“When she’d only been gone a few weeks, Dad was already basically pretending like nothing happened. Like she’d never existed to begin with. Like she hadn’t been laughing in the kitchen one minute and dead the next.”
I rest my hand on her hip and slowly trace circles on her skin with my thumb.
“Jake shut down so I couldn’t even really talk to him. I kind of lost my shit. Didn’t end up going away to college, even though I know that’s what she wanted me to do.”
“That’s awful.”
Callie’s finger follows the lines of ivy from my wrist to my neck.
“So eventually, when Shane showed up grieving hisfather, we bonded. He recognized my grief, and I recognized his.”
I hate Shane deeply, but I almost feel bad for the man. Not quite. But almost.
“He’d only talk to me. His dad was murdered, you know.”
“Damn. That sucks.” And it does. Losing a parent is painful, but losing a parent to murder is worse. I think so, anyway. But it’s not an excuse for what a bad human being Shane turned out to be. And especially not for how he treated Callie.
“He said he fell for me without knowing it would upset my dad. In hindsight, I think he went after me because it would secure his place in a new family. And then I got pregnant.”
My hand freezes on her hip.
“We got married at the courthouse, then lost the baby shortly after.” She shakes her head. “Everything was shit after that.”
“I’m so sorry.” Now I reach over and cradle her cheek in my hand, running my thumb on her lower lip. She shuts her eyes and a small smile twitches onto her mouth.
“Thanks.”
“Come here.” I pull Callie my way and wrap my arms around her, pulling her thigh up over my hip. I press my lips to her forehead. “I’m so, so sorry, Callie. Really.”
She takes a ragged breath, and I look down to see a tear fall from her eye and run down the middle of her nose. I reach down and kiss it away, then rub her back. My cock is hard between us, but I just hold her.
Callie’s been through so much. I want to make up for all the bad men she’s had in her life. I want to be her rock, the man who puts her above all else, who protects her with his life.
“I’ve got you,” I say, rubbing her back until her breathing steadies and her eyes sink shut.
I wish I could un-know what I just figured out. That I love her, that she needs me, that I need her.
Thank god I’m a good secret keeper.
Chapter 32
The Emerald Ring
CALLIE
It’s morning on the day after finding Shane at the fight club, and I’m nervously waiting for him to get in touch with me.
“That man doesn’t deserve one penny of your money,” Wes says to me earnestly. He’s sitting on the second untouched bed in Noah’s hotel room. I’m at the desk, and Noah’s pacing. We’re trying to come up with a game plan.
“I know.” We’ve been going in circles with this. Wes is right, of course, but what else can I do? I want to end this. Be free of Shane forever. The only way to do that is to give him what he wants. “It’s just money.”
Wes growls.
“You should text him,” Noah says to me, pausing mid-pace.
He’s got a wicked black eye and a split lip, which Wes can’t stop staring at. They had some angry, hushed words when we first saw Noah’s injuries this morning, which he assured us are ‘nothing’and ‘fine’.
The last thing I want to do is text Shane. I scrunch my face and glance at my phone on the desk.
