“Ma, I don’t think–”
“Sure,” Callie said, interrupting me. “Thank you.”
Mom stepped aside as Callie walked into our house and my worlds collided.
It felt like this moment should be more dramatic. Maybe some crashing symbols or thunder and lightning to symbolize the enormity of what was going on. Instead, my mother offered to make Callie some tea as she took a seat on our couch.
“That would be great. Thank you so much, Mrs. Carter.”
She waved a hand, her smile bright. “You call me Nora, sweetie. And I didn’t catch your name.”
“Oh, sorry. I’m Callie McCoy.”
Mom’s eyes widened along with her smile. “You wouldn’t be related to Abraham and Beatrice, would you?”
Callie shot a questioning look my way before she turned back to my mom. “Those are my siblings.”
“Oh, my goodness! How many are there of you?”
“Five, ma’am.”
“Five! Oh, lordy. You kids must have been a handful growing up.”
Callie’s smile dimmed the smallest bit and my heart tightened in my chest. “That’s what I’ve heard, ma’am.”
“Nora,” Mom repeated. “Enough with the ma’am stuff.” She shot Callie a wink before turning toward me. “Wyatt, you entertain our guest while I grab us all some tea.”
I glanced at Callie, making sure I avoided her eyes like the coward I was. Her expression was clearly unhappy, although she was putting on a good show for my mom. Which led to my next spineless act. “Ma, why don’t you sit with Callie and I’ll make the tea?”
That would serve two purposes. First, I could take care of Mom and get her off her feet like I’d been trying to do all day. And second, it would prevent me from having to be alone with Callie. I knew the time was coming when I’d have to face her, but the longer I could put it off, the better.
Like I said, coward.
“That sounds great, Wy.” She sat down on the couch next to Callie, her face still beaming. “Don’t forget to grab some of those little cookies you brought home.”
“Got it,” I mumbled before hightailing it out of the living room.
Once in the kitchen, I took a minute to close my eyes and take the first deep breath I’d allowed myself since I heard the knock on our door. I couldn’t believe Mom had answered it herself, and it was an even bigger shock when it turned out to be Callie on the other side.
Although, I shouldn’t have been that surprised. There was only so many times you could disrespect a woman like Callie before she came looking for her pound of flesh, and it seemed like my time was up.
With a shake of my head, I filled the kettle and put it on the stove to boil. I took my time gathering milk and sugar for the tea, in absolutely no rush to come face to face with Callie again.
What was I even going to say to her?
I want you more than I’ve ever wanted anyone, but I can’t do anything about it?
That was about as bad as walking away from her moments after sharing the most life-altering kiss of my life. Even now, I could vividly remember how soft and warm her lips were. How easily her body fit against mine.
Sorry I kissed you then ran away, but I really can’t get involved?
Even more lame.
You wouldn’t want anything to do with me if you really knew who I was?
But now she did know, didn’t she?
I’d been so desperate to hide the secret of who my mother really was. Especially from Callie. I wanted to bask in the way she looked at me a little longer before she found out. Before her looks of lust turned to disgust and I was discarded by her like I’d been by every other woman I’d ever been involved with.
I clenched my hands into fists and shook my head to rid it of those thoughts. I needed to get over Callie, no matter how hard it might be. I couldn’t pursue something with her and take care of Mom. Especially when this thing with Callie promised to be as consuming as it was.
I knew it would be all too easy to lose myself in her. To completely let go and fall into her pale blue eyes. To kiss her again without having to stop myself. Without having to walk away from her. Without having to avoid her eyes so I didn’t have to see the anger and disappointment and hurt in them.
Hurt that I’d put there.
I really had made a mess of things. Worse, it seemed like every time I was around her, I dug myself a deeper hole. Did something else to confuse her and then left. It wasn’t like me and I hated myself for it.
I sighed loudly as the kettle started whistling. Pulling it off the stove, I poured the hot water into my mom’s serving pot. I checked to make sure I wasn’t forgetting anything and took a fortifying breath before grabbing the tray and leaving the safety of the kitchen.
“–and by the time I turned around, he had his pants around his ankles and his little weenie in his hand yelling ‘Mama, I got a firehose like the fireman!’.”
“Oh my God.” Callie giggled.
“Oh my God,” I groaned, my face instantly heating. “Please, Ma. Not the penis stories.”
My mother turned to me with a sweet smile on her face and a vindictive glint in her eyes. “Oh, but I have so many, baby.”
I shook my head as I placed the tray on the coffee table in front of her. Mom wasted no time picking up a teacup and pouring some water in it for Callie.
“Then there was this time he got it stuck in–”
“All right! Enough stories about my junk.”
“Don’t call it junk,” my mother reprimanded.
“I preferred firehose,” Callie chimed in.
I met her eyes for the first time that day and that crazy thing that always happens happened. The whole house got still and quiet except for the two of us. Something in me reached out to her instinctively. Almost like my soul was communicating with hers.
I shook my head and accepted the cup of tea my mom handed me. “I don’t care what you want to call… it, but we’re not talking about it anymore.”
