“Fuck!” I clutch my face as pain explodes up my cheek, but I’m used to pain enough that I shake it off. For the first time in my life, I take a swing at him. My knuckles pop as he ducks and my hand smashes into the wooden banister.
Seconds later, I’m being tackled to the ground, his arms wrapping around me as he throws us both to the floor. Glass stabs through my shirt and into my muscles as I kick my father in the gut. He slides across the floor, bumping his head into the wall, and I throw my hands up in the air as I scramble to my feet.
“I’m done,” I say and before he can get up, I run out the door.
Luke is waiting in the truck with the engine running. I don’t look back until I’m safely in the cab and the door is shut. Luke’s eyes are bulging as he assesses the glass stuck in my skin, the tears in my shirt, and my cheek that’s swollen double its size.
“What the fuck?” he says. “He’s still doing that shit?”
I shake my head as my dad walks out onto the front porch, eyeing the truck. “Just drive. Take me to Callie’s. I don’t want to be here.”
He reverses the truck onto the main road and I support my injured hand against my chest, keeping my eyes on my father until he disappears out of my sight.
Callie
I can’t sit still. I keep sending him texts, but he won’t answer. My mom gave me a very long lecture about how worried she was that I was gone all night. I let her ramble on, wondering how concerned she’d be if I told her my secret.
After she’s finished, I wait for Kayden in my room above the garage. I feel sticky from last night, like alcohol is coming out of my pores, so I take a shower. Wrapping a towel around me, I comb my fingers through my hair and walk out into the bedroom to get dressed.
Kayden’s sitting on my bed with his back turned to me, his shoulders slouched over, and I leap back, surprised. “Oh.” I cover my mouth with my hand, stepping toward the door, embarrassed I’m only in a towel.
He turns his head to look at me, and I no longer care. His cheek is puffy and red, he has blood and slashes on his shirt, and his knuckles are coated with dry blood.
Securing the towel in a knot, I rush over to him. “What happened?”
He shakes his head, his eyes skimming my barely covered body. “It doesn’t matter anymore. It’s done.”
“What is?”
He holds his hand out toward me, which is trembling. “I tried to hit him and then I kicked him.”
“Your dad?” I ask. “Did he… are you okay?”
“I am now.” He grabs my hips, shuts his eyes and breathes through gritted teeth as he pulls me onto his lap. My lips part in protest as the bottom of the towel opens up and the roughness of his jeans touches my bare skin, but he rests his head on my shoulder and his body starts to tremble. I fasten my jaw shut, close my eyes, and smooth my hand over his hair, fighting back the tears.
I remain motionless, afraid to move, as he struggles for air. After what seems like hours, he lifts his head and his eyes are red.
“I’m sorry,” he says, blowing out a breath as he rubs the palm of his hand against his eye. “It all just caught up with me for a moment.”
“I understand completely,” I tell him and kiss his forehead.
His fingers seek my cheek and he traces a line across my birthmark on my temple. “I’ve never stood up to him before. It was fucking terrifying.”
He’s so much braver than me; standing up to something that’s haunted him since he was a kid. I envy him for it.
I lightly stroke his injured cheek and he flinches. “Do you want me to get you some ice? Bandages? Pain killers? My mom has a ton of them in her medicine cabinet.”
He crooks an eyebrow at me. “Why?”
I shrug. “I asked her once and she said they were from an old cheerleading injury back in high school.”
His eyebrows knit and his swollen eye closes. “Wasn’t that like twenty years ago?”
“She’s crazy,” I say, starting to climb off his lap. “Maybe that’s why she’s happy all the time.”
His fingertips press into my hips, securing me in place and there is panic in his eyes. “I don’t want to let you go.”
I know that look; the one that begs for someone to help them.
“Please help me, Mommy,” I whisper as I feel him shift above me and every single part of my body feels like it’s ripping in two. He covers my mouth with his hand roughly, and tears slip from my eyes. Where is she? Why doesn’t she come get me? Because she thinks I’m hiding, like the rest of the kids are. That’s what I’m supposed to be doing, instead of dying on the inside, although part of me wishes I were dying on the outside too.
Please Mommy….
I wrap my arms around his neck and hug him as he burrows his face into my neck, resting his lips against my racing pulse. Shutting my eyes, I breathe through the moment; scared to death, but overwhelmingly wanting it. He kisses my neck slowly, relishing each touch, and my head drifts to the side.
“I’m going to go wash the blood off my hands,” he whispers and I lean away. “Just stay right here, okay?”
Gathering the bottom of the towel, I nod, and slide my legs off his lap. He gets up and heads to the bathroom while I lay down on the bed, knowing something’s about to happen. I can feel it in the air, in the warm sensation on my neck where he kissed me, and everywhere his hands touched me.
