33. Cal Walker
I was so angry… and I never got angry.
I fucking knew this was going to happen… Okay, I didn’t know Ryan was dating a fucking nun, but I knew he was going to backtrack the second he woke up sober.
When he responded to my texts that morning, I was hopeful for a minute that he really meant what he had said the night before. That he wasn’t going to regret being with me.
For a few shining moments, I really believed he might have wanted to actually give us a try. But then, when he came down to the kitchen, he couldn’t even fucking look at me.
He was ashamed.
I knew he was. He was ashamed of being with me, and it fucking stung.
My plan had been to hang around until Iris and Theo cleared out so I could talk to him about everything. But then some chick who looked like she belonged on the set of ‘Children of the Corn’ waltzed into the kitchen like she owned the place.
“Joanna is Ryan’s girlfriend,” Theo had informed me before making a swift exit. I hadn’t expected grumpy muscle gal to be my number one cheerleader, but that chick seemed to be full of surprises.
“What the fuck do you mean she’s your girlfriend ?” I snarled at Ryan, putting my mug down on the counter so I didn’t make more of a mess. Iris already had her hands full with the mouthful of tea I’d accidentally spewed across the room.
To make matters worse, Ryan ignored me in favor of Sister Celibacy.
How had I missed this? How did my man have a whole ass GIRLFRIEND I hadn’t known about?
“Go wait outside, Joanna. I’ll be with you in a moment,” Ryan said, pressing his fingers into the corners of his eyes as if he were in physical pain.
‘I’ll be with you in a moment?’ Who the fuck talked to their girlfriend like that?
“Come along, dear. Have you seen the new rose bushes I planted?” Iris hummed, tugging the very confused nun out of the kitchen.
As soon as they were gone, I rounded on Ryan.
“Explain yourself,” I snarled, unable to keep the burning rage that was coursing through my veins under control. Because I didn’t have a lot of experience with anger, I wasn’t very good at controlling it.
Ryan still couldn’t look at me; he was staring at the ground, and his cheeks were all red. Normally, I thought it was adorable. Right now, it just made me more angry.
“There’s nothing to explain. I was dating her, and last night, when I was drunk, I sent her a text saying we should end things.”
This caused me to pause. I narrowed my eyes.
“So you’re breaking up with her?”
“I-I don’t know. We’re going for coffee, and we’re going to talk about it.”
Anger pulsed through me at his wishy-washy fucking answer.
Suddenly, I was crowding him. I wrapped my hand around his throat and forced him back into the wall. He didn’t even try to fight me, which pissed me off even more for some reason. He just stared directly at my chest, still refusing to meet my gaze.
“You’re breaking up with her.” I wasn’t asking anymore. I was telling.
“Cal -”
“No. You’re fucking breaking up with her, Ryan. I don’t fucking share.”
He swallowed, and I felt his Adam’s apple bob beneath my hand, causing me to tighten my fingers around his throat.
“Even if I break up with her, that doesn’t mean that we’re… I’m still not sure if I’m…”
I snarled and pressed my face closer to his, using my free hand to jerk his chin up, forcing him to finally look at me.
“I knew this was going to happen. Last night, I told you that you would regret it, but you begged me to touch you. Now, what… you’re suddenly not sure if you’re into guys? News flash, Fairview, straight dudes don’t beg other dudes to suck their cocks. Not even when they’re fucking drunk. So stop being a whiny bitch and break up with that little Bible thumper before I do it for you.”
Ryan finally snapped his gaze to mine, and that spark of defiance I loved so much came to life. Abruptly, he shoved me hard enough in the chest that I was forced back a step.
“Get off me,” he ordered, and I growled but let him go. “You’re not the fucking boss of me, Callum. If I want to break up with her, I will, but I’m not doing it because you told me to.”
I felt myself chuckle, even though I wasn’t finding the situation very funny. Stepping in close to him, I pressed my mouth to his ear, noticing how his entire body seemed to respond to my breath against his skin.
“I don’t really give a fuck what reason you give her, but if you don’t break up with her, you won’t like the fucking consequences.”
I pulled away, and instead of seeing fear in his eyes, I saw a fucking challenge, and it made my dick annoyingly hard.
