32. Chapter Thirty-Two
After leaving Callie’s house a few days ago, we haven’t really spoken to her or seen her. We wanted to give her time to deal with her emotions and process all of the information she’d learned about her family. She didn’t ask, but we all agreed that we should. We could tell that she needed it.
She hasn’t responded to most of our messages, and I don’t blame her. But, with her slow replies all weekend and not being at college yesterday or today, I was starting to miss her.
I guess that explains why I’m currently standing outside her front door with a stupid plan in my mind and debating with myself on whether to ring the bell.
The police officers sitting in the car keep cautiously glancing at me even though they know who I am and that I’m allowed to be here. I suppose I may look a little suspicious standing here for five minutes without knocking or pressing the button, but I don’t know if it’s the right thing to do.
“Just ring the doorbell, talk to her for a little bit and then mention going out,” I coax. I quickly glance around to be sure that no one is watching me talk to myself and then I take in a deep breath before pushing my thumb on the little button beside the door.
I squint my eyes, watching through the glass for any movement, but there isn’t any.
Fuck, do I ring the bell again?
I scratch the back of my head and glance over to the unmarked police car again, seeing the officers still watching me.
I’m about to turn around and accept defeat, but then I hear the door click open and Callie’s soft voice greets my ears.
“Hey, what are you doing here?”
My eyes trail down her body, and saliva pools in my mouth at the sight of her. She’s wearing a tight blush pink tank top that’s clinging to her rounded breasts and showcasing her pert little nipples. A pair of matching cotton shorts that show off her beautifully thick thighs and shapely hips has my teeth sinking into my lower lip.
She clears her throat, and a quiet giggle escapes her. That snaps me out of my trance, and my eyes dart back up to her face.
“Hey, uh, sorry. What did you ask me?” I internally groan when I realise how much of a fool I’m making of myself, but her blushing cheeks and the shy smile that’s crawling across her face push away my embarrassment.
“Do you want to come inside?” She asks, pushing the door wider and glancing over my shoulder to scan the driveway and the street.
I nod, “Yeah, if that’s-” My words cut off when she turns and saunters through the entryway towards the kitchen. My eyes drop to her arse, and I feel the stirring of arousal in my lower stomach as I watch her hips sway.
Subconsciously, my head tilts to the side so I can see the little peek of her lower cheeks that’s poking out from the bottom of the shorts.
I quickly shake my head, clearing away all of the dirty thoughts trying to infiltrate my mind, and walk into the house. As I turn to close the door, I reach down and adjust my half-mast dick in my jeans, trying to relieve the friction in hopes that it will soften again.
When I walk into the kitchen and see Callie crouched down with her head buried in the freezer, I know that the swell in my trousers has no chance of going down.
As I’m appreciating the view of Callie’s plump lower cheeks, Ryker walks into the kitchen in a pair of tight-fitted grey jogging bottoms with his sculpted upper body on show. When he spots me standing by the counter, he raises his dark brows as his icy blue eyes scan my body.
A smirk appears on his face when he spots the obvious lump in my jeans, his eyes flicking back up to meet mine and the cocky fucker winks.
“You happy to see me, Brad?”
I feel my cheeks heat as I scoff at him, rolling my eyes.
“I thought you said you bought ice cream this morning. There’s none in here,” Callie whines, closing the freezer door before shuffling over to the counter I’m leaning against.
“I did. It’s in the bottom drawer!”
When Ryker turns to the freezer, my eyes go wide when I see the expansive ink on his skin.
“Holy shit, dude. That’s amazing.” I trace every intricate detail with my eyes, marvelling at the precision on each part of the feathered wings that cover his whole back.
He peers over his shoulder at me and mutters a thank you before opening the freezer and looking for Callie”s ice cream.
Callie steps closer to me, her arm brushing against mine. When I face her, she’s looking at me with a goofy smile on her face.
“He has my name tattooed on him as well, and my eyes,” she whispers. My eyes go comically wide, and my jaw slackens. Whipping my head around, I study Ryker’s body, and when he turns, I spot her name instantly.
