My eyes broaden at his words and then at the cliff. What a dilemma. But I trusted him once and I decide to do it again. I just pray to God he doesn’t shove me down and break me, because I’m already in too many pieces and I just don’t know how much more breaking I can take.
Kayden
I’m nervous helping her scale down the cliff and not because I think she’s going to fall. My arm is around her back and her weight is against me. She’s safe and I’m glad she is.
The problem lies inside me. The entire time we’re climbing down, my heart is thumping in my chest. I want to reach over and feel her skin, suck on her lips, even let my fingers graze her ass. I’ve never wanted anyone like this before and it’s fucking scary as hell. For a second, I considered kissing her while we were up on the cliff, but it would have been wrong of me. Not only because I shouldn’t be kissing someone as nice as Callie, but also because I have a girlfriend and it wouldn’t be fair to anyone.
Even though our conversation on the cliff was a minor moment in time, it held more depth than any other conversation I’ve had. When I talk to Daisy, it mostly focuses on shallow things, like homecoming, what she is going to wear, and where the parties are going to take place. That’s how I want my life. Simple. I already have enough complexity locked away inside me to shadow the whole world with darkness.
“Are you sure we’re not going to fall?” Callie grips at my upper arm, delving her fingertips into the fabric of my shirt as she blinks her eyes at the ground. “It feels like you’re going to drop me.”
“I’m not going to drop you. I promise.” I tighten my arm around her back and gently tug her closer. “Just relax. We’re almost there.”
I slide my foot down along the rock toward the next ledge, resisting the urge to grab her ass, and place my hand on her lower back. She reaches her hand down, holding on to me as she stretches her leg toward the lower ridge. Once her foot touches it, she relaxes as she steps down on the one below.
I let go of her as her feet touch the bottom. “See, I told you I wouldn’t drop you.”
Showing off a little, I jump down the rest of the way and land in front of her, ignoring the pain in my calf muscles. “Remind me never to take you somewhere up high again.”
She makes an apologetic face as she brushes the dirt off the front of her shirt with her hands. “I’m sorry, I should have warned you. Although, climbing like that doesn’t seem very natural. It felt like we were trying to be lizards or something.
Unable to help myself, I laugh at her. It’s been a while and it feels good. “So for future planning, what kind of places do you like to go?”
She looks about as lost as I feel. “I have no idea.”
“Well think about it.” I start down the path toward where the truck is parked and Callie follows me. “And the next time I ask you if you want to hang out, you can tell me where.”
Her forehead creases as she stares out at the hills to the side of us. “Is there going to be a next time?”
“Sure,” I say casually. “Why wouldn’t there be?”
She looks at me and shrugs, looking unconvinced. “I don’t know.”
It seems like she knows a lot of things, which is why I should be running away from her, before she finds out about me. But like my father always says, I was never that bright, and I have a feeling I’m not going to be able to stay away.
Chapter 4
#43 Don’t Take Shit From Anyone
Kayden
I’m having a good dream. Callie and I are climbing down the cliff. As I help her to the bottom, she bites at her bottom lip, stumbling back against the rocks, looking nervous as hell.
With my eyes locked on her lips, I place my hands on the rocky wall, so her head is trapped between my arms. Her body trembles as I tip my head down and breathe against her neck. I love that she’s shivering and I want to make her shiver more.
The palms of my hands slide down the rocks, the jagged edges scraping against my skin. It’s a combination of pain and fucking want and my adrenaline pumps through my body. Gripping her hips, her lips part as her head falls back and she moans.
“Tell me you want me,” I say, because I have a feeling she’s never told anyone that.
“I want you,” she breathes.
Lifting her up, my lips come down on hers as I press up against her, wanting nothing more than to rip her clothes off and bury my dick deep inside her.
“Wake up, lover boy.” A warm hand pats my cheek and I fling my arm at them because they’re ruining my dream.
“Come on, sexy boy.” Someone bounces on top of me. “You have a present waiting for you if you wake up.”
I blink my eyes open to a pair of blue eyes and a lot of curly blond hair hanging in my face.
Daisy is straddling my lap, wearing a short denim skirt, and a white lacy top. “Surprise.”
I rise up on my elbows, feeling deflated and wanting to go back to my dream to see how it ends. “What are you doing here?”
Her eyes narrow at me. “Way to welcome the love of your life. God Kayden, you can be such an asshole sometimes.”
I sigh and put on my plastic smile. “Sorry, I’m just tired. Between school and practice, I barely have time to sleep.”
She scrunches the ends of her hair with her fingers. “Well, wake up. You need to take me out somewhere before I have to go home. I’m only here for like an hour.”
“Why are you here?” I ask with caution as I sit up and lean against the headboard.
She shakes out her hair and adjusts her top over her stomach. “My mom drove here to go shopping. It’s the closest place where she can buy shoes that don’t have generic brands on them.”
