Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 100202 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 501(@200wpm)___ 401(@250wpm)___ 334(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100202 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 501(@200wpm)___ 401(@250wpm)___ 334(@300wpm)
My jaw locked.
“You know. Your home,” she continued.
Anger flooded my system, racing through my veins like acid. He’d gone through Callie to get to me. He always took the easiest fucking path and never cared about putting other people out.
“The home you refuse to go to,” she said, as if there was any other possibility I had a different home. Her sigh was deafening. “Honestly, I think he just wants you, and Sutton and I got the pity invite because he hoped I’d be able to talk you into it, if that makes you feel better?”
“It doesn’t.” The words were clipped as I yanked my cell phone from my back pocket and held up a finger to Callie before I hit Reed’s contact button.
“Weston?” I heard him shifting, like he needed to sit up. “Everything okay?”
“No,” I snapped. “Everything is not okay.”
“What’s wrong?”
“Did you seriously go to Callie about Thanksgiving instead of coming straight to me?”
There was a pause. “Yes. It seemed the most efficient way to extend the invitation.”
“You don’t use her. Do you hear me?” My grip tightened on the phone. “She’s not some tool for your efficiency. She’s not some conduit. She’s—”
“A hell of a lot easier to talk to than you are,” he retorted.
Callie chewed on her bottom lip.
“It’s not my job in life to make yours easier, Reed. Those days are over.” My tone sharpened.
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“You want me to do something? Don’t corner my—” Words jumbled around my tongue. She wasn’t my girlfriend. She was obviously a little more than a friend if I’d had my tongue down her throat last weekend. “My roommate,” I finally managed. “When you need to get a message to me. You can call. You can text. You can email. You can walk your prissy little ass down to the hangar—”
“You barely let me get a word out before you find somewhere else to be!” he argued.
“But don’t you dare put Callie in the middle of the shit between us. That’s not fair to her, and you know it.” I glared at the countertop so Callie didn’t think any of my anger was directed at her. “Especially not when there’s a huge imbalance of power where you’re concerned.”
“Shit,” he muttered. “I didn’t ask her as an employee, Weston. I asked her as the woman you live with.”
“That doesn’t make it better.” Fuck, there was just so much fury that I didn’t know where to put it, but I was clearheaded enough to know that it wasn’t all about this one incident. At some point, when it came to Reed, I was going to explode.
“I’m seeing that now,” he said softly. “Tell me something, brother. Was there any realistic way I could have asked without you blowing my head off?”
My jaw flexed, and I dragged my gaze to Callie’s. There was nothing but compassion in her eyes. No accusation, or even rebuke at the way I’d lashed out at Reed. “Probably not,” I finally admitted.
“You and me, Weston. At some point we’re going to have to sit down and have a real discussion.” The older brother tone was back in his voice.
“Not likely,” I responded. “I have nothing to say that you’d want to hear.” That was a different topic for a different decade. I had to deal with the one in front of me if I had a chance of not hating Reed forever. Baby steps and all. “Do you want to go to Thanksgiving?” I asked Callie.
She sucked her lower lip between her teeth.
“There’s no wrong answer,” I said, softening my tone for her. Only her.
“I think it would be fun to spend the holiday with Ava,” she replied. “We used to do it all together before Reed came home.”
My chest lurched. I wasn’t the only one whose life had been changed by Reed coming back to Madigan. This was one thing I could fix for Callie. “We’ll be there,” I said to Reed.
He sighed. “Good. It will be nice to have you—”
I hung up before he could say the word home and tossed my phone onto the counter.
“I’m sorry I asked,” Ava whispered. “I knew you and Reed aren’t exactly on cozy terms, and I didn’t really think about it.”
“Don’t be. He should have asked me.” I rubbed my hand over my hair. “I’m sorry you saw that. I have a hard time not screaming at Reed every time I talk to him.”
“I’d never judge you for that.” She walked a few steps closer. “Mostly because I wouldn’t want you judging me for how I choose to deal with my family either.”
“Never.” I shook my head.
“You said yes, for me.” She took the last few steps, leaned up, and kissed my cheek. “Thank you.”
“We’ll see if we get through dinner without me burning the place to the ground,” I muttered. “Thank me then. You deserve to celebrate with your friend.” I brushed her hair back, just as an excuse to touch her. I hadn’t bent for me but for her, and that thought was just as unsettling as the feeling I’d had when I realized how quickly my body caught fire for hers on that couch. “We can just forget it happened.”