Callum, page 5
Callum’s features harden. “That job led me to my first assistant GM position. I can’t regret sticking it out.”
“I’m not asking you to regret pursuing your dreams and passions. Those were the right choices. The choice you made in not letting me come with you was the mistake. You had no right to decide what was best for me. You took all that away from me and made a unilateral decision—”
“It was a mistake,” Callum blurts out and my jaw drops open. I think I must have heard him wrong because when we broke up, he couldn’t have been more adamant that he was doing the right thing.
He sighs as he scrapes his fingers through his hair, giving a sad shake of his head. “I didn’t know it was a mistake right away, though.”
Frowning, I tip my head to the side. “When did you figure it out?”
“When I came home for your mom’s funeral. Saw you with Joshua. Saw that you leaned on him for support and that should have been my job, but I’d lost that right.”
I look away from Callum. I can’t stand to see the honesty of those words on his face. I’d always thought him so detached from me, so confident in his decisions. And I’ve been so bitter that he made those choices because it was what was best for him, not what was best for us.
My phone rings and I recognize Joshua’s ringtone emanating from my purse, my head slowly turning that way.
“Joshua?” Callum guesses and I nod. “Do you want to talk to him?”
I shake my head. “Not really. But I suppose I have to.”
Still, I don’t move from the couch. The phone rings four more times and then cuts off as he’s sent to my voicemail. My stomach clenches because I know Joshua won’t leave a message.
The phone starts ringing again. “He won’t stop until I answer.”
“I’ll answer,” Callum growls as he rises from the chair and starts for my purse.
“No!” I exclaim, scrambling from my perch. I rush past him and grab the phone. Clutching it to my chest, I add, “I don’t want him to know that you’re involved with me leaving.”
Irritation ripples across Callum’s face and once again, the ringing stops as it goes to voicemail. Only a few seconds pass as Callum and I stare at each other, and then Joshua calls back.
Inhaling a fortifying breath, I move to answer it.
“Speakerphone,” Callum orders quietly.
I have no problem with him listening. I know this won’t go well and Callum deserves to know what he’s just put himself in the middle of.
I connect the call and hold it out between Callum and me so he can hear. Joshua is the first to speak. “What in the fuck is going on, Juniper?” he snarls like a rabid animal. “I got a call from one of the nurses at your dad’s care home and she said there are new orders on his chart that my dad and I aren’t allowed to visit.”
Callum frowns, clearly confused over how that information got to Joshua so fast and in clear violation of HIPAA laws. I’m not surprised at all.
I opt for stalling rather than answering him directly. “Why are you so upset? You two never visit him anyway.”
I can practically hear the steam coming out of Joshua’s ears. “What are you playing at, Juniper? I can cut off funding to your dad as soon as I hang up the phone and he’ll be living in a hovel before the sun sets.”
A low sound of rage rumbles from Callum and I step away so Joshua doesn’t hear it. I give him an admonishing look and change the subject. “I’ve moved out. I’m not coming back.”
“What the fuck did you just say?” Joshua demands. “You better get your fat ass back to the house right now.”
I am by no means hurt by Joshua’s words. I’m healthy, athletic, strong and a bit curvy, but Callum is enraged. He reaches for the phone but I scramble backward and take the phone off speaker. I hold up a warning hand to Callum to remain where he is and hopefully my demeanor conveys that he needs to stay out of this.
I put the phone to my ear. “I’m filing for divorce.” I don’t take my eyes off Callum who’s fuming he’s so angry.
“You’re not leaving me,” Joshua says, his words calm and even. “Go home and we’ll forget this nonsense.”
“I’m not coming back.”
“Is this because of last night?” he demands. “Because goddamn it, Juniper… you know I didn’t mean to hurt you. You know my temper is short and you had to have known I’d react that way. Come home and I’ll make it up to you.”
I close my eyes, asking any higher being for patience. “I’m not coming back.”
“You goddamn fucking bitch,” Joshua screams, and it makes me wince as I pull the phone slightly away from my head. “You will regret doing this, Juniper. You’ll be crawling back on your hands and knees, begging me to let you in. But first you have to suck my cock before I take you back. You’re going to choke—”
My phone is ripped from my hands and I understand by the thunderous look on Callum’s face he heard every bit of that despite me taking it off speakerphone.
Putting the phone to his ear, Callum’s words are so frigid, a shiver runs up my spine. “You lowlife piece of shit,” Callum growls. “You come near Juniper and I will destroy you. Your days of terrorizing her are over. You’re going to let her have a divorce and you will give her a generous pile of money to pay for the misery you’ve inflicted upon her. If you cause her any grief or stand in her way, you will regret it. Am I clear?”
Joshua starts yelling again but I can’t hear the words clearly. Callum merely disconnects the call.
“Why did you do that?” I ask, aghast. “Now that he knows you’re involved, he’s going to go berserk. He’s going to come after me harder.”
“He was going to find out anyway. I guarantee he’s calling the nursing home right now to cut off funds to your dad and he’d have found out about my involvement. This town is too small not to.”
