Page 37 of Then and Now (The Edge of Retaliation 3)
I go to unlock it when a voice I never thought I’d hear again in my life tickles up my spine, making me stop, key in hand, facing the door.
“Long time no see, Joanne.”
I swallow and close my eyes. It’s not a thing. It can’t be. I’m imagining things. There is no possible way the voice I just heard is the person I think it is. No possible way. We’re supposed to be meeting them, not the other way around.
I turn slowly, and when I see not just one, but four people, my heart launches into my throat and my eyes burn. I stare at the one face I haven’t seen for so many years but have thought of every single day. Sky-blue eyes, dark messy hair, big, muscled, covered in tattoos. A face and body I’ve remembered in my dreams every single day. Tatum.
I meet his eyes, and my fingers tremble, the keys dropping to the floor.
They’re not meant to be here.
They’re …
I glance at the other people quickly. Tanner, Ethan, and a girl. A very beautiful girl with long locks of brown hair, gorgeous silver eyes and a body to die for. She’s standing next to Tanner, and by the way she’s hanging onto his arm, I know she’s with him. Oh god. This is going to kill Callie.
This is bad.
So bad.
“What?” I whisper, avoiding looking at Tatum again, because if I do, I might just scream, or cry, or … I don’t know. “What are you all doing here?”
“What? No hello, Tatum? No apology? No nothing? You’re going to avoid looking at me? Is that how it’s going to be, Joanne?”
Oh god.
I look up at him, and my eyes burn with unshed tears. “Tatum,” I whisper, but nothing else comes out.
He shakes his head, his face filled with bitter disappointment. “Fuckin’ save it. Got nothin’ to say to you anyway. We’re here because we have to be.”
His words hurt. They burn like a stab to the chest. I close my eyes and try to breathe through the pain, but it’s proving to be difficult. I take a moment, and then open my eyes and look to Tanner, asking, “What is going on?”
“Where is she?”
“Callie?” I ask.
“Yeah, fuckin’ Callie. Where is she? I’m only goin’ to explain this once.”
“She’s,” I look over to her apartment just as the door opens and Jake steps out. He leans in, grabbing her face in his hands and kissing her, just a soft peck, but it’s enough for me to see Tanner’s face scrunch with anger. “There,” I murmur, finishing my sentence.
Jake disappears, not noticing us, and just as Callie goes to close the door, she peers down this way and stops, her eyes getting wide, her mouth dropping open. She stares in complete shock for a few moments, and then I see her face change, just like mine did, no doubt, into that of pain and heartache.
She steps out of the apartment slowly, and very carefully walks toward us, her eyes on Tanner the whole time. I dare to glance at him, and the hard expression on his face even hurts me to look at. I can only imagine what it’s doing to her.
“What?” she begins, just like I did. “What is going on?”
“We have a problem, came here to sort it out,” Ethan starts, his voice hard. “Let’s talk inside.”
Callie stares, dumbfounded as they all walk past her and just go into her apartment. She watches Tanner the whole time, her eyes on him, and then on his girlfriend, and the back on him. When they step inside, Ethan turns and mutters, “We don’t have all day.”
Callie looks to me, and I give her a broken smile, and then together, we walk into her apartment.
This is bad.
So damned bad.
I wasn’t prepared for this.
At all.
14
CALLIE
I can’t look away.
I’ve tried. I’ve tried not to stare at him. To stare at her. But I can’t stop my eyes lingering on the both of them as they sit on the sofa, her squished right up against him. I can’t move my eyes away when his hand glides over her knee. My heart feels like it’s going to burst out of my chest. I can’t fucking breathe.
The pain is out of this world.
It hurts so bad.
I can’t think. Can’t process. Nothing makes sense right now. It’s all … too much.
“Are you going to tell us why you’re all here?” Jo asks, her voice as edgy as mine. She stands in the kitchen, avoiding Tatum’s stare in every way she possibly can. I don’t blame her. I want to run the hell out of this room and never look back.
I’d rather be anywhere, anywhere in this world but here. With Tanner, and his new girlfriend, who is so damned beautiful it makes my chest ache and my stomach twist. Of course he moved on, did I expect he wouldn’t? He deserves happiness, especially after what I did. I couldn’t expect him to sit back and long for me forever.
