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disgust. She puts it on the nightstand and then wipes her palm on
the side of her jeans.
“Okay, that’s embarrassing,” she says with a timid smile. She
reaches for the box of half-eaten chocolates and starts to set them
aside.
I grab her arm and stop her, glancing at each piece that has
a bite taken out of it. “Okay, I have to ask. Did you eat an entire
piece or just taste them all?”
She sighs and throws the box next to her lamp and then
presses her body down on my chest, with her chin above my heart.
“I don’t like any of the flavors except for the strawberry.”
“I guess that works then.” I grin at her. “Who gave them to
you, though, by the way? It’s making me look bad.”
Her eyes glimmer with a slight bit of haughtiness that comes
out only on extremely rare occasions. “What if I said it was some
guy? Would you be jealous?”
“Yes,” I say truthfully. “In fact, I think I’d have to kick some
ass.”
“No kicking ass.”
“All right, but only because you said so.”
She smiles and then her tongue slips out of her mouth to
wet her lips. “Greyson gave them to me last night.”
I stare at her luscious lips, shimmering from the afterglow of
her tongue and so they’re fucking enticing it’s driving my body
crazy. “Seth’s Greyson?”
She nods. “The three of us went out last night. He’s really
nice.”
I frown, remembering why I came here in the first place. “I
actually just ran into Seth.”
“Where?” she asks. “I thought he had a date.”
Sighing, I reach for the paper on the nightstand. Unrolling it,
I hand it to her. There must be a very close resemblance because
she knows right away who he is.
“Where did you get this?” she asks, sitting up and reading
the paper.
I push up and sit in front of her, crossing my legs. “Seth came
ru
ever really went looking for him.”
She bites her lip as she meticulously studies the paper. “It
says he lives in Virginia.”
I nod, tracing the whitish scars on my wrist. They’re fading
rapidly, but they are still there as little reminders of everything that happened. “I know.”
“That’s far.”
“I know.”
She lowers the paper onto her lap and studies me for a
moment. “Are you going to try to get ahold of him?”
I shake my head and shrug my shoulders, thinking about the
past. I’d never had a stellar relationship with Dylan, and besides, he ran away and never tried to get ahold of me. “What if he doesn’t
want me to get ahold of him? I mean, there’s a reason I haven’t
talked to or seen him in years. And it looks like he has a family and everything. At least that’s what the article says.”
Callie’s silent for a while and then she reaches her hand over
and fixes her finger underneath my chin, titling my chin up so I’m
looking at her. “But what if… what if he does want to see you?
What if he was just staying away from your parents and the house?
Or what if he tried to get ahold of you and your parents wouldn’t
let him?”
I remember when Dylan left the house. He’d just graduated
and gave up a football scholarship, partially to spite my dad and
partially because he didn’t want to play football. My dad was
fucking pissed and had told him to never come back. Ever.
“Yeah, maybe.” I’m still not fully convinced, but if I were to
talk to my therapist right now, he’d say that I was doubting myself
more than Dylan. He says that a lot. He says I have low
self-esteem. It makes me feel weak and like a fucking pussy and
kind of proves his point.
“I’ll call him for you,” Callie says, scooting closer on her knees
toward me. “If you want me to.”
I spread my fingers on top of her legs and frown at her.
“You’d do that for me? Call a complete stranger?”
“I’d do anything for you.” She positions her hands on top of
mine. “Because I love you.”
“I know you would,” I reply, both hating and loving that she
said she loves me. I still haven’t said it to her yet. I don’t know why.
I’ve tried a thousand fucking times, but I can’t get the words to
come out of my mouth. She never says anything about it either,
which makes me feel like an even shittier person. She’s so happy
having it one-sided. “I should be the one to call him.”
Her shoulders elevate with her eagerness. “So you’re going
to call then?”
I nod, deciding to take a leap of faith and see what happens.
“Yeah, I’ll call him tonight after I’m done with you.”
She brings her bottom lip in between her teeth, biting it
nervously. “When you’re done with me?”
Nodding, I lean in for her mouth, but then veer left and
breathe hotly on her neck. “Yeah, I really want to work on number
forty-six on your list.”
“Forty… six…” She’s breathing profusely as my mouth makes
a wet trail down the side of her neck. With each sweep of my
tongue, I gently nibble on her skin, bringing it into my teeth and
then licking it.
“Eat chocolates… have a lot of sex,” I say, reminding her what
it says as I arrive at her collarbone and glide my hand up beneath
her bra.
She lets out a breathy moan. “That one’s for Valentine’s
Day…”
I run my thumb across her nipple and it instantly perks.
Giving it a gentle pinch, I start massaging her breast. “So what?
We’ll celebrate it early…” I trail off as her head falls back and she becomes consumed by my touch. I slip my arm around her waist
and guide us down to the bed, laying her beneath me. “And then
we’ll celebrate it again on Valentine’s Day.”
“Okay,” she says with a look of ecstasy on her face, and then
her eyes shut. “Whatever you want.”
And she means it. She would do anything for me—she
already has. She gave up her secret, she gave me herself, she gave
me her love. And even though I can’t tell her yet, I feel the same
way about her. She owns me completely, uncontrollably,
irreversibly.
Callie
I’m so happy for him, and yet scared for him at the same
time. He’s found his brother and I just pray to God it goes well for
him—that his brother is a better person than the rest of the family.