"You're not the only one with secrets," Chris muttered.
Callie's heart stopped. "Wha-what do you mean?"
"You never told me you owned this building till the day we argued."
"Oh." Callie sighed with relief. Her biggest secret was still safe. "Oh...well. You never asked and it's never come up."
"Hmm." Chris turned and placed the empty beer bottle on the floor before grabbing and opening a new one.
"Why did you leave the military?" She asked him, curious of the life she hadn't known he lived.
"I was deployed to Iraq." He held up two fingers. "Twice."
"How old were you when you first left?"
"Eighteen."
Callie's eyes widened. "Wow. You were just a baby."
Chris shook his head. "Not in the military I wasn't. I saw things...did things that I'm not proud of."
Callie's heart went out to him. "You must have been terrified."
"No, at first I wasn't. I felt big and bad, a true American soldier. A hero. Then the attacks happened and I lost most of the friends I made." Chris stared at the bottle in his hand, lost in the memory of the war. "I barely made it out alive, myself. There were a lot of close calls."
"Do you wanna talk about them?"
He shook his head. "No. I never want to tell anyone what I saw...what I had to do to keep the rest of my men alive." He closed his eyes as if the memory pained him. "I quit as soon as my contract was up."
"How long?"
"Four years."
"Chris..." she hesitated, not knowing what to say or how to wipe the painful look on his face. "I'm sorry."
"Me too." And what he meant by that, she didn't know. He never elaborated. Chris closed his eyes and soon he was fast asleep.
Callie reached out and took the full beer bottle in his hand and placed it on the nightstand beside the bed. Sliding off the bed, she went to her closet and took out a large blue blanket and draped it over him.
"You must have been through a lot in the military," she said to his sleeping face sympathetically. She turned off the T.V and climbed back into bed with him, snuggling beside him. "Good night, my love. May your dreams be without nightmares." And before she lost her nerve, she leaned forward and planted a hesitant kiss on his forehead.
Sighing, she settled back down on her side and stared at him. He looked like an innocent little boy in his slumber. Callie closed her eyes but it was an hour later before she could drift off to sleep.
Chapter Nine
Callie woke up with Chris's face hovering inches above hers.
Startled, Callie shrieked and jumped forward only to collide her forehead with his. They both hissed, rubbing their foreheads and glaring at each other.
"Hey, what the hell was that for?" Chris shot at her.
"Me!?" Callie cried, her heart pounding uncontrollably against her chest. "Wha-what about you!? Why were you staring at me like some perv in my sleep?"
Chris snorted and rolled out of bed. "I'm not a pervert. I was staring at you because..."
"Because what?" Callie asked when he trailed off. She pressed her right hand against her chest, trying to calm her furiously beating heart. He had given her such a fright!
"You mumble in your sleep."
Callie stared at him, mouth hanging open. "You were staring at me cause I mumble in my sleep?"
"You also look girly."
That statement stopped her heart from beating real fast. "W-what?"
Chris combed his hair back with his fingers and eyed her. "You know...you look girly when you're sleeping."
Callie swallowed. "Ha! F-first you accuse me of being a gay man now I look girly?" Callie laughed. "Boy you're something else." She kept laughing, probably sounding like a lunatic.
Chris's eyes narrowed at her and she laughed harder. Shaking his head, Chris shrugged. "You're right, my bad. You kind of remind me of Abel when he was bigger though. He looked a little feminine when he was overweight and when he lost it...hell he still looked feminine. Not that he minded, the guy loves his looks."
Huh. That certainly would explain why he had mistaken her for a man in the first place. And since she dressed in boy clothes with a boyish haircut, that alongside with lying to him all this time about her gender, there was actually no reason why he'd think that she was in fact...a she. She has never lead him to believe that she was.
Callie stopped laughing. "You two look alike."
Chris glared at her. "You saying I look feminine?"
She shook her head. "No I mean...the color of your eyes and your mannerisms. You're both cocky as hell." And Chris is pretty but in a manly way.
"Runs in the family," Chris frowned. "Come on, get up. I'll fix us some breakfast."
