Her Summer Loves

Chapter Three

The door opened beside me. I never lost eye contact with the man standing beside the poker table. Outside, five other men stood with their back towards us. Thankfully, they hadn't seen what I'd just done. "You look like you've seen a ghost," Calvin said, closing the door behind him. "Danny, I didn't know this room was occupied. Poker game?"

He was the guy from Live Wire. I now recognized his blue eyes. He grinned at me and then turned his attention to Calvin. "Yeah, you want to join?"

"Nah, man. I think we'll just sit over here and talk. Oh, Danny, this is Joelle. Joelle, this is Danny."

Danny made a few strides across the room. He held his hand out to me. I hesitently took it. "Nice to meet you," he said, giving my hand a small squeeze. His eyes scanned my entire face. Suddenly, I became insecure of my features. I politely removed my hand from his grip and looked at the ground. "What happened to your face?" I looked up quickly, thinking he was speaking to me. Danny was looking at Calvin.

"You don't want to know." Calvin rubbed the back of his head.

Danny grinned at me. "I think we both want to know. Am I right, Jo?" I cut my eyes at him. Calvin made his way to the sofa. Danny moved closer to me

"Nah, it wasn't important. It's old news now."

Danny switched his weight to his other foot. He was dying to know. Too bad I already knew. "Come on, Calvin! I mean, Jo was just-" Danny let out a loud oomph as my hand made contact with his stomach. Calvin looked up and gave Danny an odd look. "I was just going to say, Jo was wondering just as much as I am." He glared down at me while holding his stomach.

The dull smell of cigar filled my nostrils. The men shuffled in from the balcony. Their loud laughter boomed off the walls. A few vulgar words escaped their mouths as they laughed. A joke must have been told before they entered the room. "Oh," the buffest one said. "We didn't know we were in the presence of a lady." Calvin stood beside me now. The large dark haired man placed his thick cigar in a crystal ash tray before dodging the table to stand in front of me. His crytal blue eyes bore into mine. If I didn't know any better I'd say our eyes were the same shade of blue. He wore a skin tight black t-shirt and light jeans. "I'm Micah," he said, taking my hand. For a split moment I thought he'd raise my small hand to his mouth to kiss it. Micah was a proper gentleman.

"She gets it." Calvin took my now free hand and pulled me down onto the couch with him.

Micah laughed just as loud as all five men put together. "Easy, Calvin, I'm just fooling around!" He continued to laugh as he slapped Calvin's knee. Calvin's expression never changed. He was angry. "You all going to join us in a game?" Micah tried changing the subject.

"I don't think so." Calvin finally looked at Micah normal. Strange. Micah shrugged his broad shoulders and returned to the table.

"What was that about?" I whisper to Calvin.

He sighed and made himself comfortable on the couch. Unfortunately, his version of comfortable wasn't quite my version. In one quick movement he turned his body and laid his head in my lap and propped his feet up on the other arm of the sofa. I swallowed and sat there awkwardly. What do I do with my hands? I looked around the room and no one was even paying attention to us. Calvin answered my mental question by taking my arm and laying it on his chest. He sure was fond of PDA. "Micah likes getting on my nerves."

"Micah is the big guy, right?" I knew the answer but I thought it might strike up a conversation.

"Yeah, Micah Roberts. He's the one who lives in the apartment above your sister's. His girlfriend just broke up with him but he's hiding that. He doesn't want to show his emotion in front of everyone. Too much pride does that to a man." I faintly remember Calvin telling me about him earlier. Apparently, he didn't need that much cheering up. I watched as they all laughed and threw chips to the center of the table. Danny had now joined them.

I became curious. I wanted to know more about the men sitting in the room. "Tell me about them."

Calvin looked up at me confused. "Do what?"

I motioned toward the table. "Tell me about your friends. They seem interesting."

He then looked back over at the table. My fingers strummed along Calvin's chest to the beat of the music below my feet. "Well, that's Damien," he said, pointing at a guy in black button up shirt. "He can be a serious jerk at times. That's Danny and Micah as you know. Pauly is the one with sunglasses on. He says it helps his poker game but I think he's full of it. Finally, that is Robert, the one who lives here. They're all a part of Live Wire except for Robert."

"They're cute," I said, cutting my eyes down at Calvin. He scoffed and began to raise up. I quickly pulled him back down and laughed. "I'm kidding! I'm kidding." He rolled his eyes and looked at the men playing poker. "Although, they do look quite young. Possibly even my type."

Calvin scoffed again. "They are not your type."

It was my turn to scoff now. "How do you know that?"

"Because I'm your type," he said, grinning at me.

"Your arrogance is so obnoxious," I say, laughing.

"But, you like it." I continue to laugh at his comment. He laughs along too as I shake my head. Maybe he was right, though.