She brightened at this, looking adorable with her Squishmallow and little daisy clips in her blonde hair.
I was definitely overprotective of her, but I also didn’t want to smother her, not like Cass did. Cass was afraid of letting anything happen to Naomi, whereas I believed in making sure she learned how to protect herself in case anything everdidhappen to her.
I couldn’t be with her all the time to protect her, so I felt better knowing that she knew basic self-defense. Also, as much as I could be, I was pretty forthcoming with Naomi about who I was and what I did for a living. She knew I killed people professionally, and because of that, she wasn’t under the delusion that the world was a safe, kind place.
“Cool! So, did you get that kid’s parents? When are we going out again?” she asked excitedly, and my mouth twitched.
Little blood-thirsty heathen.
“Yeah, I got him. It was the dad… I have to meet Cass tomorrow morning at that funeral home to give the kid to the mom…fuck!”I dropped my head into my hand and pinched the bridge of my nose.
With everything that had happened with Ryan, I hadcompletelyforgotten to tell him about Caleb’s mom…shit!
“What! What happened?” Naomi asked, and I groaned, glancing up at her.
“I fucked up,” I admitted, and she laughed.
“Naturally.”
“I’m serious. I did something really stupid, and I don’t know what to do about it. Ugh! He’s probably never going to speak to me again!”
Leaving my drink on the counter, I dragged myself to the loveseat sitting opposite Naomi’s couch and collapsed face first, burying my face in a bright yellow pillow.
“Who’s not going to speak to you again?” she asked.
“The hottest, most spooky ginger boy I’ve ever met,” I grumbled, my voice coming out muffled, considering I was ear-deep in a throw pillow.
“You met a boy?”
“Define ‘met.’I’m stalking him… or I was… I think I still am.” I rolled on my side to look at her, giving her my most pitiful‘feel sorry for me’face.
“You’re going to need to give me some context here, Cal. I have no idea what you’re talking about.” She giggled, and I sighed.
“Fine. So, remember when we followed that kid to the funeral home yesterday? Well, this guyownsit.”
Naomi was literallyon the edge of her seat for the whole story. I didn’t hold anything back, not even when I got to the part where I had totally lost my marbles in the prep room. She was nineteen, plus I’m sure she’d read more raunchy shit than an out-of-pocket hand job in the dark romances she was always binging.
“Cal, that’s… super fucked up. Non-con is not cute in real life.”
“I KNOW!” I whined, tossing my head back and rubbing my hands down my face. “I totally shit the bed. But he called me the devil, and I blacked out for a minute. It was like I just needed to fuckingdominatehim. If I could take it back, I would.”
“So do it, take it back. Apologize.”
I shot her an unenthused look. “And what am I supposed to say? Sorry I held you down and forced you to bust a nut all over my dead victim?”
Naomi giggled. “Well, yeah. For starters. You should also probably apologize for leaving him alone to dispose ofyourbody. Maybe explain the trigger thing so he understands. It’s not really anexcuse.You can’t use your mental health as a valid reason for being a huge dingus, Cal. You still owe him and will need to make it up to him… but at least it will help him understand why you totally lost your mind.”
I sighed. She was right.
“He’s not going to even want to talk to me after what I did.” I pouted, and she shrugged.
“Probably not, but from what you’ve told me so far, I’m not sure how that’s any different from all your other interactions. Seems to me like he hasn’t wanted to talk to you since you met him.”
I pouted harder. Again, she was right, and I hated it.
“You’re both going tohaveto interact anyway, for Caleb’s sake. But after that, the right thing to do would be to leave him alone if he doesn’t want to have a relationship with you, Cal.”
“That’s not fair! I want him,” I complained, and she rolled her eyes.
