#rival!cal

“Yeah, he was protecting me. And, anyway, the guy left. I was fine. You must’ve seen that in the video, too.”

He frowned. “I told you, I don’t trust Hood. Why were you even there? You know how he feels about me.”

Olivia bit her lip. She did know how Calum felt about her brother. And she was seeing him anyway. “Cara’s dating one of his best friends. I have to hang out with him sometimes.”

“I know.” He frowned, clutching the steering wheel. “But a party? Really?”

“Just…” Olivia sighed. “I’m sorry if me being friendly with him feels like a betrayal, but I can’t just cut him out for you. I love Cara, and she wants me to be friends with Luke, which means being around Calum. But you don’t get to use me as an excuse to start a fight.”

With that, she got out of the car. Once she was upstairs and safely in her apartment she pulled out her phone, seeing a few texts from Cara. Among the ones asking if she was okay and how things went with Oliver, there was one that let her know that the guys had found out about her and Calum’s relationship. 

Olivia felt a ball of nerves grow in her stomach as she remembered all of the times Michael taunted her brother during an argument. She wondered if her name would come up the next time they saw each other. She hoped not. She didn’t know Michael very well, but hoped his loyalty to Calum would be enough to keep him quiet.

She rubbed her eyes and sighed, more than ready to go to sleep, but then Jessie stepped out of her bedroom. Apparently, Oliver wasn’t the only person who’d seen the video. Jessie, who had been at work and couldn’t go to the party with them, had a lot of questions about what she’d missed. Olivia did her best to fill her in and finally came clean about Calum. As much as she didn’t want anyone else to know, she knew that Jessie would be hurt if she found out that Cara knew and she didn’t.

After swearing her friend to secrecy, Olivia went into her room. She changed into some pajamas and sat on her bed, leaning against the headboard as she called Calum. As tired as she was, she knew that he deserved to know what happened. She couldn’t leave him in the dark. She hoped he would still be up, but it was nearing three in the morning, and he probably had training the next day.

It only rang once before he answered. “Liv?”

“Hey, Cal. Ollie sure knows how to crash a party, huh?”

He chuckled, but when he spoke, she could hear the nerves in his voice. “How was the ride home?”

“Tense. Neither of us really said anything. I was expecting a lot more yelling.”

“Did I come up?”

“Of course you did. He despises you, Cal. But if you mean did we come up, then no.” When he hesitated, Olivia took a guess as to what he was thinking. “I still… I don’t want this to end, if you’re worried about that. Oliver showing up was unexpected and, frankly, scared the shit out of me, but I don’t want to give up before we’ve even given us a chance.”

“You don’t?”

“No. I do feel like a shitty sister for dating a man who can’t stand my twin brother, though.” She took a deep breath, not sure she was ready to open the can of worms that was their rivalry. “Why do you guys fight so much, anyway?”

“Wouldn’t have a problem if he didn’t go out of his way to fuck with me. You and I both know he’s the one that started all of this shit.”

Olivia sighed. She wanted to stand up for her brother, even though she knew Calum was right. “Let’s just… not think about him for now, yeah?”

“Okay.” Olivia wasn’t sure how to respond. All she could think about was her brother. It was a relief when Calum continued. “Let’s talk about our first date instead. How’s next Wednesday?”

“Perfect.”

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That Sunday, as Olivia was getting ready for their next match, she stopped in front of her mirror. She looked at the jersey she was wearing and bit her bottom lip. She’d never really thought about it before, but she wondered how Calum felt seeing her in it; in her brother’s colors instead of his.

After a few moments of consideration, she decided that she should support him somehow. Even if no one would be able to tell. She thought about putting on bright red lipstick, but that would be too obvious. If there was even a stitch of red on her, Oliver would undoubtedly throw a fit. She wanted to do something, though.

She finished getting ready and hurried to the stadium to meet her family. When she got to their usual seats, she frowned. Her younger sister, Ophelia, was sitting there alone, texting. Olivia looked around as she took her seat. “Are mum and dad not here?”

Ophelia looked up and sighed. “Sick. Someone gave dad the flu and mum caught it from him. Didn’t stop them from making me come, though.”

Olivia chuckled at the younger girl. “You know how Oliver would react if we missed a game.”

