet. I bet even you have a tender spot."
Am I actually enjoying a conversation with this beefcake? What the hell?
"A tender spot? What the fuck should that be?" Caleb seems to enjoy it as well, since his dark green eyes are dancing with mischief while he's watching me intently.
"Anyway," Something returns into my mind. "Tell me what you needed from Zach today? Why did you come in the first place?"
"I told you already," Caleb retorts seemingly annoyed about this change of topic.
"You told me about Clarks and that he's still a pain in the ass," I correct him. "But you didn't mention why you needed to talk to Zach about it."
"Isn't that fucking obvious?" The mischief in his eyes is gone and chagrin has taken its place instead. "Zach is getting pestered by this officer as well. It's important and unavoidable that we talk about how to handle this situation."
I hesitate. Zach never mentioned that Clarks is still bothering him.
"What do you mean by handling the situation? I mean, there's nothing you can do, right?" A thought crosses my mind. A thought that ugly, I don't even want to finish it. "You are not... Uhm... You won't..."
No, I can't say it out loud.
"If I will cancel him?" Caleb ends my question for me. "No, I won't do that. You don't fuck with the police, that's rule number one, princess."
Relief spreads and I nod with an exhausted exhale.
"Let's rather not talk about Clarks anymore," I suggest and raise my glass. "I have enough torturing thoughts in my head already. I don't need another one."
"I'd know a perfect way to shut down all those torturing thoughts, baby," Caleb states in a low and deep voice and I can't help but chuckle.
He won't ever stop trying, will he?
Two whiskeys and approximately another hundred dirty, saucy or tactless comments later, I decide to go back home. I'm already more than tipsy, and even Caleb seems to be slightly drunk already. Not half as bad as I am though.
"Oopsie," I giggle as I get up and almost trip over my own feet in an attempt of walking over to the bar to say goodbye to Theo.
"Be careful," Caleb says with an amused grin. "I don't need another blowup of drama queen Zach when you get home with bruises on your body. Even though I wouldn't mind giving you some bruises on certain places of your body."
His eyes darken as he takes in my body, and I can tell he's imagining the ways he'd like to fuck me in this very moment. Fuck, I have to stop thinking about that! After all it's still Caleb who's standing here next to me and even if I had quite a nice evening with him, I still don't like his smug demeanor and his rough way of treating others.
"Don't look at me like that!" I glare at him and turn towards the bar. "Bye Theo."
Theo who obviously doesn't trust Caleb and therefore kept an eye on me the whole evening, frowns. "Should I get you an Uber, Olivia?"
"I'll bring her home!" Caleb growls and puts a few banknotes on the bar. "The rest is for you."
"Are you okay with that, Liv?" Theo asks, unfazed about the more than generous amount of money. He ignores Caleb's annoyed grumble and gives me a worried look.
"Yea," I retort indifferently and shrug my shoulders. "I don't care how, but I just want to get into my bed as fast as possible."
Theo chuckles deeply and waves at us once more as we exit his bar.
Pouring rain is welcoming us as soon as we step into the night. I close my eyes as the cold drops of water come in contact with my heated skin.
"Fucking rain," Caleb curses and gets out his phone to call an Uber.
While waiting for it to arrive, I keep standing in the rain and enjoy the feeling of getting drenched by it whereas Caleb is watching me from his dry spot beneath the projecting roof of Theo's bar as if I was a lunatic.
"You two make a great couple," he states sarcastically. "Two total freaks."
He shakes his head but can't hold back a tiny smirk.
"Oh, shut up, would you?" I retort and reach for his arm. "Have you never stood in a nice spring rain?"
"Do I look like I have?" Caleb eyes me with an amused head shaking.
"You look like a snobby suck-up who has a stick up his ass!" I cry out and pull him right into the rain. "Fell, Caleb, how nice it feels."
Caleb doesn't look pleased at all. His dark blonde hair falls into his face and little drops of water are trickling down onto his nose.
"Fucking shit, thanks for getting my suit drenched!" he curses and glares at me.
There mere sight of a soaking wet Caleb is beyond odd, and I can't hold back the wild chuckle which is stuck into my throat anymore.
"What's so fucking funny?"
"You should see yourself!" I giggle, trying hard to hold it back.
After looking at me darkly for s while, the corners of his mouth eventually turn up as well, and he utters a deep chuckle.
"You are fucking batshit crazy, Olivia!"
With a shake of his head, he walks towards the Uber which just turned up and opens the door for me. Giving him a broad, triumphant smile, I climb into the backseat and tell the driver my address once Caleb has taken a seat beside me. On our short drive there, nobody says a word and I have to force myself to not fall asleep.
"I'll take you up!" Caleb says as soon as the driver stops in front of our house.
"I can walk myself, thanks!" I retort cockily but then give him an almost friendly smile before I get out the car. "Thanks for cheering me up, Caleb. As weird as it sounds, I kinda enjoyed the evening."
"Don't mention it. And now go. Shorty is probably freaking out already!" He gives me a smug smirk and then draws his attention to his phone. Well, the conversation is over as it seems.
Slightly staggering, I walk towards the front door and reach for my keys. The way up seems to be three times as long as usual, and I almost fall down the stairs twice.
Feeling a tiny spark of triumph about finally making it home, I put my keys in our door and open it.
Darkness and total silence welcome me as I step into the hallway, trying to be as quiet as possible which turns out to be harder than I thought after five glasses of whiskey. I shudder at the thought of that disgusting liquor and ask myself why I didn't drink something I actually like. Maybe I needed to feel the torture, I have no idea.
After closing the door behind me and switching on the light, I utter a deep sigh. Finally home.
Turning around, I almost get a heart attack as Zach is standing in the door frame with his arms crossed and a very pissed face.
"Well, look who decided to come home!"
*****
Back with a new chapter. This one is almost twice as long as usual and pretty much only talking and fighting. I hope you still enjoyed it.☺️
What do you think about Liv spending the evening with Caleb? Do you think she should've talked to Zach instead of sending him home? Let me know.
As always, please don't forget to vote and leave me one (or two😉) comment(s).
xo
Katie🤍