“If you don’t talk to me, I will sleep on the fucking floor outside of this goddamn door, Callum.”
Cal stared at me for a second, then let go. He walked back into the room, defeated.
I stepped inside, my eyes scanning the room wildly. The bed was unmade on one side.
“There’s nobody here?” I asked, confused.
Cal turned around, looking at me like I was insane. “No, you fucking psycho. It’s just me. Who the fuck did you think would be here?”
“I figured Lena would be,” I said. “Since she has a key.”
Cal’s brows furrowed. “So that’s how you got my room number? You listened in on my conversation with her?”
“You weren’t being fucking quiet giving your hookup your room number,” I scoffed.
Cal’s face turned white. His expression shifted to pure, unadulterated disgust.
“Hold on. Back the fuck up. You thought… you thought I was fucking Lena?”
I nodded.
“Lena is the same age as my little sister!” Cal shouted, throwing his hands up. “She’s a fucking kid, Silas!”
Relief hit me so hard my knees almost buckled, but I wouldn’t admit it. “Well, that isn’t how it reads.”
“Oh my fucking god,” Cal groaned, rubbing his face. “Si, Lena is like my kid. Seriously. She was an aged out foster kid, she doesn’t have family.”
I instantly felt sick. The guilt crashed into me. He wasn’t protective because he was dating her; he was protective because she was family.
God, I am an asshole.
“And you can’t repeat this shit,” Cal warned, pointing a shaking finger at me. “If you do, I will actually beat your fucking ass. Lena is gay. And closeted. She is terrified of what happens if the UWF’s top female bombshell, the one every man wants to fuck, doesn’t like men.”
My face dropped. Lena was us. She was basically us at twenty-one.
“So for the love of fuck,” Cal shook his head, looking nauseous. “Do not ever use me and her and ‘hooking up’ in the same sentence again. I feel fucking sick now.”
“Does she know about you?” I asked quietly.
Cal looked away, shame coloring his features. “No. That’s not exactly my shining star moment.”
“Cal—”
“Do not fucking start with me, Silas,” Cal said, his eyes filling with tears. “We are not doing this.”
“Please, I—”
“Fucking stop!” he screamed, his voice cracking. “I don’t know what the fuck you think you’re going to say, but I don’t want to hear it! I don’t! You don’t fucking understand how hard this is for me!”
“I—”
“Shut up!” he yelled. “You fucking left! You shut the door in my goddamn face! You did this! You made this our reality! You did this! You fucking did this!”
“I know I did! And I’m—”
“You’re sorry?” Cal laughed, a harsh, jagged sound. “You’re sorry you decided that a business that hates guys like us was more important? You’re sorry your head was up your ass so far that you lost everything? You’re sorry I didn’t come back for you? You’re sorry I don’t want you now? What, Silas? What?”
I didn’t speak. I just watched the tears track down his face as he spiraled.