“He’s so dramatic.” She groaned. “Doesn’t he know that I have more exciting ways to spend my time?”

Olivia laughed at her sister’s complaints, even though she’d felt the same way when she was sixteen and had been forced to go to his high school games. The girls looked down to where their brother was on the field. Olivia frowned as she watched him turn to where Calum and his team were warming up. She didn’t hear what he said, but judging from the way Calum’s face twisted, it had been something provocative.

“He’s starting a fight again.” She sighed, hoping that Calum would take the high road.

“Of course he is. He hates Calum. I probably would, too, if I was him.” Her sister said, calmly. “Calum Hood is a sexy son of a bitch. He’s probably jealous.”

Olivia burst out laughing. “Lia!”

“What? Mum’s not here.” She smiled cheekily. “Besides, I know you think so, too.”

She found herself blushing. In the past, when they talked about guys that they found hot, Calum had been a pretty regular topic of conversation. Ever since she moved out, they didn’t really see each other one on one, and their girl talks had stopped. She missed talking to Ophelia; she wished she could tell her why she was concerned about a fight breaking out.

Her eyes trailed to Michael, and she remembered her fears from after the party. She knew that if Calum and Oliver got into it, he would jump in to take some of the heat off of his friend. She just wasn’t sure where he would draw the line. There was a real possibility that their secret would be out by the end of the game.

As they talked, she kept her eyes locked on the men on the field. Thankfully, after a short discussion, Calum went back to whatever drill he was practicing with Michael, and Oliver stalked back to his own team. As if he could feel his eyes on her, he looked up and immediately found them. She saw his attention move down to her chest. His focused expression morphed into a scowl, and Olivia found herself smirking; she had her answer. He hated seeing her in those colors.

Normally, when they were playing each other Olivia had no problem keeping her eyes off of Calum. Her attention would stay on Oliver because he was her brother and he was the one she was rooting for. During that particular game, though, Olivia found it difficult to stop looking at him. She wasn’t sure if it was because their relationship had changed or something else, but at one point, when he maneuvered around Oliver and scored, she’d even cheered and started to stand before she realized what she was doing.

She quickly sat back down, and Ophelia gave her a strange look. She shrugged and turned her attention back to the game, hoping that no one else had noticed. For the rest of the game, her focus was more on keeping her eyes on her brother than actually seeing what he was doing.

Calum’s team won. When her sister wasn’t looking, she sent him a text that promised he’d get a congratulatory treat later. Thankfully, as the teams packed up and left the field, neither Calum nor Oliver said anything to each other. 

Olivia and Ophelia made their way out of the stadium once both teams went to their respective locker rooms. Most of the time, they would all go out to eat after a game. On days that Oliver lost, though, he tended to be a little too worked up to be in public. Especially if it was Calum that he lost to.

They decided to wait at Olivia’s car while he changed and showered. Once they got away from anyone who may overhear them, Ophelia raised her eyebrows. “So can we talk about you cheering for Calum?”

“I was zoned out. I wasn’t paying attention to who scored.” She defended, hoping that her sister would believe her.

“Oh.. Okay.” Ophelia sounded skeptical, but didn’t question the older girl. “Hopefully Ollie doesn’t find out. He was already upset enough about you being at that party the other day.”

“How do you know about that?” “He wouldn’t shut up about it. He was so mad, it was like he’d found you in Calum’s bed or something.”

Olivia let out a deep sigh. “He needs to get laid.”

Ophelia snorted. “For real. Maybe we can set him up with someone. Jessie’s single, right?”

“Gross, no. Not my flatmate.”

“Okay, fine. You have to know someone, though.”

“Why does it have to be my job? Why can’t you find someone?”

“Everyone I know is sixteen.” Liv pressed her lips together and mentally facepalmed. Ophelia grinned. “Let’s get coffee and make a game plan. Wednesday?”

Olivia nodded. Her date with Calum wouldn’t be until that night, so a midday coffee date with her sister would work. They talked for a little longer before Oliver stormed over, tugging his coat on as he mumbled to himself.

Olivia felt a weight on her chest. Oliver’s shoulders were slumped with the defeat as he approached them. She and Ophelia shared a knowing look. If he couldn’t even fake a positive attitude for the walk to them, there was no way he could handle the jeering from Calum’s fans that would inevitably follow them wherever they tried to eat.

