I figured that was where he was going. “You know how to contact her then?”
“I haven’t talked to her in a while, but as far as I know, she still has the same number.”
“I don’t… I think…” I skim my finger along the fresh wound on the side of my arm. When the glass cut me, I felt a drop of relief from the confusion and pain stirring inside me. If I don’t take care of this problem, I’ll more than likely want to feel that relief again. And I don’t want to go back to that dark place. Or drag Callie there with me. “Yeah, can you call her up? That is if you don’t mind.”
“It’s the least I can do,” he says. “I’ll call her first thing in the morning.”
“Thanks.”
“Of course. It’s what I’m here for.”
We talk for a few more minutes than we say goodbye and hang up. Usually, we talk for longer but it’s fucking late and honestly, my mind is too crammed with other shit to be much of a conversationalist.
By the time I’ve gotten off the phone, Callie has returned to the living room with a worried look on her face.
“The agency seems legit.” She moves in front of me and takes my hand. “I think, if you want to, we should give them a call tomorrow.”
Nodding, I wrap my fingers around her waist and guide her down so she’s straddling my lap. “Thank you. Not just for looking that up, but for being here for me.”
“You don’t need to thank me. I love being here for you, just like you’re always here for me.” She softly kisses my lips. “I wish you would’ve called me, though, when that guy showed up. I would’ve come home.”
“That’s exactly why I didn’t.” I draw her with me as I lean back on the sofa. “Now, how about you take my mind off this whole dad ordeal and tell me how the meeting went?”
Her face contorts in puzzlement. “I’m not sure if I’m going to take the job or not.”
I brush my knuckles along her cheek. “Why not?”
She shrugs, her face contorting even more. “I don’t know if I can do it or not.”
“Callie, if there’s one thing I’m sure of in this world, it’s that you can do anything you put your mind to.”
Hesitancy crosses her expression. “You might want to hear what the job entails first before you give me a pep talk.”
I frown. “You make it sound like it’s something bad.”
“It’s not bad. In fact, it could be really, really good.” She nibbles on her bottom lip. “But it could also be a little bit dangerous.”
I immediately want to tell her not to do it, but that’s not the sort of relationship we have. While I want to protect her in every way possible, it’s not my place to tell her what she can and cannot do. She’s smart. Whatever she decides will be the right decision.
“Can I tell you about it?” she asks quietly. “Maybe you can help me decide.”
I nod, grateful she wants my opinion. Of course, when she starts telling me about the job, I want to beg her not to take it. But again, that’s not the kind of person I want to be—the kind who tells his fiancé not to take a job because it makes him uneasy.
“It does sound kind of dangerous,” I say after she’s finished giving me a recap of how the meeting went.
She nods, leaning back a bit. “It also hits really close to home, and that scares me.” She sighs. “But, there’s this other part of me that’s really excited about doing this. If I do it right, I could really do something that means something, you know.”
“Whatever you decide, I’ll support you.” My chest tightens a bit. “But promise me you’ll be careful. I couldn’t handle losing you.” I pull her closer to me. “You’re my person, you know.” Callie is everything to me, and I don’t even want to think about what would happen if I lost her.
“You’re my person too.” She rests her forehead against mine. “I promise I’ll be careful if I take the job, but you have to promise me that you’ll keep me in the loop about everything that goes on with this whole dad thing. I don’t want you not calling me just because you think I’m doing something more important.” She leans back to look me in the eye. “Nothing is more important than you. Got it?”
I nod, the corners of my lips pulling upward. “Got it, boss. Any other orders?”
She bobs her head up and down with her stern face on, which is more amusing than it is anything else. “Yes, take me back to our room so I can cheer you up.”
Holding onto her, I stand to my feet. “Best order ever,” I say then I kiss her while carrying her to our room, grasping onto the peaceful moment with all I have in me because I have a feeling, come tomorrow, this quiet life I’ve been so accustomed to lately is about to turn into chaos.
Seven
Callie
I dream a lot that night. Of Kayden. Of my past. Of the girl in the photo that Evie showed me. Of a world filled with women who feel shamed into silence. I also dream about Caleb. Normally, when he enters my dreams—or nightmares anyway—I wake up sweaty and terrified. This time, though, when my eyelids open, I’m filled with a sense of contentment. Because I know.
Know what I need to do.
Since it’s his day off, Kayden is still fast asleep when I wake up, even though it’s well past ten. But after the stressful night he had, I’m not surprised.
Wanting to let him rest, I grab my phone, climb out of bed, and slip into the living room. Then I sit down on the sofa and dial the number Evie gave me last night before I left.
She answers after two rings, “So?”
I smile at her directness. “I’ll do it.”
“I figured you would.”
How she knew is beyond me since I only made up my mind a few minutes ago.
Evie spends the next few minutes giving me a few brief details. But in order to really start the job, I’ll have to go down to the secret office and get the files on the victims. Easton will also be showing me the ropes and helping me while I work on this assignment. I hope Kayden is going to be okay with that since I could tell Easton bothered him. Kayden isn’t controlling, though, so I don’t foresee it being a problem. But I also don’t want him burying his feelings away like he sometimes does. And I need to make sure that while I put almost all of my effort into this job, I’m still here for him, especially with everything going on.
