by J. J. McAvoy
Eric stood waiting, keeping Otis’ girlfriend at bay. Walking around her, I stopped in front of Coraline.
“Stay away from him, and if you care about your cousin, make sure she stays away too.” That was all I’d planned to say to her. I couldn’t…this was too close. I hadn’t thought these two parts of my life would collide like this. It was a wake-up call. I wasn’t just a guy…even though she made me feel like one. I was a Callahan, and Callahans were monsters in suits.
“Declan?” she called after me.
And I could hear her heels as she followed me towards the elevator.
“What are you talking about? What’s wrong with Otis?”
“Just trust me—”
“Well, I don’t. If something’s going on please tell me. Do you know the man who did this? How serious is this?” she said when the elevator doors opened.
The man who did this was my cousin, and the man who would do worse was me.
I wanted her. I wanted her badly, but I couldn’t…what if she saw me doing something even worse or what if she got involved. What if my worlds collided again when she was around?
“Never mind, Coraline.” I sighed as I stepped into the elevator. I shouldn’t have said anything to begin with.
“Declan, why are you being so cold right now?” She frowned, confused. “You’re like a totally different person.”
Because right now I wasn’t me; I was the person the family needed me to be. But I couldn’t tell her that.
“Coraline, you’ve rejected me three times in the last week. I’m not going to keep chasing after you. Please step aside, it’s been a long day.” The doors closed on her and I felt both relieved and disappointed as I leaned against the wall. But then the doors reopened, and as her hand remained on the button, her eyes focused on me.
Coraline, no, keep pushing me away, you’re right, your instincts are right, I will hurt you.
“I’m leaving too,” she lied as her feet crossed over the line toward me.
Fuck. I was goner. Having her this close to me in an empty elevator, I couldn’t take it.
I grabbed her and pinned her up against the wall.
“You shouldn’t have opened the doors.”
“But I did.” Her brown eyes searched mine.
My eyes fell on her lips. “You should stay away from Otis. Because he has bad friends.” And I’m the worse one of all.
“Okay?” She still looked confused.
“If I kissed you right now, what would you do?” I whispered.
“Kiss you back.”
“I know. But what would you do after we break away. Run again? Like I said, you don’t know what you want and I’m not going to let you keep messing with me.”
I stepped out of the elevator, and for some reason, I felt like I couldn’t breathe, like she had literally been so close to me, she’d stolen the air from my lungs. I had told her the truth, but I’d also lied. I wanted to keep chasing after her. But reality was starting to kick in, and the magic was disappearing. Her standing next to Otis as a friend when I came thinking I might just have to end his life…it’d been too close.
I made it outside when my phone rang.
“Declan,” I muttered without bothering to check the caller ID.
“I’ll stay away from Otis,” she whispered into the phone and I turned back to find her still inside the entrance of the hospital staring back me. “I don’t have a boyfriend, a fiancé, or a husband. I had my heart broken by a smooth talking playboy once before. So I’m a little jaded. I don’t want be just another girl you screw around with or screw over. That’s why I’ve been pushing you away, but I really do like you.”
Walk away, Declan.
“What do I have to do?” I said instead, and it was like my mind and heart had officially declared war on each other.
“I don’t know?”
“Why don’t we get out of here and find out?” I felt like I could think better if I didn’t have to think about the worst part of me…or maybe I was trying to not think at all.
“You lead, I’ll follow.” She stepped towards me.
“No.” I shook my head as I moved towards her. “You’re the one doing the leading. It’s been like that from day one.”
“Well, take over then,” she said right in front of me as she hung up.
“With pleasure.”
CORALINE
“You can open your eyes now.”
“Did we stop?” I was too afraid to look, and my grip on him tightened.
I could feel his chest moving up and down in front of me, and I knew he was silently laughing. We’d taken his motorcycle instead of my car. I wanted to fight him on the matter since I was still in a dress, but he reached over, hiked it up, and reassured me that I would be fine. Luckily, I was able to change out of my heels and into the flats I kept in my car.
Peeking out, I noticed he had stopped and where now at the Navy Pier. He stepped off first and I as quickly and gracefully as I could, I swept my legs over, closing them shut when they were on the other side. He smiled as he offered me his hand.
Taking it, he led us over to the Ferris wheel that lit up the night’s sky.
“Declan.” I gasped when he skipped the line.
“Don’t worry about it,” he replied as the man behind the machine nodded to him. I felt the need to wave or apologize to the people who were standing in line, but I was in the gondola before I had the chance.
“Callahans make their own rules, remember?” he said as the wheel shifted, allowing the next people who were in line to step into their own gondola.
“Yeah, but people will think that you Callahans are assholes.”
He shrugged. “Who cares what other people think? That’s the problem with the world, everyone is so worried about what someone, who doesn’t even know them, thinks. As long as you don’t think I’m an asshole, then I’m fine.”
“What makes you think I don’t?” I crossed my arms.
“Would you have preferred to come all the way here and wait in line for an hour?”