I’m not sure how I missed it when he walked in earlier. Callie’s name is scrawled across his heart in big, bold, swirling letters.
How am I meant to compete with this guy?
As if Callie can hear my internal voice, she pats my hand and rests her head against my shoulder.
“I love his tattoos, but I think he’s stupid for having them.”
Ryker tuts and playfully glares in our direction.
“Can you stop talking about me as if I’m not here? Also, your ice cream is gone, twins must’ve eaten it.” Callie frowns and juts her bottom lip out. Ryker chuckles, walking over and placing a gentle kiss on her lips, his hair brushing against my chin in the process.
“I’ll go get you some more, then I’m going home. My dad’s back this weekend so I’m gonna sit down and talk to them both about everything.”
He strolls out of the kitchen, whistling a tune, and I watch Callie as she ogles his backside.
“Can I ask why he was topless?”
She blushes and rolls her eyes, pushing away from me and walking over to the sink.
“It’s not what you think. He was fixing something in Callum’s bathroom earlier and his top got wet.”
“You know I wouldn’t be mad if anything happened between you? Remember our conversation by the lake?” I ask. She nods, glancing towards the open doorway before walking over to me.
“I think I want to try it out,” she whispers, avoiding eye contact and fiddling with her fingers.
“Want to try what out?”
“You know what I mean.”
“I’m waiting for you to say it, cutie.”
“I’m interested in all of you and I don’t want to have to choose one of you to pursue, so I want to give it a go. This polyamorous thing.”
I smile victoriously and stand from the chair so that I can wrap my arms around her.
“Do you think Ryker would be into that? He seems like the territorial type.”
She snorts and rests her head against my chest.
“He told me that he’d be okay with it. I’m more worried about whether Nate would want to be involved.”
I kiss the top of her head and pull away from her slightly so that I can tilt her face up to mine.
“Like I said before, he’ll be alright with it. You should still talk to him about it, but I don’t think it’d be a problem.”
“Hmm, okay… So, now that you’re not distracted, I’ll ask again. Why are you here, Brad?”
I scan my eyes across her face and brush my thumb against the faint bruising.
“I wanted to check up on you and I also want to talk to you about some plans that I have in mind.”
She smiles up at me, then rises on her toes and mashes her lips against mine. I respond immediately, pulling her tight against my body as our lips meld together.
Before it gets too heated, she pulls back, brushing her nose against mine and then dropping back down to her normal height.
“Thank you, for checking on me and also for giving me some space these past couple of days. I think I needed it so that I could wrap my head around everything.”
“How is everything with that?”
Her nose crinkles and she looks away from me. “Well, I’ve actually looked at the certificates now, and that seemed to solidify the truth for me. I still feel confused about it, and I guess a little upset. But I know that my mum will be able to provide me some answers once I’m able to see her again.”
“It’s okay to be upset and confused, cutie. That was quite a big bomb to have dropped on you, and it came at a pretty bad time.”
She nods, agreeing with my statement. When she faces me again, she’s nibbling on her lower lip and has a guilty look in her eye.
“Is it bad that I feel relieved, knowing that I’m not related to Cameron or Derek?” My brows crease and she glances at the doorway before continuing. “With how cruel and psychotic they are, I’m glad to know that their blood doesn’t run through my veins, but I feel guilty for thinking that, and I feel like I can’t admit how I feel because that blood still runs through Callum and Connor.”
“Baby, I don’t think you need to feel guilty for that,” I say, closing the distance between us. “Anyone in your position would likely feel the same. I’m sure if you were to talk about it with the twins, they’d understand.”
She sighs heavily and wraps her arms around my middle.
“I’m sorry, I feel like I’m probably bringing you down with all of this.”
“No, not at all. It’s why I’m here. I wanted to talk, so I came to check on you. I also have a suggestion about something that might help cheer us all up and take our minds off all the heavy stuff for a little while.”
“Is your suggestion going to be group sex or something?” she jokes, raising her brows at me.
My cock twitches in my trousers at her suggestion.
Images of four sweaty bodies writhing around in bed crash into my mind.
