Approaching the Bench

by Chantal Fernando

  Him.

  And something good came out of this.

  I don’t know how it happened, but it did. The attraction was always there, but I ignored it, or at least I tried to. I don’t know. Something always set me on edge about Callum, but really it was because I was drawn to him. I expel a deep sigh and pull the sheets over my head. Here, in this house with him, everything seems so simple, but out there it’s not. Things have changed though, I have changed. My world view has been turned upside down all because of this one thing that happened, and now I see things so differently. The shower turns off, and a few moments later Callum returns to the room, so I lower the sheet and roll over onto my back. His towel is wrapped around his narrow waist, droplets of water still on his chest.

  “Don’t give me that look,” he murmurs, grabbing some fresh boxers from his bag and sliding them on.

  “What look?” I ask him, feigning innocence.

  “Like you want to lick me from head to toe, because otherwise I’ll be back in bed with you instead of cooking dinner, and I know you have to be hungry by now.” He grins at me and adds, “I fed one hunger, now I need to feed the other.”

  My stomach chooses this moment to grumble loudly, and Callum chuckles. “See, I told you. How do you like your steak?”

  “Medium rare, please,” I tell him, mentally preparing myself to get out of bed and into the shower. I also need to change these sheets, and then I’ll help him with dinner.

  Callum disappears into the kitchen, and I force myself out of bed.

  My other hunger calls.

  THE LOCAL SHERIFF DROPS by to check in on us just as we’ve finished dinner.

  “How are you finding the town?” he asks as he sits at our table, drinking a coffee I made him. I don’t know how good it is, but he hasn’t flinched or complained about it. I didn’t miss Callum’s amused grin as I offered him one, but I’m not a rude host.

  “It’s very . . . different to what we’re used to,” I say, trying to be diplomatic. “We didn’t get to see much today except for the creek, so we’re going to do some exploring tomorrow. Do you have anything you’d suggest for us to check out?”

  He scratches his bald head. “Our pub has great food. We have a rodeo on the weekend that will be fun. What else?” He’s racking his brain for things for us to see, probably not a good sign. “I’ll see what my wife can come up with and let you know.”

  “Sounds great,” I say.

  Once he leaves, Callum and I are cleaning up the kitchen when I hear a bang. I still, my hands in the soapy dishwater as I look to Callum, to see if he heard it too. He puts down the cloth in his hands from where he was wiping down the counters and moves toward the front door. I quickly remove my hands from the water and wipe them dry, then pull out the knife I’d grabbed when Shaun was at the front door. It could be the sheriff; maybe he forgot something. Or maybe Shaun has returned to ask for something—we are his closest neighbors after all. Are we being paranoid? Maybe it’s a fucking bear, or deer, or something. What animals do they get out here? I have no idea. When we don’t hear a second sound, I think that it definitely must have been an animal or something, until another bang.

  This time on the back door.

  “Callum,” I whisper, fear hitting me. It sounds like someone is trying to kick the back door in. Callum grabs the phone and hands it to me.

  “Go into my bedroom, call the sheriff or police station, and lock yourself in,” he demands, pushing me toward the door. “Don’t come out, Trinny, no matter what, all right?”

  I nod and do as I’m told, calling the sheriff’s mobile number. When he doesn’t answer, I call the police station and tell them to send someone to the property, now. I don’t listen to the rest of Callum’s orders though, because there’s no way in hell I’m going to lock myself into a room and hide while he faces my enemies for me. I might not be much, but two is still better than one. I’m not going to lie: I’m shit scared. Adrenaline is pumping through my body, and my fight-or-flight instinct is at war between the two options, but my mind, my strongest weapon, is telling me to fight.

  Fight, Trinity. Fight.

  I walk toward the back door just as it bangs open and Trevor steps inside, a sneer on his face. It’s not him I concentrate on though, it’s the man behind him.

  A man I haven’t seen in years.