He had a point and he knew it. I agreed.
“Fine. You’re not an asshole to me.”
“Perfect. Now tell me about the idiot who broke your heart.”
I groaned as I glanced out at the pier. Why had I brought that up? Oh right, I was worried that he would’ve walked away for good, and I didn’t want that.
“Coraline, you said you were jaded, but we all are,” he whispered.
“Two years ago, while at Stanford, I met this basketball player, which really should have been the first red flag. I knew he liked to party a lot, but I thought he was different, and I thought we were dating, but as it turns out, he only acted like we were together when we were alone and it was great. But around his friends, or at his games, he acted like I was just another girl he knew. Then the season got really intense. I knew that other girlfriends would sneak to their hotels during away games. So I decided to surprise him.”
“And he was with someone else?” he asked like this was the most common story in the world, but then again it felt like it was.
I smiled. “He was with two other girls. I stood there staring in shock before I turned and ran—I’m a runner in case you haven’t noticed. He did chase me down an hour later, I’m guessing after he was finished with them. He told me that I was his long-term chick, the girl he would bring home to mom and that I shouldn’t be bothered by the other girls, that he was just playing around before we got too serious. That’s when I punched him and took the bus home. The end.”
“Did you love him?” His eyes were soft, and he looked my face over like he was trying to read me.
“Yeah. I think so? I’m not sure. I think I was in love with believing in love.”
“So after that, you just cut yourself off from any sort of affection whatsoever?”
I didn’t want to go this deep into my emotions.
“You said we’re all jaded, so tell me, who hurt you?”
He smiled, and under the li
ght of the Ferris Wheel, he looked sinful and devious.
“I’ve never been in love before.”
“But you said—”
“I said we are all jaded. But not everyone is jaded by love, Coraline. I’ve never given my heart anyone, which should prove that there is something wrong with me. People should fall in love and deal with heartbreak, I think it’s healthy.”
“But…”
“But I’m not going to force myself to love anyone or anything. When it happens, it happens.”
“Then what makes you jaded?”
“My past. My present. My future.”
“Sometimes I feel like you’re trying to tell me something without really telling me anything.”
He snickered as he pulled off his gloves. “I like you, Coraline. I have no idea why, but I do, and I want to get know you more because I feel like it’s happening…at least for me anyway. I’m going on a trip in a couple days, so come with me. And promise to make sure you have fun from the moment we get there.”
“Okay.”
FIVE
“And she was terribly aware that she was alive. Not just living and breathing, but ...alive.”
―Mary Balogh
DECLAN
“I would like to remind you that you only met this woman a week ago and you’re already bailing out on our plans,” Liam said over the phone.
“Aren’t you in bed with a model right now?”
“That’s beside the point,” he said. “We don’t ditch each other for women.”
“In all honesty, I’m tired of seeing your face, Liam.”
“You know what? I hope she breaks your heart into ten thousand pieces.”
“I’m hanging up, ass.” I hung up before he could reply.
I pulled up in front of the WIB cooperate office just as she came out dressed in a cream-colored jacket, jeans, and flats. I’d offered to pick her up at home, but she said she had a quick errand to run at the office.
“Hey,” I said as I stepped out of my car and walked towards her.
“Sorry to make you drive all the way downtown. I didn’t want to have to reschedule this.”
“It’s no problem.” I held the door open for her before I headed back over to the driver’s seat. “Is everything okay?” I asked her when I sat down.
She nodded. “The WIB is voting on something today, so I had to be there. Don’t worry though, your money is safe.”
“Glad to hear that. Is this why you studied business? For your father’s bank?” I asked.
“Yeah. I used to have so many people try to explain things to me when I was younger, either that or I would have to withdraw my vote for things. My father started this with his own hands. I, at least, wanted to keep it running.”
“It’s admirable. Most people would just take their cut and not worry much about where it came from.”
“I’m not most people.”
I looked at her. “No, you are not.”
She smiled, as she glanced out the window as the city faded behind us. I stepped on the accelerator, eager to get to the airport so that we could begin our trip.
“Where are we going?”
“To let loose,” I replied. “You cleared your week, right?”
“Yeah, but you only said to dress comfortably and bring my passport without packing.”
I could tell she was nervous again.
“Do you trust me?” I asked.
“Yes.”
“Good. You’re taking a calculated risk, and that’s when the fun starts,” I replied, as I drove towards the private plane.
“What about clothes?”
“We’ll buy some when we get there. First lesson, Coraline, don’t think about it, just enjoy it,” I said, as we came to a stop on the tarmac.
The pilot and our flight attendant stood waiting for us.
“When I said fun, I meant dancing and stuffing our faces with all kinds of different foods,” she whispered, as she stared at the plane.
“We’re going to do those things, just not in Illinois.”
“Welcome aboard, Mr. Callahan,” the pilot said.
“Take care of us, Oliver.”
“Of course.” He followed us inside as we took our seats.