I can picture Callie spread open for us, moaning each of our names as we take turns pleasuring her delicate little body and making her cum.
My dick is now hard as steel, and Callie must notice because her cheeks are rosy red as she takes a step back, creating a slither of space between our bodies.
“That, uh, that-” I clear my throat and shake my head, attempting to rid myself of the dirty thoughts I’m currently having. “That wasn’t what I was going to suggest, no. If you think that would work, then obviously, I’m down. I’ll call Nate right now and tell him to get his moping little arse over here.”
Amusement dances across her face as she rolls her lips together, holding back her laughter.
I feel my cheeks flush, and I nervously chuckle.
“Okay, let”s put that thought on the back burner. What I was actually going to suggest was going out on the weekend.” Her brows raise in surprise so I rush to continue. “It’s my birthday on Sunday and I know you’re likely going to take the next couple of days off of college again, so I just thought we could maybe plan something fun for Friday or Saturday night.”
“What did you have in mind?”
“Uh, well, I didn’t really think that far ahead,” I mumble, wracking my brain for any idea on what to actually do.
This time, she can’t stop herself from laughing.
After brainstorming ideas for what we could do and eating the whole tub of mint chocolate chip ice cream that Ryker dropped off, we’d decided to go bowling and then go to Misfits - the local club - on the Saturday night. Callie had also mentioned wanting to go shopping with Kat the day before so that she could choose a nice outfit to wear.
Once we’d sorted out the plan, we texted the group chat, which now includes Ryker, too, and then sat in the living room, snuggled up underneath a blanket on the sofa and watched a few episodes of Friends.
The twins came downstairs at some point to check on Callie and they watched an episode with us too. I then decided that was my cue to leave.
I’ve been home for hours now.
Night has fallen, cloaking my bedroom in darkness. For the last hour, I’ve laid in bed trying to shut my brain off so that I can get some sleep, seeing as I have college in the morning.
Instead of shutting down, my brain seems to keep replaying the image of Callie earlier in her little shorts and her thin t-shirt and mixing in images of sharing her with Ryker and Nate.
I glance at the clock. It’s just gone midnight. I screw my eyes shut and groan in frustration before grabbing my phone.
“Fuck it,” I mutter as I bypass the notifications from the group chat and click on mine and Callie’s text thread.
Brad:
Hey cutie, you awake?
I glower at my tented sheets as I wait for her to reply.
As I’m intensely staring at my dick through the duvet, as if that will help it soften, my phone vibrates with Callie’s reply.
Callie:
Yeah, I’m up. Everything okay?
Brad:
Yeah yeah, how comes you’re awake?
Callie:
My brain won’t seem to shut off
Brad:
Aha, same here…
Brad:
Kinda horny. Can I come over?
My heart pounds wildly in my chest as I watch the little grey text bubble appear and then disappear. Once. Twice. Then they don’t appear again.
I wait another minute and then I start to panic.
Shit, shit, shit!
Why did I have to think with my fucking dick?
Oh my, I think I’ve screwed this up so badly
I hastily grab my phone and start to type a message, but it vibrates in my hand.
Callie:
Sure, if you want to… I’ll open a window and switch a light on. Use the tree to get up.
My eyes widen and I read her message over and over again to make sure that I’m not hallucinating.
When the words don’t change, a smile takes over my face, and I fist-punch the air in excitement.
Standing up, I grab a pair of jogging bottoms and a hoodie before quickly putting them on. As I reach for my shoes, my head catches up to my dick.
Is Callie ready for this?
Would I be pressuring her?
I drop onto the edge of my bed and stare at the carpeted floor, debating whether this is okay or not. Quickly snatching my phone from the bed, I open our messages again.
Brad:
Are you sure?
Callie:
Yes, Brad. I’m sure ;)
Her reply is instant, and the added winky face convinces me enough that I drop my phone and reach down to slide my shoes on.
Before I leave my room, I make sure to grab a few condoms from my drawer and stuff them into my pocket. I know that we may not end up having sex, but it’s better to be safe than sorry.