Callibet: Book 2 of The Bet Series

by Sienna Grant

  I stared up at his chiselled jaw and saw his face was set. I knew him too well. He wouldn’t change his mind when it was made up, so I let him drag me from the house to his car. My mum met us in the stairwell, and Chris told her I wasn’t safe, so he was taking me somewhere I would be.

  My mum just nodded, handed my shopping over, and kissed my cheek before she walked with us down to the street. Her car was a few spaces down and we both watched as she climbed into her car and drove off.

  Chris' blue sedan was parked a little farther up the street and he led me to it, helping me in. Once I was inside and clipped in, he jogged around and started the engine, peeling out into the London traffic as my eyes scanned the street.

  Just as we turned the corner, I caught a glimpse of Finley, but I was sure I’d imagined it until another Snapchat came through of Chris and me in his sedan.

  My hands shook as I closed it quickly, staring at Chris. I didn’t think how important it would be or that it would be needed as evidence or anything. I just wanted it gone. His hands were tight on the wheel, and he was silent until we reached the station. Once he’d parked, we sat there and didn’t move until he turned to face me with an uncertain expression. He shrugged, swallowed, and got out of the car without a word. My eyes tracked him until he reached my side of the car and opened the door. My ears rang as he helped me out of the car and walked me into the station. I didn’t want to go in, but he either ignored me or didn’t sense my reluctance. My heart rate spiked when he led me through the back after speaking to the officer on the desk.

  Once we reached the interview room, he opened the door and stepped inside with me, sitting down and trying to look confident, but I could see the hesitancy and the crack in his persona.

  Once the door opened and Summers walked in with officer Amy, Chris tensed and sat upright.

  Summers and Chris started speaking.

  “So you were with a witness and a suspect instead of at work?”

  “Fuck off, Summers. She’s… She needs someone…”

  “She needs you to do your job and stop fucking her case up.”

  “Don’t you dare accuse me of fucking her case up!”

  He shot up and started pacing as he stared at them. His eyes were glacial as he fumed, and I wrapped my arms around my waist, staring at my fingers.

  “Where the fuck is Brown? Why isn’t he in answering questions? Have we got enough evidence for that, or are you too shit at your job to find him?”

  “Watch it, Farmer. Why were you with one of the suspects when you should have been here, cataloguing evidence and doing your damn job?”

  “That’s enough. Both of you, stop it right now or I’m going to the super.”

  Chris tugged out his seat and slammed himself into. My eyes flicked to him and I saw him sitting staring at Amy as she started to question me.

  “What time did you receive the message? Did Detective Farmer witness it? Did he hear the phone call?”

  Chris gave my hand a gentle squeeze and Summers glowered at him. My whole body was shaking, and I wanted to run away, but I couldn’t, and they knew it. I tugged my hand from Chris’s and spoke in a low voice.

  “Can I get a minute? I promise I’ll answer all the questions, but I need a minute.” My voice wobbled and everyone left me alone. I closed my eyes and wished I were somewhere else.

  After everything that had happened over the past few weeks and the way I’d dismissed Callie and blamed her for hurting Lou, I should have expected a brush off. But to be told to keep my distance from her hurt me much more than I cared to admit.

  Her eyes were vacant when she looked at me. The emotion she had always shown me had gone. Not a flicker of the old Callie seemed to be there. I couldn’t blame her after everything that had happened lately.

  My heart hurt a little bit, but I had to man the fuck up and take it. I should have been there for her. Instead, I protected my heart and went with my head. That fucker never said or did the right things.

  I could feel the tremble in Callie’s hand when I held it in mine as we sat in the interview room. Summers dropped his gaze to my hand, his eyes narrowing as he stared at me. Just as he was about to say something, Callie spoke up, asking for a minute.

  Summers and Amy got up and left the room. I stayed where I was, smoothing my thumb across her knuckles.

  “You too.”

  I snapped my head up and focused on her side view as she looked straight ahead and stared at the wall opposite. “What?”

