Jasper smiled. “Does it really help with the tics?”
Cal shrugged. “Depends on the rolling stone person. Rolling stone. It helps with mine. For someone else, it could make them worse. Just like there are happy drunks and mean drunks. Different body chemistry.”
“It helps mine, too,” Hollyn added. “But that’s a treacherous dance. You don’t want to lean on that as a fix because then you don’t just have a tic problem, you’ve picked up an alcohol one.”
Just as she said it, the waiter came back with their drinks.
Hollyn’s eyes widened as he plunked down a tall, filled-to-the-brim glass in front of her. The orangey-pink cocktail looked harmless in its curvy glass with a wedge of orange and a cherry decorating its brim, but she’d lived here long enough to know the famous hurricane packed a punch. The Cat 5 designation probably meant it’d be even worse than a normal one.
Jasper accepted his beer from the waiter with a thank-you and then eyed Hollyn’s drink. “Looks like you’re planning for a swimming-in-your-underwear night. Should I warn the neighborhood dogs? Or maybe just get my camera ready?”
She flipped him the middle finger and sipped her cocktail, which was some tasty combination of rums and fruit juices. Mmm. That went down real easy. She hadn’t ordered it to quiet her tics. She just needed something to take the edge off. She hadn’t realized how awkward it’d be going out with her BFF/ex-boyfriend and her fake boyfriend. The two guys had nearly had a dick-measuring contest when they’d met. She hadn’t expected that at all, and didn’t have a clue on how to negotiate the odd tension.
“I’m not trying to get smashed,” she said. “I just never got a chance to try one of these because usually when I go out, I’m on the job and alone. Tonight, I know if I get a little tipsy, I only have to worry about being embarrassing in front of you two. I don’t have to worry about getting hauled into an alley and raped or murdered because I’ve let my guard down.”
“Jesus, Hollyn,” Cal said, looking horrified. “Is the city that dangerous? Maybe you shouldn’t be going—”
“It’s not the city,” she said, cutting Cal off before he could get all mother hen on her. “It’s called being a woman in the world. I can’t go out and get tipsy alone. There are demented assholes everywhere. So this…is a treat. I have two people I can trust watching my back.”
“The world sucks,” Jasper said, jaw clenching. He put his arm around her shoulders and squeezed. “Whenever you don’t feel safe somewhere, you call me, and I’ll go with you.”
She leaned into him, appreciating the offer. “Thank you. I don’t need a babysitter, though. Except tonight. Tonight, I might need a babysitter.”
She took a long sip and both the guys laughed.
“We’ve got you covered, Tate,” Cal said and took a sip of his own drink. “So Jasper, rolling rolling, you do the coffee thing by day and the hella good show by night?”
Jasper released Hollyn and draped his arm over the back of the curved booth. “Yeah. I also teach some classes at WorkAround. But I’m drawing up a business plan to try to get investors for a theater. I want the group to have their own place instead of using the bar.”
Cal nodded and his shoulder shrugged twice. “That’s cool. And sounds like a lot of work.”
“It’s overwhelming,” Jasper said, slowly turning his beer bottle on the table. “But I think if we get word-of-mouth going and some wider publicity, we could get investors interested.”
Cal’s eyebrows quirked, and he took another deep gulp of his drink. “Publicity. Like Hollyn’s column?”
Hollyn frowned. She could see where Cal’s mind was going. “Yes. I actually planned to review the show before I even knew who Jasper was. I ran into him after one of his shows, and that’s sort of how this whole thing started.”
“She rescued me from certain death,” Jasper said, obviously trying to shift the mood back to the lighthearted conversation from earlier. “My appendix almost exploded outside the bar. Hollyn brought me to the ER.”
“Isn’t it a conflict of interest? Reviewing the show of a guy you’re dating?” Cal asked, ignoring the appendix story and focusing on her. “Your whole brand is that your reviews aren’t sponsored. They’re one hundred percent honest.”
Jasper stiffened next to her. “I’m not asking her to not be honest.”
“But you’re asking her to do you a favor?” Cal said, his tics quiet as his focus zeroed in on Jasper. “And it’s one that could get her in trouble if someone found out she was dating you.”
“I—” Jasper began.
“Cal, stop,” Hollyn said, getting annoyed at the line of questioning. “You’re making a thing out of something that isn’t a thing. I will disclose the relationship at the end of the review. And if I didn’t like his show, I wouldn’t give it a good review. Just like I wouldn’t go and see your band and give it a good review if I thought you guys sucked. No matter how much I love you.”
Jasper glanced her way, and she cringed at her use of the word love. Cal smirked. “You would not pan my band, Tate. You don’t have it in you.”
She stared at him for a moment as she drank more of her hurricane and sighed. “Fine. I do love you enough to not do a review at all if I hated it. But I do like your band. And I do think Jasper’s show is great. You saw it yourself. They’re awesome.” She shrugged. “So it’s not a conflict of interest. I just happen to have a talented friend and a talented boyfriend. No big deal. No one’s going to be doing some deep investigation into it.”
“You don’t have to review my show,” Jasper said, his attention still on Cal.
“What?” she asked, frowning Jasper’s way. “But—”
He leaned in and kissed her lightly. “Your friend here thinks I’m using you to forward my career. That’s not what this is.”
Hollyn huffed and looked to Cal. “Is that what you’re saying?”
Cal sipped his drink and shrugged—not a tic—looking like the petulant kid she’d first met. “Just seems convenient timing. And he is an actor.”
Irritation flooded her, and her hand landed on the table with a soft smack. “Cal Summers, if you just implied that I’m not worth dating unless someone’s getting a favor out of it, you’re about to get a very sticky drink poured in your lap.”
Cal’s expression fell, a frown touching his lips. “Shit. Panic station. You know that’s not what I meant. You’re… Any guy would be lucky to be with you. I just—”