Alpha Callum and The Broken Mate

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

After about an hour I came out of the steamy shower feeling rejuvenated. I step out onto the off white tile floor of the bathroom and towel dry myself. I grab my phone and get it on the charger as I turn on some music to get ‘hotel bar ready’. Setting it on my ‘going out’ playlist. I planned to have a pretty decent time tonight. I feel like having a few drinks, and loosening up a bit in a new place is exactly what I need to start my vacation on the right note.

After I pat dry my face, I put on my moisturizer, then my primer and grab some of my concealer. I decide to go for a more natural look, accentuating my features rather than a full face of makeup. I dab my concealer under my eyes and blend. Then I go in with my eyebrow brush and just make them a more uniform color and shape. I then get my eye shadow pallet out and brush on a skin toned bottom layer, then a slightly shimmery golden brown to accent the green in my eyes and top it off with a darker shimmery brown to give a more natural smoky eye look. I add some winged liner and some mascara to finish my look off. I throw on some neutral gloss and start blow drying my long hair.

After I finish with my hair and makeup I go to the closet and try to decide what outfit would be best for a hotel bar in Anchorage. I look through a few options before I decide on a pair of black ripped skinny jeans, ankle high 3 inch chunky boot heels, a form fitting low cut plain gray tank top and my favorite pleather jacket.

I look at the time and see that it’s about 6:30pm, perfect timing. In the back of my mind I’m hoping that the 3 other guys that Christopher is picking up from the airport decide that they want a drink too and maybe I can meet and get to know them. I wonder what they’ll be like, knowing they’re from Idaho is kind of nice I have to admit. Knowing there will be some people who can talk to me about our area is a little comforting to think about.

I grab my room key, my small clutch purse, throw on some of my favorite perfume that works well with all of my products I used in the shower, take one last look in the mirror, fixing a stray hair, and head towards the bar.

I’m not sure what I expected when I walked in but it was remarkably beautiful. There were wall to ceiling windows on one side showing a beautiful view of the city with a large covered patio to sit at. Inside there were multiple large flat screens placed throughout the room, some playing the latest hockey games, some playing football games, being as it’s still November both of those sports were happening. I looked over to see some sitcom playing on another one and a group of older patrons sitting around that one chatting.

The bar itself was a huge horseshoe shape with a gorgeous chandelier hanging above it. Seeing as I knew nobody here I decided to just take a seat at the bar. The bartender was a very sweet looking younger woman, she had fiery red curly hair, so many freckles on her that it was hard to distinguish a real skin tone, and was at least 5 foot 10 inches and she didn’t even have heels on.

“What’ll it be hun?” She asked in a very sultry lower toned voice.

“I don’t drink much but I’m feeling adventurous tonight, any suggestions?” I asked while I looked at their cocktail menu.

“Hmmm..” She pondered while racking her brain.

“Tell me, do you like more fruity drinks or do you prefer to taste your alcohol?”

I thought for a second and decided on the fruity drink. “The less I have to taste it the better honestly.” I said with a chuckle.

“Ah, a girl after my own heart.” And smiled at me and said.

“Tell you what, I’ll make you a drink that I’ve been working on lately and if you don’t like it I won’t charge. How does that sound? A little adventure and a little trust all in one.” She winked and smiled.

“Sounds great, I’m sure I’ll love it.”

About 5 minutes later and after seeing at least 5 different types of alcohol she was using and I was starting to doubt my trust a little before she came back over to me with a tall glass of something blood orange with 3 cherries sitting on the top of one of those mini drink swords.

I gave her a questioning look and she just said, “Make sure you don’t down it, it is strong but I think it’s delicious.”

I gave her one more unsure glance before I mentally just said ‘f**k it’ and took a sip.

I was not expecting the explosion of flavor I got from it. It tasted tropical but not too sweet, I could sort of taste the alcohol, enough to know it was a dangerous drink, but it went down so smooth. I definitely needed to make sure I didn’t down this like it was some weak fruity drink.

Not even caring how much it actually costs, I took out a fifty from my wallet and handed it to her.

“This is the best drink I have ever tasted. Whatever it costs, here. And keep the change too. I also want to open a tab, I’ll probably be here for a while.” As I took another sip.

And smiled at me, looking very proud of herself for it and gladly took the tip.

When she came back from the register, she smiled at me and asked my name and what brought me to Alaska.

After learning her name was Maggie, I gave her the basic rundown, divorce, needing to get away, always wanting to see what it was like up here, and the tour.

“How often do these tours happen?” Curious as to how well versed these men were with this.

“Well, they only started last year. And the guy’s do have families at home so they try not to overdo themselves since during the trips they’re away from home for 10-12 days at a time. I’d say once a month they usually do these, everyone always has an amazing time and I’ve never heard of anyone returning without crossing everything they wanted to see off their lists.”

I was happy at her explanation. So it wasn’t just some constant rotation of tourists on some generic tour, these guys actually loved what they did and showing their home to new people. I’m sure that’s why Christopher looked so proud and accepted the compliment when I was talking about the scenery here.