  She turned to look at me. “I said you too. I need a minute or two. I just need it. All this is so overwhelming, Chris. I’m scared.” She pulled her hand out of my grip and placed it in her lap. “All this with me and you. It’s like you’ve forgotten that you blamed me for Lou getting hurt, and now you know it’s not me that did it, we can go back to before and I can’t do that. I’m just confused.”

  I nodded. She was right. I didn’t know how to deal with it. “Okay. Just bang the door and let me know when you’re ready.”

  I pushed out my chair. The scraping of the feet on the concrete echoed in the small room, and I left her like she asked.

  With a quick knock on the door, Summers opened it and said, “It’s about time.” I held my hand up, stopping him from going back in and walked out, letting the door close behind me. “What’s going on?”

  “Callie just wants a minute to herself.”

  He lifted his chin and leaned against the wall. “What’s going on with you two?”

  “Nothing. She’s a friend. Well, she was before all this.” I sighed and stood opposite him in the narrow corridor. “I want her protected. This business with Finley has really shaken her up, and I don’t think he’s going to stop until he hurts her. He made that quite clear when he rang her.”

  “You need to pull away from her. I understand she was once your friend or fuck buddy or whatever she was, but the case comes first.”

  “Fuck buddy?”

  “Come on, Chris. I’m not stupid. It’s funny how you’re always around when there’s another occurrence. And she’s a pretty girl. I can see why you’d want to.”

  I stepped forward and got in his space. “My private life has fuck all to do with you.”

  “It has everything to do with me when the main witness in this case is getting fucked by one of my team.”

  Curling my fists around his jacket, I tugged him forward as my top lip curled, and Amy stepped between us. “GUYS!” With her hands on my chest, she shoved me back, making my hands drop from him. I shoved them in my pockets and turned away. I couldn’t look at him.

  “I know you seem to think this is a time to see who the bigger man is, but believe me, you both look like a couple of dicks right now. We are at work and you are professionals, so you…” I spun around to see who she was talking to and saw her pointing at Summers, “stop trying to wind him up and have some fucking respect for the poor girl in there who’s going through this, and Chris, stop thinking you can settle everything with your fists. I know it’s hard on you, it was your cousin who got hurt by that fucking psycho, and now he’s stalking your friend. But reel it in or I’m going to the super, and I’ll have you both thrown off the case.”

  She looked between us, breathing heavily, and slipped through the gap between us towards the door and knocked. She announced herself and asked if she could go back in, leaving Summers and me to lick our wounds. She didn’t have to wait long before Callie answered, and Amy opened the door and waltzed inside, shutting us out.

  She couldn’t carry the interview on until Summers was back in there, but no longer than a minute later, the door opened again.

  “You can come back in now.”

  Amy Reynolds was a viper when she wanted to be. The frown lines were set deep in her brow as she warned us and then turned and retook her seat opposite Callie, and we followed.

  I took my seat next to Callie, keeping my eyes forward, and placed my joined hands on the table. Callie glanced at me and quickly looked away. Bu
t I kept my mind on the job at hand. She wanted space. I'd give it to her, but I’d be right there when she did want to reach out.

  Amy was right, we both needed to be professional.

  “Okay, Ms. Beckett. Let’s get this started. Can you confirm who was on the phone first?”

  “Yep. Finley Brown.”

  “And what did he say?”

  “I’ve told you already.”

  “And for the sake of the interview, I need you to tell me again.”

  “He didn’t ring me; it was a message. I told you that earlier.”

  “And do you have the message still?”

  “I don’t know. I can’t remember if I saved it or not.” She pulled out her phone and opened Snapchat. “It’s gone. I mustn't have saved it.” She shrugged, but her eyes fluttered closed. I could see the disappointment on her face when she realised she hadn’t saved the message.

  “Well, it’s not for me to remind you that any communication is evidence, and obviously we need it if we’re going to arrest him for a crime.”

