Chapter 7
Chapter Seven
CALLIE
For the most part, the locals haven’t been too chatty, but when a squeal cuts through the crowd, I know my luck has run out.
“Callie!” Paulette, the former cheer captain, claps her hands. While I never enjoyed the idea of a peppy little song and pompoms, she was always nice to me. “Girl, you look amazing!”
Happiness shoots through me. See? I look good. Theo can eat rocks. “Thanks, Paulette. What can I get you?”
“Vodka soda.”
I pour her drink. She’s clearly bursting at the seams to tell me something. “How’s life treating you?” I ask, offering her what she wants in the hopes she’ll leave a good tip.
Paulette launches into long, achingly detailed stories about her kids, her husband, the dental practice they opened in town.
I nod and smile, making appropriate noises of interest while simultaneously pouring a round of shots for the bachelorette party Bree is serving.
Bree is a good waitress, but she sure is jumpy and I can’t help wondering who made her that way.
“Anyway, we got a Tahoe last year and I was so mad that we didn’t get the leather seats, but I’m so spoiled.”
Jesus Christ, Paulette. Wrap it up.
I keep my best customer service smile on because I need all the tips I can get.
The door opens and the air seems to thicken around me.
The hairs on the back of my neck rise before I even glance over, the molecules in the room rearranging themselves around a presence I’d recognize long after I’m dead and gone.
My attention cuts to the front door. His gaze is set on me, knocking the air from my lungs.
Six feet tall, just like his brothers. His jaw is covered with scruff, but Knox makes an unkempt beard look amazing.
He’s rugged, stacked with a perfect blend of muscle and fat, and his piercing light blue eyes snare mine.
Knox Williams could make a woman forget herself.
My pulse drums in my ears, and for a beautiful moment, his attention on me is all that matters.
Then my brain slices through the moment, reminding me exactly why I can’t fall for him again.
“Hey! Can I get my margarita or what?” a woman who is close to getting cut off demands.
I wrench my attention away from Knox. “Uh, yeah.” Moments ago I was powering through drinks, but now my movements slow as I mix the woman’s drink, the salt rimming the glass is suddenly fascinating.
My lungs ache as I try to control my breathing.
Why does he still make me feel like I’m dizzy?
I focus on the sound of the ice sloshing in the shaker.
Don’t look over. Don’t look over. But my eyes have their own plan and flick in his direction.
He strides through the crowd, a god among men, and people move instinctively out of his path. In ten years, he’s somehow become even more devastatingly beautiful, all hard angles and controlled power.
He makes a beeline for the bar, and my heart hammers. A local guy occupying the stool directly in front of my station gains the pleasure of his pointed glare. Knox says something I can’t hear, and the guy immediately vacates the seat.
His blue eyes, the ones I recreated in countless sketches, lock onto mine.
My heart trembles. I turn away, focusing intently on the drinks I’m making. My hands shake slightly, and I curse under my breath. Anger burns through me, followed by a rush of hurt I thought I’d buried years ago.
“Callie.” My name in his mouth still sounds the same. Like smoke and honey.
I ignore him, slide the margarita to the woman, take her payment, and move to help another customer. But he’s persistent. Knox hates being ignored.
“Callie Mae!” Louder this time.
The locals nearby have gone quiet, watching the exchange with blatant interest. Big Ridge lives for drama, and they know exactly who Knox is to me. Or at least, who he was. I love this town, but sometimes I hate it for this very reason. It’s impossible to escape the past.
“Jack and Coke?” I ask the woman next to him, pointedly avoiding his gaze.
“I’ll have a beer,” Knox says, voice low and commanding. “Whatever’s on tap.”
I continue ignoring him, pouring the Jack and Coke and hoping he can’t see the pounding of my pulse.
Maura materializes beside me, sensing trouble. “Is everything okay over here?”
“Fine,” I mutter.
“I’ll take care of you.” She smiles at Knox, professional but cool. “What can I get you?”