We chatted for a bit longer, I learned that she was born and raised here, her parents living here for as long as she can remember them talking about it. Sort of like me in my home town. She wanted to be a figure skater when she was younger like her older sisters as she was the youngest but she ended up getting a pretty bad injury in high school that ended that dream. That’s when she went to college, took some business classes and actually manages the whole bar. She was only 22 and I was impressed.

I told her about my story, sort of similar but no dream that went down the drain for me. We actually had a lot in common and during our conversation I didn’t even notice when Christopher came and sat down near me.

“So I see you’ve met our amazing Maggie here.” He smiled at her and she returned with an equal one.

“Yeah, she is pretty great, I can see why everyone likes her around here.”

“Oh, you have no idea.” He said with a low chuckle. I looked at him and I could sense there was more to that comment than I was privy to but didn’t pry.

I ordered another one of her amazing drinks, I could feel my head starting to feel a little buzzy and warm and I was loving it.

Just as I took a sip of my freshly topped off drink, I turned to Chris to ask a question as he looked behind me and said, “Oh, looks like the 3 gents I just picked up decided they did want to come out and have a drink with us. I told them that you also flew in early today.”

I turned around to see who he was talking about and I was floored to see 3 devilishly handsome men come through the doors of the bar. They were all equally gorgeous but the one in the front, there was something about him. I couldn’t take my eyes from him and immediately felt drawn to him. Like a magnet or something.

The one in front I assumed to be the oldest. He had dark brown almost black curly hair that looked like a perfect mess on top of his head, he was at least 6’4” had a strong chiseled jaw line, a neatly trimmed beard, muscles that rippled with every step he took and tattoos covering any and all the skin I could see peeking out from his black form fitting t-shirt and dark blue tight fitting jeans. I couldn’t help myself from checking him out. When I went back up to his face, I flushed red as I locked eyes with his piercing blue ones.

He was staring at me with a slight smirk on his face. No doubt laughing at me for checking him out for so long. I quickly looked away from him, but not before I saw him quietly say something to his brothers and then they all snapped their heads at me too.

‘Gosh Tori why couldn’t you just keep your eyes to yourself for once. Now they’re all staring at you.’ I thought to myself and mentally just punching myself.

But I just couldn’t help it. It’s like as soon as I looked at him I couldn’t keep my eyes off of him. There was something about the way he walked, the way his muscled moved so effortlessly under his clothes, and those eyes. Those damn eyes. I felt drawn to him and I had no idea why.

When he walked over to the stool next to me I couldn’t help but try at all costs to avoid his eyesight. To distract myself I decided to take a big chug of my drink in front of me and sneak a peek at Maggie. She started to take their drink orders and glanced at me, gave me an encouraging smile and a very obvious eyebrow wiggle before she stepped away to prepare some drinks.

I decided to be a little brave and looked over to tall dark and handsome, only to see him still looking at me. I got very nervous all of a sudden and was relieved when he was the one that broke the silence.

“Callum Mills.” He said in a deep voice smoother than honey while he held his hand out to me. I hesitated a little bit before taking it and saying, “Tori Rhytie.”

As I held his hand and shook it, I looked into his eyes and it’s like I could get lost in them. My palm felt warm and tingly in his and I almost didn’t want to let go.

“Beautiful name for a beautiful girl.” He said as he took my hand to his full lips and gave it a gentle kiss. I could feel my cheeks heating up and I slowly slid my hand out of his, much to my own dismay. I couldn’t help but think about how the rest of me would feel under his hands.

He gave a throaty chuckle that ran a shiver through me; I definitely needed to slow down on this drink if I was going to survive this man.

Another voice came from behind him and brought me out of my stupor.

“Hey Cal, are you just going to ignore the rest of us or are you going to introduce us to this smoke show or just keep her all to yourself?”

I swear I heard him growl under his breath but pushed it off to me being tipsy and I laughed it off and introduced myself.

“I’m Tori, and you guys are?” as I leaned back in my chair to get a look at the other two sitting next to him.

The one that just talked looked at me and smiled, “I’m Eric and this is our other brother Jeremy.” He pointed to the man beside him that looked almost identical to him. I looked between those two and they it was like they knew what I was thinking.

“Yes, we are twins. No, we’re not identical. We’re fraternal twins but I’m the hot one.” Jeremy sent my way with a wink. I laughed and Callum rolled his eyes.

I did have to admit that all three of these brothers were ridiculously attractive. All with chiseled bodies, the twins with tattoos as well, although not as many as Callum. Eric had soft golden blond curls and green eyes while Jeremy had almost strawberry blonde curls and golden brown eyes. They both had infectious smiles and laughs, but even while I was appreciating their looks, my whole body was buzzing with how close Callum was to me.

It’s almost the same feeling as when your foot falls asleep and when you first get pressure back into it, it’s tingling. Before the prickling pins feeling. It was pleasant to be sure, but I didn’t know where it was coming from. So I just attributed it to the alcohol and having such a handsome man so close to me after not having any intimate contact with someone for so long.

The twins had gotten into some heated conversation while I was spaced out thinking about everything, I decided to finish my drink and order water. I didn’t want to look like a complete i***t before the night was over so I definitely needed to balance my water intake.