I arch my eyebrows, feigning interest. “Oh yeah?”
She nods and then walks her fingers up my bare chest that’s covered up by a sheet. “I thought I’d come with her and see you. You can take me out and then maybe you’ll get lucky.”
“I have class,” I say. “And where’s Luke? I’m guessing he let you in? But who let you into the building?”
“I have my ways.” She slips her leg off me and gets to her feet. “Luke let me into the room and then left. I don’t get what his deal is with me. I mean, if I so much as look at him, he runs in the other direction.”
“He’s just quiet.” I sit up and the sheet falls off my chest.
She takes in the white lines that run in every direction along my skin likes she’s forgotten they were there. “You know they have laser treatments that can fade scars away? Maybe you should look into it.” She traces her fingernail down my cheek. “You’d be perfect if you didn’t have those scars.”
I slide away from her, take a red t-shirt out of the dresser, and put it on. “There. Now you can’t see them.”
She crinkles her nose. “I didn’t mean to be rude. I was just telling you the truth.”
I grab a pair of jeans off the floor, pull them on, and fasten the button before slipping on my shoes. “Where do you want to go?”
She taps her lip thoughtfully. “Surprise me. Just as long as it’s somewhere nice.”
I swipe up my wallet and phone and then open the door for her. “You know I don’t have my car.”
“Duh.” She rolls her eyes as I shut the door. “That’s why I made my mom let me use hers. She’s stuck at the mall so we have to make this a quickie. Although, you better make sure I enjoy it.” She flashes me a grin and sways her hips as she struts down the hall. Her skirt barely covers her ass and her long legs stretch with confidence. A few guys walking down the hall check out her ass.
When she approaches the door, she waits for me to open it for her and then we step out into the sunshine. The campus yard is packed with people heading to and from class with books in their hands.
We start down the path beneath the trees, and Seth and Callie emerge at the end. Callie has a long sleeved purple shirt on and her hair is pulled up. My mind drifts back to my dirty dream and how it felt to have her in my arms.
She’s talking to Seth with a serious expression on her face and Seth is waving his arms in the air animatedly. When her eyes meet mine, they light up for a split second then she looks over at Daisy. Callie is the sweetest girl I’ve ever met, but the look on her face is filled with hatred.
I start to wave, when she extends her arm up toward me with an ID card in her hand. “I’m supposed to give this to you.” Her tone is flat.
I take my card from her, offering her a small smile. “Thanks. How did you end up with this?”
She shrugs. “Luke said he grabbed it by accident. He stopped me after class and asked if I could stop by your dorm and give it to you, but since I ran into you, here you go.”
Daisy gives Callie a once over. “Who the hell are you?”
Callie’s eyes are as cold as ice. “Callie Lawrence.”
Daisy sneers maliciously. “Oh my God. It’s the Anorexic Satan Worshipper. Different clothes, but the same skinny body. Starve yourself much?”
“Daisy,” I say in a tight voice. “Back off.”
Seth’s eyes widen, which means Callie must have told him about Daisy. But why? Am I missing something?
Daisy glares at me. “Maybe I should ask you what the fuck you’re doing? Hanging out with someone like her.”
A light turns off in Callie’s eyes as she starts to step around us, but Seth whisks forward and gets in Daisy’s face.
“I don’t know what you’re being so cocky about girl,” he says. “Take away that push up bra, fake tan, dyed hair, and fancy clothes, and all you’d be is a slightly overweight girl with a really bad nose job.”
Daisy gasps and covers her nose with her hand. “I didn’t get a nose job.”
“Whatever you say.” He smirks at her, links arms with Callie, and waves to me. “See you later, Kayden.”
Callie doesn’t look at me as they dart around us and hurry off toward the front entrance of the campus.
Daisy places her hands on her hips and purses her lips. “Why were you talking to that girl?” she asks. “You remember who she is, right?”
“Yeah, she’s Callie Lawrence.” I shrug and head up the sidewalk. “She was in my grade at school and was really quiet.”
“She was also a freak.” She laces her fingers through mine and it sends a feeling of numbness through my body. “She’s anorexic and used to wear all those baggy clothes. She had that God awful haircut and never talked to anyone.”
“She’s not anorexic or a Satan Worshiper.” I shake my head. “And she wasn’t always like that, nor is she like that anymore. She’s pretty normal.” And sad. And every time I look at her it rips at my heart. “Besides, she’s helped me out with some stuff.”
“What kind of stuff?” she questions, giving me a hard stare, like she’s about to claw my eyes out. “Are you sleeping with her? Because if you are, that’s disgusting and pathetic.”
For a second I consider telling her that I am, then stand there and watch her walk away, ridding her from my life. But then what the hell would I do? Date someone else? Date Callie? As much as my mind loves that idea of that—and my dick—she’s too good for me and even from the few moments I’ve spent with her, I’ve felt everything way too much.