Once I make plans with Evie to go down to the office later tonight, I hang up and head for the kitchen to make Kayden breakfast. I’m not much of a cook, but I can make some pretty okay scrambled eggs. As I’m cracking the eggs apart, my phone rings and Violet flashes across the screen. Strange. She usually texts me instead of calling.
Wiping the yoke off my fingertips, I answer the phone. “Let me guess. Seth is putting up a fuss about having to drive.”
“Actually, I haven’t even gotten around to calling him yet.” She blows out a deafening exhale. “I know this is going to make me suck, but I can’t make it today. Do you guys mind going next weekend instead? I know it’s breaking tradition, but some shit came up and there’s no way in hell I can make it.”
“That’s fine with me. In fact, I’m sort of glad. I’ve got a ton of stuff going on today that I didn’t know about until this morning.” I grab a whisker to beat the eggs. “Is everything okay, though? You sound stressed out.”
“I’m fine.” But she sounds hoarse and upset.
“Are you sure?”
“Yep, totally cool. I promise. Luke and I just have some things to take care of today. That’s all.”
I’m nearly positive she’s lying. But since Violet is the sort of person that won’t open up to you until she’s ready, I let the subject drop.
“Well, let me know if you need anything,” I say. “And, if you want, I can call Seth and cancel.”
“God, yes. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I so wasn’t up for a bitch fest this morning.”
“No problem.”
We hang up, and I go back to cooking my eggs. I can’t help but wonder what’s going on with her. While Violet has been known to
occasionally bail out on plans, she rarely sounds upset. Not because she never gets upset. She’s just the sort of person not to show it.
“You’re cooking?” Kayden wanders into the kitchen right as I’m shutting off the stove. His hair is flattened on one side, his eyes are a bit bloodshot, and he’s only wearing a pair of pajama bottoms so I get a full view of his muscular chest. “Man, what’s the occasion?” he teases as he comes up behind me and wraps his arms around my waist.
“Hey, I cook sometimes,” I protest, playfully nudging him in the side.
He kisses the side of my head. “I know. I’m just messing with you.” He nuzzles his face into the crook of my neck. “You really didn’t have to cook for me, baby. I promise I’m okay.”
I relax back against his chest. “I know I didn’t have to, but I wanted to.”
He kisses the side of my neck. “You’re amazing.”
My heart flutters in my chest. It’s crazy how I still react to him this way. Crazy amazing. “You’re amazing too.”
We steal a few more kisses then pile the eggs onto two plates and snuggle up in bed to eat them.
A few bites in, I say, “I called Evie this morning.”
He glances up from his eggs, his expression cautious. “What’d you tell her?”
“That I’d take the job.” I stuff a forkful of eggs into my mouth. “I’m supposed to go down to the office today, but I should be done by the time your game starts. Maybe after that, we could go out to dinner or something. Maybe do something relaxing because I have a feeling I’m going to need it big time.”
He nods, absentmindedly stirring his eggs. “That sounds good to me.”
Sensing his sullen demeanor, I set my fork down, take his plate and set it aside, and then climb onto his lap. “Talk to me.”
Sighing, he folds his arms around my waist. “It’s nothing. My head’s just stuck in a weird place.”
“Is it about me taking the job?” I hesitate, not wanting to upset him more, but feel like I need to ask. “Or about this dad thing?”
“The dad thing.” His shoulders heave as he exhales loudly. “I’m just not sure if I should call this guy and find out if he was telling the truth. I mean, what if he is, and it turns out I have another dad out there in the world, but he’s even worse than the guy who raised me?” He swallows hard. “I don’t think I can take any more shitty dads in my life.”
I take a moment to choose the right words. “I think if you don’t find out the truth, it’s going to eat away at you. But, if it turns out this guy was telling the truth, and you do have a father out there in the world, we don’t have to jump into meeting him right away.” I mold the palm of my hand against his cheek. “We can look into it some more. Do some research. Find out who the guy is and then decide if he deserves to be in your life, okay?”
He nods, holding onto me tightly. “You really are perfect, you know that. And I know I’m a little nervous about this new job, but I have a feeling you’re going to end up writing a fucking amazing story.”
“I sure hope so.” I also hope I can handle what I’m about to do.
What I really hope is that I can do what Evie expects me to do. That I can get the story. Tell the story. Breathe the story. Feel the story.
And somehow get the victims some sort of justice.
Eight
Kayden
While Callie and I spend the morning eating breakfast in bed, I receive a message from Jason, inviting me to a party. Considering how awesome our conversation was yesterday, I’m fucking surprised by the invite. I’m also annoyed by the way he makes it a point to state that a lot of hot women are going to be there. My response?
Me: Fuck off.
Jason: Your loss, man. I was just trying to help you out.
Me: Since I don’t have a problem, I don’t need any help.
Jason: Keep telling yourself that.
I shake my head. This guy is seriously the most fucking annoying person I’ve ever met.
