28. Chapter Twenty-Eight
Once Nate and Kat exit the kitchen with Colin to say goodbye to him, I feel the tears start to drip down my cheeks.
“Callie, it’s going to be okay,” Johnny says, trudging over to me and cautiously pulling me into his chest. “Everything’s going to work out.” I sniffle and brush the tears away from my face. I pat his arm and he releases me from his hold, peering down at me with concern.
“I really hope it does work out, Johnny,” I tell him, smiling briefly. He purses his lips, glances towards Connor and then sighs.
“I better get going, need to clean up after Johnson’s taken care of Fraser. I’m only a call away if any of you need me.”
Connor scoffs, “Won’t answer the phone though, will ya?” Johnny rolls his eyes and walks over to where he’s seated, ruffling his hair as if he’s an annoying child.
“See you later, you little shit.”
When Johnny leaves, Brad glances around the kitchen from his place beside the twins. His gaze moves in Ryker’s direction first before he quickly averts his eyes to roam. When his eyes connect with mine, he smiles.
“Is there anything I can do for you?” he asks softly. I nibble on my bottom lip and shake my head.
“Anything to eat or drink?” I shake my head again and he flatten his lips before nodding, accepting that I don’t need anything.
He then turns to Connor and Callum, asking the same questions. When they both give him the same answers, his gaze swings over to Ryker.
“How about you?”
Ryker raises a brow and releases an amused snort.
“Why, you wanna share some food as well as my girl?”
Brad chokes on his spit at the same time that Connor and Callum both turn to me with shocked expressions. I roll my eyes at each one of them and walk over to where Ryker is leaning against the side, elbowing him in the ribs as I pass him.
“Don’t be a dickhead,” I chastise, turning to glare at him over my shoulder as I grab a cup from the cupboard. “He was trying to be nice.”
“Wait, is this going to become a thing?” Callum asks, his eyes darting between Ryker and Brad.
“Oh my, can we stop talking about this right now?” I grumble, nudging Ryker out of my way so I can get to the kettle. “It doesn’t involve you anyway, Callum. Stay out of it and mind your own bleeding business.”
“What did we miss?” Kat asks, strolling into the room with Nate.
“Nothing,” Connor mutters.
As I”m making my coffee, Kat sidles up beside me, pushing Ryker further away. “Are you good? Do you need anything?” I shake my head and quietly thank her.
I’m beyond grateful that they’re here, and they all seem to want to help me, but in all honesty, I don’t know what I need at this moment. My body is aching, my emotions are still uncontrollable, and I feel so drained and tired.
“So, does everyone know everything then?” Ryker asks as he sweeps up the remainder of the glass scattered across the floor.
“Yeah, I think. Although we don’t know much about you… Well, I know you left Callie high and dry, and I also know that Brad seems to have some sort of man crush on you, which is understandable because you’re gorgeous, but honestly, I don’t know a lot so, I’m mildly curious.”
Ryker”s back muscles tense at first when Kat speaks, but I watch as he begins to snicker by the end of her odd little speech.
“Well, you’ll have plenty of time to learn more about me, Shortcake. I’m sticking around this time,” he says earnestly as he turns around, eyes locked onto mine.
Kat grumbles something about Ryker’s nickname for her, but I have no idea what she says. My heart is thumping wildly in my chest, and that”s all I can hear as I watch Ryker wink at me after his small declaration.
“I don’t know if I love or hate that guy,” Brad mutters, passing me and breaking me from my awed stupor. I almost laugh at his comment but the pain radiating across my face stops me.
“Are you all going to be okay staying here by yourselves?” Nate questions, leaning against the door frame.
“We’ll be fine. Much rather stay here now that those fuckers have disappeared.”
“Yeah, I’m in agreement with Grumpy. For once, I actually feel like I can relax whilst I’m inside this house.”
“Well, my dad told me that the two officers would be outside within the next hour, and they’ll keep an eye out for anything suspicious. They might also knock every few hours just to check that everything is okay.”
“We don’t need them,” Connor huffs, abruptly standing from his chair and storming towards the doorway that connects to the living room.
“What he actually means to say is thank you. He’s just complicated and angry at the world. I’m sorry.” Callum walks to Nate and pats his shoulder before following after Connor.
Nate clears his throat, glancing around at everyone who remains in the room. When his eyes stop on me, I see the sadness and concern in his eyes, and it guts me. I’m thankful for his concern, but I don’t want him to see me as some fragile, broken doll now that he knows so much and has seen what my father can do to me.
“We’ll get out of your hair in a minute, but, uh, Callie, can I speak to you for a minute, please?” My brows raise slightly in surprise but I nod and quickly drink some of my coffee before setting the cup in the sink.
As I walk past Ryker, he reaches his arms out in front of me, halting my movements. He places a soft kiss on my temple and smooths his thumb across my wrist.
“I’m going to head home. Give you some space. I’ll be back tomorrow, okay?”
“I’ll be okay, I promise,” I tell him, trying to ease the worry that I know is coursing through his veins. He presses another featherlight kiss to my head this time, inhaling a deep breath as he does so and then steps back.
“Nice to meet you all, and I guess I look forward to getting to know you all better now that you’ve wriggled your way into Callie’s life.” With that, he lifts his hood and waves as he strides out of the room.
Leading Nate upstairs, I can feel my palms starting to grow clammy due to the nerves currently thrumming through my body. I’m not sure what he wants to discuss, but I have an inkling that it’s about what happened between us at my father”s fight club.
As I’m about to reach for the handle of my bedroom door, I decide against going in there and quickly swivel around to face Callum’s door instead.
My emotions are already overwhelming me at the moment. I don’t think I could handle sitting in that sordid room whilst we have a conversation.
