Chapter 11 Callie #2
“Or,”—his teeth snagged my ear lobe, right as his hand moved down to my ass, sliding underneath my shorts to grip my cheek—“did you want to be treated like a dirty slut and have me fuck the answers out of you?”
A gasp left my chest right as he licked the space he’d just snagged with his harsh bite. That tongue traveled down the length of my jawline, until he was sucking on my neck.
Oh shit. That felt good, too good.
I slammed my eyes closed as I tried to focus. Wes was playing me, toying with me like I was an idiot who didn’t have a brain. He wanted my letter, and I wanted my property. There was no way forward for us, but it didn’t change how hurt I was over his words.
Victim. Princess.
Anger surged in my chest as I bucked my hips and screamed.
“Get off me!”
He sat up immediately, removing his body from mine. Confusion then worry flashed across his face as he searched my body for the reason I yelled. As if he’d hurt me physically.
Like he’d fucking care.
I scrambled up to stand and began dusting myself off as I turned away from him.
“Do not come near me, Wes. I mean it. I’m not a fucking toy. I’m not a…a—”
I couldn’t even process what I wanted to say with how hard my heart pounded in my chest, and how hurt I was over what he’d just done. Why was it so easy for him to pretend like nothing had ever happened between us?
Suddenly I turned, needing to shout that at him, because there was so much venom built up inside me that I needed to let it out.
“What did I ever do to you to make you hate me like this?”
My voice cracked as a few angry tears slid down my face.
He was standing now, dirt streaking the knee of his jeans and down the length of his legs. That strong jaw tensed again as he stared down at the ground.
I continued yelling. “I loved you, Wes! I was so in love with you, and then you changed. Overnight, you became a different person. Losing you, it made me feel…”
“Made you feel what?” He took a step forward, abruptly cutting me off. “Helpless, out of options, left with no other choice…did it make you feel like you were forced to cut out your own fucking heart?” The way his voice shook, the determined but lost look in his eyes, robbed me of breath.
What was he talking about?
Gold-brown eyes searched my face as though he was trying to silently communicate something, but my heart was pounding too hard to see clearly.
I couldn’t look past this immediate situation long enough to go back and inspect what happened.
Nevermind that I was basically asking him to do the same exact thing.
Shaking my head, I retreated another step, but he stepped forward and tugged my hand.
“I made a decision, Callie, and you left me because of it. What did you want me to do?”
My eyes widened as more tears flowed freely and unchecked down my face.
“I wanted you to choose me, Wes. I needed you to be different from my dad.”
He clenched his jaw tightly letting my hand go. “Yeah, well, at some point, it stopped being just about what you wanted. I wanted you, and you wanted out. Your dad was my family. Brooks, Killian, Hamish…they became my family, too.”
I pushed his shoulder again, hating the vile anger burning through me like a virus.
“What? Your perfect fucking family wasn’t enough, you needed mine too?”
Gripping my wrist, he glared down at me.
“Yes. I wanted yours too, River. I wanted all of you, everything you touched, all the air you breathed, the fucking dirt under your nails. I wanted it all. You knew I didn’t have a choice after that night, yet you punished me regardless.”
I didn’t punish him. He—my memories came in and out from around the time we’d broken up.
He joined right around the same time I was taken.
I came back, and everything was a whirlwind, but I accepted that he’d joined.
For an entire year I stood by him while they put him through all the club shit, while he joined their church meetings and slowly slipped through my fingers.
I hung on as long as I could, until I noticed my life looping, and I couldn’t bear the image of my own kids growing up like I did.
“All I remember, Wes, is you choosing a life you were too privileged to ever know anything about, and you chose it over me, effectively breaking my heart,” I whispered.
“But it doesn’t matter anymore.” Seven years had swept us both away in different directions.
So, no. It really did not matter because it wasn’t like we could go back in time and fix any of it.
“It wasn’t like I could leave, Cal. I made an oath.”
His arrogant tone wrapped around me like a rope, burning and chafing at my memories.
“That oath was mine, Wes. You owed it to me; you promised it to me.”
I shook my head, turning on my heel. I watched the cabin as I took each step, making an imprint in the dirt. The sun hit my back, soaking through my sweater, heating my exposed legs. This was all such a big mistake. Staying here, seeing him…being on my dad’s land again.