“Why don’t we go back to my place for lunch? I’ll cook for us.” Olivia suggested when he finally reached them. Oliver didn’t say anything, but she saw his shoulders relax slightly as relief filled his eyes.

It turns out that a nice, calm lunch with his sisters was just what Oliver needed. It wasn’t long before the loss seemed to be completely forgotten, and they were all laughing and joking. After they ate, Ophelia suggested that they play some board games. The twins, who had always been competitive eagerly agreed, and began arguing about what to play. Olivia didn’t want to play monopoly because it takes so long, Oliver didn’t want to play scrabble because Olivia (an english grad student) had an unfair advantage, and neither wanted to play a card game, so they ended up settling on Sorry.

It had been a long time since the siblings had hung out. Olivia wished that she could enjoy it more, but there was a hole in her chest preventing that. The girls tried their best to keep Oliver’s mind off of Calum, but every once in a while a comment would slip out, and Olivia had to fight the urge to stand up for him. She just didn’t understand what had made Oliver hate him so much. They’d always been competitive, but it had been playful, friendly until one day when Oliver came home pissed about something that he’d overheard Calum say. He never told her what it had been, but she knew her brother well enough to know that he was being overdramatic, especially to have kept the grudge for so long. Maybe if she could figure out what Calum had said, she could talk to them both and they could work everything out.

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“He needs to be taught a lesson.” He didn’t move, but noticed that they had an audience, and he kept talking, his tone becoming harsher as he attempted to keep their cover. “I’m not going to let some douche put his hands on you, even if you’re Jennings’ sister.”

As if finally sensing the severity of the situation, a few guys started pushing their way through the crowd. He recognized two of them as Michael and Ashton.

One of the other guys’ eyes widened, and Calum wasn’t sure if that was because he recognized the back of his buddy’s head or if his expression was really that intimidating. When he hesitated to step up to the man Calum’s attention was on, he figured it was himself.

Ashton and Michael, on the other hand, had no such qualms. They seemed a little confused, but one look between the guys and the girls told them enough that they instantly seemed ready for a fight to break out.

“I think it may be time for you to leave, mate.” Ashton said, in a stern voice.

Olivia’s attacker regarded her again. A new look, possibly repulsion, crossed his face. “Whatever. This fucking prude skank isn’t worth it anyway.”

Olivia’s grip on Calum tightened before he’d finished speaking. He could guess what she was thinking. If he reacted the way he had when Oliver had been talking about her, people would probably be able to put two and two together.

Calum felt every muscle in his body tense as he watched him walk away, but he willed himself to stay where he was.

They watched him leave and got the party going again before Calum relaxed and turned his attention to Olivia. He wanted more than anything to wrap his arms around her, but he knew that there were probably still people watching them, so he kept his distance. They stood in an awkward silence for about a minute before Olivia spoke. “Can we maybe talk? In private?”

Calum was pretty sure that he audibly swallowed at that. He’d been waiting to hear back from her for a whole week, and honestly had no clue what’s she’d decided to do about his confession. Noticing her still watching him, Calum quickly nodded.

He saw Olivia cast her eyes to the ceiling, indicating that she wanted to talk in his room, before disappearing up the staircase. Calm knew that he would have to wait a few minutes to prevent suspicion, so he turned to where Luke was consoling Cara.

Both Ashton and Michael seemed concerned and a little confused, but a shocked expression was taking over Michael’s face. “No fucking way.”

“What?” Ashton and Luke asked in unison, instantly on guard again.

“Calum’s screwing Olivia Jennings."

Calum felt his heart leap into his throat. “What? No, I-”

Michael rolled his eyes. “Don’t. I saw the way you looked at her just now. There’s no way it’s not her. Why didn’t you tell us?”

“I- Mikey, you know why.” He ran a hand through his hair, avoiding everyone’s eyes. “The same reason I shouldn’t be seeing her at all. The same reason she’s probably going to dump me as soon as I get upstairs.”

“No!” Cara exclaimed. All four men were surprised by her complete change in attitude, but her attention was on Calum. “You can’t think like that.”