Callie looked at the clock on her nightstand and frowned. Breakfast? It was already passed twelve in the afternoon. "It's Monday. Don't you have work?"
"I called in." Chris told her, already walking out her door. And that's when she noticed it. Chris only had blue boxers on. Jaw dropping, she watched him confidently walk out her room like he owned the place.
Shoving the blankets off of her, she almost got tangled in the sheets and practically fell out of bed trying to rush after him. Stopping in front of her bedroom door, she had a good view of him standing in her kitchen, looking in her top cabinets for cookware. She leaned against the doorframe, admiring his sleek muscles and that oh so sexy six-pack. Even though his legs were a little bit hairy, she loved how strong and firm they looked.
Hubba, hubba, Callie thought, running her tongue across her bottom lip because they suddenly felt dry. My, my, God had outdone himself when he created Chris. It was like he had clapped his mighty hands together and shouted "LET THERE BE HOTNESS" and out popped Chris.
"Come help me make breakfast," Chris told her when he caught sight of her standing by the door. "Do you want your eggs scrambled or sunny side up?"
"Scrambled," Callie said, noting that Chris had a bit of a bed head but it looked sultry and sexy on him.
Chris was already heating the skillet up on the stove. "Sunny side up," he said, making a showing of spinning around and cracking the eggs on the skillet before pouring the yokes inside. "Coming right up."
Grinning, Callie walked in the kitchen and flipped on the small purple radio on the counter. "I like listening to music when I cook. Food always taste better."
"Oh yeah?" Chris lifted a brow at her. "How about we sing for our supper?"
Callie laughed when he howled and started singing along with the oldies song playing on the radio. "Well shake it up baby now!" He used the spatula as a microphone, twisting his hips back and forth. "Twist and shout! Come, come, come baby now! Come on and work it on out!"
Clapping her hands, Callie joined him. "Well work it on out, honey!" She grabbed the large wooden spoon off the rack and used it as her microphone. "You know you look so good!"
Chris pointed the spatula at her. "Look so good!"
Callie snapped her fingers and smoothly spun around. "You know you got me goin' now! Just like I knew you would."
Both she and Chris howled: "Oooooooooooh!"
And that's what they spent the next two minutes doing, cooking and singing along with The Beatles "Twist and Shout". Well Chris did the cooking and singing while Callie danced and sang along with him.
When the doorbell buzzed, she and Chris were laughing so hard that they almost didn't hear it. "Wait," Callie wheezed, waving the wooden spoon at him before putting it on the counter. "I'll be right back." She sailed to the front door, still chuckling as she opened it.
"Callie!"
Callie's smile froze and the laughter died in her throat. Her eyes widened so big that it hurt. "S-Sarah!"
"Hi!" Her sister Sarah smiled prettily at her, looking pretty in a flowery sun dress. "Well, aren't you happy to see us? Mom's been asking you to visit us while we were still in Seattle but you kept blowing us off so...here we are."
"Surprise!" Hannah cried, making jazz hands. Like Sarah, she too w
as wearing a sundress but hers was completely yellow.
Oh shit. Callie stared at her sisters. "I-I thought you guys left on Sunday."
"Our folks did," Hannah smiled brightly, "but Sarah and I decided to stay and visit you for a day. Greg's here too."
Double shit.
"Well?" Sarah lifted that familiar condescending brow at her. "Aren't you going to let us in?"
Callie kept staring at them, mind going blank. "Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuh-"
"Cal?" Chris called from the kitchen. "Who is it?"
Oh no! Chris! Callie looked behind her. How could she forget about him!?
"Who is that?" Hannah asked noisily, trying to peek inside.
"No one." Callie quickly stepped outside and closed the door. "Um...no one."
"Well it didn't sound like 'no one'," Sarah mocked, sounding like an uppity southern belle. "There's a man inside your apartment, Callie."
Hannah squealed. "Ooooh! Who is he? Tell! Tell!"
"He's just my neighbor," Callie told them, blocking the door with her body so that Hannah couldn't barge in her apartment.
"Just?" Sarah lifted up both blonde brows. "What's he doing in there?"
"We're making breakfast, Sarah."