There wasn’t even any echo of Wes walking when he pulled my elbow and spun me around. His face was emotionally closed off. Whatever had just happened to open him up, he’d already shut down.
“You can either give me the letter, or I will have two men drive to DC and toss your apartment. If it’s not there, then I’ll physically go through every single piece of personal property you brought with you.”
I opened my mouth to argue but he spoke before I could. “You have two days.”
Without a second glance, he let me go and began walking away.
My first plan was to talk to Sasha, knowing she would have helped me to fight off Wesley’s curiosity.
However, the incessant frustration over not knowing what was going on with the club and the idea that Wesley was hiding something seemed to crowd all my other thoughts.
I had a few options ahead of me. I could go behind his back and continue to try to sell the property, knowing Wes would put up a fight, in which case I may end up having to sell to him, assuming he had the flexibility to buy it.
I could go to Sasha and get her to help me, knowing she could find a buyer outside of Rose Ridge who wouldn’t ask any questions and would probably pay cash. I could sell it, and go back to my life, and leave all the cryptic bullshit to the club.
But…
My heart was tangled in the same barbed wire that Wes had tossed around it back when we were kids.
It had never gotten free, no matter how much time had passed, or how good I had gotten at functioning without the use of my heart.
That bloodied organ belonged to him. I’d never tell him in a thousand years, but because of it, I cared what happened to the idiot.
That left me with another option.
Uncover what secrets were being hidden in the club and figure out a way to help.
“Okay, so we are walking to the clubhouse…am I understanding you correctly?” Laura asked, swiping under her arms with a stick of deodorant.
I stood in the doorway with my arms crossed, still thinking through my plan.
“Yeah…we need to start showing up and digging for information.”
That could work. The older members would all talk to me, and I had a feeling the newer members could be swayed by Laura.
“No, wear the one that shows more cleavage.” I shook my head, seeing her toss on an old, tattered crop top that showed off her midriff.
She looked down and frowned. “My stomach is way more attractive than my boobs. Let me keep this one on.”
“Your boobs are fantastic.”
She gently caressed the mermaid scales on her ribcage. “But this shirt shows my tattoo.”
Letting out a sigh, I gave in, realizing it was foolish to try and tempt answers out of Wesley’s club to begin with.
These guys would respect her if she said to stop, as far as I knew.
I mean, if Wes was in charge, there was no way any of his men would lay a finger on her without her consent, but I still worried about it.
“What about you, aren’t you going to dress up even a little bit?” Laura pulled on a pair of high-heeled boots.
I shook my head. “Wear the flat boots on the way over, then change once we get there. It’s a good half-mile up to the clubhouse.”
“Right, shoot.” Laura tore off the kicks as I peered down at my outfit. I was in a cropped black tank top and a pair of ripped jeans.
“This outfit works, doesn’t it?” I was nervous now that she’d said something.
Laura stood and tossed a pair of shorts at me, teasing.
“Show off your best asset, Callie.”
The way she emphasized the word ass in asset had me laughing, but I knew what she meant.
The shorts she gave me would leave the lower part of my ass hanging out, but it would make me fit right in with the other women in the club.
I changed into the shorts, pulled my heeled boots back on, and then did my makeup.
“Will Max be okay while we’re gone?” Laura’s hands were on her hips as she stared down at my pup. With his chin on his paws, his eyes moved back and forth between us with a little huff.
“He’s fine for a few hours, as long as he’s fed and has water. He actually knows how to twist door knobs to let himself out, did you know that?” I applied some lip gloss, forgetting we’d encounter gnats and other flying insects on our way over to the clubhouse.
Laura scoffed, “Oh I remember. He did that when I took him with me to a friend’s house. Scared the shit out of me.”
I checked Max’s water bowl and then pressed a kiss to the top of his head before walking out the front door.
By the time we were headed down the road toward the clubhouse, Laura and I both looked like we’d just stepped from a magazine, so long as it was one that featured tattoos, ripped clothes, and smoky eyes.
My hair was curled down my back, Laura’s was tossed into an updo, and our shaved and moisturized legs were on display.
We were on a mission, and with the way my heart kicked inside my chest, I was nervous that someone might catch on.