Chapter 21
Jasmina
I WENT TO BED somewhat rattled that night. My emotions were all over the place as I walked past Archer, but at least I could say I trusted him a bit more even as I closed the door to my bedroom and went straight to my shower.
I’m not proud to say I imagined Callahan in it again. Yet this time I got his pierced cock rather than his mouth.
It’d been a risky move to let him touch me right below my stitches, but I was wild with fury and desire and jealousy all wrapped into one.
Sometimes a girl just had to do what she had to do.
And that was getting hers even when he didn’t deserve his.
I sat in bed after trying to crochet, but I kept messing up the stitch as I thought about Demi and him in a rage.
I knew I was messing up the colors of my yarn too, but it was the only way I’d fall asleep.
I needed something to occupy my mind rather than the man that was in it through all parts of the day.
I told myself it was bound to happen. We’d slept together before. I’d always thought he was fantastic in bed, and I guess he liked to eat pussy.
That’s all that was.
And now the lines were established.
No others.
I could deal with that, because obviously I had a streak of jealousy when it came to him that I couldn’t contain. And I needed to contain myself. This was for the family. Not my stupid little heart.
Callahan wasn’t mine, I told myself over and over again. And I fell asleep to that mantra.
Yet bright and early the next morning, the man that wasn’t mine was already sitting at my couch with his laptop open typing away when I woke.
I was sure he’d probably barged in without knocking, but I couldn’t even complain because I’d fallen asleep well past midnight after trying to crochet away all my racing thoughts.
I was pretty sure the hook had been in my hand, but when I woke, none of it was there.
Instead, it was all neatly put by my crochet bin.
“Did you unknot all that yarn?”
Everything was wrapped up in balls that looked like they had just been bought from the store.
“They were very tangled,” he grumbled, like he didn’t want to talk about it.
“How long did that take you?”
He didn’t look up from his laptop, but he did say, “A lot less time than it would have taken Archer.”
Ah, still crabby from last night.
“He told you I asked him to unknot the yarn?”
“Among other things.”
“So much for allegiance.”
That’s when I finally got his blue-green gaze. “Well, it was either that, Jas, or I would have killed him for being in your room for as long as he was last night.”
“Still jealous, Cally baby?”
“Are you going to stop with that nickname?”
I shrugged and sat up.
“Goddamn it, woman.” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “How many colors of that outfit do you have? Can you wear something else other than those pajamas?”
“Oh, please.” I had about five pairs because they were my absolute favorite. I got up out of the bed to go brush my teeth, and he groaned at seeing my shorts. “Quite frankly, you can be happy I had any on because I don’t especially like to feel constricted when I sleep.”
“If you plan to sleep with nothing on, you’ll be sleeping in my bed.”
I chuckled at how serious he sounded. “I think we established last night there’s no reason for me to sleep there.”
He sucked on his teeth, and his gaze cut to mine. “How about I’m not having another man outside your room with you naked inside of it?”
I literally burst out laughing. “Then tell them all to go home. I’m not asking for them to be there. I don’t need a man outside my door at night anyway.”
“Maybe the protection isn’t for you,” he grumbled. “Maybe it’s for all of us too.”
“Don’t trust me, Callahan?” I asked as I started brushing my teeth.
“With the knives you point at me on the daily? Not even a little,” I heard him say, and that had me smiling.
He’d woken up on the wrong side of the bed, and rightfully so.
I got off and he didn’t, but quite frankly, I didn’t care.
He’d kissed another girl, and for that, he could get blue balls all night.
He didn’t owe me a damn thing. I’d meant that. I knew that a contract marriage would never amount to two people being faithful to one another, but he shouldn’t have been so disrespectful with his indiscretions.
Actions had repercussions.
His were that I left him rock hard last night after I got mine.
After I spit, rinsed my mouth, and washed my face, I came back out and popped a hip, knowing I didn’t want to baby his bruised ego today either. “So you plan to be this way the whole day in here while I make calls to my family, or you need to get something off your chest?”
“What would I need to get off my chest?” He frowned at me and then looked down at Romeo weaving around my feet.
I picked up Romeo and snuggled him close. “I have no idea. You seem rather prickly this morning.”
He glared at the cat and begrudgingly admitted, “You talked to Archer a lot.”
“At least I didn’t kiss him,” I retorted quickly.
He sucked on his teeth. “Fair. But I’m still jealous as hell about it, okay?”
