Dedication
To my reading group.
Thank you for not giving up on me or my words.
Jordan
My love for Callie Street was like a bad country song.
Boy meets girl.
Boy falls in love with girl.
Girl belongs to another guy.
Love hit me with the touch of hand. It burned so deep I thought it would burn me alive.
Instead, it blew up around us.
This is the beginning of our story.
It’s not pretty.
It’s ugly.
It’s painful as hell.
But then, maybe all love stories are.
Mistakes I've Made is Book 1 in a 2 book series.
The Beginning
1 Callie
“You’re lookin’ a little lost.”
I jump silently and spin around. My gaze snaps up to see who is talking to me. This cute guy with brown hair that’s a little shaggy and chocolate eyes is looking at me. He’s kind of cute, though a little skinny for my taste. Still, he looks kind and that’s better than most of the others in this school have been today.
“Yeah,” I laugh. “I kind of am. I’m trying to find room thirty-nine. I assumed it would be on the bottom level, but I’ve looked everywhere,” I explain.
“First day at Elmore?” he asks, and I nod.
“Yeah. We just moved here from New Hampshire,” I explain.
“Whoa, big change,” he says, his smile deepening.
“You can say that again,” I mutter, trying once again to look at the doors, as if the right room will just magically appear.
“You don’t sound happy about that,” he responds, laughing.
“Is it always so hot in Texas?” I whine. “This heat is killing me. I feel like I’m sweating so much that my clothes are sticking to me.” I catch what I say and look up at the guy, embarrassed, giving him a tight smile. “Sorry. That was probably too much information.”
“I could lie and say we’re usually really cool here, but honestly it’s usually hotter than it is today.”
“You’re kidding,” I gasp.
“Afraid not,” he says with a shrug.
“Great, just great,” I mutter.
“I’m Reed Lane,” he says, and I look up from the useless map to acknowledge him.
“I’m Callie Street,” I respond.
“Hey, Callie Street,” he murmurs. He stares at me a moment and I get butterflies in my stomach. He’s cute, not my usual type, but definitely cute. Then again, most of the guys I’ve met since moving to Texas are. I’m not sure they raise ugly ones here.
“Hey, Reed Lane,” I respond, making his smile widen.
“If you’re looking for Miss Thomas’s room, you must be taking senior English.”
“Yeah. You’re taking it, too?” I ask, excited that I might actually know someone in the class. Not that I know Reed, but we’ve met, so he might not stare at me—like everyone else seems to have done today.
“Nope, afraid not. I’m just a junior. My brother is in her class, though. It’s in the basement. You go down the stairs by the library and it’s the third door on your left.”
“Great!” I respond, a little overly cheerful. “I appreciate the help, Reed.”
“You’re welcome,” he says, still grinning at me.
“I just have one more question to ask—if you don’t mind?”
“Shoot,” he says, his eyes sparkling with humor. I’ve never been attracted to younger guys, but he’s sweet. I usually fall for the bad guy type—which I’ve learned is nothing but heartache.
“Where in the heck is the library? I’m from a small private school. All these rooms are making me dizzy.”
He throws his head back in laughter and I join in. It feels good and releases some of the tension that I’ve felt since moving here.
“C’mon, Dizzy. I’ll show you the way.”
“Won’t that make you late for your class?”
“You’re worth it,” he says with a wink, and I feel myself blushing.
Maybe I should give younger guys a chance.
2 Reed
I watch Callie walk into her classroom and I swear to God, my hands are tingling. She’s freaking hot. Dark hair that falls in waves just past her shoulders, an ass that looks like it was specifically made for those jeans she’s wearing, and her tits are bona fide wet dream material. She’s the best-looking girl I’ve seen—probably ever.
I stand back from the door, out of sight from most of the class. That’s because my brother is in there, and Mitch is a fucking asshole. He’s my older brother, but he acts like a giant, damn kid. He’s also just ten months older than I am. Yet, because my birthday falls late, we’re in different grades in school. He might be the older one—albeit not by much—but I’m always covering for him with Mom and Dad. He’s an asshole and enjoys hurting people. I see it, even if no one else can. The thing about Mitch is he can always play to the crowd and somehow make himself look like the good guy. It’s not until you get burned by him that you see the truth. I’ve kept our parents shielded, but I keep him at a distance, mostly because I know him.
Miss Thomas—who is a spinster, mostly because she’s bitchy as hell—comes to the door. She sees me standing here, watching Callie, and gives me a disgusted look. I smile at her and give her a wink—just to irritate her. I mean, hell, it’s not like I had my tongue hanging out panting after Callie. It was close, however. She slams the door a little harder than she has to and for some reason that makes me laugh. Maybe I’m a little bit of the asshole I always accuse my brother of being.
“You’re not supposed to be running the halls after the bell rings, Mr. Lane,” Vice Principal Joseph says as he comes up from behind me.
“Sorry, sir. I was just heading that way,” I assure him. Sam Joseph is an okay guy. Sometimes, I think he takes his job a little too seriously, but then, I don’t have to deal with the shit he does if things go bad.
“Where are you supposed to be?” he asks.
“I’ve got study hall in Mrs. Fincher’s room,” I tell him.
“I expect trouble out of your brother, but definitely not you, Reed.”
“Yes, sir. Sorry,” I mutter, turning away.
As I walk away, I think about the new girl. Callie Street. She had a beautiful laugh and when she let it out, her eyes light up. A guy could get to craving that sound. I don’t have my license yet, and there’s a chance she will find that lame as hell. Still, I like her enough to risk asking her out. It would be embarrassing to explain that I have my permit, but my parents can’t seem to find the time to take me to get my license. If my brother wasn’t a fuckwad that would probably put the moves on Callie, I could get him to drop us off somewhere. Maybe I’ll just wait until I see if Mom or Dad will take me next week. Dad took Mitch right away, but I think that was just so Mitch could do all of the errands and shit that took Dad away from his bottle.