“Who are you texting?” Callie wonders as she stretches out across the bed on her stomach. “You look pissed off.”
I toss the phone onto the nightstand. “This guy from my team. His name is Jason, and he thinks there’s something wrong with me because I never want to go to parties.”
She peers over her shoulder at me, strands of her long brown hair falling into her face. “Do you want to go to a party? Because if you do, you can. I can come too if you want me to.”
I shake my head. “Now why would I want to do that?” I line my body over her’s and grind my hips against her ass. When she gasps, I smile to myself. “When I could spend all night doing stuff like this.” I dip my head to suck on her neck.
She whimpers, gasping my name. “That feels so good.”
“It’s about to feel even better.” I reach for the hem of her pajama shorts, ready to pull them down so I can slip inside her.
But my damn phone rings, ruining the moment.
I debate if I should answer it. Normally, I wouldn’t, but I’m expecting a call from Dylan and I—
“Answer it,” Callie insists, as if sensing my confliction. “I’m not going anywhere yet.”
Smiling, I give one final suck on her neck then reach across the bed and grab my phone. When I see Dylan flash across the screen, I don’t know whether to be relieved or terrified. Perhaps a little bit of both.
“Hey,” I answer, sounding stupidly nervous.
“Hey,” he replies, sounding equally as nervous. “So, I talked to Mom this morning.”
“I’m guessing by your tone it didn’t go well.”
“Well, she was drunk off her ass and kept trying to demand that I need to come see her. So, yeah, she was basically her normal self.” A beat of silence passes by then he says, “I did manage to get some information out of her, though.”
“About this thing with our Dad not being my real dad?”
“Yeah.”
Then he says nothing.
And the silence is fucking maddening. And makes the cut on my arm itch.
“So,” I finally say. “What’d she say?”
“Is Callie with you?”
Fuck, if he’s asking that, this is going to be bad.
I glance at Callie as she sits up and scoots over beside me. “Yeah, she’s right here.”
“Good.” Another pause.
He’s seriously driving me insane.
But then finally he speaks again, and I realize maybe the silence wasn’t too terrible. That maybe I should’ve wished for a little bit more.
“The guy was telling the truth,” he says. “Mom was having an affair when she got pregnant with you, and she’s almost positive Dad isn’t your birth father. I asked her if he was our father too—Tyler and me—and she insisted it wasn’t.”
“Holy shit,” I breathe out, clutching onto Callie’s hand. That would mean Dylan and Tyler are only my half-brothers. “Did Dad know about this?”
“I’m not sure.” Uncertainty rings in his tone, making me wonder if he’s having the same thoughts as me.
That perhaps Dad did know and that’s why he gave me the most severe beatings, going as far as stabbing me.
The scar on my side burns as I remember when he pushed the knife into me.
“Kayden, are you still there?” Dylan asks worriedly.
I nod, even though he can’t see me. “Yeah, I’m still here… I was just wondering about some stuff.”
“Do you want me to fly out there? Just say the word, and I can be there in a day.”
“Maybe.” A drop of ease rushes through me as Callie skims her finger along the inside of my wrist. “Let me talk to Callie, and I’ll let you know.”
“Okay.” Worry crams his tone. “Call me later, okay? Liz and I worry about you.”
“I know.” I suck in a breath. “Thanks for doing this… and for worrying about me.”
“You’re my brother, Kayden. Of course I worry.”
We say goodbye and then I hang up.
&
nbsp; Callie doesn’t ask what happened. She simply loops her arms around me and hugs me tightly.
“We’re going to get through this,” she promises. “You and I, we can beat anything.”
I slide my arms around her waist and hug her back. “I know.”
And I mean it. There’s nothing Callie and I can’t overcome. Still, it doesn’t mean I’m not fucking terrified or that deep down, part of me craves the graze of a razor blade. But I crave her hugs more, so I hold on tight and let her hold me up from sinking.
Silence builds around us. I know she’s waiting for me to speak first.
“The guy was telling the truth,” I whisper. “My dad probably isn’t my birth father.”
She nods, probably already putting that together based on my reaction. “What do you want to do?”
“I think I need to call this private eye guy and get the name of this guy who says he’s my birth father. Then do some research on him. And if I decide to meet him, I’m probably going to have to get a DNA test done because my mom wasn’t one hundred percent sure.” I clutch onto her even more tightly. “I’m sorry. This is probably the last thing you need to be dealing with right after you got hired for this new job.”
“You’re more important than some job—you’re more important than anything.” She pulls back to meet my gaze. “I want to be here for you while you go through this. No keeping me out of the loop because you think it’ll be better for me, okay?”
I nod. “But only if you do the same for me with this job. No keeping me in the dark because you’re afraid I’ll worry about you.”
“It’s a deal.” She sticks out her pinkie. “Now pinkie swear on it.”
I hitch my pinkie through hers. Then I press my lips to hers, deciding a kiss is a way better method of sealing a promise. In that moment, even with the chaos swirling around me, everything feels calm. That’s what Callie does for me. She helps me survive the chaos. And it’s probably a good thing too since I have a feeling the chaos is just starting.
Secrets We Buried Page 5