I took a deep breath. “I told you yesterday I didn’t care if the marriage was open. That’s on me. You letting Archer in my bedroom is on you. We’re moving forward now. Not backward, right?”
He hmphed before nodding, and then he rubbed his eyes. “I barely slept. I’m being an asshole.”
“You are.” I nodded. “But at least you’re admitting it. Romeo and I like a man who can see his shortcomings.”
“Yeah, yeah. Call your cousins, Viper,” he grumbled, and I chuckled but relaxed as his shoulders seemed to lower too.
Maybe it was our first fight, and maybe we’d just gotten through it.
I put the fluffy ginger down and started on the calls that I knew had to get done. It went right into me arguing with Tía Perla about invites and flowers and every minute detail.
We’d been on the phone for a good twenty minutes when I finally stopped pacing and sat on the bed to grumble, “No, I don’t really think that guy has to be invited, Tía.
I mean, there’s already close to four hundred people coming to the wedding.
” I paused as I listened to her asking if Callahan cared.
“No, I don’t think he cares at all, Tía. ”
Callahan announced in the background, “Actually I do care.” I jumped at hearing his voice. I’d forgotten he was there. He waved me on. “Tell her I agree with you, Viper.” I gave him a look, and he lifted a brow. “Go on. Tell her.” He winked at me like he didn’t want to fight anymore.
His small smirk had me trying to get off the phone with Perla to pester him. “You care about the wedding all of a sudden now?”
“I care about how we handle the wedding and the wedding planning,” he said like he was mulling over that fact. Then he continued, “Also, if you’re not going to let me bulldoze you at any point in the day, I’m surely not going to let your family bulldoze you either.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You stand up to me and fight me all day long, Jas. You rolled over and let them have their way with you from the start of that conversation. Why do you think that is?”
“Well …” He had a point. “They’re family, and they’ve done a lot for me.”
“As families should. Doesn’t mean they get to dictate every aspect of your life.”
“Yes, but Tía Perla took me in when no one else would have, and …” I let my voice drift off, not sure I needed to share more with him.
Yet, he waited, closing his laptop and motioning for me to carry on.
“I don’t know, Callahan. I didn’t have any other family that would take me in.
They sacrificed a lot when my parents died. ”
“What happened to them?” He had questions in his eyes, not pity, like he wanted to understand me. Callahan was a reader of emotions, of people, and I think he was always looking for the full picture to everyone’s story because it gave him leverage.
Yet now it seemed he just wanted to know me.
“I don’t remember what happened. Only can tell you what came after.
I remember the sirens. And the police lights.
I remember standing there staring at them.
My dad and mom’s shirts were such a dark red.
Blood was everywhere. Someone had come for my dad, and my mom loved him so much I’m sure she fought to save him.
They were shot to death, but I must have been in shock …
Or I think maybe I thought they would still be all right.
And my Tíos Monte, Paolo, and Tía Perla were standing between the police and me.
They wouldn’t let them take me. Tía Perla sat with me on the way to the station, and was there while they asked questions.
That was it. I don’t know how they handled it, but from that point on, I stayed with my tía and Tío Monte. ”
“They raised you.” I nodded. “Did they find your parents’ killer?”
“No. Of course my family searched, but I guess they were meticulous, trained.” I shrugged. “It was a long time ago.”
“And still, you feel you owe them the world?”
“I do.”
“You don’t owe someone the world for the choice they made whether it benefited you or not. It was their choice.”
I shrugged, because that may have been true, but I lived my life by the idea that I did owe it to her and Monte. I cleared my throat. “Do you have specific people you don’t want at the wedding?”
“Sure.” He dragged out the word, both of us knowing I was changing the subject.
I hummed. “I have certain people I don’t want there too.”
He held my gaze. “Want me to go first?”
“Please do.”
“I don’t want your ex, Romeo, there. Only Romeo the cat. And no Tomás. No exes in general.”
Poor ex Romeo. He was never even invited anyway. Although, I did take extra-long before I sighed and agreed. “I guess I can make that work. Want to know who I don’t want there?”
“Demi’s not on the guest list, Viper.”
“How about all the other women you’ve slept with?”
His jaw ticked. “I’ll make sure they aren’t.”
“Care to go through the names with me?”
He chuckled and shook his head. “Not really. I have a feeling they’ll be on your shit list, and I don’t need women turning up dead in Paradise Grove.”