Chapter Sixty-Eight
Sky
“ G uys ain’t shit.” Ruby tears at a piece of Callie’s rug where she’s sitting cross-legged.
“Bobby is.” Callie glares at her.
I want to pipe up with the same about Cade, but Ruby is on a tear. After I told her what happened with him, she’s been full force on the warpath. If this was any other guy, I would appreciate her ‘us versus them’ animosity, but this is Cade. I grit my teeth and go back to studying the note from Bobby. Something about it is bothering me.
“Cade probably wants to go off to college and fuck as many girls as possible,” Ruby muses.
She’s already said that one, but it needles under my skin. The thought of Cade with other girls makes my stomach churn, and I can’t stop myself from denying it.
“That’s not why,” I say, and then cringe, realizing I sound exactly like Callie.
The two of us are starting to become broken records. But nothing makes sense. First Bobby, now Cade? And this note… I smooth out some of the dried tears that Callie left on it, trying to figure out why it irritates me.
Callie,
There has been a death in my family, and I have to go home. I think it would be best if we broke up. We weren’t a good fit, anyway. Don’t try to contact me. I have nothing left to say.
Bobby
It’s way too cut and dry, written hastily. Which could make sense if he had to leave in a hurry, but it’s just not his style. He’s as slow as a snail, and the ink is smudged, as if he dragged his palm across the paper, not bothering to wait for it to dry. It feels extremely impersonal and rushed, mean even. He really cared about Callie. I saw it with my own eyes. I can’t picture him just leaving her a callous note. Plus, he always gets all squirmy coming up to the girls’ dorms. I’m supposed to believe he just slipped the note under her door? He would have called and made her come down.
I blink, and a new wet spot appears on the paper. I quickly swipe at my cheek, not even realizing I’ve started to cry. I rein it in and focus back on the note, reminding myself there’s no reason to cry. Because Cade and I aren’t over. Something else is going on. I just have to figure it out.
“You should call him.” I jump up and snag Callie’s phone off the nightstand, thrusting it towards her.
“What?!” She rears back. “No!”
“Yes! He owes you more than a note.”
It’s true, he does. But what I don’t say is that I don’t think he even wrote the note.
“Sky, someone in his family died . I can’t bother him.”
“You don’t think that if something really did happen, he would want to talk to you?” I grasp at straws. “To confide in you?” I look at Ruby for back up.
She raises a brow at me, signaling she’s not on my side here.
“What do you mean, ‘really did happen’?” Callie asks.
“I don’t know,” I answer honestly and look back at her. “Something just doesn’t feel right. Why would they both do this the same day?”
“Enough with the conspiracies,” Ruby says. “You two got dumped for no other reason than guys suck. Have a cry sesh, and let’s move on.”
My cheeks flame at her words, and I let my hair fall forward to hide it. I know I sound desperate, like the pathetic girl that can’t accept being broken up with, but that’s not what this is. My gut is telling me something is wrong.
“Just call him,” I ignore Ruby and practically beg. “If he doesn’t answer, I’ll let it go.”
“And if he does answer? I don’t know what to say. It would be so awkward.” Callie rubs at her arms. “I don’t think I can do it.”
“Just offer him your condolences.” I hold the phone out to her.
“You’re giving her hives,” Ruby suddenly pushes up from the ground. “I’ll call him.”
“ No, ” Callie screeches.
But Ruby snatches the phone from my hand and starts tapping.
“I’ll tell him where he can stick his note.” She puts the phone up to her ear. “I can call Cade next if you want, Barbie.” She winks at me.
“Hang up! Hang up!” Callie lunges for her, but I don’t assist. If she’s not going to call, someone has to.
A twinge of guilt has me biting my lip as they war with each other. I shouldn’t be pushing Callie to do this, but I’m too scared to push on my end. If I had any courage at all, I would go to the shack and demand Cade tell me what’s going on. But… I don’t think I would survive it if he twisted the knife he plunged into me this afternoon. I’m hanging on by a thread as it is, stuffing down how cold he was, how venomous .
I’ve seen him spit that poison at others, but I never thought it could be turned on me, never thought how it would feel to be on the receiving end.
It feels like dying.
Something hot and salty slips between my lips, and I clench my fists. Damn it. I blink back the tears before they can drown me. It’s fine. Everything is going to be fine. It’s not over. It can’t be.
Ringing fills the room as she puts the phone on speaker and holds it over her head. My body tenses, waiting for him to answer. I don’t know what I’m expecting. For him to say he didn’t write the note? Then what will that mean? I don’t even know what it would have to do with Cade. All I have is a feeling, a feeling that has me holding my stomach in trepidation.
“Uh, hey.” Bobby’s voice fills the room.
We all freeze, Callie’s eyes going wide. A second of silence has us gawking at Ruby, waiting to see what she’s going to say, but he continues before her lips even move.
“You’ve reached Bobby. I guess, uh, leave a message.”
Callie sighs, her shoulders quickly sagging, and she wrenches the phone from Ruby.
“I’m changing my passcode,” she snaps as she hangs up the call.
“That little shit just ignored your call!” Ruby snarls.
“He’s probably just busy,” Callie says, but she doesn’t sound too sure now.
“Busy being a shady little cunt.”
Callie spins, exasperated, and looks at me with pleading eyes, asking me to back her up. But I’m too busy swallowing the bile that’s crept up in my throat.
I didn’t know what to expect, but him not answering feels a lot worse.