The Bully (Calamity Montana #4)(62)

Pierce stood with a spatula in his hand at the barbeque, talking with the huddle of men who’d joined him.

Two Grays Peak families had arrived last week and this was doubling as a Welcome to Calamity party. There’d be more festivities as more of our team moved. It would be nice to go to work on Monday morning with familiar coworkers in the office.

Everyone wore a smile and sunscreen.

Meanwhile, I felt like I was about to come out of my skin. Because of course Cal was here. I’d had days to brace for this afternoon, but I still wasn’t ready to face him.

It had been five days since the Winnebago. Since I’d made the idiotic decision to swing by and hit him up for sex.

Loneliness had steered me to the motel that day. Work had been hectic, and on my drive home, I’d called my parents but neither had answered. Somehow, I’d convinced myself that if Cal was set on staying in Calamity, why not get some orgasms out of the deal? Why not benefit from his hot body?

Then I’d found him with my diary. I’d known from a single glance that it was one of my old journals.

I wasn’t even that mad. It irritated me that he’d stolen it from my house, but it hadn’t enraged me like it would have years ago. What did that mean?

Ironically, he’d chosen the worst of all my diaries. As the school years had progressed, Cal had become less and less of a headache. An annoying crumb on an otherwise clean countertop, but my studies had taken the bulk of my attention while his focus had stayed on football. Our interactions had been in the random shared classroom and the silent occasional passing in Benton’s hallways.

Cal could have read all of my diaries, and I wouldn’t have really cared. There wasn’t anything in those journals that he didn’t already know.

Maybe I should be angrier. Maybe I should have resisted the temptation. But he’d kissed me and everything had changed.

Or maybe that kiss had made me realize things had changed four years ago. It had changed the night I’d left my hotel room in Charlotte and walked to his.

The end of this fling was inevitable. But as usual, we’d avoid that uncomfortable conversation by avoiding each other.

Was that why he’d brought a date to this barbeque? To have a buffer?

Cal had walked in twenty minutes ago with Harry on his arm. The older woman was standing next to Kerrigan’s parents, and when she glanced my way, I smiled, having officially met her earlier.

She’d waltzed onto the deck and had ordered him to fetch her a drink, which he’d done without argument. Then she’d introduced herself, rubbing her elbow to mine, before pulling Larke into a hug.

What had she meant with that elbow rub? Had she heard us together in the Winnebago? Or had Cal talked about me?

I found him again, helping Elias off the swing. The boy raced through the yard toward a football on the grass. He swept it up and gave it his hardest throw. It went about three feet, but Cal cheered and clapped like Elias had thrown it seventeen yards.

It had been so much easier to keep Cal at a distance when I’d thought he was awful to children. Why couldn’t he be mean to kids? And the elderly? Why couldn’t he have stayed on the opposite end of the country?

But when he was this close, when he looked so good in a pair of faded jeans and a simple white T-shirt, when I knew there was a softness he refused to show the world, how was I supposed to resist? Cal wasn’t wearing a hat or sunglasses today. He had no reason to hide because this was a safe place.

I was glad he’d found a safe place. I only wished it wasn’t mine too.

“Nellie.” Larke nudged my elbow, drawing my attention.

“Huh?” I tore my gaze from Cal.

“Okay, what is going on? You’ve been staring at him since you got here.”

“Ugh.” My shoulders slumped, and I turned my back to the yard so my gaze couldn’t wander. “Things are a little bit complicated at the moment.”

Larke inched closer. “You and Cal?”

I nodded, staring past her to Pierce. As far as I knew, he didn’t have a clue that I’d been sleeping with Cal for years. And this barbeque was not the time to divulge our secret relationship.

“I hate him.” There was no conviction in my words, so I gulped the rest of my drink. “I’m having one more.”

“Have two. If you need a ride home, I’ll be your designated driver. Then you can tell me everything.”

“Okay.” I smiled at her and disappeared into the house, going for the beverage fridge.

Pierce didn’t need coolers for his summer barbeque. No, he’d just stocked the industrial-sized fridge in their pantry with every kind of beverage imaginable. The pantry that was the size of my bedroom and not only had a spare fridge but also a wine cooler and freezer. Their kitchen was equally as impressive as was the rest of the massive home.

The money Pierce made was staggering. This was a level of wealth I struggled to comprehend, even after years of working for his company. I definitely hadn’t understood the enormity of it when I’d been in high school.

I’d always known the other kids were rich. Cal and Pierce and Phoebe McAdams. But it hadn’t been until I’d started with Grays Peak that I’d realized just what millions—billions—could buy.

Sure, I’d helped Dad mow the lawns of extremely wealthy people, the Starks included. But I’d never set foot in Cal’s home. From the exterior, it had simply been massive. There’d been pools and saunas and tennis courts and guesthouses bigger than my actual home.