Chapter 12 Beth #2
“Beth.” He grabbed my arm, pulling me to a stop as his gaze searched my face in confusion.
Confusion?
“Is that who you think I am? Why are you even giving me your time if you think I’m some spoiled princess who is impressed by money and sports cars?” I whirled, my strides eating up the pavement.
“Beth, wait.” Callan fell into step beside me, turning to walk backward so he could face me. His expression was tight and remorseful. “I don’t think that. I’m being a prick.”
“Why?”
“Because …” He stopped, shaking his head. “I … Preston said you went on a date last weekend. I heard him in the locker room.”
Ryan Preston really was an arsehole. “We were at the same stupid party because our dads know each other through work, and it was his dad’s birthday.
Believe me, none of us wanted to go, but Dad said it was a networking thing, so we went.
It was not a date with Ryan Preston. I barely spoke to him the whole night.
I don’t want to date Ryan Preston.” He thought he was God’s gift to humanity.
Amanda agreed he was awful. Ryan was the one guy we would never fight over.
Tension seemed to ease from Callan’s shoulders. Is that why he hadn’t made a move on me yet? He thought I wouldn’t be interested?
“Callan … I like you, if you hadn’t noticed.”
His lips twitched like he was desperate to smile and trying to remain cool. “You just come out and say it, don’t you?”
“What’s the worst that could happen? You’re an idiot who doesn’t like me in return?”
Callan threw his head back in laughter. I grinned, delighted, watching him until his laugh gentled to a smile. His expression was tender as our eyes met. “I would be a fucking idiot, wouldn’t I?”
“You would.” I smiled, but it wilted at the reminder I should not be doing this. “Amanda likes you.”
His eyebrows rose. “Likes me, likes me?”
I nodded.
Callan sighed. “I don’t like Amanda. Not like that. I like you, Beth.”
Elation flooded me. And concern. “I’d have to discuss this with her … we kind of made a pact neither of us would ask you out.”
Something like hurt flickered across his face. “So, why are you here, flirting with me?”
“Because I can’t seem to not flirt with you.”
He considered me as we neared the bus stop. “First … I know it’s probably gotten round the school that I live in Leith with my mum and dad …”
I nodded because that’s what I had heard.
“I live in Sighthill with my dad and stepmum.” Callan swallowed hard, looking away.
I recognized the pain in his eyes before he did, though, and understood it when he continued, “My mum and dad—well, my dad was really my stepdad, but I called him Dad—they died when I was twelve. I was at football practice and they were killed in a traffic accident.”
“Oh, Callan.” I reached out to touch his shoulder. “I’m so sorry.”
He nodded gruffly. “Aye. Well, I ended up going to live with my real dad, who is a fucking arsehole, and his wife, who isn’t much better. Ashley, my stepmum, acts like I’m the devil. It’s like my being alive is an affront to her, you know.”
Anger and sympathy mixed in a tight, painful ball in my chest. “I hate that for you.”
“It’s fine. They mostly ignore me. And I’ll be out of there soon.”
It wasn’t fine. But I knew he needed to act like it was. “My … my mum, she’s American,” I told him. “Her mum was Scottish, but she moved to the US and got married to my grandfather and stayed. They had my mum and my mum’s wee sister, Beth.”
We paused at the bus stop and Callan turned, giving me his entire attention.
“When Mum was fourteen, her entire family was killed in a car accident too. Her parents and Beth.”
Callan blanched. “Fuck.”
I nodded. “She named me after her sister and my wee brother is named after her father. I’ve never known that kind of grief firsthand, but I see it in my mum.
As happy as my dad and all of us make her, there’s this part of her that will always be just a little sad.
” I reached out to squeeze his arm. “So, it’s okay if you feel that way too, Callan. ”
A wet sheen glistened in his eyes, and I saw him swallow hard as he looked away.
Sliding my hand down his arm, I took his hand in mine, lacing our fingers together.
“You’re even more amazing than I thought,” I told him. “To have lost what you’ve lost and to still be fighting for what you want. I’m glad football has given you that.”
His head whipped back to me, his features slackened with surprise.
And then before I could take another breath, he released my hand but only to reach for me. Suddenly, my body was pressed flush to his and Callan Keen’s lips were on mine.
He swallowed my gasp of surprise in the deepest kiss a boy had ever given me.
It was hungry.
It was … more.
Like, I’d French-kissed before, but this was … my whole body felt like a million jolts of electricity were running through it.
I gripped onto Callan to hold me steady through the light-headed rush of the kiss as I deepened it.
Callan groaned, and I moved until I was stumbling back against the bus stop wall. One hand slid around the nape of my neck, while his other banded around my waist, pulling me tighter against him.
My fingers curled in his hair as we kissed until our mouths were swollen.
It was the longest make-out session of my life.
And it was bloody glorious.
Finally, Callan gentled the kiss, his lips whispering across mine in sweet, shivery brushes. With one last touch, he leaned his forehead to mine and took a deep, shuddering breath.
“That was … wow.”
Callan lifted his head to meet my gaze. “It was.” His voice was deliciously rough.
We stared at each other in awe for a few seconds.
Then he asked, “Will you come to our game against Longniddry next Saturday?”
A giddy smile tugged at my puffy lips. “Will you kiss me like that afterward?”
Callan grinned. “Aye, if you’ll let me.”
“I think we both know I’ll let you.”
Chuckling, he drew me against him for a hug. I was surprised by the tender embrace, and even more so by the kiss he pressed to my temple. Like I was precious. Like I was someone he cherished. “What about Amanda?”
A knot formed in my gut, but I shoved it aside. “Once I explain how much I like you, she’ll understand. She’s my best friend. She loves me.”
“Good. I like you a lot too, if that wasn’t clear.”
I had to bite my lip against another giddy smile. Callan saw and his expression brightened with smug elation.
When my bus arrived, he gave me a few more soft kisses and made me promise to text him when I got home. I’d never in my life not wanted to go home.
But that afternoon, I wanted to be wherever Callan Keen was.