Chasity turns her head to look at me—just as Mitch comes up beside me.
“Callie,” Reed groans.
“You two want to join in?” Chasity laughs. The look on her face tells me she’s obviously gloating—knowing she is hurting me. I long to beat the hell out of her. Instead, I take off running.
19 Reed
I wince as I begin to wake. My head feels like there’s a jackhammer going crazy inside of it. My mouth is dry as hell, and my bed feels like rock. I start to move and sit up. My head swims from that simple movement. I open my eyes, only to close them quickly as the bright sun beats down on me. I wince and slowly open my eyes, looking around. I’m in the middle of old Mr. Johnson’s pasture.
The pasture looks harsh and too damn bright in the light of day. It doesn’t even seem like the same place that used to comfort me. Everything feels wrong. I’m trying to figure out what I’m doing here, but nothing is making sense.
What the fuck?
“Wow, you finally woke up. I thought I was going to have to leave you out here. I tried waking you up a couple of times, but you were dead to the world.”
My head jerks to see Chas standing on the ground. That’s when I realize I’m on an old blanket in the back of my pickup.
“What’s going on?”
Chasity laughs. The sound not only hurts because of my headache, but it grates on my nerves.
“You didn’t tell me you were such a wild man, Reed. You party harder than your brother, sweetheart.”
“I…uh…” I try to think back on the night before but it’s entirely blank. I search and search but the last thing I remember is walking to the truck, climbing on the tailgate.
Drinking.
I took a drink. Fuck, how much did I drink?
“What did we do last night?”
“You mean, what didn’t we do,” she replies with a smirk. “If I knew how good you were in the sack, Reed, I would have kicked him aside for you long ago.”
“We had sex?” I squeak. Jesus, I don’t remember drinking that much but hell, I don’t remember much of anything.
“Over and over,” she practically moans, making my stomach turn.
“How did we end up here?” I ask, rubbing the back of my neck. I don’t know how I feel other than disgusted with myself.
She shrugs. “After Callie and Mitch interrupted our party, we drank a little more. You said you wanted to go somewhere special. You were too drunk to drive, so I did. No idea why you thought an old pasture was special, but you went on and on about the stars.”
I actually brought Chas to the spot Callie and I shared to look at the stars. I can’t believe it. What in the fuck was in that tequila? My mind is reeling with that, before what Chas said hits me fully.
“Callie saw us together?”
For some reason, that makes Chas laugh so hard that it’s a wonder she even catches her breath. I can’t hear her laughter anymore. It’s literally making me feel like my skin is crawling. I move quickly, though I’m so fucking hungover that it hurts like hell. I slide out of the truck, grabbing her—shaking her.
“Did Callie see us together?” I growl, and I’m panicking. I know I am. I’m disgusted by the thought that Chas and I might have had sex, but I don’t want Callie to know. Hell, I don’t want anyone to know. Did we have sex? Why can’t I remember anything?!?!
“Woah,” Chas snaps, yanking her body out of my grip. I let her go because my stomach is churning. The last thing I want to do is touch her. “What’s wrong with you? Of course, she saw. I was riding you like the rodeo stallion you are when they showed up. You offered to let them join in. Which, by the way, I didn’t mind. Still, you should consult me first from here out. You might invite someone I don’t like. I mean, I’m not especially crazy about Callie, but I’m confident enough I could keep you and Mitch occupied and we’d forget about her.”
“Oh God,” I groan, as I realize that Callie saw me having sex with Chas. I turn away from Chas and as the acid in my stomach begins to churn, bile rises, and I hurl.
What in the fuck have I done?
20 Callie
Three Days Later
“Callie, we need to talk.”
I close my eyes, my entire body tensing. I turn from my locker to face the man who ripped my heart out.
“I don’t think we have anything to say to one another, Reed.”
“I need to explain.”
I laugh. It’s bitter and the misery that I’m in comes out in the sound, but I don’t care. I don’t care about much of anything.
“Trust me, Reed, there’s nothing you can say that I want to hear.”
“I didn’t mean for you to see that. Hell, I don’t even know what you saw,” he says scrubbing his hand into his hair, worrying it.
“Entirely too much,” I snap. “I saw entirely too much.”
He jerks as if I hit him. For a second, I think I see confusion and maybe even fear on his face, but I shake my head and turn away from him. I’m just looking for a sign that I’m wrong about Reed. It doesn’t even matter anymore.
I start walking toward my next class. Reed doesn’t let me escape, though. He grabs my arm and pulls me around to face him. The last three days I’ve been thankful that I haven’t seen Reed. I spent Sunday at home, hiding from him, from Mitch, Katie—everyone. Monday, I was anxious the entire day at school, praying I wouldn’t run into Reed. He didn’t come to school, but I still worried he would show up. Today, when I pulled into the parking lot and saw Reed’s truck, I knew my luck was over. I thought of our confrontation a million times, but the speech I had mentally prepared has disappeared. I can’t think of one thing to say.
Mostly I want to beg him to leave me alone.
“Callie, I was drunk.”
“So?” I snap, looking into the face of the man that made me fall in love with him. But then, he’s not a man. He’s a boy. There’s a reason I’ve never been attracted to guys younger than me. I should have never forgotten that.
“It didn’t mean anything. Hell, I can’t even remember what happened,” he mutters.
“That’s disgusting.”
“I know! God! Don’t you think I know that? I don’t understand how it happened. I just know that had I been sober, it wouldn’t have. It’s not what I wanted.”
“Stop, Reed. Why are you even bothering to explain to me? We weren’t dating. We weren’t even talking anymore. You’re the asshole who screamed at me for taking your brother to the prom—like I wasn’t good enough,” I growl. I don’t want to hear his excuses. I know that makes me a bitch but hearing what he said about being drunk makes me feel uncomfortable. It’s over. Bridges have been burned. I just want him to leave me alone. If I never see him or Mitch ever again, I’m more than okay with that.
“God, that wasn’t it. Shit, Callie. That wasn’t it. When I heard you were Mitch’s date to the prom, I lost my shit,” he grumbles.
“Poor little Reed, so misunderstood,” I mock. “I wasn’t going to the prom with Mitch.”