One Step Closer(78)

His fingers curled and he ran the back of his knuckles down the silky skin on the outside of her upper arm, hoping it would wake her. He could still remember how the warmth of her sun kissed skin had felt under his hand.

There were no lights on inside the pool house as twilight fell outside, but he could still clearly see her sparkling blue eyes as her lashes fluttered open and it registered in her mind that he was there.

“Hey,” he said softly.

She blinked and sat up halfway, propping herself up on one of her elbows. The towel she’d been holding fell to the floor in front of the sofa as she scooted into an upright position. A frown settled on her face as she looked at him.

“I thought you didn’t want to swim. Did you come out here to be a jerk to me again?”

He shook his head. “No. I’m sorry about earlier, Bird. I didn’t have a great day. I was wrong to take it out on you.”

Her chin jutted out as she stood up, walked a few steps away and then turned to look at him. Clearly, she hadn’t forgiven him. “Is that why you’re out here?”

The moment weighed heavy on Caleb. She was so innocent and trusting and he was about to hurt her. He hated his father more in that moment than he ever had. “I wanted to talk to you.” He got up and walked toward her but stopped short. “I’m—” he hesitated. “Shit! I don’t know how to tell you this, Wren.” His voice was tortured.

Her eyes widened and fear settled on her face. “What is it? You’re scaring me, Cale.”

She was only sixteen, but she was so beautiful to Caleb. Her body was changing and her face was maturing. The gauzy dress she wore over her bikini left the outline of her body visible, but he hardly noticed. His heart was hurting too much.

“My dad says I have to go to MIT instead of School of Mines. In fact, I leave for Boston tomorrow.” Once he started, he let the words rush from his lips.

“Where?” she asked in disbelief. “That soon?”

“MIT. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Classes start in a week and a half.”

She started to shake her head as his words sank in and then she started to pace around the room. “But, you have a scholarship here, right? You can still be here with me if you go to—”

Dread settled over Caleb as he interrupted her. “I did. But that bastard arranged it so my scholarship was rescinded. He knows someone who knows someone, or some shit like that. Bottom line is that he gets what he wants, no matter who he has to destroy in the process.”

Wren’s face crumpled as her big eyes welled with sadness. She shook her head in disbelief. “Why would he do this?”

Caleb didn’t want to tell her the real reason because he didn’t want her to feel like it was her fault. “Because he’s a prick, Wren! He wants to control everything and when he can screw with me; that’s a bonus. You know how much I hate that mother f*cker!”

Tears began rolling down her cheeks and she covered her face with her hands and her shoulders began to shake. “What about me? I don’t want you to leave, Cale! I don’t want you to guh—go.”

He went to her and gathered her as close to his body as he could after she started to sob. “I know. I don’t want to, either. But don’t worry. I made him promise to keep Veronica away from you. He said he’d take care of you, and Dex will still be here. He’ll look out for you, too.” Caleb’s voice was getting thick as it got harder and harder for him to talk. Holding the crying girl in his arms, he was on the verge of breaking himself, but he had to be the strong one. “Dex’ll take you to the studio, and I’ll send the money to cover your lessons as soon as I find a fight club out there.”

“Dex isn’t you.” Her face was buried in his shirt and he could feel the hot wetness of her tears soaking through as the fingers of both of her hands clutched and fisted desperately in his shirt. “What’ll I do without you? What if you don’t come back?”

His arms tightened around her and he hugged her harder, his chin resting on the top of her head. “Oh, Wren.” He stepped back and put his hands on both of her shoulders. The pain in her face exploded inside his chest and he wanted to comfort her. His finger brushed her jaw and then he nudged it up with his thumb, silently demanding she meet his eyes. “Bird, look at me.”

Wren sniffed and lifted her tear filled eyes to his. Caleb used one thumb to wipe one of her tears across her cheek.

“I’ll always come back for you. Nothing will hurt you while I’m still breathing, do you hear me?” His voice broke and tears burned at the back of his eyes. He blinked to get rid of them as he cleared his throat. “Look,” he reached into his pocket and brought out the necklace. He held it up, so she could see the pendant, dangling on the sparkling chain. “My dad gave it to my mom right after I was born. She wore it all the time. It was her very favorite thing. Check out that ugly picture inside.” He tried to laugh as the index finger on his right hand moved aside the front part of the pendant. A picture of him as a baby appeared when the yellow gold and diamond gate moved aside. “It has my initials on the back, too.” He turned it over to show her the engraving. “Will you keep it safe for me until I come back? Will you wear it?”

The sorrow on Wren’s features didn’t go away, but she did as he asked. She nodded. “Okay. If you want me to.”