Stripping Callum (Last Hangman MC Book 6)(49)

“Thanks. I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary outside other than a big truck that I’ve never seen before. I took the plate number.” She hands Callum a piece of paper with a number written on it.

“That’ll be really helpful. It’s a good thing you didn’t go in. Whoever trashed the place was either looking for something specific or he wanted to scare you both.”

“Either way he did a good job of it. I don’t want to go back there.” Gail frowns.

“Nor me.” I sigh and lean against Callum.

“You three can stay here,” Gail’s mom says.

“Thank you.” I smile at her.

“Of course, sweetheart. I’ll go make some coffee.” She disappears in the kitchen.

“Be straight with me. Do you have anything of value that somebody could be looking for at your place? Either of you?” Callum asks, looking between Gail and me.

“No, not that I know of,” Gail says.

“Besides the money we make stripping, but that’s in a box in each of our rooms.”

“I’ll go tomorrow with a few of my brothers to have a look. See if the money is missing. If so, someone knows you’re stashing it. If not, then I don’t know.” He sighs.

“Could it be the same person who sent the notes?” I ask.

“Did you get any more?”

“No, not for a week.”

“Okay. Either we solved the problem that this city had and this incident has nothing to do with it, or someone is trailing me, and they knew we took care of the issue so they laid low,” Callum says, sounding frustrated.

“Why would they trash the apartment then?” Gail asks, confused.

“Your guess is as good as mine. We’ll figure it out.” Callum doesn’t sound so sure of himself right now, but I trust him.

“You two should go. I’m sure you have a lot to talk about,” Suzie says.

“We’ve got Elijah, he’s asleep already,” Gail presses.

“Up to you.” I look up at Callum.

“Alright,” he says, blowing out a breath. Neither of us is looking forward to that talk, but it’s needed. No matter what comes out of this, we both need to say some things we have been keeping from each other. Well, I know I do, I’m not sure if Callum is actually going to talk or be his moody self because I hid things from him.

Suzie takes Elijah from Callum’s arms and goes to put him in the room they set up for him. I hug Gail and leave with Callum, worried about our future together that doesn’t look too bright if the rage emanating from him is anything to go by.





Callum

While I’m glad I could get away from Elijah because of the memories it brought back, I’m not sure I’m going to like this talk. I know I should come clean to Bella, but I don’t think I can. The wound just opened again, and it’s too fresh. She deserves to know why I’m in such a mood, but mentally I’m not ready yet.

Parking in front of my house, I help her off the bike and get off myself. We’re silent as I unlock the door and let her in. We both know this isn’t going to be pretty.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” I don’t waste any time. It’s like a band-aid, you gotta rip it off quickly. It’ll sting for a few seconds but then you can move on.

“I don’t know. At first, we weren’t close enough for me to tell you I had a kid, and then we got too intimate, and I thought you’d be pissed that I hadn’t been honest to begin with.” She sighs and leans against the back of the couch.

“How did you end up pregnant?”

“Do I have to seriously explain to you how I got pregnant?” She snorts.

“You know what I mean.”

“Yeah, met a guy while I was working in a hotel. We had sex, he was my first time. We didn’t use protection, and I ended up pregnant. I didn’t know what to do. I was on my own, so I packed up my stuff and left.” She shrugs and seems so detached from all of this.

“Left from where?” I don’t know anything about her, I’m not sure Annabella is her real name at this point.

“I might as well start from the beginning.” She moves from the couch to the big chair and curls up in it. We’re both going to need a drink at this point. I quickly grab us two beers from the fridge and hand her one as I sit on the couch. “I was six when my parents’ died in a plane crash. I had to live with my aunt and while it was alright in the beginning, she quickly became an alcoholic. She wasn’t abusive for the longest time, but she made me promise that if she ever became abusive, that I’d pack my stuff and leave for my own safety. She was afraid she’d turn into an abusive alcoholic like her father did. On my birthday, she hit me and I left. I never looked back. I went to a couple different cities and would stay until people started to ask too many questions. I met that guy, got pregnant and left again, then ended up here. The day I landed here, I met Gail and we’ve been friends ever since. She’s helped me through so much, and I’ll forever be grateful. If it weren’t for her I don’t know where Elijah and I would be. Josie hired me the following week, and I gave birth a couple weeks after I started working there.”

“Fuck,” I say blowing out a breath.

“I didn’t have a hard life compared to some people, but I’ve been through my own struggles. I never planned to be seventeen and pregnant, but it happened, and I went through with it. Gail’s family took me in as one of their own and we really bonded. I finally have a family. Whoever trashed our place just makes me want to pack up and leave again.” She wipes a few tears that started running down her cheeks.