The Resolution of Callie & Kayden(23)

Worry masks her face. ‘But he’s not in your life anymore.’

‘He might be. I mean, what if the rest of my family takes him back. And Dylan … he wants me to come out there for a week. I think he suggested it because he thought it’d help being around him while going through this, but I don’t know.’ I shrug. ‘I’ve never associated my family with helping me in anyway. Even Dylan.’

‘Then don’t go,’ she states simply, cupping my face between her hands, making me look at her. ‘You’re not under any obligation to go there. You’ve suffered enough. And if you think this is going to be hard, then you deserve not to go. You have me, Seth, and Luke all here for you, so you’re not alone in any of this. You’re never, ever alone.’

I force down the massive lump welling in my throat. ‘I know that, but I feel guilty that you guys have to put up with my shit. And I feel guilty for bailing on my family.’

‘Well, you don’t need to feel guilty about anything.’ Her voice shakes with anger, startling me. ‘You don’t owe them anything, only yourself, so do what you want to do and no one else.’

‘But what if … what if she calls me?’

‘You mean your mom?’

‘Yeah, I’m not sure I ever want to talk to her again.’ I hate that I sound like a scared little boy, but I can’t seem to control it. My mother was the type of woman who pretended not to see anything, even though she saw everything. All those years she let my father beat me, even called me in sick for school when I was too broken to go. ‘Sometimes, I feel like I hate her just as much as my father.’ I raise my hands between us and let my head fall into them. ‘God, I don’t want to do this – go back to that shit. I thought I’d moved on from it.’

‘You don’t have to let her into your life. If they don’t make you happy, don’t let them in. Life is all about the happiness, Kayden, and you should never settle for anything less.’ Callie opens the driver side door so she can climb out of the car. ‘Now scoot over. I’m going to take you somewhere.’

I lift my head up to look at her. ‘But what about the concert? You were looking forward to this and I can go back inside. It’s probably better if I do anyway, instead of sitting out here having a pity party.’

She rolls her eyes, lightening the mood a smidgeon. ‘You’re not having a pity party.’ She enfolds her arms around herself, shivering as her breath puffs out. ‘And besides, it wasn’t the concert I was looking forward to so much as spending time with you all dressed up.’

‘And I want to give that to you. You deserve to have what you want.’

Her intense gaze is locked on mine. ‘I have what I want every single day.’

Is it possible to fall in love with someone even when you’re already in love with them? Because I’m pretty sure I just did.

‘Where are we going?’

She motions me to scoot over to the passenger seat. ‘No way. I’m not telling. You’re just going to have to trust me.’

It only takes me a beat to move over. Because in the end, I do trust her more than anything else in my life.





Chapter 10





#146 Relive the Best Part of the Past.



Callie


He freaked me out. Not with what he said about his feeling toward his family – that’s understandable – but he cut himself again and has that lost look in his eyes like he did last year when he was pushing me away. And while it’s not as bad as it was, it still has me worried I might lose him to himself if he decides to go back into that dark place inside his head.

Yes, I know I could live without him if I had to, know life would have to go on, but goddammit, I don’t want to live my life without Kayden. He means more to me than anyone else that’s in or has ever been in my life. Whether he realizes it or not, he saved me once when I was stuck in a dark place. And I want to show him so he’ll understand what he means to me, that he is important, that he’s a good person, and that happiness does exist every single day when he’s with me.

The first place I take him to is the campus. I know he’s completely confused when I pull into the mostly vacant parking lot and park the car as close as I can to the main entrance.

‘You know it’s almost midnight,’ Kayden says, unbuckling his seatbelt. ‘If someone sees us, they might call the cops, especially considering it’s Halloween.’