“Babe, do you know something?” Luke asked, giving his girlfriend a knowing look.

She pursed her lips. “Liv’s been pretty secretive about all of this. She only just told me on the way over here. But you guys saw her a second ago. Why would she dress that hot to dump you? She’s not mean enough to do that.”

Luke eyed her suspiciously. Calum guessed that there was more she wasn’t telling them, but what he’d heard was enough. He looked longingly at the staircase and took a deep, steeling breath before going up to his bedroom.

He stopped at the door, knocking lightly before going in. He realized afterward that that was probably stupid of him; it was his room, he didn’t need to knock.

Sheepishly, he entered and saw Olivia standing in the middle of the room. He figured she’d been pacing. He’d noticed that she did that sometimes when she was nervous.

“What took you so long?” She asked, rushing past him to close and lock the door.

“I, uh… sorry.” He took her hand and turned his attention to the handprint on her arm, rage filling him again. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

Some of the wrinkles between her eyebrows faded. She smiled slightly at his concern. “Yeah, Cal. I’m fine.”

There was another awkward silence between them. Neither was really sure how to start the conversation. Finally, Calum couldn’t take it anymore. “So… Did you make a decision?”

“Yeah” Olivia nodded, chewing on her bottom lip. “I took your advice and stopped thinking about Oliver, and if I’m being honest… I’ve missed you.”

“Does that mean-”

“If you really think we can do this,” she gestured between them, “without Oliver finding out, and you still want to give it a try, then I do, too. I like you, Calum.”

All of his anger and concern from earlier were replaced with relief and, what he could only describe as, giddiness. He smiled and pressed a kiss to her lips. A soft giggle of surprise escaped her and got caught between them, and was promptly forgotten about when he pulled her closer and wrapped his arms tightly around her.

She slowly pulled away and glanced at the bed behind him. “I kind of had this plan to come up here and tell you yes and seduce you, but it’s been a long night. Would it be okay if you just held me?”

He nodded and pressed a kiss on the top of her head. “One condition; if we fall asleep, I want you to be here when I wake up.”

“Deal.”

He let her pull him over to his bed. Before climbing in, she turned and focused her attention on slowly undoing the buttons of his shirt. She pushed it off of his shoulders and tugged at his undershirt. Her hands moving across his body normally would’ve been driving him crazy, but the gentle way that she was doing it that night made a different warmth bloom where she touched.

Instead of the fiery desire that he was used to feeling around Olivia, her fingers left behind something that reminded him of candlelight. That night, he felt warm and comfortable and experienced a new kind of intimacy. He still felt a need for her, but it wasn’t sexual. He needed her company, not her body.

After she had finished undressing him, he took the same time and care to undress her. Then, they crawled into his bed together. Calum waited for Olivia to get comfortable before curling himself around her and snaking his right arm over her waist, and his left under her head.

It didn’t take long until he felt himself falling asleep. Olivia’s gentle breathing told him that she’d fallen asleep only minutes after they snuggled up.

❁❁❁❁

He wasn’t sure how long they slept. Certainly not until morning. It couldn’t have been more than an hour or two before banging on his door woke him. He rubbed his eyes and pulled away from Olivia, who groaned. “What time is it?”

“Dunno.” His voice was raspy.

He found his boxers, still on the floor, and pulled open the door. He squinted at the sudden light from the hall. After a moment to process, he saw Cara standing in front of him, looking almost surprised to see him. After they each recovered, Cara glanced around him at Olivia. “Get dressed. Hurry.”

“What? Cara, no, I’m just gonna stay the-”

“No. Oliver’s here. Looking for you.”

Calum’s blood ran cold. The very thing that had almost kept her from him was happening. While Calum was practically a statue, Olivia was on her feet in seconds. She didn’t seem to mind that Cara was there, not that she was looking. Cara had come in and shut the door, and moved straight to the window to peek out. “Luke stopped him at the door. I don’t know if he got in or not, though.”

Olivia pushed some hair out of her face so that she could see her friend. “What’s he doing here in the first place?”

“I don’t know, but he can’t find you in Calum’s room.”

“Can’t you hide?” Calum asked. He knew it was selfish, but he wanted her to stay. He had been so close to finding out what it was like to wake up to the sunlight streaming through his window and onto her sleeping face. He imagined that she looked beautiful first thing in the morning.

