Seth follows me at a slow pace and veers to the side for his kit that’s in the bathroom. “What’s wrong with you, baby girl?”
There’s clanking as he gathers his cologne and razor from near the sink. “You’re acting like a weirdo.”
I toss my shirts and a few pairs of jeans into my bag and then zip it up. “There’s… there’s…” I can’t get it out and he steps out of the doorway zipping up the mini bag he carries his toiletries in.
“Callie, whatever it is, just tell me.” He drops the smaller bag into the larger one on the bed. “It’s okay.”
“There’s someone in the house,” I sputter, dragging my bag to the door.
“Obviously.” He raises his eyebrows at me and then scrutinizes my bag. “Did you put any shorts or sandals in there? It’s going to be a hell of a lot warmer there then it is here. Plus, you don’t want to walk around in the sand wearing sneakers.”
“I don’t own anything else,” I say and then swiftly shake my head as I jerk open the door. “Seth, we have to go. Now.”
Everything’s about to fall apart, just like it did last time.
Seth rolls his eyes and slings his bag over his shoulder. “Fine, but you’re going to eventually tell me what the panic is all about.”
He turns sideways and squeezes through the doorway.
I flip off the lights, close the door, and trot down the stairs after him, wrestling my overly large bag down the steps behind me. I should have left some of my stuff here, but I’m too afraid that Caleb or my brother or my mom will walk out.
I dash passed the side door, my legs nearly trotting in the rush, but Seth snags my elbow as he slams to a halt. “Don’t you want to tell you mother where you’re going?”
I glance at the side door, the light spilling through the window in the center, and I shake my head. “I don’t think I should.”
His brow creases as he examines my face with concern. “Are you sure? I know she’s been bugging the crap out of both of us, but she seems like she’s going to panic if we just bail and not tell her.”
My body ripples with a tremble when I see Caleb rise from the table and head across the kitchen. “It’ll be okay.” My voice is insignificant like the snowflakes drifting down from the starless sky, touching the ground, and instantly melting.
“Callie, I… why are you shaking?” He glances back at the house as the side door flings open. Pale yellow light floods the darkness but then suffocates out like a flame as a tall figure emerges in the doorway.
It’s Caleb carrying a trash bag in his hand. He’s probably trying to win my mother over and she’s probably letting him, because she always wants to see what she wants to see. Why is she so blind?
Caleb’s demeanor doesn’t change as he steps out onto the porch and into the snow, making sure to close the door behind him to smother out whatever he’s going to say from my family’s ears. “What are you doing out here? Standing out in the snow?”
His gaze cuts to Seth as he steps down a stair. “You got another one, huh? Decided to dump that crazy football player after he kicked my ass.”
“Fuck,” Seth breathes, suddenly understanding who it is. His fingers plunge into my arm as he begins to tow me back, one foot after another, the snow crunching beneath our shoes.
Caleb moves down a stair, reducing the distance between us with a smirk on his face. His eyes are black like coals and his face is masked by the shadow created by the hood over his head.
Sometimes I wonder why he doesn’t seem to care or show any remorse for what he did. What is wrong with him? Is he so warped and split that he likes torturing me?
“Come on over here and introduce him,” he calls out as he arrives at the bottom step.
“Fuck you!” Seth shouts, taking longer strides, practically dragging me backward down the driveway as my tiny legs work to keep up with him.
My legs feel like rubber and won’t work right and I keep tripping over my feet. I wish I could find some kind of strength that has to be suppressed inside me and shout at him, take him down, scream, throw things. Do anything to wipe the pleased smirk off his face.
But in his presence I’m still the child he pinned down on the bed. He has his hand forced over my mouth while he shatters me into fragments. I allow Seth to haul me down the driveway toward Luke’s truck, watching Caleb through the curtain of snowfall. His eyes are fixed on mine and I feel tears beginning to leak out of my own. I’m crying and weak and I want to crumble into the ground and melt with the snowflakes.
“Callie.” The sound of Kayden’s voice snaps me back to real life and the bigger picture.
I have more problems at the moment than how I feel, like getting Kayden away from Caleb before a reenactment of that night happens. I spin around and Seth’s hand falls from me.
Kayden is standing in front of the bumper of the truck with his arms folded. His eyes are not on me but locked on Caleb. His face looks like a shadow as he stands with the rays of the headlights aimed at his back.
I shift my bag higher onto my shoulder and my shoes lose traction against the snow as I run to him. His eyes don’t leave Caleb even as I approach him and then he steps forward, dodging to the side, out of my path. I drop my bag and before he can get any closer to the house jump up, fling my arms around his neck, and latch onto him.
Every muscle in his body hardens as I hook my legs around his waist, clutching onto him like I’m a leech because that’s what I need to be at the moment—something he can’t get rid of without a lot of work.
“Callie,” he says in a low tone, not holding onto to me. “Let me go.”
I rapidly shake my head. “No, please just get back into the truck.”
His hair brushes against my cheeks as he shakes his head.
“Callie… I can’t.” He sounds strangled and I really believe that he thinks he can’t walk away.
“But you can.” I breathe against his ear as I bury my face into his neck. “For me.”
It’s like I’ve discovered the magic words and unexpectedly he’s backing up toward the truck, slowly, but he’s going.
My gaze elevates past the stairway to the upper section of the garage. The light is on inside of the small room and I can see Callie and Seth’s figures moving back and forth in front of the window. I remember what Callie and I did the last time we were up there, how she felt while I was inside her—how I felt.
“Yes.” It’s a small word that doesn’t really mean anything, yet it does. In fact, I think it means something more than I’m ready to admit to myself.
He puts the cigarette into his mouth again and the paper withers and glows orange as he sucks in a deep drag. “So… are you doing okay with everything?”
I drum my fingers on top of the door handle. “Yeah, I’m okay.”
He clips his fingers around the cigarette and removes it from his mouth, breathing out the smoke and it fills up the cab. “Are you sure… because if you ever need to talk or anything, I’m here.”