Educating Callie

by Emma Jayne Mills

  “Good,” He nodded taking the beer Cameron handed him. He narrowed his eyes at me; he could see the cracks opening. There would be no fooling this man, not like I could the others and even Cam to a certain extent. It seemed Adam could see straight into me, right into the very core of my darkness. There was no hiding from him and I didn’t know how I felt about that.

  “Hey Cal, did you eat?” Cameron asked me, rummaging around in the kitchen.

  “Hmm? What? Oh, yeah, I ate.” I replied, snapping out of my new found interest in my book long enough to answer him.

  “Dinner? Only this lasagne hasn’t been touched?” He questioned as he stopped to look over at me, frowning.

  “I made it for you.” I told him, not looking up. And then it happened. The book ended on a cliff hanger, seriously who does that? And I now had a year to wait for the next one.

  “Oh! Oh! Oh!” I screeched, Adam’s head snapped up in my direction.

  “We call that a nerdgasm. She has them often.” Cam explained matter of factly to Adam, who nodded slowly. “Callie, what did you eat?”

  “Ice cream.” I said, looking at him out of the corner of my eye to gage his reaction.

  “Callie!” Cam was annoyed.

  “What? Ice cream can be dinner. It was strawberry cheesecake flavour...strawberries are fruit...cheesecake has cheese...fruit and cheese can be dinner...I ate dinner.” I reasoned with a shrug.

  Adam and Cameron exchanged a look. I don’t know what it meant. Probably something along the lines of “she’s hopeless what shall we do with her” or “do you want to put her out of her misery or shall I?” Whatever it was I’m sure they knew what it meant. That’s when I realised my brother had some kind of bromance thing going on with his new boss. Huh...

  “Alright, I’m heating this lasagne up and you’ll eat with us. You want salad Cal?” Cameron asked

  “Nah, I had fruit.” I murmured, head in my book again re-reading the end to make sure I hadn’t missed anything.

  Cam muttered something under his breath and Adam laughed.

  *****

  Chapter Four

  I ignored each of the single red roses that appeared on my doorstep for five days running. I ignored the boxes of truffle filled chocolates too and they had gone in the bin unopened, lest my brother see them and flip his lid. Nick had joked that I should save them for his brother Ethan, when he rang and I swore him to secrecy about it. Ethan was a chocoholic and would be devastated at me throwing away perfectly good chocolate.

  Jase was obviously trying to woo me back, but, as I’d told Adam, I wasn’t giving an inch if the idiot couldn’t at the very least remember that firstly I hated milk chocolate and secondly, my favourite flowers were gerberas. Even then I wasn’t really that into receiving them as a gift. Flowers reminded me of my parent’s deaths. The house had been filled with them for weeks afterwards, tokens from well wishers. One day I had gone around the house screaming and shouting that none of it mattered, that a bunch of dying weeds would never make a difference and I’d thrown them all out in my fit of rage. Jase had been there that day. He’d talked me down. You’d think he would remember something like that. Although maybe even if he had remembered those things I still wouldn’t have budged. Seven years too late and all that.

  Our laughter came to an abrupt halt and the smile dropped from my face like lead as my eyes met Jase’s familiar gaze across the bar. It was early in the evening, I was working and Cam, Adam and Greg had come in for a drink after their shift had ended, as was the norm for most of the police officers in town.

  I felt Mick’s body stiffen beside me, “Say the word love and his feet won’t touch the floor.” He said in his Irish brogue. It was too early for Vinnie or any of the door staff to be in yet, so Jase had been able to walk right in without a drama. Not that he was barred, but Vinnie wouldn’t have let him in without a warning at the very least.

  “Okay?” Adam mouthed at me, eyeing Jase as he walked towards the bar. I nodded and mouthed the word back. I was okay, until I glanced at my brother’s furious expression and my dinner threatened to perform an encore. I knew full well Cameron was under the impression he had somehow managed to keep Jase away from the house over the last week. He hadn’t called the landline and if he’d been ringing my mobile I wouldn’t have known.