Olivia shook her head before pulling on her dress. “Ollie’s going to tear this place apart until he finds me. Easier to just go down now and confront him about being so controlling.”

Cara pursed her lips. “I’ll see you down there. Good luck.”

They watched Cara leave and Olivia sighed. She pressed a firm kiss to Calum’s lips. “Probably best if you stay up here. I’ll see you at the game on Sunday, yeah?”

“Call me when you get home.”

She disappeared down the stairs. Calum waited for as long as he could, but he didn’t feel right having her down there, probably getting yelled at, without him. He finished getting dressed and tried not to run to where he could hear yelling. When he made it to the top of the stairs, he saw the twins having what looked like a staring contest.

“You shouldn’t be here.” Oliver said finally.

She pinched the bridge of her nose. “I’m a grown woman, Oliver. I can come to a party if I want to.”

“Not Hood’s party.”

“Oi,” Calum heard his voice before he realized that he was speaking. “I’ve got no problem with her. You’re the one who shouldn’t be here.”

“We’re leaving.” Oliver glared in his direction, but wasn’t done with Olivia. “C’mon, Liv.”

“You’re being crazy, you know. How’d you even know I was here?”

“There was a video.” Oliver said. “Of Hood about to beat some guy up for you.”

“And you felt the need to come rescue me because?”

Oliver turned his sneer back to me. “I don’t trust him. You shouldn’t be around him.”

“He’s a better guy than you are.” Calum wished Michael didn’t feel the need to jump in every time Oliver was around.

“Olivia. Let’s go.”

“If she doesn’t want to leave with you, I’m not going to let you force her to.” Calum said, coming down the rest of the steps so that he could stand beside Olivia.

“Why do you even care?” Oliver’s face started turning red. “Are you trying to screw her? There’s no way she would ever stoop that low. Besides, don’t you already have some bitch sucking your cock?”

“I’m not interested in your sister, mate. She obviously doesn’t want you telling her what to do, so fuck off, yeah?”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about.” Oliver said, clenching his jaw and fists.

“Whatever. Let’s just go.” She rolled her eyes, and walked past them to the door.

Calum took Oliver’s not killing him on sight as a good sign, but the idea of him interrogating her during the car ride to her apartment was nearly as nerve wracking as finding out that he was there in the first place.

The party winded down pretty quickly after that. Calum knew he wouldn’t be able to sleep until Olivia called him, so he decided to start cleaning instead. As he waited, he kept imagining how their conversation would go.

“I’m so sorry. I told Oliver. He’s on his way back to your house.”

Or, “I knew it was too risky. We can’t date. Oliver will find out.”

Or even less likely, “I can’t wait to see you again.”

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It hadn’t taken Cara and Jessie long to figure out that something was bothering her. Pretty much as soon as they got home from the bar, they were questioning her. At first, they assumed that Calum had said something that had pissed her off. It took a while for her to convince them that he hadn’t; and even longer for her to get them to leave her alone.

She knew her best friends would be able to help her figure out what to do, but she wasn’t ready to tell them yet. She didn’t even know how she felt about Calum, or his announcement.

The whole time they’d been hooking up she’d been putting her energy into not developing feelings for him. Now that he was admitting that he had feelings for her, she was left playing catch up. She knew that she was attracted to him, and she knew that she liked talking to him, but she wasn’t sure that was enough.

Oliver would lose it if he found out that they had spoken. She couldn’t imagine what he would do if he found out that they were dating. She thought back to what he’d said that day on the field. She wondered if her brother would still think the woman Calum was sleeping with was a whore if he knew that it was her.

Her Monday and Tuesday were pretty busy, so she didn’t really have much time to think about Calum. Wednesday, though, was fairly slow. She found herself reading some of their text messages and thinking about what their interactions had been like before they started seeing each other.

She hadn’t really known what to think about him. He had seemed pretty cocky, but not arrogant enough that he was an ass. She didn’t know why Oliver hated him, just that he did. Olivia tried to make a point of not letting other people’s opinions influence her, but she knew that her twin would think of her befriending him as a personal wrongdoing, so she’d kept her distance.

