By that point, we were arriving at the large group, and I couldn’t reply.
At least, not about that particular subject.
“Oh, you’re gonna have a shiner,” I heard Sophia call as soon as I made it to the group.
I grimaced. “That’ll be unfortunate since I have to work this week again.”
“You’ll look like a domestic abuse survivor,” Anderson teased, throwing his arm around my shoulders and tugging me in close.
I leaned my head against his large chest and kept my gaze not on Callum’s face, but on his chest.
I didn’t want to know if he wasn’t looking at me.
It might break my heart a little bit if he didn’t notice that I’d arrived.
But, with my gaze on the ground, it made it possible for him to arrive at my side without me bracing myself for the impact of his gaze.
All of a sudden, he was just there, lifting my chin with the middle knuckle of his pointer finger.
“Sheeze,” I heard him whistle. “That’s intense. It’s gonna be bad in the morning.”
I more than understood that.
Mainly because I could feel the pain in my freakin’ face.
“I know,” I admitted. “I’ve had black eyes before, but I’ve never broken my nose.”
“You’ll have two black eyes in the morning,” he said, dropping his hand. “Are you hungry?”
Was I?
“They have fair nachos and jalapeños at the concession stand,” I pointed out. “I was actually kind of looking forward to that. You want to share?”
He frowned. “I don’t share food well. I’m too hungry all the time. But I’m more than willing to buy you some, and me some.”
I snickered. “Actually, that’s normally what I would do, too. But racing makes me absurdly hungry.”
“All those Gs you pulled whipping your car around the track,” he teased. “Let’s hit up the concession stand.”
I looked over at my brother to see he was in talks with Callum’s brothers, so I nodded, and offered him my elbow.
“Use your body to get us through this crowd,” I urged.
He winked and did me one better, reaching for my hand and tugging me along behind him.
I followed in his wake, amazed with how fast the crowd parted for him.
They parted even better than they did with my brother.
Must be the MC cut he was wearing.
Whatever it was, Callum was like a force to be reckoned with as he easily sliced through the crowds.
I was snickering by the time we made it to the concession stand.
He looked down at me when we finally made it into the line, his brow crooked. “What?”
I shook my head, my face flushing slightly at the direct eye contact.
“Nothing, really.” I giggled. “I just like how everyone moves out of your way. I have to fight my way through the crowd, and I was thinking it’d be nice to have someone like you around to fight the crowd for me every time I came here.”
He tilted his head, the shine in his eyes catching the overhead lights, making them sparkle. “Anytime you want me, honey, I’m here.”
The warm fuzzies stayed for a few long seconds before they were blasted away by a toxic voice behind me.
Yet another person that hated me.
And she belonged to JJ.
“Don’t think you’re going to get away with hurting JJ.”
I looked over my shoulder at Tinsley, JJ’s on-again, off-again girl.
Tinsley and JJ had been together before me, and after me, and I would forever be a bone of contention between the two of them.
I looked at her over my shoulder, and then back ahead, ignoring her.
“Did you fucking hear me?”
I did.
It was kind of hard not to hear that obnoxious voice.
“If you touch her,” Callum growled, “I will literally rip that hand from your body and slap you with it.”
Tinsley didn’t say anything to that, but I could almost hear her mind working, wondering if he was serious or not.
“Try me,” he said. “Because unlike some men, I have no fucking problem hitting a woman.”
Tinsley, I saw out of the corner of my eye, stepped back hastily.
Then, without another word, she whirled and left, leaving us alone again.
“You don’t have a problem hitting a woman?” I raised my brows at him.
He shrugged. “Not the ones that are like that. You? It would break me in half to hit you. But her? She fuckin’ deserves it, and I don’t even know her.”
I snorted. “That’s JJ’s probably off-again instead of on-again girlfriend, Tinsley.”
“If she’s the off-again persuasion, there’s at least one redeeming quality in JJ,” he muttered, then took a giant step forward and reached the counter. After ordering his choices, he turned to me. “What do you want?”
I listed off about five things, all of them costing about twenty-four dollars total. When I reached for my wallet, he laughed and handed them a few twenty-dollar bills.
With the change left over, he stuffed it into the tip jar that was overflowing for this time of night, and then helped me carry my stuff along with his.