Chapter Fourteen
Reckless
T HERE’S NOT MUCH time left to get costumes for the kids.
We all have what we’re wearing in the haunted house ready to go, but I know Cali hasn’t taken the time to go get the kids anything to wear for trick or treating.
They’ll go to the event in town so I can control how much they’re exposed.
None of us want them going from house to house because we can’t control who they come in contact with.
All of us will be near the haunted house so if anything happens, we’ll be right there.
Kreed talked to her about the situation and Cali agreed immediately to only go to the trunk or treating event.
She just wants to see the kids happy and Bryce will be excited to get dressed up.
He’s so excited that he’s changed his mind a million times already about what he wants to be for Halloween.
Right now, he wants to be a football player.
I can’t even tell you how many other things he’s said he wanted to be.
Half of them scary as hell. Kreed and I had to talk him out of the scarier options he said because we know they’ll bother Cali.
While I’ve been staying at the clubhouse and not really seeing Cali since the night we talked, this is something I’ve done every year with Cali and Bryce.
As long as I’m home, I have taken her shopping with my nephew to get his costume.
I see it as a tradition at this point and there’s nothing else I’d rather do because Bryce looks forward to it every year.
I don’t remember how I ended up being the one to take them shopping at this point, but Darren was never interested in taking them.
As much as he loved Halloween and went all out, his wife and son didn’t register to him when it came time to buy Bryce’s costume.
Darren never even gave any input into what his son should be.
That should have been my first clue that something was going on with him so Kreed and I could have talked to him about things instead of letting them fester until he disobeyed me and lost his life.
Walking up the steps of Kreed’s house, I don’t bother knocking on the door before letting myself inside. I find Bryce playing with his cars and motorcycles on the floor while Rory swings in one of the smaller, traveling swings my mom bought her.
“Unca Caleb,” Bryce calls out as Cali walks in the living room with Rory’s diaper bag in hand.
“Hey, Little Man. Are you ready to go get your costume?” I ask him, taking in Cali from head to toe.
Today she’s wearing a pair of jeans that fit her like a glove and one of Kreed’s hoodies.
It’s his football hoodie from high school.
She’s ended up with all of ours and wears them randomly when it’s chilly outside.
Seeing Kreed’s name on her back pisses me off and makes me want to rip the damn thing off of her.
Instead, I clear my throat and give her a smile while Bryce runs up to me.
Lifting him in my arms, I use him as a distraction from Cali moving around the room and getting Rory ready to go out.
“You’re gonna need a hoodie, Little Man. Go grab one while Mama finishes gettin’ your sister ready,” I tell Bryce before setting him back down on the floor and watching as he races down the hallway toward his room.
“Are you sure you want to take us shopping today?” Cali asks me, her voice soft and melodic as I turn my attention to her and Rory.
“Why wouldn’t I? I’ve taken Bryce to get his costume every year when I’m able to for his entire life.
I get shit is weird between us right now, but that doesn’t change the tradition of me takin’ you guys shoppin’.
This year I get to add Rory to it. I’m happy to take you all out,” I tell her honestly.
What I don’t say is that I’ve missed seeing her and want to spend time with her any way I can.
That’s why I’ve been staying at the clubhouse and not allowing myself to come over here to see them.
I know I said we can’t be together, but that doesn’t change the fact that I want to more than anything. By limiting my time with her, I’m hoping the need will slowly disappear and we can get things back to normal. It hasn’t happened yet over the years, but maybe one day something will change.
The difference now is I’m not drinking and fucking my way through the Feral girls.
I’ve been keeping my focus on the haunted house, working on paperwork I neglected, and working with Master to figure out who attacked Cali at the hospital and who’s stalking her.
Both of us believe it’s not the same person.
Whoever is stalking Cali knows way too much about her and gives her things we know she either loves or hates.
Things only Kreed, Darren, and myself would know about.
Kreed and I aren’t the ones stalking her and Darren isn’t alive.
It’s what makes this entire situation so confusing because Cali doesn’t allow just anyone to get to know her.
“I’m sorry, Caleb. Things are so messed up between the two of us. I miss you and I miss the relationship we had in the past. I wish we could go back, but we can’t. I can stay home if you’d rather take the kids out alone,” Cali says, her voice muffled as she reaches under the couch for something.
“Not happenin’, Cali. We’ll get through this one way or another.
But avoidin’ one another, we won’t get used to how things are now.
We’ve changed and the situation between us has changed.
It’s out there that we both have feelings for one another.
We can’t change that fact. Now, we have to deal with it and figure out how to move forward.
I’m not gonna walk away from Bryce and Rory because I love you and can’t be with you.
I’m not gonna walk away from you, Cali. I’ll always be here for you no matter what is goin’ on between the two of us,” I tell her, knowing we both need some kind of assurance that our friendship will always be between us even if it’s changed over the years.
“Okay. Did Kreed tell you that we talked about only doing that trunk or treating thing instead of walking through the streets and going house to house?” Cali asks me when she pulls out one of Rory’s shoes from under the couch.
“Yeah. We talked about it in church. None of the guys are comfortable with you and the kids goin’ house to house.
With my parents, grandparents, and aunt and uncle in town, they would’ve gone with you, but none of us would have been comfortable or able to focus on the haunted house knowin’ the three of you were out and seein’ so many random people,” I respond to her as Bryce comes back in with his hoodie half on.
“Help, Unca!” he says as I turn to look at him before starting to laugh my ass off.
Kreed and I got a smaller version of Darren’s football hoodie for Bryce last year.
We talked to Cali about it before ordering the thing.
Neither one of us wanted her hurt by seeing her son wearing a version of his dad’s hoodie.
Right now, Bryce has the thing half on his body and is stuck with his head buried so he can’t see what’s going on around him or where he’s walking.
“Little Man, you’re gonna hurt yourself. Stop walkin’ before you slam into a wall,” I tell him, still laughing as Cali finishes getting Rory in her car seat.
I help Bryce get in the hoodie so he can see what he’s doing.
Somehow, he got it twisted around and was putting it on backwards.
Once I’m done helping him, Bryce races back toward his room and I wonder what he’s doing.
His sneakers are by the front door already.
Bryce walks out in a few minutes wearing the hat I bought him to match mine.
It’s a simple black hat he wears backwards like I do.
This fucking kid. He’s always doing something Kreed and I are doing and I love it.
Besides Cali and Kreed, Bryce and Rory are the only people in this world who want me to be the best version of myself.
A man they can look up to and be proud of.
A good role model for the kids as they grow up and become more independent.
I want Bryce to know he can always come to me no matter what’s going on in his life.
If that means he wants to dress like me, then that’s cool with me.
It just reminds me I need to change my ways and be the man he sees and not the asshole I’ve been over the last few months.
Talk about a humbling moment and a reminder that hits like a damn truck.
B ryce picked out his costume and it wasn’t anything he wanted to be over the last few weeks.
He found a costume as a racer. When I asked him if he was gonna be Daddy’s favorite race car driver for Halloween, Bryce informed me it wasn’t for cars like his daddy watched.
He was dressing up as Kingston. Kingston is Fox’ and Kim’s son from my Dad’s club.
I grew up with him even though he’s younger than I am.
Kingston races sport bikes and that’s who Bryce wants to be.
We’ve taken him to some of Kingston’s races and the kid loves it.
He’s always loved it. Especially when King puts him on the bike and takes him for a short ride around the track.
Cali about had a heart attack the first time Kingston took Bryce for a ride even though she gave her permission.
It hooked Bryce and I see him owning a sport bike in the future.