Mom sighed, but there was still a wide smile on her face, and I was grateful for it. Even if it came at my expense.
“All right, Wy, I’ll quit embarrassing you.”
“It’s not your fault he’s given you so much material to work with,” Callie muttered into her teacup.
My mom snickered.
Snickered.
I didn’t think I’d ever heard her make a sound like that in my life. And it was all because of Callie. She seemed to bring out something in her. Some carefree happiness I hadn’t seen in so long.
Mom sighed and stood up, her joints audibly cracking as she did. “All right, I know Callie came here to talk to you, so I’ll leave you kids alone. You can head back to the garden if you need some privacy.”
I swallowed the lump in my throat, not sure if privacy would be helpful in this situation. Last time we were alone, I’d kissed her. Although, judging by the way she looked when she got here, I had a feeling kissing was off the menu.
Which was something I should have been happy about. I just needed to remember that.
“You have a garden?” Callie asked.
Mom’s eyes lit up. “Well, not really. Not yet. But the boys have promised to help me get it started someday soon.”
My stomach twisted with guilt at the hopefulness in her voice. We had promised to help, and I had every intention of following through, but things kept popping up that prevented it.
“I’m sure it’ll be lovely,” Callie said, a wistful note to her voice. “My mom had an amazing garden when we were growing up. I used to help her in it all the time.”
“I bet she loved that,” Mom said.
Callie nodded, her face stoic, but I could see right through that. She was hurting at that moment and everything in me wanted to reach out to her. To hold her. To help her. To do anything I could to make it better.
But I didn’t have that privilege, so I sat back with my hands fisted in my lap. I had no one to blame but myself. I’d spent just as much time t
rying to get close to her as I had trying to push her away, and now we were stuck somewhere in the middle.
I had a feeling the conversation we were about to have would push us one way or the other, I just didn’t know which side I wanted to land on.
Chapter 17
Wyatt
“Should we go out back?”
Mom left a few moments ago, leaving behind an uncomfortable silence between Callie and me. I didn’t want to have this conversation with her, but I wanted to sit in this awkwardness even less.
“Sure,” she said softly.
We stood, and I ushered her in front of me toward the back door. I had to hold my breath as she passed so I could keep my head clear for the conversation to come. We stepped into the cool air and my stomach clenched in knots. The moment of reckoning was here, and I still wasn’t sure if I was ready.
Callie spun around and the first thing out of her mouth was, “Your mom’s human.”
I reached up to scratch the back of my neck. “You noticed that, huh?”
She sent me a scathing look that I absolutely deserved. “Of course I noticed, Wyatt. She’s not only a human, she’s sick, isn’t she?”
“Yeah,” I croaked. “She’s got lupus.”
“I’ve heard of that.”
I nodded. “It’s an autoimmune disease. Basically, her body is attacking itself. She’s actually a lot better than she was when she got here. Doc Monroe’s been taking really good care of her.”
“That’s why you ran off that day, isn’t it? When you got that phone call after we had lunch. Something was wrong with your mom, wasn’t it?”
I didn’t think she’d put that together so fast, but it was clear I was good at underestimating her. I’d have to stop doing that. “Yeah. She had a bad fever that day and Wes had to bring her over to Doc’s house.”
Callie turned away, her profile lit by the waning moon overhead. She was so beautiful in that moment, I didn’t know how I’d stop myself from touching her again.
“Is she going to be okay?” Callie asked softly. “I mean, is it under control?”
I blew out a deep breath and ran a hand down my face. “Well, like I said, she’s doing better, but we’re still not out of the woods. Because her immune system is so overworked, if she caught even a cold, it could be dangerous for her.”
Callie snorted. “Then I guess it’s good she lives with a pack of werewolves. She won’t catch anything from us.”
I swallowed harshly. “Yeah. Lucky.”
She turned back toward me, her eyes laser focused on mine. “Which brings me to my next point. Why didn’t I know your mom was human? Why were you keeping that from me?”
I bit my tongue as a hundred answers flew through my brain at once. At the last second, I chose the safest one. “We’ve kept it from everyone. No one in the pack knows she’s human except for Doc, Beatrice, and the alpha.”
“But why?”
Now it was my turn to look away. “How do you think a pack of werewolves would react to finding out there was a human living on their lands? In my last pack, they didn’t take it too well and I’m not willing to put her in that kind of danger again.”
She was quiet for a long time as every worst-case scenario played out in my head.
“So, you’re scared to tell them.”
It wasn’t a question, but I answered anyway. “Terrified,” I admitted.
Callie took a rocky step forward and I quit breathing for a few seconds. “They’re not like that here. Most of these wolves were misfits in their old packs too. I can’t think of anyone who’d harm your mom just because she’s human.”
I caught her pale blue eyes and held them. “Are you willing to bet her life on that?”
She opened her mouth to respond but closed it just as quickly. That was all the answer I needed. “I’m not either. We took her out of a dangerous situation in our old pack and I won’t put her in a new one here.”
“So, what’s the plan, Wyatt? Keep her hidden for the rest of her life?”
A sighed and shook my head. “I don’t know.”