When he walks out of the bathroom, his shirt is off and he has a towel pressed to his broad chest. When he climbs on the bed, I sit up and lower his hand holding the towel so I can look at the cut. It’s deep and just across his upper rib; another scar to add to his already torn body. I run my finger up his forearms, noticing the fresh wounds on his skin.
“What happened with these?” I stop on a cut near his bicep and study it. “It looks like someone was cutting your skin.”
His fingers enclose around mine and he shakes his head, looking at the wall. “I’m fine. I promise, Callie. This is the stuff I can handle.”
I rise to my knees, feeling the towel open at the bottom, but don’t bother to close it. I graze my lips to his chest, inching up his neck along a jagged scar. I suck on his skin, run my tongue gently along it, and then engulf the softness of his lips. His head slants to the side and our mouths connect as his fingers envelop around my waist. He lures me closer to him, parting his lips and sucking my tongue into his mouth. I let out a groan as the overpowering emotions burst through me and possess me, erasing away the internal pain.
His fingers find the bottom of the towel, and he touches the bare skin of my waist. I can’t think straight as he feels my body, tastes my lips, and steals my torturous thoughts away momentarily. I sit up, pressing my chest against him and he shifts his weight, lying down on the bed. Our legs entwine and his knee slides between my thighs. The feel of the fabric of his jeans sends heat through my body that coils into my stomach.
“Kayden,” I moan against his lips as I dig my nails into his shoulder blades.
He inches his mouth away, breathing fitfully, his eyes assessing mine. “Do you want me to stop?"
I tighten my hold on him as I shake my head, my hair falling into my eyes. “No.”
Sucking in a breath, he crashes his lips against mine and the soft savoring kisses turn desperate as the towel unwraps from my body and I lie naked underneath him. My nipples stroke his chest with every breath and my legs fall open. My hands are on his cheeks and his warmth gives me reassurance as he reaches toward my arms and his fingers encircle my wrists. Leading my hands away from his face, he puts one on each side of my head as his tongue consumes my mouth.
Abruptly, he releases one of my arms and my body shivers beneath him. “Callie, let me know if I need to stop,” he breathes against my lips.
“Don’t stop,” I whisper, my heart restless, but sure. “I don’t ever want you to stop.”
His eyes open, wide and glossy, and he bites my bottom lip as his hand glides down my stomach. Seconds later, his fingers are inside me like they
were yesterday. I feel high and lost but in the most amazing way. Like my mind finally left the dark place and I can grasp at the light again.
I want more. I need more, however I don’t know how to ask for it.
My hips rock against his hand as he feels me from the inside, groaning against my mouth as I drag my teeth along his lip, nipping at it before releasing it. Pieces of his brown hair brush across my forehead as I move my body, needing more. His chest is heaving, as he slips his fingers out of me.
“Callie, where’s the line?” he asks, returning his fingers to my wrist, holding me down beneath him, his eyes scanning mine. “I need to know where to stop.”
I shake my head from side to side, looking him in the eye. “I don’t want you to stop, Kayden. I said it and I mean it.”
His pupils contract as he processes what I said. “Callie, I…”
My heart slows as the moment starts to dissolve. Images of my past catch up, but then they swiftly vanish as he lifts his hips up to unbutton his jeans and kick them off. Seconds later he’s out of his clothes and has a condom on. He lies back on top of me, bare skin to bare skin, and he kisses me with passion, desire, everything, as he entangles our arms together above my head. My nerves mix with my anticipation and I feel every single aspect of the moment. The roughness of his skin on his palms, the smoothness of his chest as it touches mine, the wetness of his tongue inside my mouth, the tingling all over my body. Sweat beads my skin as my body heats with want and I open my legs up as his body forms with mine. When he inches into me, I feel the pain, but I also feel the invisible chains around my wrists break and shatter.
He sucks in a breath as my legs constrict around his hips and he gradually eases farther into me. He moves his lips away from my mouth and looks into my eyes while caressing his fingers across my cheek. Then, he pauses, before giving one last rock until he’s completely inside me.
Every part of my body and mind open up as he kisses me. It burns at first as he moves back and forth, and I almost cry out for him to stop, but the pain subsides and my muscles unravel as my head falls back against the pillow.
It’s a moment I’ll remember forever, because it belongs to me.
Kayden
I have never been so fucking terrified in my life. Not when I was being yelled at, beaten, or even when I stood up to my dad. I’ve had sex before, plenty of times. It was all for fun, even with Daisy. There was nothing there; I thought it was supposed to be that way. As Callie looks up at me, trusting me, I’m lost. No one has ever looked at me like that before; no one has ever made me feel the way I feel at this moment. It’s like every one of my scars has ruptured and the pain is real, but I can’t stop.
I kiss her fiercely, moving her arms above her head as I thrust inside her. It feels so good and I never want it to stop. Her eyes are glossed over and her pupils dilate as her lips part. Her neck arches as she gasps in pleasure and she bucks her hips against my movements. I let go of her arms and my palms scan downward to her breasts, feeling her skin as I suck on her neck. Her fingers sketch each scar, leaving a path of heat everywhere she touches and it nearly drives me crazy. Her back bows up as she cries out and moments later, I join her, knowing I can never go back from this. The way I feel is irreversible; overtaken, wanted, needed, connected. I’ll never be able to let it go.