Coraline’s eyes glanced over every inch of the jet, from the polished wooden tables, to the tan leather chairs, to the television that hung up two seats behind me.
“There’s a bedroom in there if you get…tired.”
I waited for her eyes to drift back to me.
“How long are we going to be in the air?
“Not long. Do you want to run before he closes the doors?” I really hoped she didn’t.
She grinned. “Would you let me?”
“Would you want to?”
“Mr. Callahan.” The flight attendant drew my attention away from her, much to my annoyance. “Would you like anything once we’re in the air?”
I thought for a second, my eyes drifting to Coraline as she took off her coat.
“Yes, two large cups of coffee, but fill them up only midway.”
“Seriously?” Coraline laughed.
“We never finished our first round, might as well now.”
“You don’t do anything halfway, do you, Mr. Callahan?” She looked me over carefully.
“When I’m pursuing something I want, I go all out. Life’s too short not to.”
“And you want me?” It was like she was still trying to make sure, and every time she asked, my conviction became stronger.
“Yes.” I wanted her, and for now, that was all that mattered to me.
“You’re being reckless, Mr. Callahan,” she whispered as we started to taxi down the runaway. She gripped the ends of her seat, but she didn’t look away from me. “When you whisk a girl away for a week-long date, she might not let you go.”
“That’s the plan. I’m looking forward to exploring the world with you. It’s going to be just Declan plus Coraline.”
“Now I’m excited.” She smiled, and thanked the flight attendant as we were handed our cups of coffee.
I couldn’t wipe the grin off my face as I watched her. I had racked my brain trying to think of things we could do. Things she would like, but that didn’t involve being around too many people, while still getting my other jobs done. As much as Liam bitched, he had actually offered to handle everything back home for me, including keeping an eye on Otis, until I got back. God knew when I would seriously be interested in anyone again. She wasn’t around me for the money—she was significantly well-off on her own. She wasn’t looking for fame or dying for my attention. She was sweet—she said thank you to everyone around her at least twice, and on top of it all, she was beautiful and intelligent. If she were Irish, I would have already had brought her home to Sedric. We had a rule in our family. Everyone had to be married by their thirtieth birthdays. Because of our lives, it was just easier to marry one of our people…and yet I was here.
“Are you okay?” she asked, as she placed her hand on mine.
I stared at her for a moment, my mind completely blank.
Why the hell am I acting like this?
“I’m fine. You should rest now, so you aren’t tried.”
She made a face and I wanted to laugh at how cute she looked.
“What?”
“I snore and I’d rather you not witness that.”
“Do you snore like a cat or drunk trucker?”
“We can’t all be perfect,” she muttered, not really answering the question as she drank her coffee.
“I’m the furthest thing from perfect.” I was a drug dealer, a murderer, and anything else the family needed me to be. My mind screamed that she wouldn’t understand, but I kept on pushing forward anyway.
CORALINE
“Welcome to Mexico. Cancun specifically,” Declan said as he held my hand. We stepped out into the heat and I could smell the ocean on the breeze.
I couldn’t stop smiling. “Cancun?”
“Yep. Now, let
’s get started,” he said, as he walked down the stairs with me.
A black Range Rover with tinted windows awaited us, and a Mexican man held the back door open, but Declan shook his head as he took the keys and spoke in Spanish to him. Declan’s Spanish was so fast and fluent that the little Spanish I remembered from high school was all but useless. The man nodded at whatever he said and pulled out his cellphone.
“Ready?” he asked.
I stared into his green eyes for a second. I wanted to know what he’d said in Spanish, but I decided not to ask. I nodded my head, and allowed him to open the door for me. When he sat down, the driver outside the window nodded to him and gave him a thumbs up. Declan started the engine and we drove away from the jet.
When we got to the main road, it was crowded but I could still make out two cars, one came in front and the other behind us.
“Security?” I asked looking to him.
He smirked. “You’re a smart one, Ms. Wilson.”
“I thought it was just Declan plus Coraline? They’re making it kind of obvious that we’re not just two ordinary people.”
“We’re two rich foreigners, it’s better when it’s obvious, Coraline. They will bother our security while we enjoy ourselves.”
I shifted in my seat as I looked out at the city. No matter where I looked, I could see the pure blue water and white sandy beaches that were dotted with street vendors who were selling everything from bathing suits to ice cream. We passed a fountain where people both young and old danced as water shot up around them. It was paradise.
“Now that we’re here, are you going to tell me what we are going to do?” I whispered, unable to shift my eyes away from the view.
“If I tell you, you might chicken out.”
“Hey!” I glanced back at him and he was staring me so intensely I fought the urge to look away.
“Hey, what?” he asked, placing his hand on mine. I liked how his fingers gripped onto me.
“I’m a lot braver than I look.”
“I’m glad.” He focused on the road in front of him.
We drove on in a comfortable silence, while his thumb rubbed circles on the back of my hand. It felt like he was either trying to calm me or comfort me, and I didn’t know why until we pulled into the Sky House. Speechless, I turned to him.
