The Redemption of Callie & Kayden Read Free Page A

Jesse comes by, can you pretend that you haven’t seen me all day?”
    “Why?” I ask, sitting up.
    “Because I don’t want him to know I’ve been here.” She opens the door and glances back over her shoulder. “God, you’ve been a little snippy lately. When I first met you, I thought you were like a doormat. But lately, you’ve been kind of cranky.”
    “I know,” I say quietly, with my chin tucked down. “And I’m sorry. I’ve just been having a rough few weeks.”
    She pauses in the doorway, eyeing me over. “Are you…” She shifts her weight, looking uncomfortable. Whatever she’s trying to say seems to be hard for her. “Are you okay?”
    I nod and something crosses over her face, maybe pain, and for a second I wonder if Violet’s okay. But then she shrugs and walks out, slamming the door behind her. I release a loud breath and lie back down on the bed. The need to shove my finger down my throat and free the heavy, foul feelings in my stomach strangles me. Damn it. I need therapy. I reach for my phone without sitting up and dial my therapist’s number, aka Seth, and my best friend in the whole world.
    “I love you to death, Callie,” Seth says as he answers after three rings. “But I think I’m about to get lucky so this better be important.”
    I scrunch my nose as my cheeks heat. “It’s not… I just wanted to see what was up. But if you’re busy, I’ll let you go.”
    He sighs. “I’m sorry, that came out a lot ruder than I planned. If you
really
need me, I can totally talk. You know you’re my first priority.”
    “Are you with Greyson?” I ask.
    “Of course,” he replies with humor in his tone. “I’m not a man-whore skank.”
    A giggle slips through my lips and I’m amazed how much better I feel just from talking to him. “I promise I’m fine. I’m just bored and was looking for an escape from my English book.” I shove the book off the bed and roll onto my stomach, propping myself up onto my elbows. “I’ll let you go.”
    “Are you really, really sure?”
    “I’m one hundred percent sure. Now go have fun.”
    “Oh, trust me. I’m planning on it,” he replies and I laugh, but it hurts my stomach. I start to hang up when he adds, “Callie, if you need to hang out with someone, you could call Luke… You two are kind of going through the same thing. I mean, with missing Kayden and not really understanding.”
    I bite at my fingernails. I’ve spent time with Luke, but I’m still uncomfortable being alone with guys, except for Seth. Besides, things are weird between Luke and me because we haven’t officially talked about what happened at Kayden’s. It’s the white elephant in the room, the massive, sad, heartbroken elephant. “I’ll think about it.”
    “Good. And if you do, make sure to ask him about yesterday in Professor McGellon’s class.”
    “Why? What happened?”
    He giggles mischievously. “Just ask him.”
    “Okay…” I say, unsure if I really want to. If Seth thinks it’s funny then there’s a good chance that whatever happened might embarrass me. “Have fun with Greyson.”
    “You too, baby girl,” he says and hangs up.
    I hit END and scroll through my contacts until I reach Luke’s number. My finger hovers over the DIAL button for an eternity and then I chicken out and drop the phone down onto the bed. I get up and slip on my Converses—the ones stained with the green paint—because they remind me of a happy time in life. I zip up my jacket, put my phone into the pocket, and collect my keycard and journal before heading outside.
    It’s colder than a freezer, but I walk aimlessly through the vacant campus before finally taking a seat on one of the frosted benches. It’s snowing but the tree branches create a canopy above my head. I open my journal, pull the top of my jacket over my nose, and begin to scribble down my thoughts, pouring out my heart and soul to blank sheets of paper because it’s therapeutic.
    I remember my