Chapter 13
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
“Guess you’re staying?” Callie says once we’re alone.
I’m still having trouble processing what just happened.
“Guess so.”
Luke appeared exhausted when he retreated back to his room to make the call to the front desk. This must have been a taxing day for him. Now I’m really curious about what happened in that office.
“What about your life?” Callie asks suddenly. “I mean, don’t you have somewhere else you’re supposed to be?”
I toss a smile at her. “Trying to get rid of me?”
She returns a sardonic look. “You know I want you here. I just… I don’t know. You must have a whole other life. Obligations.”
“Obligations,” I scoff. She has no idea. “Yeah. But nothing I can’t do from here. Don’t worry, Mom, I’ll be where I need to be when I need to be there.”
She returns a weak smile, and I soften the teasing. She’s just trying to be considerate, and I realize for all we’ve been through in this short time, we really don’t know much about each other. She probably doesn’t know any more about what my life is outside this suite than I know of hers.
“Anyway, I do have my own place,” I explain. “But it’s nothing worth missing. I’m on the road so much I never thought there was any point in setting up roots.” I scan her as the mood shifts. “I could say the same to you.”
Her dry laugh cuts through the humor. “Please. My life is literally nothing. Talk about a pointless existence.”
I wince, staring at her with a mix of confusion and irritation.
“Sorry, that didn’t come out right,” she backpedals, reading my reaction.
Liar.
“I don’t know. Maybe it did,” I challenge. “What does that mean? Who are you? I don’t even know your last name.”
She averts her gaze, and now I’m getting annoyed. A minute ago, she was taking me on at every pass. Now all of a sudden she’s going to cower in the face of basic questions?
“No one worth your time, believe me,” she mumbles.
Is she fucking serious right now? I can’t believe what I’m hearing.
“You do understand you’re insulting me, too, when you do that?” I counter in an accusatory tone.
She withdraws into herself even more. “I didn’t mean it like that. I just… I don’t know. I just meant I’m no one.”
I run a hand over my hair and shake my head in frustration. “What the hell does that even mean? You’re no one? So am I just an idiot then to be wasting entire days and nights with ‘no one’?”
She winces, and part of me feels badly, but she needs to hear this. Maybe we’re not just here for Luke. Maybe we all have scattered pieces that need to be assembled.
“No. That’s not what I meant. Of course not. ”
Her placating response just pisses me off more. I think back over the course of our time together. All the jokes, all the debates. They were all in good fun, but clearly there was an undertone I didn’t truly pick up on until now.
This woman actually has no clue how incredible she is.
“No, I know what you meant,” I say in a firm voice. “I know exactly what you meant. Your face isn’t slapped all over the internet and some stupid magazine so therefore you don’t count as a person in my life just because mine is.”
I scrub at my face. “God, Callie, we basically met two days ago and I can’t even imagine not having you in my life at this point.
Luke didn’t know you existed a month ago and now you’re his best chance at survival.
You’re doing what no one else could! You write poetry that cut into me, and have made me laugh so much these last couple days it’s actually starting to get painful. ”
I take a breath as the words sink in. I’m hearing them for the first time as well. The magnitude of what’s happening in this suite. Three broken souls coming together to fill the cracks in each other.
And right at the center? This person who thinks she doesn’t even belong here.
“So stop with the ‘I’m a nobody’ bullshit and tell me who you really are!”
I quiet and stare her down. My heart beats wildly as I wait to see what she does with this ultimatum. I could lose her, but I’ve already lost her if I can’t get this message through.
She bites her lip and squirms in her seat. Seconds tick by. Quiet looks and awkward stillness.
She pivots away from me.
It hurts like hell when she hides her face, but maybe this is the hard truth she needed to hear.
I command myself to stand strong. To wait for her to sort through her own demons instead of taking them on myself like I always do.
I didn’t allow Luke to fight his battles and look where it got us.
I’m not about to make the same mistake with Callie.
After a torturous pause, she finally straightens, still facing the wall.
“I’m Callie Roland, twenty-three, born and raised in Shelteron, Pennsylvania.”
She swivels slowly on her stool, as if afraid of my reaction.
All I feel is colossal relief.
I drop to the seat beside her and hold out my hand.
“Casey Barrett, twenty-five, born and raised in Houston, Texas.”
She takes my hand with a weak smile.
Then stops cold.
Her eyes go wide.
“Houston?” Her voice is barely above a whisper.
Her strange reaction shatters the air around us.
She didn’t know I was from Houston, but she must know the significance based on her shock. And if she didn’t know that, then she probably doesn’t know the rest. How would she unless Luke told her. There’s zero chance of that.
I force a nod and offer a stiff smile to soften the blow. “Elena Barrett Craven was my sister.”
Her stunned expression confirms my theory.
“I’m sorry to just dump that on you,” I continue, breaking the heavy silence. “I thought you should know. Maybe that matters, maybe it doesn’t.”
“Of course it matters!” She looks rattled, and I wonder what’s going through her head. Knowing her, it’s more than the average person.
I study the windows in the distance. “More pieces of the puzzle, huh?”
“More insight into you. ”
Warm pressure spreads through my hand, and I shift my focus to our fingers locking together.
“I’m so sorry, Casey,” she says with a mix of pain and bewilderment. “And yet you stood by him? Cared for him?”
She’s not the only one who has trouble understanding the contradiction. This sordid story is full of them, but I suspect she’s had enough surprises for one conversation.
“We were both hurting,” I say, tracing the floor tiles with my eyes. “Maybe I thought we were standing by each other in the beginning. But I wasn’t the reason for her downfall, he was. I was able to forgive myself and continue to love her after she was gone. Luke’s pain was different.”
With a sharp exhale, she tackles me with a vigorous hug. I close my eyes as her arms constrict around me.
“You’re a special person, Casey Barrett,” she murmurs against my neck.
I release a sad laugh. “You’ve only known me a few days. I’ll get on your nerves soon enough.”
Her arms tighten as if rebelling against the thought. It feels so good to be close to her. To connect with someone who truly gets it. Gets me. It gives me strength I haven’t felt in years. Hope I haven’t felt in… ever.
It’s incredible, surreal, and so freaking exhausting.
My soul needs a break.
We part just enough to see each other. A spark catches in her eyes when they search mine with a quiet plea. My body reacts, screaming for the same thing.
But we’re both rocked by what just happened. I’m afraid this kiss wouldn’t be about us, but about my trauma, and that’s the slippery slope that got me into trouble in the first place.
With incredible effort, I withdraw from her arms and force the brightest smile I can muster.
“So does that mean I’ve won enough points to continue our Dead Head marathon?” I ask .
There are some things only zombies can fix.
Her melodramatic groan drops us right back into our easy banter.
“Do we have to? Right before bed?” she whines.
I give her my best puppy dog eyes.
She sighs with plenty of self-asserted martyrdom. “Fine. But I maintain the Power of the Mute Button.”