Total pages in book: 38
Estimated words: 35452 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 177(@200wpm)___ 142(@250wpm)___ 118(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 35452 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 177(@200wpm)___ 142(@250wpm)___ 118(@300wpm)
“Callie! Wait! The truck’s too high --” I was certain she fell, because she crawled to the grass beyond the shoulder and heaved over and over.
“Her name’s Calliope,” Theodore snapped. “Only he ever called her Callie.”
“Shit,” I muttered, snagging a bottle of water and a box of tissues before getting out of the truck. There was a lot to be addressed here, but my first concern was making sure Callie was OK. No, Calliope. Her name’s Calliope. She must not like it being shortened. At the very least, Theodore didn’t like it. Making an enemy of her kids wasn’t going to help me help her. “You guys stay here. I’m just gonna help your mama.” He glanced at Theodore. “And I’ll call her Calliope from now on unless she says it’s OK.” The boy didn’t say anything, just turned his head to watch his mother.
“If she’s sick, she should take some medicine!” Sebastian called out.
I hurried around the truck to kneel beside her while she emptied the contents of her stomach. She heaved and heaved, tears streaming down her face until there was nothing left in her stomach.
When it finally passed, Calliope sat back on her heels. I handed her the box of tissues, and she wiped her face and mouth. When I handed her the water, she mumbled, “Thanks,” before taking a swig and rinsing out her mouth. Then she took a couple more sips.
After a couple of minutes, I rested a hand on her back. “You good?”
“Chase is gonna take the boys, isn’t he?”
I thought about that a minute. There was no way I could promise her Chase wouldn’t get custody. Especially if he knew nothing about them and hadn’t been given the opportunity to refuse his rights. “Ain’t gonna lie to you, girl. I have no idea. What I can promise is that no one will take them away from you if they don’t wanna go. And I’m pretty sure they don’t wanna go. If I’m right, and this guy is who I think he is, you’ll all be OK. Cain has a huge influence over him, and Cain is as good a man as they come.”
“I’ve made everything worse,” she sobbed. “I can’t lose them. I just can’t!”
“You’ve trusted me this far, Calliope. Trust me a little further.”
She sniffed, blowing her nose delicately. “Doesn’t seem like I have much of a choice now. I left that option back at that stupid gas station. This is all my fault for taking up with Mark in the first place.” Before I could reply, she added, “And I should have tried to talk to Chase myself. He was right. I had a thing against motorcycle clubs and never gave him a chance. Deep down, I knew he’d want the boys, and I just took Cherry’s word for it.”
“I assume Mark wasn’t abusive when you first got with him?” I ignored the other for now because, honestly, this wasn’t the time.
“No. That didn’t start until later. And only with me. Never the boys.”
“Probably because he knew you’d leave and take the money with you.”
She nodded. “Should have anyway.”
Then I asked the one question I knew I shouldn’t. “So, why didn’t you?”
She shrugged and looked away. “I just wanted to be with someone. I was tired of being on my own.”
I rubbed the center of my chest. My heart ached for this girl, and I had no idea why. Maybe it was just the whole situation. It had come at me out of nowhere. I hadn’t had a chance to prepare for the emotional backlash. I prided myself on my control, but I didn’t seem to have control over my emotions in this situation. The girl just… tugged at me. Given who I thought the kids’ daddy was, there might be a reason Chase left before he found out about the kids. That would have been about the time Data and Zora found each other, and Chase was into some really bad shit at the time. Maybe that’s why he’d abandoned them, though that didn’t sound like Chase. I had to face the possibility that Calliope’s sister never told Chase about her pregnancy.
Later. I’d figure it out later. Right now, I needed to get them back to the compound and get Data on this. And see if the Chase Dutton in Bones was the same Chase who’d run out on his pregnant girlfriend and left the kids’ future in the wind.
I helped Callie to her feet. “Tell me one thing before we get back into the car.” When she nodded, I continued. “How old were you when the boys were born?”
“Sixteen,” she said softly.
“No.” I shook his head, crossing his arms over his chest. “Not buying it. No way you get custody of two infants at that age even if you’re emancipated.”