“How does he not have more?” Pen questioned while her boyfriend blinked rapidly.
“While I don’t have nearly as many followers as Lexie or Ryder, like not even close, I could get a picture with you and post it on mine. Every little bit helps, right?”
“Your friends are too nice.” Walker’s Adam’s apple bobbed as he looked over at us. “I don’t have words for how grateful I’d be.”
“That’s enough for me,” Lexie said before she finished off the last of her pancakes.
“Me too,” I said around a bite of mine. The Dutch knew how to make some mean pancakes.
“I told you they’re the best.” Pen laid her head on his shoulder. She looked so serene as she snuggled up to him. It was a sight I hadn’t seen from her in all the years I’d known her. It looked good on her.
“You kind of have to say that about your friends.” He chuckled all low and rumbly.
“Clearly, you haven’t heard her talk about our friends Zelda and Reagan. Especially Reagan.” I couldn’t even say Reagan’s name without my lips curling up in a snarl.
“I can’t say that I have.”
“Yeah, I don’t always have the nicest things to say about the two of them. Mostly Reagan, but I’m not sure I’d count her as a friend anymore.”
“She’s certainly not mine,” I added.
Pen raised her hand in the air as our waitress went by and made a checkmark in the air, signaling for our check. “Do you want to go back to the hotel after this, or do you want to see the nightlife of Amsterdam?”
“I wouldn’t mind walking off some of these pancakes.” I patted my full belly. “Seeing a little more would be nice and then heading back. We did as much touristy stuff as we could after we checked in since both of us slept for most of our flight.”
“We even hit up the Red Light District. Although, I’m sure it’s much more entertaining at night than it was during the day.”
“Oh, we should go there.” Walker’s eyes lit up.
Pen rolled her eyes. “Of course, you want to go where the prostitutes are.”
“Are you jealous?” He pulled her close and lightly kissed the corner of her mouth. “It’s not like I’m going to do anything. They went, and you didn’t assume they paid for any services.”
The man made a point.
“Who knows if I’ll ever be back here? While I’m here, I want to see what the big deal is. Don’t you?”
She shrugged as if she didn’t want to, but I knew she wanted to go. Who wouldn’t?
Walker pulled Pen even closer and spoke against her ear. Pen looked down as her cheeks pinked up at whatever he said. I was pretty sure it was something dirty.
“You’re right.” She nodded. “You only live once, and who better to share this experience with than you three.”
Lexie slapped the table as she stood. “Now you’re talking. Let’s go. The only thing I ask is that we don’t do anything that will get us arrested.”
“What?” I nearly shrieked, turning on her.
Pen rolled her lips. “Did you see the look on her face? I thought she was going to pee herself.” Unable to hold back her laughter any longer, Pen leaned against the booth as she laughed.
“Relax, no one is getting arrested.”
Walker wrapped an arm around Pen’s waist and started to guide us out of the café. “You can’t be too sure. The guys might decide to do something stupid without you there.”
“Do you know something you aren’t telling me?” He shook his head, but that didn’t stop Pen from continuing to ask questions. “Are you trying to make me feel bad for doing something with my friends? Should we find them?”
“No, I’m fucking with you. No one is getting arrested. Tonight, tomorrow, or any other night if I have any say on the matter.” He looked over his shoulder to Lexie and me. “She takes her job way too seriously sometimes.”
“Because I like my job and don’t want to get fired, and I want Crimson Heat to be the best. That’s not going to happen if you guys are out partying every night, doing drugs, or getting arrested.”
“I know, babe. Tonight, we’re going to have a little fun, but not too much fun. Okay?”
I liked that even though Walker was young, he seemed to have a level head and knew how to calm Pen down when she needed it. Seeing them together made me feel better.
“Let’s go have some fun, girls!”
15
Stella
Lexie and I stood outside by her pool, looking at the angry sky. We’d only been home from Amsterdam for two days, and there was a fire threatening to burn down our homes. If the wind shifted even the tiniest amount, it could very well send the flames to our little town. While I’d said I wanted to live in Malibu because everyone knew of it, I lived a little further south between the Pacific Palisades and Santa Monica. Up until now, the location hadn’t mattered as much.
“I can’t believe this. Do you think we’ll have to evacuate?” Lexie held her camera to her chest after taking about a hundred pictures of the sky.
“Maybe. I really don’t know. They think it’s possible it might reach us if they don’t get the fire contained.”
“Will you keep us updated?” She glanced over at me and then back to the sky. Lexie and Ryder would be gone for the next two weeks on jobs, and I knew it was hard for them to leave with the uncertainty of what would happen.
“Of course, I will. If you want to pack a bag or bags of things you’d like for me to take if I have to leave, do it. After you leave, I’m going to pack a bag to be ready just in case.”
She nodded. “You know you could come with us if you want to. I hate leaving you here alone.”
I wasn’t too thrilled about it either, but I couldn’t run from all my problems. “I know, and thanks. You don’t need to worry about me. If I need to, I can always go stay at Pen’s house until it’s over.”
“Baby, it’s time to go,” Ryder called from the door with Delilah on his hip. “Stella,” he called to me, “be safe.”
“I will.” I’d won the lottery having those two as my neighbors. They could have been stuck-up assholes like the rest of my neighbors, but instead, they’d become some of my closest friends.
“I’ll see you in two weeks,” Lexie said as she leaned over and hugged me. “I expect you to have the first five chapters of your book written when I get back.”
Pulling back, I laughed. “Now you,” I accused her. Pen was always on my case about how I procrastinated. I didn’t need Lexie to start in on me as well.
Walking backward to her house, she only grinned at me until she reached the door. “What can I say? You need someone to hold you accountable.”
I did need the accountability, but it was hard to write when you thought your house might burn down with you in it.
Heading back over to my house, I grabbed my computer, not wanting to think about the fact that I was now alone. All my friends were off living their lives while I sat in my office, stuck somewhere between my past and the present.