“No, I didn’t sleep with her. She’s just someone I talk to sometimes,” I say, and it’s the partial truth, because that’s who Callie needs to be to me.
Callie
There’s no one else at the library, except for the librarian who’s pushing a cart around, putting books back on the shelves. I wonder if she lives alone, has cats—I wonder if she’s happy.
“So how much time has to go by before we can talk about what happened?” Seth asks, fanning through the pages of a textbook.
I feel terrible, like a child, only I’m not anymore. I’m a grown woman, in college, yet I reacted like I’m in high school. I hate that crossing paths with someone from my past can throw me back to the darkness and sadness that may always be a part of me.
I shrug, highlighting a note on a page with a bright yellow marker. “What’s there to talk about?”
He snatches the marker from my hand and it leaves a yellow streak along the paper. “The fact that you just let that damn bitch walk all over you and the fact that Kayden barely said anything.”
“Why would he? He never did before. I’m not his problem.” I peek up at the window where a trail of sunlight streams in. “What happened out there was the story of my life. Soon she’ll be gone and I won’t have to think about her.”
He drops the marker onto the table and gazes out at the trees. “What happened with that girl is not okay. You need to grow some confidence and stand up for yourself. Next time she does something like that, pull those tacky extensions out of her hair.”
“She wears extensions?” I ask and he nods. I smile, but then shake my head. “If it were the people who tortured you in high school, would you have been able to be so confident?”
“We’re not talking about me,” he presses with hard eyes. He shuts his book and crosses his arms on top of it. “We’re talking about you.”
“I don’t want us to talk about me anymore. It’s giving me a headache.” I collect the marker from the table and put the cap on. “How about we call it a day for studying. There are some other projects I need to work on.”
He sighs and gathers his books into a stack, before pushing away from the table. “Fine, but when I get back to my room, I’m adding don’t take fucking shit from anyone to the list.”
Kayden
It’s been a week since I talked to Callie. The last time was during Daisy’s random visit that ended in a meaningless fuck and a half-hearted good-bye. I can’t tell who’s avoiding who when it comes to Callie and I, but the more time we spend apart, the more I think about her.
My mom also made a sporadic stop at my dorm yesterday when she came to visit the town, which is the bull shit lie she uses whenever she’s taking a break from her drinking to go to a spa and sober up. She has a thing for painkillers and a whole lot of wine. It has been that way for as long as I can remember, which might be why she never stopped the fights. I tried to tell her once about my dad but she didn’t seem too eager to do anything about it.
“Well, you’re just going to have to try harder,” she had said, taking a sip of her wine. Some of it spilled down the front of her shirt, but she didn’t seem to notice. “Sometimes we just have to deal with things the best that we can. It’s called life, Kayden. Your dad’s a good man. He puts a roof over our heads and gives us more than a lot of guys would. Without him, we’d probably be on the streets.”
I stood at the end of the table, clutching my hands into fists. “But I’m trying my hardest and he only seems to get madder.”
She turned the page of her magazine and when I looked into her eyes, she seemed like a ghost, absent, as lost as I was. “Kayden, there’s nothing I can do. I’m sorry.”
I left the room, pissed off, wishing she could be the other person for two damn minutes; the one who hosted parties and charity events and smiled. The one that wasn’t a fucking zombie dosed up on pain meds.
***
“What the hell is your problem today?” Luke chucks the football down the field near the field post so it’s far out of my reach. We’re in our uniforms, sweaty, and exhausted, but I can’t calm the fuck down.
“Can we please call it a day?” His cheeks are red from underneath his helmet and his shirt is soaked with sweat. “I’m fucking tired. Practice ended two hours ago.”
“Yeah, I guess.” I kick one of the cones and it dents before flying over toward the bleachers. Kellie and another girl are sitting on the bottom row, with books in front of them, observing us as they talk and pretend to study.
I glance up at the grey sky and around at the bleachers that enclose the field. “How late is it?”
He shrugs as he starts across the green field toward the tunnel that leads to the locker room, taking off his helmet. “I don’t know, but it’s pretty damn late and I’m don
e.”
I follow after him, but out of the corner of my eye, I see Callie sitting in the grass below a tree at the far end of the field, on the other side of the fence. There are papers spread out in front of her and she’s chewing on a pen as she reads over them.
I realize that maybe I’m the one avoiding her because she makes me feel things I’m not used to; the dirty dreams, the protectiveness, the way my stupid heart starts to beat like it’s finally alive. Unlatching the strap below my chin, I slip off my helmet as I make my way over to her. She’s so absorbed in whatever is written on the papers that she doesn’t notice me. Gripping onto the top of the fence, I swing my legs over it and land on the other side. Adjusting the sleeves of the shirt under my jersey, I stop just a few feet away from her.
The Coincidence of Callie and Kayden Page 7