“A hurricane,” he says in that low, deep voice of his, and my throat goes dry. His focus never leaves my face. “But I want Callie to deliver it.”
The glass almost slips from my hand. Every cell in my body suddenly electrifies with awareness of him, the space between us, the weight of every person watching.
All the years of our shared history. The times we got a little too close and the possibilities of what might happen if we closed the distance are suspended in my mind.
Maura glances between us then raises an eyebrow at me. “Your call, sweetheart.”
A challenge shimmers in Knox’s eyes, and something primal in me rises to meet it. Fine. He wants to play? I’ll give him exactly what he’s asking for.
“No problem,” I say, voice steady. I hand Maura the Jack and Coke, hating how the liquid sloshes in the cup, and grab a waiver. “Sign this.” Apparently, if you slap customers, you might get sued. Who knew?
I try not to meet his gaze as he signs the paperwork. When he’s done, I add the waiver to the folder that Maura keeps on the bottom shelf and take a breath.
How many times have I imagined shouting at him for what he did?
A slap will be easy. Even still, my hands shake as I climb onto the bar.
Knox gazes up at me, heat flashing over his face.
My eyes narrow to slits. He has no right to feel that way about me.
I ball my hands at my side and slowly sit, planting myself in front of him.
The jean shorts I’m wearing ride up as I position myself, Knox slides between my parted thighs.
Too close. His masculine scent twines around me, gaze traveling up my legs, lingering at my waist before lifting to my face.
That look, possessive and blatantly hungry, sends heat pooling low in my belly, reminding me that we’re both no longer kids.
That once upon a time we wound up in a closet together during seven minutes in heaven. That kiss rewired my brain. My throat goes dry and his gaze flicks to my neck, where my pulse jumps. His lips twitch. That cocky look sends fire through my veins.
“You look as gorgeous as I remember.” There’s a roughness in his voice that makes my curiosity pique, but I have to be strong. I have to protect my heart.
Besides, who does he think he is telling me that after all this time?
Maura gives me the shot and glass of water. With a saccharine smile, I hold it out for Knox. “Drink.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Our fingers brush during the exchange, and electricity zips through me. I suck in a sharp breath, hating how my body responds to his proximity after everything he’s done.
Knox holds my gaze as he throws back the shot, throat working as he swallows. He sets the glass on the bar with a deliberate click and his hands, the ones that used to make me feel safe, fall to my thighs. His thumbs brush against my bare skin.
Rage boils in my gut. “Fuck you,” I hiss, tossing the water in his face and cocking my arm before swinging it. My palm connects with his cheek with a resounding crack. The sting reverberates through my arm as his head snaps to the side.
Suddenly people start demanding the same shot, but all I can focus on is the anger hazing my vision. Heart thundering in my chest, I lean toward him and hiss, “Don’t you ever touch me again,” before shoving his hands off my legs.
His irises darken, droplets of water still dripping from his lashes, and a muscle in his jaw twitches as he raises a hand to his reddening cheek. But Knox doesn’t look angry. He looks satisfied, like he enjoyed the pain.
“Welcome home, Callie Mae,” he says, voice rough, lips curving into that devastating half-smile I used to dream about. “I’ve missed you, too.”
The rest of my shift flies by in a blur of fake smiles, overpriced drinks, and wandering tourist hands. My feet are screaming for a break by the time I clock out at one in the morning. Maura presses a to-go cup of water and electrolytes into my hand.
“You did great,” she says, squeezing my shoulder. “Hydrate. Tomorrow will be easier.”
I nod, too tired to form words, and wave goodbye to Bree and Linc. The back door to the employee parking lot creaks as I push it open. God, I can’t wait to sleep. Exhaling, I start for my car and stop short.
Knox is leaning against my Rav-4 like he owns the damn thing. His head is tipped back, staring at the stars. The moonlight caresses the sharp line of his jaw, illuminating the strong column of his throat. For one breath, one stupid heartbeat, my chest aches with longing.