  “Wow,” Callie huffed out, and sarcasm laced her tone as she sat up in her chair. “You know, your people skills are amazing. They really are top notch, and I totally see how you’re a police officer or detective whatever you are. You’re so compassionate. I bet you get awards and everything.” Rolling her eyes, she shook her head at him. I had to smirk. That was the Callie I knew and loved. It was good to see her have some of that fire back, that fight that I’d always admired.

  Why the hell hadn’t she saved it? Just when I thought we were getting somewhere in the case, we hit a brick wall.

  “Let’s get on with it, shall we?” Summers scowled.

  “Yeah, let’s.”

  Summers carried on his questioning, and Callie answered the best she could until they had enough info and Callie had had enough and wanted to leave.

  Once we were in the car, we sat in silence for a few minutes until Callie broke it.

  “What a prick. How the hell do you work with him? I swear, when this is over, I’m going to put a complaint in about him.”

  “He is a prick,” I agreed. “I’d say do it now, but if he gets kicked off the case, he’ll make a point of saying I was biased and that we were in a relationship. He may be a cock, but he’s also a spiteful one. I don’t want to go down with him.”

  She turned her head to the side, and for the first time in an hour, she actually looked at me. I get lost in her cloudy blue eyes and saw the vulnerability hiding just beneath the surface.

  “Come on. Let’s go and get you some clothes and take you back to mine.”

  “I can stay at Beth’s. You don’t need to put yourself out.”

  “Put myself out? Are you fucking kidding me, Cal? Where else are you going to go? It’s fucking obvious that you’re not safe at Beth’s.” My raised voice echoed in the deathly silence of the car, and I had to rein myself in a bit. “God, you’re infuriating at times.”

  “I could go back to my mum’s.”

  “And take all this shit there? Put them in danger? You’d do that just so you didn’t have to spend another minute with me? Is that what this refusal is all about?”

  “You hurt me, Chris. You really hurt me.”

  “I know, and I’m sorry. I didn’t know which way was up. I couldn’t get my head around it, but I’m here for you, Cal. I want to help.” As she stared back at me, the cloudiness I saw there not too long ago had begun to lift, leaving a clearer shade of blue. “Strictly platonic. I want to be your friend.”

  She nodded, and a tight smile tugged at her lips. “Okay.”

  “Now shall we go and get your stuff?”

  She nodded again.

  As I pulled out of the parking space, she put her hand on my arm. “Thanks, Chris.”

  “Always, Calliebear.” I took my hand from the steering wheel and covered hers for a second. I removed it twice as fast and pointed the car in the direction it needed to be.

  “Can we go to my place first? I need some clothes. I’ve been wearing Beth’s.”

  “Yeah, of course."

  I parked in the car park and headed up the stairs to Callie’s flat. She slid her key into the lock and opened the door for us. As she went to the bedroom, I wandered into the front room and looked around. I wanted to make sure there wasn’t anything missed when forensics were there. Then I heard Callie frantically cry my name.

  I rushed into the bedroom to see her stood stock still with her hands covering her mouth. I followed her line of sight to see her staring at the bed and it’s then I saw the photos lying there. The photos of Callie from the night of that nightmare.

  Chris took me back to my house, and I shivered when I opened the door to let me into the flat. There was a coldness about it I’d never felt before and I hated it.

  He stayed in the sitting room while I rushed into my bedroom, trying to avoid looking at Lou’s room. I hadn’t even heard how she was doing, and I was too scared to ask.

  I opened the door to my room and darted around shoving clothes into my bag, but when I got to my underwear drawer, I noticed that some of my best pieces were missing.

  My eyes scanned the room, and that was when I looked at my bed. I slowly walked over and stared down at the bedding, seeing picture after picture of me, exposed, vulnerable, and soaked in blood. There had to be at least one hundred photos. Every inch of my body was there. My shorts were off, and my top was pushed up with my breasts out of my bra cups.

  There was a trail of blood all over me that wasn’t there when I woke up, and then in the final corner there was a picture of a dick with a hand on it.

