Descent (Black Heart Romance presents Heaven & Hell)

In Calvin’s overbearingly bossy script, it reads:
Hallie,
Don’t go on the date tonight.
Meet me instead.
Chef Ryan is preparing dinner for us. Get in the car, and Hollis will bring you to me.
I promise you’ll have a better time.
-Calvin
I guffaw, shaking my head with a faint smile at his gall. Whatever he lacks, the man certainly has
audacity.
I bring my gaze back to Hollis, still shaking my head. “I’m not getting in that car.”
“I would strongly urge you to reconsider.”
I hold the letter back out to him. “I would strongly urge you to remind Calvin that I fulfilled my
end of the bargain. I gave him the only date I promised him, and now we’re finished. I’m never having
dinner with him ever again. I’m never doing anything with him ever again. He can forget me like I
hope to forget him. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I don’t want to be late to meet my date.”
Hollis sighs.
I turn away and start putting distance between us on the sidewalk so he doesn’t grab me and
force me into the vehicle.
Once I’m a few yards away, I feel safer, but Hollis calls after me, “Do this the easy way,
Hallie.”
I turn just enough to toss back over my shoulder, “Tell Calvin I said sometimes you can’t get
what you want.”
Hollis hangs his head and mutters something I can’t hear from this far away.
I wasn’t excited for the date before, and I’m still not really excited, but I do feel strangely
energized after slipping through Calvin’s fingers.
Maybe this date will be just what I needed, after all.
___