  Callum grabs my arm and pulls me behind him. He’s armed himself with a knife too, I’m guessing because he couldn’t find anything else, considering the shit he gave me for it the first time. “Pretty sure I told you to stay in the room.”

  “Not going to let you fight my battle alone,” I tell him, then step out from behind him and ask the men, “How did you find me?”

  Trevor answers, even though it’s not him I want to hear from. “We followed the sheriff here. He’s not the smartest tool in the shed.”

  “How did you know we were in this town in the first place?” I ask, my eyes still on the man behind Trevor, Luke Templeton. He’s aged over the years, but I never forget a face, especially not this one.

  This is the face of a man who ruined my life.

  “The police are inadequate,” Trevor says. “All you need to know is the right people, Trinity, and any information is available.”

  “And you know the right people?”

  “Let’s just say there’s a reason I was let out early, Judge. My uncle is on the parole board, and he has a lot of cop connections. All it took was one phone call to find out your location.”

  How did I miss this? His uncle? I hope I get out of this alive to make sure he loses his job and potentially goes to prison himself.

  I look to Luke. “Did you put him up to this?”

  Luke glances down at Trevor. “He’s my son.”

  It all suddenly makes sense.

  Trevor might have a reason to dislike me, but it’s his father who has plenty of reason to hate me, and I to hate him. He took more away from me than anyone ever could.

  Callum takes my arm. “Who is he, Trinity?”

  My hand tightens around the knife handle. “Luke was the pilot when the private plane crashed that killed my parents, four air hostesses, and the copilot. He’s the only one who survived.”

  And when it came out that Luke was flying while under the influence, I took him to court. I hired a lawyer, and I sued him. The lawyer did my case pro bono. He said he had a daughter my age and hoped if she was ever in the same situation, someone would help her. He put the money we won in a trust for me, one that I could only touch when I became of age. I didn’t want any of my foster families trying to take the money. Luke lost his job, and I was given the large payout. He killed my family, and I took away his identity, his career, and any respect he ever had. He became a nobody, a disgrace to his employers, and the man who cost them their business.

  But he got to keep his life, and his family, which is more than I can say for myself.

  And he has a son who he got to raise, while I was sent off to foster care, where not all of the families I was sent to were good people. I’ve been hit before; I’ve been left to go hungry. I’ve been through it all, and still, this bastard is here, in front of me, set on revenge, when ultimately he had the better life out of the two of us.

  This right here shows who is weak and who is strong between us.

  I took a worse situation and used it to fuel my accomplishments, while he used revenge to fuel hatred and blame.

  “And then you took everything from me,” Luke fires back, eyes filled with dark hate.

  “And now what? You’re here to kill me? Killing my parents and leaving me an orphan wasn’t enough?” I yell, losing my temper. My fear starts to fade away, anger now pumping through my veins. “I lost everything just because you couldn’t control your drinking and decided to fly that plane drunk!”

  It was him driving the getaway car when Trevor tried to grab me, him who pulled the gun out that day.

  “You never told me that, Dad,” Trevor murmurs, studying his father,
confusion written on his face. “You were drunk when you crashed?”

  “Does it matter?” Luke snarls back at his son, fists clenching. “It’s because of her I lost my job, my house, my car . . . everything. And then your mother left me too. It’s all her fault, and now she’s going to pay for the shit life she left me with.”

  He pulls out a gun.

  His hands are shaking, but I don’t think it’s from nerves. It’s from excitement. He’s wanted this moment for so long, and I don’t think he even cares if he has to do time.

  I need to protect myself, protect Callum.

  All we have are these kitchen knives, and unless I suddenly learn how to throw before he shoots me, I have no chance.

  My mind flashes to something Faye Black, a lawyer I know, once said to me. She said, A woman needs to learn how to use all kinds of weapons. At the end of the day, all you have to protect yourself and your loved ones is yourself.

  She invited me over to teach me.

