23. Cal
Cal
“ O h my god, Steve. You can’t be serious,” Jules whines.
Her hand is covering her face, and she sounds absolutely miserable talking to her brother.
Steve’s voice is booming even at six in the morning.
Spooning her, with my face buried in her hair and one hand cupping her breast, I can overhear their conversation like Jules has the phone on speaker.
“I wouldn’t ask, but you’re my only option. Nancy is miserable.”
Steve has called at the ass crack of dawn because today, of all days, Nancy is down for the count with a kidney stone. Their parents are out of town, and none of her brothers are around to help.
“We’ve got to take her to the hospital,” he continues. “And I’m not dragging the kids into that germ fest. They’re feral on the best day. I’m not sticking them in a situation where I could get sued.”
I take advantage of my hand placement and begin exploring the peaks and valley between her breasts, running my thumb over each mound, circling her nipples until they grow taut.
Jules groans. “I can’t, Steve.” She arches into my touch, pressing her ass into my groin. “My inspection is today. I need to be here when they do the walk-through.”
Knowing Jules, she’s trying to sort logistics in her head of how she can be there for her brother and be there for herself, but her body tells me she’s right here with me in this bed and is paying attention.
I pull her tighter into my chest, slipping my hand between her legs.
“Babe, I can help.” And I can, in more ways than one.
“It’ll only be for half the day,” Steve says. “Mom and Dad can be here this afternoon. Also, why do I hear Cal’s voice? And why does it sound like he just woke up? Are you in bed with that fucker?”
Jules arches into my caress. “Mind your own business. Fine. We’ll sort out the inspection, and one of us will be there as soon as we can.”
Dread replaces desire.
I’ll do a lot of things for Jules. But I don’t honestly know if I can survive hours alone with her brother’s kids.
Those twins scare the hell out of me. Eventually, she hangs up with Steve, assuring him one of us will be there.
We decide via rock paper scissors that Jules will go, and I will let the inspector in.
And then I make sure she knows I can take care of her by using my mouth.
“You’re sure everything is set?” Jules asks for the hundredth time as she follows me through the kitchen.
I kiss the tip of her nose and spin her toward the door. “He said he’d be here at ten. I’ve got this. You go help Steve. Besides, it makes more sense for me to be at the inspection in case anything needs to be fixed. ”
Finally, I get her and Charlie bundled into the car with promises that I’ll call her as soon as the inspector leaves.
With a few moments of silence, I go down to the coffee shop and do some last-minute cleaning.
We’ve built a really cool place here, thanks to Jules’s vision and some help from friends. And I’ve hung around Jules enough by now that I can envision the place full of people. With Jules directing it all. Book clubs, open mic acoustic nights.
It’s going to be amazing. I’m proud of what she’s accomplished. What we’ve accomplished together.
The inspector is prompt and efficient and only glares at me a few times as I follow on his heels while he ticks off boxes. He finishes in record time and assures me he will contact us after he files his paperwork.
The whole thing is a bit anticlimactic.
I wanted to be able to show up at Steve’s and present her with her certificate.
Instead, we’re forced to wait. Again.
I know she’s worried about the bank’s installment payments that are quickly approaching. She hasn’t said as much, but I’ve caught her worrying on more than one occasion.
She wants so much to do this on her own. Almost being stubborn to her own detriment. I’ve got a backup plan, though. If she can’t open, I’m going to convince her to let me help. Hell, if I could, I’d make the first few payments for her. Whatever it takes. I’ll work overtime or sell something.
I want Jules to be happy. And I want her in my life. I’ve gotten so used to her being in my apartment, so much a part of my every day… much like Charlie has become essential, so has Jules.
I’m locking the door, ready to go get my girls, when my phone blares with a ringtone that simultaneously sends chills down my spine and also makes warning bells scream in my head.
I haven’t heard from my sister in weeks.
“Dani?”
My name falls through the phone on a broken sob, and all the things I’ve thought I might say to her vanish.
No matter how much of a fuckup she’s been, she’s still my baby sister. Still the little girl I left behind with tears in her eyes all those years ago.
“Danielle. What’s wrong?”
My heart thuds and then cracks in two when she sniffles, followed by the sound of something rustling. Almost like she’s shifting the phone.
“I fucked up,” she whispers and then dissolves into tears again.
I’m pacing the sidewalk, but in my head, I’m thrust back to that podunk town.
That place where life offered so little and came with so much heartache.
It’s like I’m reliving the last time I was at home.
When my mom was raging with our neighbor about how the cops were all on the take. How “the boys” were unfairly targeted.
The boys .
That’s what they’d called us. That’s how they’d treated us.
Like unruly kids who didn’t know any better, and not a bunch of rowdy twenty-year-olds with too much experience and too much idle time on our hands.
Until that fateful day that I’d been forced to stay home sick while my friends had been out getting high, using half the drugs they were supposed to sell.
“Dani, calm down and tell me what’s going on.”
She draws a shaky breath, then admits, “I got arrested.” Her voice is small, contrite .
A myriad of emotions flash through me. But the one I nearly choke on is guilt. If I hadn’t left Dani behind, if I’d been able to get her out of there, maybe I could’ve prevented this.
“Can you bond me out?” she asks. She tells me what she needs, and I’m choking again for a different reason.
“Dani, I don’t have that kind of money. What the fuck happened?”
“There was a raid.”
That’s it. That’s all she fucking says.
I spear my fingers into my hair, tugging because I feel the sudden urge to do something. Hit something. Do anything . And I’m helpless.
“Dani, I don’t know how to help you right now.
I don’t have that kind of money.” But I don’t even know if I’d bond her out if I did.
And that realization makes everything worse.
I feel like the worst brother ever right now.
My footsteps thud against the sidewalk as I pace in front of the shop. “Do you have an attorney?”
“Tabby’s got a name of someone.” Her reply is muffled, pouting. And it’s the slap back into reality that I need.
Tabby. Our mother. Who made us call her by name instead of Mom.
“ Mom ? Of course she does.”
“Don’t act like you’re so much better than us now.” She sounds just like Tabby used to. Same hateful spite in her voice, even though she’s the one who called me needing something. “So are you gonna help us or not?”
“Us?”
“Well, yeah. You should give Tabby a call sometime. She knows you’ve got Charlie. She says she’d love for you to come home for a visit.”
Nope. No way in hell am I opening that can of worms and offering her a place in my life. I cut ties for a reason all those years ago.
“Dani, I’m already helping you as much as I can.” I keep my voice as level as possible, not wanting this to turn any uglier than it is. “I’m taking care of your daughter.”
“Fine. Whatever,” she says. “Thanks for nothing.”
The phone line goes dead. My heart stops. But the hatred in her voice rings loud and clear.
Thanks for nothing .
As if providing a safe, secure, loving home for her daughter is nothing, and she hates me for it.
I make the drive to Steve’s house in a haze. My mind racing between old memories and wondering how deep Dani is into this fucked-up lifestyle that my former family leads.
One thing becomes crystal clear. Charlie can never go back to them.