“Wh-what?” I exclaimed. “She kept you incages?Like with bars and a lock?”
He nodded, looking disturbingly calm as he continued to explain.
“Yeah. Sometimes, she would forget to feed us for days. My younger sister, Naomi, was only three years old. My older sister and I were so scared Naomi was going to die from neglect, so we broke out and tried to escape.
“We… Well,Iended up killing our mother. It was self-defense, so we didn’t get in trouble when the police found us, but…yeah. It was a really shitty time in my life.”
“No fucking kidding,” I managed, completely unable to wrap my head around the fact that someone could be so cruel to their own children.
“So you see, when you called me…that word…It brought up some real garbage memories of a time when I had zero control over my own circumstances. My reflex was to get the threat under control… It just made me need to…dominateyou.” He looked like the words felt like glass coming out of his mouth.
I raised a skeptical eyebrow at him. “And you needed to dominate me by doing…that?”
He shrugged. “Honestly, if you were anyone else, I probably would have just killed you. I think I did that because, if you haven’t noticed, I have a huge crush on you.”
My mouth fell open at the brazenness of his admission.
Who just went around saying shit like this to people? Especially to complete strangers?
This man had no boundaries. He had literally no idea what an appropriate way to interact with people was, and I guess after what he had just told me, I could understand why.
What kind of upbringing did he have after he had escaped someone so evil?
I wasn’t sure I even wanted to know the answer to that. I already felt like he had shared more than I had any business knowing.
Understanding that it wasn’t his fault that he was the way he was made it a little bit easier for me to forgive him for everything he had done since I had met him, but still. He wasdangerous. There was no place in my life for someone like him.
“Well, you’re going to need to get over your crush, Cal,” I said sternly, and he looked like he was about to legitimately pout at my words.
“It’s not reciprocated, and I’m straight.” There was a strange little niggling feeling in my head that told me I was lying through my fucking teeth, but I ignored it. Even if I was willing to admit that everything I had believed to be true about myself was a lie, I could never pursue a relationship with someone like this. It would ruin my life.
I had worked so hard to get to where I was. I wasn’t about to throw that all away just because this man was looking at me like I had the power to break his heart.
“Okay… can we at least be friends then?” he asked, shuffling closer to me. His gaze fell to the bruise on my cheek, and he frowned, nibbling on his lip ring.
I sighed, rubbing the corners of my eyes.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“Come on, please? I’m a great friend! Just ask anybody… Well, maybe not anybody. You can ask my buddy Vox… He doesn’t really speak, but if you ask him if I’m a good friend, he’ll at least give you a thumbs up to confirm.”
Suddenly, a strange feeling welled in the back of my throat, and before I could stop it from happening, I laughed.
You would have thought Christmas had come early, the way Cal’s entire face lit up.
“You have a nice laugh.” He said, taking another tentative step toward me.
I forced myself to sober and shook my head to shake off the overwhelming urge to smile at him.
He was really fucking cute when he was like this. Like a golden retriever begging for a milk bone…
Okay. Maybe I should stay away from thebonereferences when referring to Cal.
“Come on, Ryan. Please? Let me be your friend.”
“Why do you want to be my friend so bad?” I honestly couldn’t understand this man’s obsession with me. No one was ever obsessed with me. Theo was the attractive one. She was the badass who signed up for underground fights and made all the girls drop their panties. I was just the creepy dude who spent more time with the dead than the living. No one ever wanted to get to knowme.
Cal looked at me like I was crazy.