As we catch our breaths, I tell myself that it will be okay; that I can handle it and for an instant, it feels like I can.
I let out an uneven breath as I slip out of her and roll onto my back, tugging my hands through my hair. Rotating on her hip, her warm body follows mine. She rests her cheek against my chest, gliding her leg over my waist.
“Are you okay?” I finally dare ask her, fighting through my own racing thoughts.
She nods, sketching the lines of my stomach muscles with her pinkie. “I’m more than okay.”
I shut my eyes and put my chin on top of her head. “Callie, there’s something I need to tell you.”
She lifts her face away from my chest and peers up at me. “What’s wrong? Did I… did I do something wrong?”
I touch the tip of my finger to the bottom of her lip. “No, it’s not you. It’s me. There are things about me that you don’t know and I think I need to tell you.”
She sits up and my gaze drifts to her body, so fragile, just like her heart. “You’re making me nervous.”
“I’m sorry,” I back out as feelings of shame rush over me. “I’m just stuck in my own head.”
She frowns. “Kayden, you can tell me anything. There’s no judgment here.”
“I know that,” I say with honesty as my hands grip her waist possessively. Lifting her up, I set her down on top of me, so one of her legs is on each side of my hip. “We’ll talk about it, but a little bit later.”
Wetting my lips with my tongue, I cup the back of her head and bring her mouth toward mine, as I slide my other hand up the front of her, gripping at her breast, wanting to go back and relive the only peaceful moment I’ve had in my life.
Chapter 18
#33 Lay With Someone, Motionless, Just Feeling Each Other.
Callie
“I think I have to go inside,” I say, checking the seventh message my mom has sent me. “Otherwise, she’s going to come out here and see this.”
“See what?” he questions innocently as he flips me over so he’s above me and he takes my breast into his mouth, tracing circles over my nipple with the tip of his tongue.
I gasp as my thighs ache for him to be inside me again. “You’re going to get me caught up again.”
He leans away with a smile on his face, but his cheek is red and puffy. “So?”
I fake a stern look. “I’m not kidding. She’ll come out here with her key and open the door to this.”
He laughs, still not fully believing me, but frees me from his arms. “Fine, you win. I’ll let you go, but we’re coming right back as soon as you deal with your mother.”
I laugh softly as I wrap the sheet around me and pad over to my bag to take some clothes out. I feel a little shy even after what we did. I manage to put my clothes on before I let the sheet go. He doesn’t question what I’m doing as he gets up and puts his jeans and shirt back on.
I glance out the window at the dark sky. Everything seems perfect, untouchable, like I’m holding my life in my own hands for once. “How late is it?”
He turns his arm and checks his watch. “Like seven thirty.”
“No wonder she’s freaking out. I missed dinner.”
He laces his fingers through mine as I open the door. “So how bad is this going to be?”
I lead him down the steps behind me. “She’s going to ask you a thousand questions and be super cheerful.”
“What about your dad?”
“He’ll yammer about football, I’m sure.”
My phone beeps and I pause at the bottom of the steps to check the message.
“Is it another one from your mom?” he wonders and I shake my head.
Seth: Hey, darling. How’s it going? Good I hope. Did you eat some delicious treats?
Me: Maybe… But what kind of treats r u talking about?
Seth: OMFG!!! Did u? Because I had this really weird feeling that you did.
Me: Did what?”
Seth: U know what.
I glance up at Kayden, who laughs at me, his eyes crinkling at the corners. “It’s from Seth.”
He leans over to get a better look and I cover the screen with my hand. “Are you talking about me?”
I bite at my lip, feeling my cheeks warm. “No.”
“You are,” he says proudly. “Even after that, I can still make you blush. God, I’m good.”
I lower my head, allowing my hair to veil my face. “I’m not blushing.”
“You so are.” He hooks a finger under my chin and tips my face up. “And I’m glad.” He brushes his lips lightly across mine, giving me a soft kiss that I feel all the way to my toes.
I pull away, smiling, but pause
when I catch sight of the extra car in the driveway. “Whose car is that?”
Kayden tracks my gaze and shrugs. “I’m not sure.”
Confused, I push open the back door. Seconds later, it all leaves me; every breath, every heartbeat, every kiss, every moment of my own. Black spots pop across my vision as I take in my brother, Jackson, sitting at the table, wolfing a piece of pie straight out of the tin. Across from him sits his best friend Caleb Miller. He’s flipping through a magazine, his dark hair scraggily and long, like he hasn’t had a haircut in years. When he glances up my gaze instinctively shoots to the floor.
The Coincidence of Callie and Kayden Page 27
