The Men Next Door

Ch 33 - Campbell

"Not the face you were expecting to see?"

"Fuck off," Luca laughed, tossing his phone on the couch while he scrambled to find a shirt. "Why do you have Addy's phone?"

I panned the video call over to show my friend, who was sitting right beside me at the same little cafe table where we first met. Luca's head popped up in the corner of the screen as he returned to the conversation, fully clothed and combing a hand through his unruly hair.

"Because I knew you were more likely to answer her call than mine."

"Not wrong." He kicked back and leaned against the armrest. "But what do you want?"

"To see your face," I started, trying my best to hold back a laugh as Luca's expression turned suspicious, "when I tell you that you have my permission to date Addy."

If eyes could roll out of their sockets, his would've disappeared under the coffee table like a slick set of marbles. "Very funny. Is this the part where I say 'I told you so' to the cutie next to you?"

"Hey!" she exclaimed. "I didn't think she'd say no, I just wanted to give her a heads up that wasn't attached to a confession. You know, common courtesy?"

"This is anything but common, Ads."

"Girl code?" she tried.

He shook his head. "Doesn't count. Me and Bella were never officially together."

"Well, whatever it is, you two can hash it out later," I joked. "We have coffee to drink and a pottery class to be at in 20 minutes. I just wanted to mess with you — that was my stipulation after the third time she asked if I was really sure that I didn't care."

Luca made it about four words into a sassy rebuttal before he sat up straight as an arrow, suddenly quiet.

I squinted at the screen, trying to find some evidence of what brought on that reaction. "You okay over there?"

"Somebody's pounding on the door; it scared the shit out of me." He pressed his phone against his chest as he stood to creep closer to the sound, and by the time he reached the entryway, I wasn't sure if the thumping I heard on my end of the line was his heartbeat or the knocks of an incessant stranger.

"You're still at my place, right?" Addy asked. "It's probably a canvasser; people think they can walk right up since my door faces the street."

A muffled voice said something about being able to hear her. I couldn't quite make out the rest, but whatever the words were, they most definitely didn't roll off of Luca's tongue.

"Uh, Ads?" he asked, pulling the screen away from his body to look at us again. "Is Walker supposed to be here?"

Her eyes went as wide as a dinner plate. "He's there? Right now?"

More incoherent shouts snuck through the speaker, unbeknownst to the man on the other side of the door. Luca mumbled a few curses under his breath before he spoke again. "Hey, Campbell?"

"Yeah?"

"Call Brooks and tell him to get over here. Now."

~~~

"Addy," I said, jogging to keep up with her determined pace. "Slow down. Let's think about this."

"There's nothing to think about, Campbell. I don't want him knocked out on my floor, and he's not going to leave until he talks to me." She blew a strand of hair out of her eyes as she marched on. "I know how he works."

"Brooks is on his way. He'll talk them both down."

"Walker doesn't listen, okay? He pushes and pushes until he gets what he wants."