Ew. “Aye, because his parents are morons.” I started marching across the street, suddenly incredibly annoyed with Callan Keen.
“Beth!” I heard him hurrying after me.
I couldn’t look at him.
“Beth.” He grabbed my arm, pulling me to a stop as his gaze searched my face in confusion.
Confusion?
“Is that who you think I am? Why are you even giving me your time if you think I’m some spoiled princess who is impressed by money and sports cars?” I whirled, my strides eating up the pavement.
“Beth, wait.” Callan fell into step beside me, turning to walk backward so he could face me. His expression was tight and remorseful. “I don’t think that. I’m being a prick.”
“Why?”
“Because …” He stopped, shaking his head. “I … Preston said you went on a date last weekend. I heard him in the locker room.”
Ryan Preston really was an arsehole. “We were at the same stupid party because our dads know each other through work, and it was his dad’s birthday. Believe me, none of us wanted to go, but Dad said it was a networking thing, so we went. It was not a date with Ryan Preston. I barely spoke to him the whole night. I don’t want to date Ryan Preston.” He thought he was God’s gift to humanity. Amanda agreed he was awful. Ryan was the one guy we would never fight over.
Tension seemed to ease from Callan’s shoulders. Is that why he hadn’t made a move on me yet? He thought I wouldn’t be interested?
“Callan … I like you, if you hadn’t noticed.”
His lips twitched like he was desperate to smile and trying to remain cool. “You just come out and say it, don’t you?”
“What’s the worst that could happen? You’re an idiot who doesn’t like me in return?”
Callan threw his head back in laughter. I grinned, delighted, watching him until his laugh gentled to a smile. His expression was tender as our eyes met. “I would be a fucking idiot, wouldn’t I?”
“You would.” I smiled, but it wilted at the reminder I should not be doing this. “Amanda likes you.”
His eyebrows rose. “Likes me, likes me?”
I nodded.
Callan sighed. “I don’t like Amanda. Not like that. I like you, Beth.”
Elation flooded me. And concern. “I’d have to discuss this with her … we kind of made a pact neither of us would ask you out.”
Something like hurt flickered across his face. “So, why are you here, flirting with me?”
“Because I can’t seem tonotflirt with you.”
He considered me as we neared the bus stop. “First … I know it’s probably gotten round the school that I live in Leith with my mum and dad …”
I nodded because that’s what I had heard.
“I live in Sighthill with my dad and stepmum.” Callan swallowed hard, looking away. I recognized the pain in his eyes before he did, though, and understood it when he continued, “My mum and dad—well, my dad was really my stepdad, but I called him Dad—they died when I was twelve. I was at football practice and they were killed in a traffic accident.”
“Oh, Callan.” I reached out to touch his shoulder. “I’m so sorry.”
He nodded gruffly. “Aye. Well, I ended up going to live with my real dad, who is a fucking arsehole, and his wife, who isn’t much better. Ashley, my stepmum, acts like I’m the devil. It’s like my being alive is an affront to her, you know.”
Anger and sympathy mixed in a tight, painful ball in my chest. “I hate that for you.”
“It’s fine. They mostly ignore me. And I’ll be out of there soon.”
It wasn’t fine. But I knew he needed to act like it was. “My … my mum, she’s American,” I told him. “Her mum was Scottish, but she moved to the US and got married to my grandfather and stayed. They had my mum and my mum’s wee sister, Beth.”