"It's way past noon."
Callie rolled her eyes. She did not miss this part about Sarah, miss Queen Bee. "So what?"
Sarah stared down at her younger sister, a bit startled that she'd take that tone with her. Callie has always been timid but now she seemed...a bit outspoken. "Hmph!" Sarah raised her head. "Let us in."
"No." Callie glared at her. "Sorry, Sarah but this is my home, not Mama's. You can't make me do anything I don't want to do."
Hannah's eyes widened, looking between her and Sarah. Callie's never stood up to Sarah like this before. Looks like their little sister had grown a backbone!
"Cal." Chris opened the door. "What's going on?"
All the ladies froze, looking up at Chris and his near nakedness with wide eyes. Callie groaned, Hannah fanned herself with a hand and Sarah blinked at him.
"Who," Sarah bit out, "is this?"
"Chris," Callie said quickly, shoving Chris inside. "My neighbor! I told you that." When Chris wouldn't budge all the way in, she rammed her elbow on his stomach. Chris went inside the apartment with a painful "Oof!"
"Stay there," she pointed warningly at her sisters. "I'll be right back." She slammed the door on their startled faces and locked it for good measure. Letting out a deep breath, she turned and pressed her back against the door.
Chris was glaring at her, rubbing his stomach. "What the hell was that for!?"
Callie winched. "Sorry."
Still rubbing his stomach, he glanced at the door behind her. "Who were they?"
"Uuuuuh." Think Callie think! "My sister and my...ex-fiance?"
Chris's brows shot up. "Huh. Really? Which one?"
Callie stared at him, dear caught in the headlight look on her face. "Which one what?"
"Which one is your ex? The short one or the tall blonde one?"
"The tall one."
Chris nodded. "Well...aren't you going to let them in?"
"No!" Callie shook her head, spreading her arms across the door. "No! Um...I...I still can't get over her. I'm, uh...I don't wanna see her right now." Oh Callie you big fat liar! She was just digging herself in a deeper grave.
Chris looked at her sympathetically. "Damn, sorry. Want me to tell her to get lost?"
Callie shook her head. "N-no. I'll tell her. You just stay right there okay? Please?"
Frowning, Chris nodded. "Sure. I'll just finish breakfast and set the table. Go on and talk to her. Take your time."
"Thanks." Feeling extremely guilty for lying to him because he was being so understanding, Callie unlocked the door and flew back out. She closed it firmly behind her before her sisters could take advantage and rush in.
"Oh my." Hannah fanned herself. "That man is fine!"
Callie smiled weakly but felt a sense of pride. "Yeah, yeah he is."
"You seem to be doing better than we thought," Sarah admitted. "Mama was sure that you'd come running back to us a month after you left."
"Well bully for her," Callie snapped. "You see that I'm perfectly fine now why don't you two go home now?"
Hannah pouted. "But I want to talk to Chris."
"He's mine," Callie growled before she could stop herself. Oh crap.
"Yours?" Sarah crossed her arms. "Well, looks like you're not pining over Greg after all."
"Callie," Hannah said, staring at her. "What on earth have you done with your hair? Mama's gonna have a fit when she sees that you've cut all those beautiful golden locks and dyed it!"
"It's my hair," Callie snapped. "I can do what I want with it."
"And what's with this new attitude?" Sarah huffed. "Seattle's bad for you, dear."
"Oh do shut up, Sarah," Callie said, mocking her sister's uppity southern belle accent.
"You look like a boy," Sarah pointed out acidly.
"And you're a bitch."
Hannah gasped. "Oh...wow. Callie that was a little uncalled for don't you think? We came all this way just to visit you."
"No you didn't." Callie laughed without humor, completely out of patience with two older sisters. "You two came here to see if I'd come groveling back as soon as I saw you two. Probably even here to snoop. Right, Sarah?"
"You're being disrespectful," Sarah stomped her foot. "I won't have it, Callie"
"You wont have to," Callie smiled sweetly at them both. "Because we're through here."
"Keep acting like that," Sarah said, suddenly looking smug, "and I won't invite you to my wedding."
Callie blinked. "Wedding?"