  Jase stopped opposite me at the bar and leant towards me slightly, hands in the pockets of his faded blue jeans. He was wearing a grey hoodie underneath his black leather biker jacket. His entire outfit screamed bad boy and he knew damned well I loved that look on him.

  “Cee we need to talk.” He said quietly, I blanched at the use of the shortened version of my name. “I’ve been blowing up your phone all week babe.”

  “I lost it.” I blurted and frowned, not really knowing why I’d explained myself to him. “I have nothing to say to you Jase. And you can stop with the flowers and shit. I don’t want them.”

  “What flowers? CeeCee look, I’ve got plenty to say to you, so maybe you could just listen? Let me explain.” The irritation is his tone was obvious. Cameron’s head snapped up and he took a step towards Jase. I threw a panicked look towards Mick, who put a hand on my shoulder to reassure me.

  “My sister said she doesn’t want to speak to you Jase.” Cameron glared at him as he spoke.

  “And I said she can listen!” Jase snapped, his eyes not leaving mine. I know I flinched slightly at the threat implied in his voice, I had never seen this side of Jase before. I knew he could take care of himself and didn’t put up with crap from anyone, but I had never seen him this confrontational. He didn’t pick fights. It was as though a complete stranger stood in front of me and it scared me.

  Greg stepped up beside Cameron so that they were obscuring his view of me, “You need to leave Jase.”

  Jase looked past them both at me, “CeeCee, I made a mistake. A drunken, stupid mistake. Are you seriously never going to get over it? You can’t hold one night against me forever babe. Shit, it wasn’t even a night. It was a few minutes and I haven’t even thought about her since. She’s not the one on my mind Cee, you are. It’s always been you. This is us baby, we’re forever.”

  “Please go Jase.” I said quietly, desperately fighting back the tears that threatened. I still loved him, I realised in that moment, even after what he had done, I still loved him. There was going to be no quick, dignified demise to our relationship. I don’t know how I managed to fool myself into thinking I could just walk away from him. This was not going to be easy. We were going to be messy and we were going to hurt and there was going to be ugly crying.

  “NO!” He leaned over the bar, reaching for my arm, but Mick was faster than him. In the blink of an eye he had moved me behind him, placed one hand on the bar and leaped, clearing it in one fluid movement and landing, sure footedly, in front of Jase causing him to stagger back a step.

  “You’re leaving now Jason. Let’s not have any confusion in the matter.” Mick said calmly, his voice low and threatening as he looked down at Jase. Jase wasn’t short by any means, but Mick had inches and brawn on him. “This is my pub and I don’t take kindly to folks upsetting my staff. So, you’re going to either walk out of here under your own steam or I can assist you. The choice is yours.”

  Jase glared back at him, standing his ground, as Adam moved in beside Mick. “You heard the man.” He said, his voice mimicking the same low, menacing tone that Mick’s had.

  “You again? What are you her bodyguard?” Jase snarled at Adam.

  “Callie has made it clear she doesn’t want your company. You need to leave her alone.” Adam told him in no uncertain terms.

  “This isn’t over CeeCee. We aren’t over!” Jase looked at me and I lowered my eyes because I knew if I kept looking at him I would break.

  “Oh, you’re definitely over.” Adam assured him, taking another step towards him.

  “And you’re not going to come near her again.” Cam added, stepping up beside Adam. “You’re not going to attempt t
o contact her. You’re not going to even look in her direction. I’ll make this official if I have to Jase.”

  Jase seemed to realise in that moment that he was fighting a losing battle and he turned on his heel and left. I looked from Cameron to Adam and back again. Cam looked as though he wanted to follow Jase and lay into him and Adam looked as though he wouldn’t be far behind.

  “You can’t go after him.” I told them both, wiping the tears from my face with the sleeves of my checked shirt, rapidly pulling myself together. I couldn’t let them see how Jase had affected me. “Your jobs will be on the line if you even threaten him! You both know that. Please?”

  They both nodded reluctantly, but I felt as though it was only to placate me.

