Page 68 of Unhinged Kallie

TWO YEARS LATER

Carter and I talked almost every night while he was away at school. Which was more than when he lived at home. There was something steadying about how he spoke, making me feel better even when I was at my most chaotic.

He even made a point of us spending a day together rather than hanging out with his old teammates when he was home every other weekend. The only time he didn’t make it home was if he had a baseball game, and I would talk either Dad or Troy into going with me to watch him. There was no point in bringing Talon. She was like a hot potato and would leave her seat and disappear after the first inning…if she made it that far.

The holidays were the best. I’d never been so excited about Christmas before, and last summer vacation, we spent most of it hanging out. There was one old teammate of Carter’s with a sister who couldn’t keep her eyes off him, so she lost them, but other than that, I’d been very well-behaved. My dad even appreciated that I called him to help clean up, and I apologized for losing my temper. #personalgrowth

It was difficult not pushing for more, but I’d been warned that my dad was keeping an eye on me. For normal families, that meant making sure I got home by curfew or did my chores. That wasn’t the case with my dad. He could be lurking in any shadow. I smirked at a garbage can by the main gates to the baseball field. He could be in that garbage can right now. Okay, no, he wouldn’t. He would have to organize all the trash alphabetically, wash out all the containers, and sterilize them to ensure he didn’t leave fingerprints.

The one good thing about Carter being away was that my frustration led me down the path to yoga and CrossFit, which was paying off. I was stronger, faster, and I’d started running every morning with my dad. I didn’t even know he ran every morning. He also increased my weapons and self-defense training. Dad had never been a fan of guns, but only because they were loud and the person died too quickly. Regardless, he taught me how to shoot.

I thought Dad would shoot Uncle Abel when he arrived dressed like a cowboy, yelling about riding him like a horse as he ran back and forth in front of the target.

I could see why Dad didn’t want me to end up like that, but I was different. My dad was cold and calculating with his kills. I loved him, but I saw it more as I got older. Talon was in total denial of what she was. Bo had an insanity streak like a switch, and I didn’t trust him as far as I could throw him. Troy was a carbon copy of my dad, and Abel was…well, he was his own brand of crazy. I had little pieces of them and still had all my emotions or most of them. I didn’t care when I killed someone, so I guess that wasn’t normal, but I loved hard, cried harder, and would rip your throat out to protect what was mine. None of them were like me.

Five months ago, Dad finally let me leave the house alone at night. I spent that time learning everything about this new life Carter was building. He probably would’ve told me, but following him and sneaking into his room was much more fun.

He was in a house instead of a dorm this year and shared it with five other guys, but it was just him now. Everyone else had gone home for the summer, but he stayed here for baseball camp. It made him sound like a child, but it was another stepping stone he said he needed to make it to the majors. So Carter had the house to himself.

However, Carter did make it home for my eighteenth birthday, but what I had originally planned didn’t work out. I thought my dad was going to have a heart attack when he asked me what I wanted.

“Have you thought about what you’d like this year,” Dad asked.

He wasn’t the type to try and surprise you. Carter and I did that, but Dad thought functional gifts, like my knives, were more practical.

“I have.”

“And what is that?” He started to drink his orange juice.

“Can I have four grand to hire two escorts?”

I’d never seen orange juice fly as far or as fast when he spit it all over the table. He’d never worn a more confused or shocked expression as he coughed up the sweet liquid, either.

“What?”

“Escorts. You know you hire them to….”

He held up his hand. “I know what they are. Why do you want them?”

“Oh! To make Carter jealous,” I said and shrugged as I stood to get a cloth to clean up the juice.

“Kallie, have I taught you nothing?” I turned to look at my dad’s angry face.

“Please don’t try to stop me from pursuing him.”

He waved me off again. “No, you don’t spend that kind of money on anything unless there is no other way.” He gave me that look like I should know what he was talking about. I ran through all of his rules in my head. There were a lot of them, but I stopped when I got to eleven.

“You want me to use rule eleven?”

“Of course I do. You always use leverage first before paying for anything.” He pushed away from the table and stood. “Paying for escorts…I went wrong somewhere with your training,” he mumbled as he put his plate in the dishwasher. Still grumbling, he marched for the door. I guess our conversation was over.

Dad stopped with the front door open and looked back at me. “You don’t need them anyway. He already wants you.”

With that, the door closed behind him.

So I was taking his advice. My fingers drummed along the top of the steering wheel as I thought. It was easy enough blending in with students. I’d done that multiple times already. Jumping out of the car, I headed for the baseball field and smoothed down the front of the school hoodie.

I knew how to get to the best vantage point of the field without being seen. Using a vending machine as a cover, I leaned back like I was relaxing and waiting for someone. A single guard was wandering around, and I waited until he was far enough away before slipping from my spot and heading for the gates.