Sarah took out a white envelope from the small pink purse she had been holding on the crook of her arm. Smiling, She stretched the letter out to Callie. "Yes, my wedding. I'm getting married...to Gregory."
Callie stared at the invitation. She couldn't bring herself to take it but at the same time, she didn't feel anything. Not envy or hate. Sarah was getting married to her ex-fiance, that wasn't at all surprising to her. Sarah had always had an eye out for Greg.
Looking up at her older sister by two years, Callie smiled sweetly at her. "Wow, congrats, Sarah! I wish you a happy life with my leftover. Bu-bye." Callie turned and opened the door. She stepped in and slammed in close behind her and locked it.
"Didn't go so well?" Chris asked her as soon as she entered the kitchen.
Callie smiled, feeling like a brand new person. "No, actually...it went perfectly fine."
"What did she want?"
"Um..." Callie cleared her throat. "She said she's um...getting married again."
"Huh." Chris looked towards the door. "Good for her I guess." He paused and studied Callie. "You okay?"
Callie nodded. Actually, she was. "Yeah, I'm fine. Guess I'm not as hung up about her as I thought."
"Good for you." Chris walked around the kitchen table and gave her shoulder a manly pat. "You're moving on, that's a big step. Proud of you, buddy. And besides, she looked a bit stuck up for you."
Callie stared up at him, taken aback. "So...you didn't think she was pretty?" Men always thought that Sarah was pretty.
Chris frowned and shrugged. "Yeah, she's a pretty one but looks too high and mighty for my taste. She looks like the type that would want her husband to cater to her every whim. I feel bad for the sorry fellow that gets stuck with her."
Callie grinned. "I don't." Good riddance to Greg. Sarah can have him. And if Chris was able to correctly assume all those things about her sister, she just wished that he was as perceptive with Brenda.
Chris lifted up a brow at her but didn't comment. Instead he changed the subject. "Come on, let's eat. Afterwards we'll hit the gym."
She groaned. "Again? Chris you're going to kill me!"
"Hey." Chris pointed a finger at her. "No slacking. Slack too much and you'll get lazy again."
Callie stuck a tongue out at him and he chuc
kled, taking a seat beside her. In the inside, though she hated the thought of going back to workout, she was delighted at the thought of being able to spend the rest of the day with Chris.
As she sat beside him, eating and chattering, she'd steal glances his way, loving his smile, his laughter, the warmth in his blue eyes. He may think of her as a man, but right then under his attention, Callie felt like the luckiest woman in the world.
Chapter Ten
The next three weeks was both torturous and sweet for Callie.
Torturous because everyday Chris would drag her out to exercise, eventually forcing her to join the YMCA with him and sweet because everyday she was able to spend hours with the man she loved and adored. Combined with a strict diet and strict workout routines, Callie was also happy that all her hard work was paying off because she was dropping pounds like mad!
Chris was both a fun and strict partner and by the end of the third week since she had started seriously working out, she was able to shed twenty pounds.
"The heavier you are," Chris had explained to her when she had stared at him with amazement after weighin, "the faster you lose the weight."
To Callie, even though she still had a long way to go to being skinny, the improvements of being twenty pounds less was exciting. One day she looked in the mirror and was amazed to see that her face was less puffy. Yes, she still had chubby cheeks put it wasn't as bad as before. Her face was starting to smooth out a bit and so was her chin. She hardly had a double chin anymore!
She had been so excited at the discovery that she ran out her apartment, pounded on Chris's door and tackled him the second he opened the door. Her excitement and happiness was so infectious that Chris only laughed with her, praising her for being such a good sport and actually sticking to the diet he had given her. In the end he promised to take her out to celebrate, just two of them.
And that was the biggest reward he could ever give her. Going out to celebrate with just the two of them? Booya!
On the other note, while Chris was both excited and happy for his friend, 'Cal', he couldn't shake off the feeling that there was something strange with his growing friendship with him. There had been times when he would find himself staring with bemusement at Cal, his brain trying to point out why he suddenly felt weird around him.
Big Fat Liar 2 (Big Fat Liar #2) Page 3