  “And you!” I pointed at Mick as he walked back around the bar to join me. “That thing where you jumped over the bar? Totally hot!”

  “So that’s how it is, I see. He gets totally hot and we get told off like naughty school boys? How does that work?” Adam was unimpressed but Mick laughed and threw an arm around my shoulders.

  “Erm...I really don’t need to be told I’m totally hot by my sister buddy.” Cam frowned into his empty beer bottle, as if wondering how it got that way.

  “Granted, that would be weird, but thanks wouldn’t go a miss.” Adam winked at me.

  “Alright, I’ll buy you both a beer to make up for it.” I compromised, opening the fridge behind me.

  “Ahem, I was there too!” Greg piped up, a mock look of hurt on his face.

  “Yeah, but you didn’t look as though you were going to follow him out the door, drag him down a dark alley and break both his legs.” I told him, silently thanking every God in the universe that they hadn’t.

  “Face actually. I was thinking face.” Cam said humourlessly as I handed all three of them a beer.

  “So, totally hot eh?” Mick said, grinning at me.

  “Yeah Mick, totally hot.” I laughed, taking a sip from Adam’s beer when he handed it to me.

  *****

  I woke late the next morning with a pounding headache. I’d stayed after work to have a drink with Mick and the others, meaning I had managed to get a few more alcohol induced hours sleep than normal before the nightmare kicked in. I’d woken in the night convinced there was someone outside my window but wasn’t about to get out of bed and check.

  Cam had come running, locking my window and assuring me there was nobody out there and holding me until I fell back to back to sleep. I don’t know how but he always managed to anticipate my nightmare and almost always be there before I woke myself from them. Maybe it was a freaky twin thing. Whatever it was I felt bad that he was now getting the brunt of my nightmares.

  Jase had taken a lot of that pressure off him, being the one I’d spent almost every night with. He had been good at it too and always told me it was his job to keep me safe, that he had failed me once and would never allow anyone to hurt me again. Instead he had ended up hurting me himself. Now he was gone and my poor brother was getting less sleep than me it seemed. Cam had never once complained or made it seem like a burden, he would just pull me close to him and whisper soothing words until I calmed down. He must have been exhausted.

  As I stumbled from the kitchen, where I’d made myself a mug of strong black coffee, I heard a knock on the door. Odd, since none of our friends ever knocked, they just yelled “Incoming” and walked right in.

  A couple of things you should know about me. One, I am not a morning person in any way shape or form. And two, if you turn up at my house you will take me as you find me. If that means I’m in my pjs then that’s what you’ll get. I mean, it’s not like I answer the door naked, I do wear clothes, but I’m not going to run around getting all in a tizz because you caught me without a bra or before I’ve dragged a brush through my hair. I’m just not that girl.

  Cam was already at work, so I opened the door cautiously and breathed a sigh of relief when it was Adam standing on my porch and not Jase with more unwanted gifts. Not that Adam improved my morning mood. My parents had often said I was evil in the mornings and Cam was well rehearsed in noiselessly leaving a cup of tea on my bedside table and making sure he was out the door and on his way to work before I surfaced.

  “Cute.” Adam observed, looking me up and down.

  “Hmm?” I looked up at him, bleary eyed and bad tempered.

  “Stripy socks, I like them. And the erm, pyjamas?” He grinned down at me.

  “Right.” I looked down at myself and realised the sweatshirt I had blindly thrown on earlier when I was cold was the one Adam had leant me and it was covering my pyjama shorts, making it look as though all I was wearing were the knee high socks and his sweatshirt. No wonder he was looking pleased with himself. I rolled my eyes and instantly regretted it when the thudding in my head became louder with the action.

  “Aren’t you going to ask me in?” He said, the grin going nowhere. He was thoroughly enjoying the fact that I was wearing his clothes again. Well newsflash buddy, I was cold and your sweatshirt was convenient. Nothing more to it than that. Probably.