The door snaps closed and the illusion breaks. This is the boy—the man who broke me first.
His head swings down and his gaze finds mine. “Callie.” My name is like sin on his lips. A temptation I have to resist with every fiber of my being.
Remember what he did. Remember how much it hurt.
“Get away from my car,” I growl, closing the distance between us.
He doesn’t move, just tucks his hands deeper into his jean pockets. “You’ve been gone a long time.”
Nope. I’m not doing this. “Move.”
“How have you been?” he asks as though that video he shared of me hooking up with his brothers didn’t ruin my life.
We were young. Horny. And apparently Knox was cruel enough to record it and share it on social media.
The whole town saw it. I still don’t understand why he did it.
Part of me wants to demand to know why, but some things are better left in the past. I can’t relive that hurt all over again. Not right now.
“How have I been?” I let out a laugh that sounds more like a wounded animal. “Are you seriously asking me that after what you did?”
He winces. Is the guilt getting to him? “Callie—”
“Don’t. Just don’t.” I take a step closer, anger bubbling up inside me like a volcano ready to erupt. “I didn’t come back here to play catch up with the guy who filmed me without my consent.”
Knox clenches his jaw. “That’s not what happened.”
I scoff. Unbelievable. “Oh, now you have amnesia? How convenient.” I gesture wildly with my water cup, some of it sloshing over the edge. “You took that video and posted it. How could you do that?” My voice wobbles, and I swallow hard. So much for leaving the past in the past.
As soon as I realized what happened and saw all the comments, I fled. Shoved whatever I could into a suitcase and took off, never looking back. How could I face the whole town after they all saw me naked with the twins fucking me?
His face pales and he runs a hand through his hair. “Callie, I never—”
A faded tie-dye scrunchie around his wrist snags my attention and shocks the breath out of me. That’s my fucking hair tie. The one I always used to wear.
“Are you kidding me?” I hiss, pointing at his wrist. “You still have that? What, like some sick trophy?”
Knox’s gaze follows mine, his fingers instinctively touching the scrunchie. “It’s not what you think.”
Oh, so sharing that video wasn’t meant to humiliate me?
What a fucking joke. “I don’t care what it is!
I don’t care about your explanations or your excuses or anything you have to say to me for that matter.
” My voice rises, echoing across the empty parking lot.
“We’re not friends. We’re not anything.”
His throat bobs as he swallows hard. “Please, let me explain.”
“Excuse me if I don’t want to hear why you decided to fucking betray me in the worst possible way. Now move,” I growl, stepping into his space.
Something flickers in his eyes. Pain, regret, I don’t know and I don’t fucking care. My face must say as much, because he pushes off my car, holding his hands up in surrender.
“You have to talk to me at some point,” he says quietly. “You can’t keep running.”
“That’s where you’re wrong.” I toss my purse into the Rav-4, glaring at him.
“I spent years forgetting you existed, and as far as I’m concerned, there’s no reason either of us need to be around one another.
” I climb into my SUV and slam the door shut.
The engine rumbles to life, and I back out so fast my tires squeal in protest. In my rearview mirror, Knox stands there, watching me leave.
My throat tightens, but I shove down any longing.
After what Theo and Knox did, I’m not sure I can ever trust another man.
My hands shake on the steering wheel as I drive through the empty streets of Big Ridge. Coming back was supposed to be my fresh start, but my escape from Theo’s betrayal only ran me straight into the memory of another.
How the hell am I going to survive the Williams brothers again?
Because where there’s Knox, Brax and Jax are never far behind.
And if there’s one thing I learned in all my years, it’s that those three are a package deal.
I’m not stupid enough to believe Knox acted alone.
How did he know what the three of us were up to? Was it some sort of game to them?
The worst part of it all? Even after everything, seeing Knox still made my foolish heart race, and that only makes me hate myself almost as much as I hate him.