She took another step closer and my heart instantly picked up its pace. “I’d stand with you, you know?”
My brow furrowed as my heart thumped harder.
“We. I meant we would stand with you. My family. None of them would let anything happen to her.”
I swallowed harshly as I tried to get my pulse back under control. “Thanks, Callie. That means a lot.”
She looked like she wanted to press the issue, but when she sighed and looked away, I knew it was dropped for now. “Just don’t wait too long, okay? I think the longer you take to tell everyone, the worse it’s going to be.”
I scratched the back of my head again. “Yeah, that’s what I’ve heard.”
We were quiet for a long moment after that. The woodland sounds around us amplified until they were almost deafening.
Finally, she put her hands on her hips and said, “You know, I came here to yell at you.”
My lips twitched with a smile, but I somehow contained it. “I figured.”
“Because you really deserve it.”
“I know.”
She blew out a big breath and looked away. When she met my eyes again, I found something in hers I hadn’t seen before. It looked like vulnerability with a hint of sadness, and it made my gut clench because I’d put it there.
“You kissed me,” she said simply.
My lips tingled just thinking about it. “I did,” I said, my voice rougher than I’d intended.
“And then you ran away.”
“Yeah, I did that too.”
“Why?”
I took a deep breath and looked away. I couldn’t stare into those big eyes of hers and talk about this because all I wanted was to do it again. To pull her as close as possible and lose myself in her lips. But I couldn’t do that.
Excuses, truths, lies, half-truths, they all spun around my head as I tried to figure out what I was going to tell her. Unfortunately, it seemed like what I could tell her and what she deserved to hear were two different things. Around and around they went while I watched her grow more agitated by my silence.
Finally, I blurted out the first thing that came to me. “It was a mistake.”
Her eyes widened for a second before dimming and looking away. “Oh.”
My gut churned as I watched this beautiful, confident, amazing woman wilt before me. “Callie, you have to understand. I have my mom to think about.”
“It’s all right.”
But it wasn’t.
“I’m serious. I can’t get involved with anyone.” Especially you. “I need to make sure all my attention is on her and her health or I don’t know what could happen.”
“I get it.”
I blew out a big breath. “Really?”
She finally looked back at me, a weak smile on her face. “I do. If one of my parents were still alive, I’d do anything I could to protect them.”
My heart ached at the sadness in her voice. I knew it wasn’t all because of me, but enough of it was that I still felt guilty.
“I think I should go,” she said, her eyes avoiding mine again.
I watched as she turned around and began walking away from me. My chest felt like it was being squeezed in a vice as panic ran rampant through my veins. It was in that instant I knew I couldn’t let her just walk away. I couldn’t let her leave like this.
I couldn’t let her go.
“Callie, wait.”
She paused and turned to me, curiosity wrinkling her brow.
“Can we still be friends?”
Her brow furrowed more. “Friends?”
She asked it like it was a stupid question and maybe it was, but I wasn’t willing to give her up completely. I’d tried that, and instead of keeping my distance, I’d kissed the shit out of her. Maybe if we found a happy medium, I could keep my sanity, keep Callie in my life, and keep my mom healthy all at the same time. It was worth a try, right?
/>
“Yeah, friends.”
She turned to face me and crossed her arms over her chest. “So, that means what? We hang out and stuff? We talk on the phone? We have lunch together? Or does that just mean you don’t avoid me anymore?”
Jeez, she really went right for the jugular, didn’t she?
“All of the above?”
Callie pursed her lips as her pale eyes bore into mine. I did my best to stand still and not fidget under her gaze, but it wasn’t easy. This moment felt pivotal. Like the rest of my life depended on her answer.
Truthfully, I didn’t know what I wanted to hear more.
If she said yes, I’d get to keep her in my life. I’d get to dig deeper, learn more about this fascinating woman. I wouldn’t have to slink around the shadows like a creep just so I didn’t run into her anymore.
On the other hand, if she said no, it would probably be for the best. Even though I’d said I wanted to be her friend, I wasn’t even sure I could do that. This heat, this connection between us was impossible to ignore. I didn’t know if just being her friend would be enough for me. Maybe it’d be better than nothing, or maybe it’d be the worse decision I’d ever made.
“Okay. We can try to be friends.”
The knots in my stomach slowly unfurled. I hadn’t realized I’d wanted her to say yes so badly until she did.
“What do you mean try?”
She leveled me with a glare and her hands went back on her hips. “I’m still mad at you. You’ve got some making up to do before I can call you my friend.”
A stupid smile spread across my face before I could stop it. Callie McCoy didn’t make anything easy and I kind of loved that about her.
“Okay, so I’ve got some work ahead of me. I can handle that.”
She scoffed and crossed her arms over her chest. “We’ll see.”
She turned to leave again, and I stopped her once more. “So, that means I get your number, right? If we’re friends, I need a way of getting in contact with you.”
“You know where I live,” she said over her shoulder as she continued to walk away.
“Yeah, but I don’t want to have to come knock on your door every time I want to talk to you,” I said as I followed after her.
Chasing Callie (Southern Werewolf Sisters Book 1) Page 14