  I declined.

  And now I’m going to die because of it.

  Being antisocial is literally going to be the death of me.

  Before my eyes can even adjust to take it in, Luke cocks the gun at me, aims, and pulls the trigger. I close my eyes and brace myself for the impact, but it never comes. Opening them, I scream “No!” as Callum steps in front of me, the bullet hitting him in the stomach. He falls to the ground at the same time I hear the sirens.

  The cops are here, and Callum is starting to bleed out. Before I lower myself to help him, I throw the knife. A gamble, I know, but I have nothing to lose. I don’t even look where it ends up, I throw myself onto Callum and try to stop the bleeding with my hands.

  “What have you done?” I ask him, my whole body shaking as I realize that I could lose him when I just found him. The cops rush in and I hear one of them call for an ambulance. The others rush around the property, trying to catch Trevor. Luke, I see, is on the ground, my knife sticking out of his chest, but he’s alive, and watching me as he gets arrested.

  A cop kneels down next to me and applies pressure to Callum’s bullet wound. Callum has lost consciousness, and I don’t know what to do.

  “Will he be okay?” I ask.

  I don’t hear his answer, because I go into shock.

  Suddenly, everything is black.

  chapter 15

  CALLUM

  WHEN I WAKE UP, everything hurts, even to breathe. I open my eyes and glance around the hospital room. Trinity is asleep, her face on my mattress, her body slumped in a chair. She looks uncomfortable but so peaceful that I don’t want to wake her. I have no idea what happened in that farmhouse; I just remember Luke trying to shoot Trinity and my stepping in to shield her, the bullet hitting me instead.

  At least she’s okay, and next to me.

  If I woke up and something had happened to her, I would have set the fucking town on fire. I reach out and gently touch her arm, needing her skin on mine. The motion pulls at my chest and hurts like hell, but I don’t care. I wonder if Justin heard about me getting shot and if he’s okay. I hope all of this is over now.

  Trinny lifts her head and looks at me. “You’re awake.”

  I nod. “Are you okay?”

  She nods and moves closer to me. “Both of them were arrested. I called Justin and Eddie; they’re with your father. They’re all coming to see you. They should be here this afternoon, and then when the doctor says it’s okay, we can all go home together.”

  “We’re still in the middle of nowhere?” I ask, surprised they even have a hospital here.

  “No. We’re back in the city, they had to fly us here to the closest hospital,” she explains. I move over and let her lay next to me. She’s so careful not to put any of her weight on me, when all I want is her all over me.

  “It’s meant to be me in this bed right now,” she whispers, and her voice cracks at the end.

  “I don’t think your old body could have taken it, babe,” I reply, and she makes a sound of frustration. I sigh, and tell her, “If you thought I was going to sit there and let someone I care about take a bullet when I can protect them, you don’t know me at all. I’d take that bullet for you over and over again, Trinny.”

  It’s then that Medusa herself starts to cry, overcome with emotion. I rub her back, trying to comfort her, telling her that it’s okay.

  “We’re both alive, and the bad guys are caught, and our family and friends are safe; this is all that we wanted, right?”

  She nods. “Yeah, but you weren’t meant to get shot, Callum.”

  “I’m fine,” I assure her. “We won this.”

  “Was it a competition?” she asks, her voice a mixture of laughter and tears. “Like some fucking Hunger Games or something?”

  “Not quite, but we made it, so stop crying. We might have to tell everyone to stop calling you Medusa otherwise; I don’t think she cries at all,” I say, trying to change the subject. I don’t like to see her upset, and I know it must take something huge to make her like this, because she can usually shield all her reactions so well. Or maybe her guard is completely down around me now, and there will be no more shields or walls at all.

  I hope so.

  We both fall asleep, and when I wake up next it’s to a doctor checking my vitals. “Will I be okay, Doc?” I ask her, whispering so I don’t wake up Trinny.