“What’s that look for, ginger snap?” I growled, and his cheeks turned an even deeper shade of red. I glanced down, and sure enough, he was hard again.
He narrowed his eyes when he saw where I was looking. “Don’t flatter yourself. You know fear makes me hard. It’s just because you’re threatening me.”
I smirked.
“Keep telling yourself that, baby. And besides, if fear really does turn you on, how do you expect Mother fucking Teresa to ever get you off?”
Without warning, I slammed him back into the wall and ran my tongue over his lips. He immediately responded, opening to receive me. Fucking his mouth aggressively with my tongue, I palmed him over his jeans until he groaned and ground his hips into my hand.
He let out another needy moan, and I stepped back again, leaving him panting and gasping for air.
“Break up with her, Ryan. Now,” I threatened, before storming out the back door, leaving him pissed off and wanting more.
I was already texting Vox to get a trace set up on Ryan’s phone as I stalked past the guest house. Clearly, the cameras hadn’t been enough if he managed to hide a whole ass woman from me.
The smell of weed hit my nose, and I glanced up to see Theo sitting on the steps to her guest house, smoking a joint. She was watching me with an amused look on her face.
I narrowed my eyes on her. “What the fuck are you looking at?”
She took a deep drag of her joint and chuckled. “Off to annul the wedding?”
I scowled. “Don’t even joke about that.”
She shrugged and offered me the joint. I considered it for a moment. If I was going to follow Ryan and Mary fucking Magdalene, I couldn’t hang around here for too long… though I would have a tap on his phone momentarily, so I could always crash their little date after getting a bit of a buzz.
Which, honestly, suddenly felt like a good idea. Maybe it would calm me down.
I accepted Theo’s offer and took a deep drag, unable to keep my foot from tapping anxiously.
What if he kissed her while I was here spending time with his crabby but surprisingly supportive sister?
Theo chuckled again. “Relax. I’m pretty sure she’s gay.”
I rolled my eyes. “Gay for Jesus, maybe.”
Theo barked out a surprised laugh, and I handed the joint back to her.
“Religious trauma?” she asked, and I nodded.
“Something like that.”
“Hmm.” She took a puff and coughed. “He likes you. I know he does. Ryan is just… he doesn’t like change, and he’s not very good with spontaneity,” Theo explained in between weed-induced coughs. I cocked my head to the side, suddenly much more interested in this conversation than I was a few minutes ago.
“They barely ever saw each other. I’m pretty sure they were both kind of using each other as a front because they think that’s what the world wants to see. Especially her. The only time they ever really hung out was when she had family gatherings that she wanted a date for. Other than that, she was never around.”
I couldn’t tell if it was the weed or Theo’s words that were making me feel way more chilled out. So maybe Ryan was telling the truth. Maybe he was breaking up with her, and he was just busting my balls about it because he was a closeted fucking brat.
“Why are you telling me all this?” I asked, tugging up my hood and shoving my hands into my pockets.
Theo shrugged and ashed her joint out on the steps before getting to her feet. “I don’t know. Maybe because I’ve never seen him look at someone the way he looks at you.”
Omg. Swoon .
“Or maybe things have just been way less boring since you showed up, and I’m not ready for things to go back to the way they were.”
I cocked my head again as Theo’s grin widened.
“Or maybe… I’m hoping if I help you lock down my brother, you’ll give me your sister’s number in return.”
Now I was smirking.
Well, well, well. Looks like Cassandra made an impression.
“I can give you her number, but I can’t be held responsible when she inevitably blocks your ass.” I snickered, and Theo’s lip quirked up.
“She won’t block me,” she said with the confidence of someone who hadn’t grown up with the headcase that was my sister.
I shrugged. “Alright. Fucking deal. You convince Ryan to give me a chance, and I’ll give you Cass’s number,” I said, holding out my hand.
Theo smirked and clapped her hand into mine.
“Deal.”
I grinned back at her. “Look at us! Pimping out our siblings for personal gain. We’re so charming.”
Theo chuckled and shook her head before jogging up the steps to her apartment. “Never said I was a nice person.”
I turned away as well, shooting her one last smirk over my shoulder.
“That’s lucky. Because a nice person would never survive Cassandra Walker.”