I looked around and spotted Maggie taking the order of a couple of other customers across the bar and waited patiently until she was done and turned around.

She walked over and I smiled and said, “Could I get a glass of water and then another one of these?”

“Comin’ right up!”

I smiled at her enthusiasm and turned to see Callum just staring at me. Jeez I wonder how long he’s been doing that. I tried to read his face but there weren’t any emotions there except maybe curiosity? Either I really sucked at reading people or he was incredible at masking his thoughts.

I looked at him and decided to be a little adventurous. Something about him drew me in, I felt like I had known him for a lifetime and that I could trust him. But my instincts on men are horrible so I have to be careful.

“I wish I could do that as well as you do.” I said to him with a flirty smile.

“Do what?” He asked confused, finally showing something on his stoic face.

“Hide my thoughts and feelings as well as you. My face might as well be a book with how well it shows my internal ramblings.” I say as I roll my eyes.

“That’s not a bad thing you know.” He said with a smirk.

I scoffed and replied, “And how isn’t it?”

He leaned over just inches away from my ear, so close that his beard tickled my neck ever so slightly, and he said in a seductive whisper “Because I could see how you felt about me the moment I walked into the room, if that’s not positive then I don’t know what is.” He lingered just a second longer, and I could swear it’s almost like he smelled me. When he leaned back from me his eyes almost looked black for a second.

The impact of his words and the close proximity to me had my face flush red once again and I took a sip of water to cool myself. He watched with a slight smile and changed the subject luckily.

“So what brings you up here? Chris there just told us that you were the only other person flying in early like us and that you’re from near our area.”

Grateful for the change of subject, I smiled and said “I just needed to get away from some things at home. I’ve been going through some unpleasant situations and I just needed to get out of town and do something different and exciting for a change.”

I suddenly felt a little sad as everything that has happened the last couple of days came raining down on me. It was a lot to deal with, especially alone.

I’m sure my face gave away my emotions right now once again because Callum looked at me with an emotion I couldn’t quite decipher, a touch of anger and then another emotion. He scoots his chair over even closer to mine, gently hooks my chin with his finger and says, “Whatever pain you’re feeling, I hope you know you don’t deserve it.”

I looked at his mesmerizing eyes and for a second I did believe that. But Callum was a stranger and didn’t know me or my story and the water seemed to have sober me up more. I’m going to have to change that. If there’s one thing I know for sure about myself, it’s that I am too anxious and uptight when I’m sober. And I needed to loosen up if I was going to have fun.

I whispered a “Thank you” before pulling my face away and looking behind him at his brothers. And yep, of course, they were watching all of that. God they must have thought I was just some easy woman going after their brother. I’m sure they saw that a lot.

Just in time for me to go beet red again, Maggie thankfully came up with another drink for me and the guys. Before she walked away, I decided I needed a shot of something.

“Can I get a shot of rum with a pickle-back and then whatever these gentlemen would like a shot of?” I said shooting the boys a look.

Callum of course chose a more mature shot and said Patron.

The twins didn’t even take a second to think about that and at the same time they practically shouted out, “JAGERBOMBS!”

I laughed and said, “God I haven’t been able to do those since I started drinking. How old are all 3 of you guys?” Knowing the twins were obviously younger and secretly hoping that Cal was closer to my age.

The twins laughed and replied to me, “We just turned 23 last month. We know, we know, we’re ‘babies’. But at least we aren’t ancient like Cal here, he turns 32 while we’re on the trip! That’s why we came, we wanted to have one last big adventure before this guys takes over the pa… company!”

I thought their hesitation was weird when stumbled on company but brushed it off.

I downed my water just in time for the shots to arrive, I looked at Callum and the twins and said confidently, “We should toast to something. It’s the first time meeting you fine gentlemen, and we’re about to get to know each other pretty well on this trip according to Christopher. Callum?”

I swear he shivered when I said his name just like I did when he laughed earlier. I was really hoping I could have the same effect as he has been having on me, but within a moment he was composed and gave me a smile that absolutely melted me.

“A toast, to new adventures, new people, and hopefully exploring new territories.”

I didn’t miss the sly, bone-tingling look he gave me when he said the last part, and it took everything in myself to not jump on him in front of his brothers. He must have seen it too because when he brought his shot glass to mine and said “Cheers!” he gave me a smirk and downed his shot like a champ.

I had no choice but to look just as confident, luckily I got rum. It’s the only alcohol I can take a shot of without a face.

I raised mine to my lips, downed it in a second, grabbed my pickle juice and threw it down right after. The whole time I could see Cal staring at every movement. My lips on the glasses, my throat bobbing as I swallowed, and the way I licked my lips afterwards. I couldn’t act like I didn’t know what he was doing because admittedly I did the same thing when he took his. Boy it’s going to be a long 12 days if neither of us makes a move. But in that moment, when I felt a little fuzzy from the alcohol, I decided if he didn’t then I would. I wasn’t going this whole trip without having a little bit of extra fun. And I had a feeling that Callum would be the extra fun I was hoping for.