  She nods. “You were very lucky. If that bullet hit you more to the left . . .” She shakes her head. “And you lost a lot of blood, Mr. Hopkins, but I have no doubt you’ll make a full recovery.”

  “Thank you,” I tell her, then glance down at Trinny. “You’re right. I am lucky.”

  In more ways than one.

  “YOU LET HIM WHAT?” I ask Eddie, scowling at my best friend.

  “It was just a small party at my house.” Eddie shrugs, ignoring the smoke coming out of my ears. “Don’t act like we never had any parties.”

  I sigh and look to Trinny, who just laughs. “At least they had a good time.”

  “It was fine,” Justin assures me. He was almost crying when he saw me lying in here, but now I think he knows I’m going to be okay. They’ve been catching me up on what I’ve missed. It seems like I’ve been gone for a month or something, but it’s only been a couple of nights now. My dad is on his way, and I know just how worried about me he must be. “We cleaned up after and everything.”

  “And we found out who vandalized Justin’s car.” Eddie smirks, shoulders shaking as he clearly can’t keep the laughter inside anymore.

  “Who?” I ask, glancing between the two of them.

  “Justin’s new girlfriend,” Eddie says, avoiding the kick Justin tries to give him.

  Wait, what?

  “I thought you didn’t have a girlfriend?”

  “I didn’t,” Justin explains, shifting in his seat. “But, well, Lauren came up to me and admitted that she liked me and that she was upset that I hooked up with Fiona and then . . .”

  I put my hand up. “So she’s crazy and now you’re dating her?”

  Eddie laughs harder. “Exactly what I said.”

  Trinny gives me an evil look. “If Justin likes her, I’m sure she’s lovely.” She then adds under her breath, “Just tell her if she pulls anything like that again I’ll put her ass in jail.” She pauses and adds, “After I get Trevor’s uncle put away.”

  It’s me who laughs this time.

  Looks like my baby brother is going to learn the hard way about crazy girls.

  “They said I can leave tomorrow,” I let them all know. “I can’t wait to go back home and be back in my own bed.” I look to Trinny. “Or to try out your bed.”

  We haven’t spoken about what’s going to happen when we get home, but it’s going to be fine; I can feel it in my bones. There’s no way the two of us are going to walk away from each other.

  No way in hell.

  Priorities have changed, and where Trinny goes, so do I.

  I’ve approached the bench, looked Medusa in the e
ye, and survived.

  Anything is possible.

  epilogue

  TRINITY

  One Year Later

  “WHY ARE YOU MOVING out though?” I ask Justin, sadness taking over me. I only just found out what it’s like to have a sibling, and now it’s being taken away from me. “I know you’ve finished high school, but you always have a home here. I don’t want you to leave.”

  Justin pulls me in for a big, warm hug. “I know, Trinny. It’s just time for me to become a little independent is all. You have a baby on the way, and you and Callum need your own space. Don’t think that I won’t be over every week to see my nephew or niece, because I will.”

  I found out I was pregnant last month.

  It was a surprise, and to be honest a little reckless on our behalf. When I think back though, we didn’t even end up finishing the box of condoms back at the farmhouse, so I guess I’m lucky to not have fallen pregnant even earlier. I never pictured myself being a mother, at least not anytime soon, but from the moment I found out I was pregnant I’ve never loved something so much in my life. I don’t know how good of a mother I’ll be, but I’m going to try to be the best one ever, just like my own mother. And Callum’s mother too.

  “Can we still do Sunday family dinners?” I ask, sulking.

  I’ve really grown attached to Justin and see him as the brother I never had.

  “Of course we can,” Justin says, wrapping his arm around me. “Every damn week. Callum can cook.”

  I smile at that.

  Callum enters the room and wraps his arms around both of us, joining the hug. “What are we having this group hug about?”

  “I told her I’m moving out,” Justin tells his big brother. “And apparently she’s taking it a lot harder than you did.”