Page 17 of Then and Now (The Edge of Retaliation 3)
Right?
Dammit.
I’m doubting myself, now. Going over every time I’ve been with or around Tatum. No, I haven’t done anything that could be used against me. Right?
“I’ll be speaking with you soon,” he mutters, opening the door and stepping out, slamming it behind him.
Great.
Just great.
That didn’t go to plan.
It never does, though, does it?
Fucking fate.
8
CALLIE
“I ended things with Patrick,” Jo says, the moment I walk through the front door. I place my bag on the ground, my shoulder aching, and glance at her.
She’s sitting on the sofa, vodka in hand, wearing her pajamas, looking like she’s about ready to lose her shit for a final time. I understand how she feels. That trip didn’t go to plan, hell, it didn’t even go close, and now we’ve found ourselves with even more drama than when we first left.
We’re all over it.
We’ve all had enough.
“Tell me about it,” I say, walking over to the sofa and sitting down beside her, taking the bottle of vodka and taking a long, well-earned sip.
“He came over here, demanding to know where I’d been, and he didn’t care … He didn’t care that I look the way I look, he just wanted to know what I was doing. He saw Tatum leaving my apartment, and now he’s got it in his head that I had an affair and he’s running with it, because it’s the perfect plan, isn’t it? He’s scared of losing everything, he can’t if I’ve cheated.”
I shake my head, fighting back an eyeroll. Fucking Patrick, he always seems to think he’s got the upper hand in everything, but he knows damn well he doesn’t so he’s clutching at straws. “He’s got nothing, honey, and you know it. You haven’t cheated, he’s just trying a different angle. Was he upset that you ended it at least?”
She shakes her head, laughing bitterly. “Nope, not at all. He was more worried about himself, as always.”
“I’m sorry, I know you’re done, but you’ve spent a long time with Patrick doing the right thing, the very least he could have done was pretend to care that he’s losing a good woman, because he is. You know that, right?”
She nods, meeting my eyes. “Oh, hell yes I know that. Anyway, tell me how your afternoon went. What happened when you got back to Tanner’s place?”
I exhale. “We dropped Ethan off, and then we went back there to wait for Tatum to come back with Chase. Tanner wanted to discuss how we were going to approach the whole situation, as in telling everyone the whole story about Celia’s death. Andrea arrived, and we went over it with her. She wanted to attack Chase, understandably, and she was so damned angry that Tatum had to take her for a walk.”
Jo’s eyes widen. “Oh, no, poor thing. It’s such a horrible story to hear. Do you think the rest of her family will react the same?”
“Worse, I think. Then there is Chase’s mother, who has lived in the dark all this time, it’s not going to go down well when she finds out why her son hasn’t visited her or called her a lot. She’s about to find out he’s the reason a girl killed herself. It’s going to cause hell, to put it mildly.”
“And you?” Jo asks, giving me a sympathetic smile.
Me.
Yes, me.
The girl who I’m sure none of them ever want to see or hear about for the rest of their lives. The girl, who in their mind, is the reason Celia is dead. The girl who turned everything upside down. I’m about to go in there, turn the tides, and make everything that much worse for everyone. Not to mention the fact that Tanner and I are sort of seeing each other.
That is a whole other issue that could make things complicated.
“Tanner wants me there. He wants to take Chase and I over tomorrow night and tell the family. I tried to tell him I don’t want a part in that, but he said I’ve come this far, I should be there when they find out the truth. But … I’m terrified.”
“I’m sure they’ll understand,” Jo says, her voice calming at a time when I really need her to be calm, which I’m grateful for. “They’re going to be upset at first, of course, but once Tanner tells them the whole truth, they might calm down.”
“Yeah, maybe. That or they’ll hate me forever.”
“Maybe,” Jo agrees. “Maybe not. I guess you have to wait and see.”
“Then there’s Chase. Do we take him to the cops, or do we just let him be? Tatum wants him to go and tell them what happened, to put bigger charges on the gang so that they stay away for longer, but Tanner doesn’t think it’ll make any difference, being that it was so long ago and there is no proof. I’m on the fence, I think it’s worth a shot, but I also know it’ll put Chase right in the middle of it too.”