  “Chris,” I whispered as fear overtook my revulsion, but he wouldn’t hear me, so I cried out in a strangled yell, “Chris!”

  He came running into the room, took one look at my bed, and wrapped his arms around me as my body trembled. He held me tightly as he led me from the room, but my legs were shaking so much that he ended up lifting me and carrying me.

  He set me down on the sofa and took his phone out without a word. He wouldn’t look at me as he quickly dialled someone, but when he went to step out of the room, I shot up from the sofa.

  “Chris, don’t leave me.”

  My eyes were stinging with unshed tears as he wrapped his arms around me. His body vibrated, and I heard him speaking quietly into his mobile, but I tuned his words out, focusing instead on his steady heartbeat as my tears started to fall.

  Before, I felt violated, but now I felt completely and utterly exposed and abused.

  “Ssshhh, it’s okay, babe. I got you.”

  His lips pressed against my head and he tugged me back to the sofa, pulling me down onto his lap and rocking me tightly.

  “Callie, I’m here. You’re safe.”

  “What part of this is okay? What part of this is me being safe? How can you say I’m safe? He’s got a key to my flat, and he… he…”

  His whole body shook. I knew he was struggling with it all too, but then his actions when this clusterfuck started sprang back into my mind and I stiffened.

  “Callie, it’s okay. You’re okay.”

  “I’m not. I don’t know who to trust. You blamed me and it hurts. It hurts that you thought I’d be capable of that, and I feel so violated. I need to get those pictures out of here. What if my mum comes by?”

  “No. The cops are on their way. Reynolds is coming to catalogue the evidence. We need it, Callie…”

  He didn’t address the fact that he hurt me. He didn’t address the fact that seeing that wrecked me. I had no memory of that night, but seeing those pictures showed me how sick and depraved Finley was.

  Before either of us could say another word, there was a soft knock at the door and Chris slid me off his knee to answer it.

  Part of me wanted to stop him, but I let him go. My head hammered and I couldn’t stop shuddering as Chris led Reynolds through the flat to my room.

  There were a few other officers, and they fluttered around the flat, checking
for anything out of the ordinary.

  I ignored them completely, sitting huddled on the sofa with my arms wrapped around my legs. I didn’t answer any of the questions they threw my way, staring dead ahead as Chris chatted with them and spoke to them on my behalf.

  When they finally left, Chris came over to me and leaned down in front of me.

  “Callie, I know I’ve fucked up. I know how hurt you are, but I need you to come with me.”

  I shook my head at him because I was so done. I was so tired. I wanted to sleep and simultaneously run away. He didn’t believe me when I needed him the most and now, knowing I’d been sexually assaulted, drugged, and that there was evidence of it happening to me, I wanted to shower and scour my insides out. I wanted to escape the pain and horror, but his next words unleashed my hurt and my fury on him.

  “Please, Calliebear. I need you to be safe. I need to protect you.”

  “Like you did at the station when I was lost, confused, vulnerable, and I needed you? Or like you did when I told you that I couldn’t remember a thing and you didn’t believe me? I was drugged and raped and you still didn’t step up. Chris, what do you want me to do with that?” I lifted my arm in the cast and he dropped his head, swallowing until he looked back up with glassy eyes.

  “I really fucking messed up. I know that. I know I hurt you, that I betrayed you, and I’m so fucking sorry I wasn’t there to stop that animal from violating you, but I’m going nowhere. I will keep you safe this time. I will save you from that monster. I promise on my life that I won’t let anyone else hurt you again. Please, Cals. Just come with me. I’ll keep you safe. I swear.”

  “You hurt me too much and I just need some time. I’ll come to yours, but I need space.”

  “I can do that. I can give you space, but you have to know I really hate this distance, and I loathe that I hurt you. I really care about you, Cals.”

  I knew he did. That was the thing that hurt the most. I knew he loved me in his own fucked up way, but as he took me back to his, I knew it was going to take a miracle to heal the crack between us.