“Shut up, Diya,” he growled back.“I’ll be out in a sec, unless you want to see me naked.”
Suddenly, the knocking and shouting stopped from the hallway.I grabbed what I could find of my clothes and hurried to the closet, completely naked, slipping inside it and staring out through the crevice.
Once Calix pulled on some sweats, he opened the door just a crack.“What?”
“What took you so long?”she asked.“And why’s your door locked?”
“Didn’t think you’d want to see the baddie I’d bagged last night when you decided to barge into my room this morning like a fucking maniac,” he said.“What do you want?Why are you knocking on my door this early?”
While I couldn’t see Diya, I could only imagine her scrunching her nose right now.“Baddie?Which one did you bring home last night?Another one of my friends?”Shit.“Doesn’t matter.It’s about Mom.”
My eyes widened.Diya and her mom never really got along, even more so now that she had remarried.Her mother had always been jealous of Diya—it was so obvious that it was sickening.Always trying to pull one over on her own daughter, to the point where Diya just didn’t talk to her anymore.So, hearing her seem almost anxious saying her mom’s name was new.
From the small gap, I watched Calix tense, his shoulders going rigid and his jaw clenching.Usually, he only got that way when he was pissed or jealous over Frasier.Otherwise, he was carefree.
“What about Mom?Where is she?”he asked.
“Apparently, she’s in the hospital,” she said.“She called this morning, asking for you.”
Calix pressed his lips together, then nodded.“Okay.Thanks for letting me know.You going to go see her?”
“No,” Diya said.“She said that she didn’t want me there.Only you.”
After a couple more heavily exchanged words, Diya walked down the hall, and Calix shut the door behind her.He ran a hand through his hair and opened the closet.I blew out a breath and tugged on my clothes because his closet was too small for me to do that in there.
“That was way too close,” I whispered.“What would she have done if she’d seen me?”
He shrugged, but didn’t smile this time.“Probably killed me.But I’m used to it.”
I released a shaky laugh in an attempt to lighten the suddenly dull mood.
“She didn’t find out though,” he said.“We’re good, but we have to get you out of here.”
While I knew that I had to go, I didn’t thinkhewanted me to go.But he was suddenly cold and uninviting, like he had the entire backstory about why his mom was in the hospital and it wasn’t sitting well with him.He hadn’t even asked Diya any questions.
“Is your mom okay?”I asked.
“She’s fine.”
“You look worried.”
“I’m fine,” he snapped, then sighed and ran a hand through his hair.“She just has some shit going on and doesn’t want to tell Diya.Diya thinks that she doesn’t love her.God, it’s a fucking mess in this house every fucking day.”
And it doesn’t make it any better that Diya is sleeping with her stepfather …
Calix peered over at me, then looked away almost shyly after making eye contact.“I should take you home before Diya finds out that you’re here.I know that you don’t want her knowing about us.”
I looked down and nodded.“Okay.Let me find my phone first.”
After looking on the nightstand and behind the bed, I flipped up the blankets on the mattress and spotted it underneath the sheets at the foot of the bed.I grabbed it, wondering how the hell I was going to get out of here unseen if Diya was literally in the house.
My phone buzzed in my hand, and I stared down at the flood of missed messages.
Frasier: Where are you?
Frasier: You okay?You disappeared.
Frasier: I’ve been looking for you.Call me.