I push the door open, letting Nate into the room first so that I can wipe my hands against my top without him noticing. My eyes scan the room for a place to sit. I see Nate heading towards Callum’s unmade bed and I decide to perch myself on the desk chair over by the window. Not too far from where Nate will be sitting but far enough to hopefully keep myself together whilst I’m internally falling apart.
“So, what did you want to talk about?” I ask, swivelling myself side to side on the chair.
He shifts uncomfortably on the bed and clears his throat before speaking.
“I just wanted to apologise about what happened between us. Now that I know everything, I understand that it was all probably a bit too fast for you and I don’t want you to feel pressured or anything.”
“Nate, you have no reason to apologise. I was enjoying myself with you and I would’ve loved to continue it at the time, but I had a momentary freak out because my head is all fucked up. You did nothing wrong. I didn’t feel pressured in any way, and you made me feel comfortable and wanted. It was different.”
His body visibly relaxes and he blows a breath of air out of his mouth.
“The reason you tensed up, was it from something that I did or said?” I roll my lips inward as I contemplate how to tell him the truth without hurting him or making him feel guilty.
He cringes when I take my time replying, leans his elbows on his knees, and drops his head into his open palms.
“It was the biting and mentioning how tight I was,” I mutter. He lifts his head, eyes meeting mine and I can see the guilt that he’s feeling at my admission. “I don’t want you to feel bad about it, Nate. You didn’t know and I assume it’s a normal thing for guys to say and do-”
“Okay, okay,” he says, interrupting me as he stands from the bed and walks over, crouching down in front of me. “Well, now I know, and I promise, if we’re ever in a situation like that again, I will remember not to do that. If I ever do anything that you don’t like or anything that reminds you of him, you tell me, and I’ll make sure to remember.”
I nod in agreement. “Yeah, okay, I can do that.” He smiles up at me and brushes his thumb across the edge of my jaw.
“You know it’s not your fault either, right?”
I close my eyes and drop my head, reopening them when I’m looking down at the floor.
“I know it’s not my fault that it happened, and I know that I couldn’t really do anything to stop it each time, but I do know that I’m in control of my brain. I’m the one that’s allowed it to mess with my head. I could’ve been stronger, blocked it out better-”
“No, Callie. None of that is your fault.” He tips my head back up, forcing me to face him as he shakes his head. “Anybody in your position would’ve been affected by what they’ve had to endure. You are so strong. Mentally, physically, and emotionally. Don’t ever doubt that. This hasn’t affected you mentally because you’re weak, it’s because it’s traumatic and wrong.”
A tear drips from my eye, and he swipes it away before it trails down my cheek.
“I just want to be able to forget about each and every time that he touched me. I want to rid the memories from my mind, but it’s impossible,” I cry, tears now falling freely from my eyes. Nate stands up, pulling me with him and allowing me to rest my head against his chest as he lightly circles his arms around me.
“It’ll get better with time, Callie. I promise it will, and I’ll be here to help in any way that I can,” he vows, pressing soft kisses to the top of my head as I cry into his chest.
After a few minutes, I begin to calm down. With my breathing becoming even and the tears finally stopping, I step back out of the comfort that his arms provide. I gently wipe at my face with the sleeve of my top and chuckle when I see him watching me.
“I’m sorry, I don’t know what’s happening to me. I”m so emotional lately.”
“It’s okay to show your emotions to people, Callie. Sometimes it helps to let it all out.”
Now that I think about it, I do feel a little lighter, like a small amount of weight has been lifted off of my chest. Whether that’s because my emotions have been pouring out of me today or whether it’s due to my dad being gone, I’m not sure. But I’m glad, it feels good to be able to relax slightly.
When I yawn, Nate motions with his head towards the door.
“I’ll head out and let you get some rest. I can imagine today’s been a lot. Do you think you’ll come to college tomorrow?”
I shake my head as I lead us out of Callum’s room and towards the stairs.
“I think I’ll probably have a few days off. I don’t want people to see all the bruises. It’ll also give us some time to go through my father’s office and see if we can find anything for your dad,” I tell him, slowly making my way down the stairs, trying not to jostle my sore body.
“Yeah, I understand. If you need anything, just call or text us, Callie. We’ll be there for you.” I turn, smiling at him with appreciation.
“Thank you, that honestly means a lot, but I won’t message or call whilst you”re at college. I don’t want to get in the way of something important.”
“Bitch, you’re important,” Kat shouts, walking into the entryway with Brad, Callum and Connor behind her. “We’re not going to college tomorrow. We’ll be here with you.”
“Especially when we know Ryker’s also gonna be here, it’s only fair if we’re here too. Can’t have him spending more time with our girl, can we, Nate?” Brad chimes in, winking at me. Nate chuckles beside me.
“Would it be okay if we came here tomorrow?” I smile up at him and nod.
“If you all want to come here instead, then you’re more than welcome to, but I can’t guarantee it’ll be any fun.”
Kat rolls her eyes and walks over to me, gingerly pulling me into a hug. “No need for fun. We just want to help you. We’ll be here at ten o’clock sharp,” she states, kissing my uninjured cheek. I hear Connor grumble and then hear the sound of fading footsteps, and I smile when I hear Callum’s laughter fade away as well.
Brad takes her place as soon as she steps away, pulling me in for a brief hug and kissing the top of my head before nudging me back over to Nate who’s awkwardly standing at the bottom of the staircase.
“If you need time by yourself, then we’ll go to college. I don’t want to crowd you.” I walk over to him and wrap my arms around his body, lifting on my tiptoes until my lips are beside his ear.
“I want all of you to be here, so I’ll see you at ten,” I whisper, trailing my lips down the side of his neck as I lower myself to the ground. I feel the shiver that runs through his body, and it makes me feel giddy inside knowing that I can affect this beautiful man with the simplest little thing.