After Cara and Luke had been together for a few months, Cara had begged Olivia to go out with them and his friends, which meant being around Calum. During the first few outings, they hadn’t really spoken. In fact, she wasn’t sure that more than two full conversations before they’d started hooking up.

On Thursday, while out getting coffee, they ran into each other. They’d snapchatted a little bit over the past few days, but had yet to talk. Olivia saw him before he noticed her, and couldn’t help the way her eyes swept over him. There was a tired smile on his face as he spoke with the woman behind the counter. He was wearing a loose black tank top and grey sweatpants. He noticed her pretty quickly after he turned around. As soon as his gaze landed on her, he stopped walking.

She gave him a nervous smile and waved at the chair across from her, offering him the seat. He hesitated, but ultimately decided to take it. He sat and licked his lips; he seemed as nervous as she was.

“Hi” She started chewing her lip, not really sure where to go from there.

“Hi.” He cleared his throat. “Look… I’m sorry about the other day. I know you don’t want to be any more involved than we are.”

“No, I- I just… These past few months I’ve been putting all of my energy into not developing feelings for you, Calum. I figured you were doing the same.”

“It’s not like I didn’t try.”

“I just need a little bit more time to process, okay? I know that I want to keep doing whatever this is, but I don’t think it would be fair to you unless I know where I want this to go.”

“Okay.” He sighed. “That makes sense. I can wait.”

“Thank you.”

They didn’t say much else to each other as they waited for their drinks. When they called Olivia’s name, she, somewhat regretfully, left him with another awkward smile.

The next day, Violet accepted that she missed Calum, and not just physically. Their encounter at the coffee shop had been tense, and she didn’t want that between them. She missed the comfort that came with talking to and teasing him, and just being around him in general. It surprised her, but when she was in his presence she felt warm and content. Being near him made her surprisingly happy, despite all of the worry about Oliver finding out.

That morning, she decided to stop thinking about her brother—Calum was right. She needed to focus on what she wanted, not what would upset him.

So, after work, she went home and put on some nice lingerie and a short, low cut, form fitting maroon dress and went over to Calum’s frat house with Cara, who went to most of the guys’ parties.

They drove in silence for a few minutes before Cara finally let out the question Olivia knew she’d been dying to ask. “So, who are you trying to seduce tonight?”

Olivia found herself letting out a nervous laugh. “What do you mean?”

“You’re wearing your maroon dress.”

“And?”

Cara gave her a pointed look. “You only wear that dress when you plan on making someone worship you. So, who is it?”

“You have to promise not to freak.” Cara nodded eagerly, and Olivia sighed before speaking again. “You know how I’ve been hooking up with someone..? It’s Calum.”

Cara’s head whipped towards her. “What?! You and Calum?”

“Yeah… but last weekend, he told me he wants more than a casual thing and I told him I needed to think about it and we haven’t really talked about it yet but… I think I want to see where it goes. I kinda miss him.”

“Oh, my god! Why didn’t you tell us? Jessie’s gonna flip.”

“The less people who know, the better. If Oliver found out he’d probably hate me as much as he hates Calum.”

“I know. We won’t tell anyone, Liv.” Cara put a gentle hand on hers and smiled. “For what it’s worth, I’m glad you’re going to give him a chance. I think you two fit well together.”

“I hope so.”

As they pulled up to the house, Olivia could see that there was already a lot of people there. She sighed; finding Calum would probably be harder than she’d anticipated. She and Cara made their way to the kitchen, and were surprised to see that it was empty. They looked around a little more, but weren’t able to find either of the men they were looking for. A phone call to Luke told them that he and Calum had gone out for more drinks.

The girls decided to dance while they waited; it had been a while since they had gone to a party without Luke, so they thought it would be fun to have some girl time. Olivia also held the hope that it would ease her nerves. Now that she was there and would be seeing Calum soon, a mix of worry and anticipation was building in her stomach.

Olivia decided not to drink yet. She wanted to be sober when the time came. Cara, however, had no such qualms. Before they made their way to the dance floor, Cara insisted on taking a few shots. They easily lost themselves in the music. Olivia didn’t recognize any of the songs that were playing, but she let herself forget about her boy problems and was happy to be spending one on one time with her friend. They’d both been pretty busy lately, and hadn’t really seen one another that much.

