Sympathy and compassion lightened Mum’s eyes. “Your dad didn’t tell me that.”
“You more than anyone can understand what it must have been like for him. And then he was dropped on Gavin’s doorstep and Gavin made it clear he wasn’t wanted. Callan has nothing to do with him now.”
“That’s good. Not the bad parenting part, but that Callan doesn’t have anything to do with Gavin.” Mum ducked her head to study me again. “Be careful, baby. You sound like you care about this guy.”
Panic threatened to ruin the good mood that had followed me around for days. “As a human being, of course I do. But Callan isn’t the kind of guy a girl settles down with. He doesn’t want that. I know what this is. Let me enjoy it without judgment.”
Mum sighed. “I am the last person to judge anyone, let alone my kid. But a long time ago, I tried to convince myself this one particular guy was only a convenient hookup and a lot of feelings got hurt.”
I tensed. “What happened to him?”
She smiled and waved her ring finger. “He was a stubborn asshole who wouldn’t take no for an answer.”
Laughter bubbled on my lips. “You’re talking about Dad.”
“Yup.” She caressed my cheek, concern dimming her amusement. “I was lucky, Beth. I found someone willing to do a lot of hard work to pull my head out of my trauma. Your dad has thick skin. You have to be thick-skinned when you’re trying to get someone to admit they love you when they’re terrifiedof loving anyone. Grief either makes you hold on tight or push everyone away.”
She was talking about Callan.
And I realized with a pang of alarm that she might be right about him. When we were kids, he’d been way more open and vulnerable with me. His intentions back then had been serious.
Now it seemed like he didn’t want to be emotionally close to anyone, except for Baird and John. Maybe even then.
I nodded, letting Mum know I heard her. “I won’t catch feelings,” I promised. “And if I think I am, I’ll cut myself loose.”
“I didn’t say that.” Mum smiled mysteriously. “I’m just saying … if you start to catch feelings and you think he might be too, prepare yourself for a fight.”
“It’s only casual,” I insisted.
Maybe Mum and Dad’s love had started out as a battle, but Callan and I were not Mum and Dad. We were merely having the best sex of our lives for the next five weeks.
End of story.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
CALLAN
John’s birthday was the perfect distraction. He liked to dance, so Baird and a few guys off the team took him out to a nightclub. This was usually the time in the season when we started to feel the need to decompress a bit.
I was wound up more than usual because Gavin had shown up at practice on Saturday. I told security to get rid of him. But word reached me he was at the game yesterday and this time was drunk and saying shitty things about me. The thought of Gavin back in my life, hounding me—most likely for money—was something I couldn’t deal with. I needed a distraction. I’d been getting plenty of that from Beth over the past week, but the guys needed to blow off some steam, too, so a nightclub it was. The gaffer didn’t like us partying too much during the season, but even he recognized we needed an outlet now and then.
John had told me to invite Beth and her friends, so I did. She’d brought along the girls who worked with her, Cara and Michaela, and it occurred to me as we strolled into the club on the Cowgate together that Beth didn’t talk about the girls much other than in relation to work. She didn’t talk about any friends.
It seemed weird to me. If we were in a place where it was my business, I might ask her what was up with that.
Tonight was clearly hip-hop and R&B night at the club. Baird raised both arms as we walked in, drawing attention to us with his size. “That’s what I’m talking aboot!” He spun around, grinning as he did a couple of booty pops that made Beth fall into my side laughing.
I curled an arm around her waist, my hand resting possessively on her hip.
She looked amazing. She always looked amazing, but tonight I’d wanted to pull her back into her flat and peel the sexy blue dress off her. It molded to her gorgeous body like a second skin, and the hem stopped midthigh, showing off her long, strong legs. It had barely any straps and the round neck was low enough to tempt a saint. On her feet were blue heels that made my cock hard.
Even baring all that skin, she still had this classiness no amount of money could buy. It was in the way she held herself. She was just one of those women who always looked put together, even in joggers and a T-shirt. But it was more than that—it was also in the way she treated people.
We’d gone out for dinner a couple of times this past week before ending up back at my place, and anyone we encountered she was warm and friendly and polite to. On the cab ride here, she’d asked Cara and Michaela a ton of questions, never once steering the conversation back to herself, and she seemed genuinely interested in their lives and what they had to say. She’d even been warm and sweet to the girls I’d had one-night stands with before she and I got together. She treated everyone she met like long-lost friends and family.
It was how she’d been when we were kids. Why I’d liked her so much.
Something unpleasant burned in my chest.
