Don’t think about it. Don’t go there. She promised herself she was going to have a fun evening with Chantara. Her best friend had been there for her through thick or thin and it could be one of their increasingly rare girl’s nights out kind of a deal. Except she really hoped Chantara meant what she said. If her friend chose to get up and dance on cars or into the street, Callie wouldn’t see it coming.
She heaved a sigh, actually hoping that Chantara would go get them a drink sooner rather than later. Her thoughts were beginning to churn back to things she’d rather not think about. She could use a good stiff gin to chase them back to oblivion. Just for one night. Just one night. I wanted this to be fun. Just one night without thoughts of Ben or my family or… or anything else.
If only she hadn’t lost her contacts. She could have distracted herself by studying, discreetly, of course, the fine features, even finer form, and sea blue eyes that belonged to Matt Hilbert. No matter what she said or thought, it would have been a good distraction.
CHAPTER 4
Matt
Just as he thought, the Christmas party was as bone dry boring as it had been all the previous years. He wasn’t sure why he thought this one was going to be any different. It turned out that people who were boring during the day at work were just as boring at night. Unless they got a few too many drinks. Then sometimes, it was entertaining.
As it was, it was nearly eleven and no one that he noticed was making a drunken spectacle of themselves. He was almost disappointed. It’s probably far too early.
But it just made the evening dry. Real dry. Desert level dry. At least the food was good. That was a bonus. The party the year before was held at a different hotel and the food had been absolutely terrible.
The DJ was just starting up the tunes when Matt stood up. He decided that enough was enough. He’d had enough pleasant chit chat to last him the night. Of course, there had also been the occasional conversation about work snuck in there. He hated that. He would like, for once, to just have a fucking night off and not talk about insurance.
He left his award on the table. God, it could stay there for all he cared. He didn’t mind his job. He didn’t even mind the company. He just hated being singled out. He didn’t even know he’d done so well with his sales. Well, really, his department had. He just managed the whole thing. He must have done something right. There was a good chance that Richard, his boss, probably had informed him of the fact at some time or other but he’d probably just tuned right out. He tended to do that most days.
A drink. I need a drink. As in, like, a triple. Or maybe just straight up whiskey. Would they serve that to me here? Probably not.
It would look bad to be seen pounding back drink after drink or carrying too many to the table at once, so maybe he could convince the bartender to give him two doubles. He’d nurse those for all of ten minutes and get two more. That would help him endure another hour before he could feel like he hadn’t left too early. Midnight seemed appropriate. And he’d take the damn award with him. Maybe he’d get lucky and forget it in the cab on the way home.
Fortunately for him, the evening went uphill from there. Thanks to the bartender’s free pouring, the one-dollar drinks and the DJ who shit the bed and forgot some piece of equipment to actually make everything work together, people were getting inventive. The drunk kind of inventive.
Cayden Wall from their marketing department charged to the table where Matt was currently nursing his sixth double. Or was it eight? He wasn’t even sure. The edge he’d felt at the beginning of the evening was long gone. He was actually beginning to forget the string of disastrous dates and all of his recent relationships that hadn’t worked out. He was in a nice numb state when Cayden’s curly haired head swam into view.
“You have to come see this, man.”
Matt blinked. He actually looked behind him just to double check that Cayden really was talking to him. The guy probably hadn’t said more than two words to Matt the entire four years the guy was with the company. They’d started around the same time. Matt remembered when Cayden was hired. Judging from the way Cayden’s shirt had come untucked and his tie was hanging askew, he’d had a few doubles himself. Or way more singles. Either way, the guy had that bleary-eyed look of someone who had imbibed a little too much. A lot of the people still remaining in the room were getting that look.