  “Come in.” I said curtly and pushed the door open, sweeping my arm out theatrically. He followed me into the kitchen area, closing the door behind him. He was once again looking hot in his uniform and stood with his hands in the pockets of his black trousers looking down at me.

  “Everything alright?” I asked, narrowing my eyes and cocking my head to one side at him. My patience was not at its strongest in the mornings and I was in no mood for guessing games.

  “Everything’s fine. I just wanted to make sure you were alright after yesterday with Jase. And since I’m guessing you still don’t have a new mobile for me to call you on, I thought I’d make the most of that open invitation. Assuming it still stands, of course?” His smile wavered, and I noticed he was fidgeting and looked nervous. Huh, I unnerved Mr Cool. How about that?

  “Of course it does. Sorry, I’m just not really a morning person.” I rubbed a hand across my forehead, forcing myself to become fully awake and realised I wasn’t being very nice to him. I grabbed his jacket sleeve and tugged him over to the kitchen island where I pushed my cup towards him.

  “I’m glad and I noticed. You hid it well that morning at my place though.” He said, sipping the coffee, the smile back in place.

  I met his gaze and managed a weak smile back. He looked good today, I decided. He did every day, but today he looked extra good. He smelled good too. Ugh! Stupid female hormones.

  “I suppose I was being polite. I did get a new phone.” I confessed, reaching down to the shelf under the island, I pulled out the box and unceremoniously dropped it onto the counter.

  “You haven’t even turned it on yet?” He raised an eyebrow at me inquisitively.

  “I tried.” My defence was weak, “It’s just, I get bored of all that techy stuff really quickly. I can just about mange to send a text message. So, I tend to just leave these things lying around until Cam or Liv take pity on me. It’s charged, Cam did that.”

  “Give it here.” He laughed, shaking his head at me.

  “Oh, I didn’t mean...” I began.

  “How else am I going to get your number?” He stopped me before I could finish. “Ringtone?”

  “Doctor Who!” I grinned; ignoring the warm fuzzies that appeared when I realised Adam wanted my phone number. Well duh, he was my brother’s boss and I was Cam’s next of kin, of course he wanted my number. Definitely not a fuzzy moment Callie!

  “I should have known.” He laughed and asked for our wifi code. Then I watched him as he tapped away at the screen for a few minutes before telling me he had set the Doctor Who theme tune as my ringtone and the TARDIS landing for the text message tone. He played them both back to me and I clapped my hands in delight and announced that Adam was officially the coolest phone setter upper in the history of ever!

  We shared coffee and chatted while Adam continued to fiddle with my phone, downloading the apps that I told him I used. Not that there
were many, I had the social media accounts but I rarely used them. I didn’t like all the random messages from people I didn’t know. And all those people from school who never spoke to me back then and wouldn’t speak if we bumped into each other in person now, so were definitely only being nosey online. All my friends were in my life in person and that was the way I liked it.

  “Cam says you have nightmares, about the abduction.” Adam ventured.

  “ Yep! I spend my nights chained to a wall in a dark cellar with a psycho in a ski mask, while he cuts me to ribbons with a hunting knife. Such fun!” I laughed sarcastically.

  Adam didn’t gasp in shock or pity me. Neither did he chastise me for making light of it the way most people did when I joked about my dreams. Instead he nodded in understanding and told me about his own nightmares.

  “I used to have nightmares about my brother’s death all the time. Sometimes I would get there in time to save him, only for the gun man to kill someone else in his place, others it’s a full on flashback of the entire night.” He told me.

  “How did you make them stop?” I asked, ready to give anything a try.

  “Actually, I think you did.” He looked up at me, thoughtfully.

  “What do you mean?” I frowned.

  “I was still having them, every night, until you landed on my doorstep. That night, with you in my arms was the first full night’s sleep I’ve had in over a year. Haven’t had any since.” He shrugged.

  “I didn’t dream that night either.” I confessed. “Maybe we chased each other’s nightmares away.”

  “Hmmm, only I obviously wasn’t as good at the task in hand as you were, since yours came back.” He looked back down at the phone in his hand, his fingers once again tapping away.