Chapter 7
SEVEN
CALLUM
- Present Day -
*Three Hours Earlier*
“ S hit. Sorry, guys. Gotta go.”
“Dude! Come on. You’re bailing? Seriously?” Theo and Bash shoot me the evil eye, but Newbie just sits across from me, nursing his drink.
“Sorry, guys. I really gotta go. I’ll catch up with you later.” I nod in Newbie’s direction, but he just stares back silently. “Newbie, nice. . . hanging out with you.”
This last part comes out reluctantly. Seriously, I don’t know what the fuck is up with this guy.
He’s been quite chatty with Theo and Bash, but anytime I try to chime in, the dude just clams up.
And I swear there was a time or two when I caught him glaring at me.
What the actual fuck? I don’t even know him.
If the guy is gonna be a total prick, it’s gonna make for a long fucking season. We don’t have room on the team for Newbie to be a fucking asshole. We need team players, not whatever the hell is going on over here.
Anyway, that’s a problem for another day.
Right now, I have to go deal with Lena.
“Seriously? You need me to meet you where?”
I can hear the incredulous tone in my voice and I wince. I would do damn near anything for my sister. But this?
“Please, Cal!” Her tone is whiney as she responds. “Mom is all over my ass, and I can’t put up with her bullshit alone. Please can’t you come rescue me? She loves it when you come over.”
Of course she fucking does. I drag an exasperated hand through my hair. That’s what happens when you leave your fucking family and split everything down the middle.
She left, taking Lena with her, forcing us to alternate visitations, each taking turns with the other parent for short visits but rarely overlapping in a way that allowed me to spend my time with my baby sister while she was in high school.
Instead, she took Lena with her, and moved to Colorado to be with her new man while I stayed behind with Dad.
By that point, I was already almost eighteen and it didn’t make sense to move me several states away when I was already well established in my hockey career and finishing up my senior year of high school.
It did, however, ruin any desire to attend University of Denver which had been my top choice for schools, thereby forcing me to scramble and pick from one of my backups.
Lena, on the other hand? Well, she was only a freshman at the time, and was always wanting to make Mom happy. So when Mom posed the question, there was almost no hesitation before she jumped at the chance to move and get a fresh start in a new school.
I mean, I can’t say I blame her. Lena and her best friend, Sutton, had always been outside of the main social circles.
And they were both teased ruthlessly while growing up in our small town just outside of Seattle.
That’s the problem with small towns, you grow up with the same stupid fuckers and once you are grouped into a certain clique, you are pretty much glued to it for all of eternity, or at least until you graduate.
So, Lena took the chance she was given, moved to Colorado with mom and the new guy while I was left to stay behind with Dad.
And to Mom’s chagrin, once I was forced into that position, I chose not to visit her much.
She was the one who left us, after all. Why should I go out of my fucking way to visit when she couldn’t be bothered to stick around in the first place?
Needless to say, on the rare occasions when I pop up in her sphere these days, Mom lights up like a fucking Christmas tree.
She moved back to the area with her newest boyfriend about a year ago, having tired of her latest husband just like my Dad before him.
Now, Lena is apparently stuck at a “family dinner” and asking for me to rescue her.
Of-fucking-course. And because she knows I could never say no to her, here I am, on my way to Tacoma and the over-the-top gated community mom’s latest boytoy insisted they move into.