“Shit,” I say, turning my back on Callum. I start pacing the room, wondering what in the hell I’m going to do with my life. I mean… I can easily find an apartment to rent, but Joshua will stalk me. I know it beyond any doubt.
I could move away, but I can’t leave my dad.
Should I just go back to him and let things settle down?
Hands come to my shoulders and Callum stops me mid-stride. Turning me around, he touches under my chin. “Whatever self-sabotaging thoughts are running through your head, just stop them. I’m going to protect you and help you through this. You have my word.”
“But I don’t want you to,” I manage, my voice clogged with emotion. “I let you go, Callum. It took forever for my heart to heal, but I did it by releasing and then forgetting about you. You can’t come back into my life now.”
His thumb grazes along my jaw, his eyes brimming with remorse. “I don’t blame you for feeling that way. But no matter what happened between us—no matter the mistakes I made—I never stopped caring for you, Juni. And now that I know what’s been going on here, I am not walking away from you. I’ll help you get out of this farce of a marriage and make sure you’re safe. I’ll make sure your dad is taken care of. And you’re going to let me do this because I still care about you, okay?”
I want to say no. I want to be strong and part of me wants to even punish him for cutting me loose all those years ago. But I’m also scared, and I know Joshua isn’t fully balanced in the head. He likes hurting me and I know he’s itching to throttle me right now. He’s going to want to make me pay for this embarrassment I’m causing him.
It’s one thing to leave him for what he did to me, but to do it with the help of my first love—my one and only true love, if I’m honest—it means Joshua’s going to come gunning for me.
I have no choice but to accept Callum’s help.
CHAPTER 7
Callum
I never did get an overt endorsement from Juniper regarding my role in helping to extricate her from her marriage to Joshua. She didn’t say yes or no, but the truth is, she has no choice. She has to let me help her. If what she said is true, that Joshua is going to put up a fight, she needs me at her back.
We spent a bit of time talking about what the immediate future will look like. In the next few days, as my mom continues to heal and hopefully is released from the hospital, I will try to figure out what to do about her and the very real probability that she was hurt intentionally. I also have to devise a plan for how to keep Juniper off Joshua’s radar. I delved into her life here in Incline Village, curious if she had any other support like girlfriends who would rally to her side.
Sadly, though, she’s been slowly alienated from everyone because of Joshua. He methodically—using his financial support of her dad as leverage—cut her off from everything she cared about. The one thing she put her foot down on was her job, unwilling to give it up. As it stands, she has to work tomorrow as she’s giving nutritional coaching sessions at the local YMCA.
I got Juniper settled into her room with instructions for her to rest up. I assured her that she could order whatever she wanted from room service and I asked her not to leave without me by her side. I don’t know the lengths Joshua may go to hurt her, but I’ve seen the physical proof that he’s not afraid to dole out pain. She had no problems agreeing to my requests, insisting she had actual work to do. When I left her, she was sitting in front of her laptop, seemingly able to put the nastiness aside and concentrate on the tasks before her.
I always admired that about Juniper, the strength and resilience that make up her core. It’s why it’s still hard for me to reconcile her ever staying with someone like Joshua, but I honestly can’t fathom the dark depths to which she’s probably sunk in recent years. I know Joshua’s financial hold over her dad’s medical situation was instrumental, but there’s no doubt that Juniper has probably been slowly groomed to accept this lot in life.
I’m struggling with guilt when I consider the possibility that I pushed her right into that position. By refusing to commit the way she needed me to made her easy pickings for someone like my stepbrother. I was so sure I was making the best decision for us both, but I was being a stubborn, self-centered asshole when I wouldn’t budge an inch once she laid down her ultimatum.
Biggest fucking mistake of my life. Not only did I pay for it because I’ve never had anything remotely close to what I had with Juniper, she’s paid for it ten times over.
I try to push those thoughts away as I enter the hospital. I have no clue if Preston is here, but he’s had plenty of time to visit since I saw him this morning. Truth be told, part of me hopes he’s in the room so I can confront him on his supposed treachery but deep down, I know that’s not smart. I don’t want him to have any clue that I suspect a thing. I most definitely don’t want him to know I know there’s no video of my mother’s fall.
However, now that Joshua knows I’m involved with Juniper’s escape from that life, if they’re smart, they’ll watch the feed from today and know I was at the house. They’ll know Juniper and I went into that IT room. I have to figure out how to play this.
When I reach the nurses’ station, I check in to see if the doctor has made any further rounds. I glean that my stepdad was indeed here to visit but left over half an hour ago. Guessing he didn’t stay long.
I’m glad to see my mother sitting up in bed, working on a bowl of soup before her. She smiles when I walk in.
“How are you feeling?” I ask as I pull a chair alongside her bed.
“Like someone was rooting around in my brain.” She grimaces but it’s said with good nature.
I study her critically, notice she has more color in her cheeks, although the massive bandage on the side of her head lends an aura of frailty. It’s a reminder she did just have brain surgery. “You look better than you did even this morning.”
“You just missed Preston,” she says, her smile lighting up, and it makes my insides boil. While I’m confident beyond measure that Juniper has no tender feelings for Joshua, my mom still loves her husband, no matter what he’s done to her in the past.