Things were going great until she felt a pair of hands on her hips that pulled her backwards into someone who immediately started grinding their body against hers. She saw Cara’s eyes widen before she was spun around. Olivia took a step away from the person trying to dance with her, scoffing when he moved with her, his grip tightening as he leaned closer to whisper in her ear, “Where do you think you’re going? Too good for one dance?”

“Take your goddamn hands off of me.” She replied.

“I don’t think I want to. I like the feisty ones.” Olivia knew that his fingers were digging deeper into her hips hard enough to bruise, and bristled even more.

“Then you’ll love this.” Olivia lifted her foot and, with as much strength as she could muster, slammed the heel of her shoe onto her assailant’s foot.

She didn’t bother listening to the string of curse words that he let out. As soon as his hands were off of her, she shot forward and grabbed Cara’s hand, yanking her away from the man who’d grabbed her. “Are you okay?”

Cara nodded, wide eyes turning back to the, now very angry, men. The one Olivia hadn’t maimed balled his fists. “Who do you think you are? We were having a good time.”

“Maybe you were, but she wasn’t.”

“How would you know?”

Olivia narrowed her eyes, but ultimately decided that it wasn’t worth saying anything else. Any argument of hers would just be brushed off by them. Still holding hands, the girls started making their way away from the dance floor. In the hallway, Olivia shook her head. “I can’t believe guys like that.”

Cara let out a shaky breath. “I don’t know what happened. I can’t believe I just froze.”

“Hey, no. It was pretty quick. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

Another voice interrupted their conversation. “Maybe she didn’t, but you did.”

Olivia sighed, recognizing him as the man whose foot she had hoped to break. “Just leave us alone.”

“One of you needs to make up for what you did to my foot first.”

It was hard to miss the suggestion in his tone. Olivia scoffed. “You’re disgusting. Neither of us is having sex with you.”

“Yeah, right. A girl who dresses like that and dances the way you were obviously wants it.”

“Not from you.”

His face twisted even more as his anger grew, and Olivia knew that they were treading the line between drunken harassment and a dangerous situation. Cara, who was very quickly sobering up, looked up and down the hallway. The few people that were near them weren’t close enough to be paying any attention, and Olivia doubted they would listen if one of them called for help.

“You little b-”

Cara gasped, relief flooding her face before she called out for the man who had just walked through the front door. “Luke!”

Her boyfriend’s eyes found them immediately. The stranger, not having noticed what the girls had, moved closer, grabbing Olivia by the elbow and giving her a rough tug. “Let’s go somewhere more private. To talk about this some more.”

She saw Luke drop the bags he was holding and rush toward them. A second later, Calum entered, his brows pulled together in confusion as he watched his best friend charge into the house. His eyes moved past Luke, landing on Olivia as she tried, and failed, to plant herself, and was pulled down the hall.

Just like what Luke had done, Calum dropped what he was holding and quickly came to her aid. She was only pulled a few feet before Luke was there, sliding in front of them to stop him. Olivia noticed that his normally friendly blue eyes were filled with rage, and an intimidating scowl darkened his face. He looked past the angry man in front of him and nodded to Olivia. “Everything okay, Liv?”

“Everything’s fine.” He growled. “Mind your business.”

She didn’t hear what Luke said because she was being pulled backwards and turned to face a concerned Calum. “Are you okay?”

She nodded and turned her attention to her arm. The area that he’d been gripping was an angry red she guessed would bruise. Calum followed her attention, and she noticed his entire body tense. After assuring that she and Cara were safe, he turned just in time to come face to face with her would be rapist, who was getting ready to walk away.

Without a second’s hesitation, Calum raised his fist and connected it with his cheekbone. He stumbled backwards, nearly crashing into Luke before falling to the ground. Calum, still visibly angry, spoke in a low growl. “Don’t put your fucking hands on her ever again. Or any woman, without her consent.”

Calum turned, softening when he saw the girls pressed against the wall. Luke stepped around the drunken stranger as he scrambled to get up, and pulled Cara into a hug. Olivia watched him press a soft kiss on top of her head before turning to Calum, trying to think of something suitable to say. Finally, she decided on a simple “thanks.”

❁❁❁❁

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