The doctor said that she should be able to go home in a few days, which doesn’t leave me a lot of time to figure things out. I know this may not be the absolute best time, but I’m going to take advantage of my mom feeling better right now.
“Mom,” I begin, and her eyes leave the soup bowl and come to me. “I’m going to ask one more time… did Preston do this to you?”
Anger suffuses her face and she tosses her spoon down. “You’ve already asked that and I’ve told you he didn’t.”
“Then was it Joshua?” I ask.
My mom blinks in surprise. “Joshua? No. Why would you even think that?”
Because he beats his wife too, that’s why.
I scoot my chair closer and take her hand in mine. She tries to tug it away because I know she doesn’t like me pushing this. She’s trying to create distance in our mother-and-son bond, which is tenuous at times.
“I went to the house this morning and Juniper helped me look at the security recording of the patio.” My mom’s hand twitches against mine and I don’t say anything further.
I let the silence hang heavy enough that she needs to fill the void. It’s a horrible trick, but I need the truth.
“Then you saw it was an accident,” she finally says.
“But was it really?” I press.
“You saw it. We were arguing and I just wanted some space. We were doing our normal yelling at each other. It’s been a way of life for us, Callum. You know that. He followed me out the back door and you saw it… our feet got tangled up as we came off the bottom step and I fell. Just an accident.”
Jesus Christ. What the fuck does that even mean?
“Then why did he tell the ambulance attendants and the surgeon that he found you there after you’d fallen?”
“Well, I don’t know,” she snaps. “I was too busy being unconscious and all.”
“Okay,” I say soothingly, patting her hand. The last thing I want to do is upset her. “It’s fine. I understand now.”
“Good,” she says, relaxing her shoulders and squeezing her fingers around mine. “Let’s not talk about it anymore.”
“I have to ask one more time though…” My mother sighs with frustration. “Would you like to come live in Pittsburgh with me?”
It’s my mom who now pats my hand. “Callum… I love you so very much. But I’m not leaving Preston. Ever. He’s my husband and I love him. I have a great life with him. I know you don’t agree with it, or even understand it, but you don’t have to. You only need to know that I’m content where I’m at. You have to be good with that.”
“Okay,” I repeat, this time with a resignation I try to conceal. “I understand your position, but it doesn’t mean I won’t stop asking you to come away with me.”
“My answer won’t change.”
So be it. “There’s something else you need to know. Juniper had bruises on her.” I point to my temple. “Joshua choked her too. She told me this has been going on pretty much the entire marriage.” My mom’s eyes dart away and that tells me she was well aware of what was going on too, although I’m sure it was swept under the rug much the way her abuse has been. “She’s left Joshua.”
My mom’s head snaps back my way and she winces from the pain that must have caused. Her hand tightens on mine and she looks scared. “Where is she?”
“Safe.”
“Joshua’s not like Preston,” she says, and I take that—coupled with the unease on her face—as an admission that Joshua is far worse. I’d sort of figured that out. “He’s not going to just let her go.”
“He doesn’t have a choice.”
Chewing on her bottom lip, her eyes glaze as if she’s considering something. When she focuses back on me, she shocks me to my core. “He’s dangerous. You need to get Juniper away from here. Take her back to Pittsburgh.”
My denial is swift. “I can’t do that. She has a life here. She’s not mine to… to… I can’t even offer that.”
Sitting up straighter, my mom grips my hand harder. “You listen here, Callum Derringer. You apparently initiated this grand escape and now that it’s done, Joshua’s going to make her pay. Even if she goes back right now, he’ll make her pay. You leave her here, he’ll make her pay. Her only chance at any type of safe life is to leave Incline Village and move far enough away that it’s too much trouble for him to go after her.”
“You make him sound psychotic,” I mutter.
She doesn’t do anything but stare at me in a manner so direct, she doesn’t need to affirm with words that she, in fact, thinks he’s deranged.
“Christ,” I sigh, pulling my hand away and scrubbing it through my hair. I rub at the back of my neck, the tension knotting it up. “Okay, fine. I’ll take her to Pittsburgh, but I’m not leaving until you get out of the hospital and I’m sure you’re okay back at the house.”
“I’ll be fine at the house. Preston will hire someone to help care for me. But you should go now with Juniper—”
“I’m not leaving until you are released.” Which will be at least two more days. That gives me enough time to figure out what to do with Juni, and her dad for that matter. She won’t leave without him.
It could be seen as one big clusterfuck but for some weird reason, I’m not displeased by Juniper coming to Pittsburgh with me. I’m not put out at all that she’s divorcing Joshua. I’m certainly not minding this new role of protector—a chance to make up for past mistakes, perhaps.
If I can help Juniper out of this situation, it might alleviate some of the guilt I’ve carried over the way things ended between us. I know it would ease the frustration I’m experiencing with my mom’s refusal to walk away from a toxic relationship.
Regardless, I’ve got my work cut out for me because none of this will be an easy sell to Juniper.
CHAPTER 8
Juniper
Pacing the hotel room, I rub my arms. My skin itches like I’m about to come out of it. It’s a combination of anxiety, fear and a smattering of hope.
