Warning Track (Callahan Family #1) - Carrie Aarons Page 0,46

I smirk.

He rolls his eyes. “But seriously, my uncle is fucking useless. He was an asshole my entire childhood, and I didn’t even have to live with him. He did a fucking number on Colleen, though please don’t repeat that. She’d kill me for saying it to anyone else. My own father is no saint, but hers is a calculating, vile human who … shit, this is probably boring you.”

He has no idea just how much I am interested in the subject of Colleen. It’s been a little over twenty-four hours since I took her into that supply closet and kissed the fuck out of her. My stomach drops and my heart flutters just thinking about her mouth on mine, the way she kissed me back, the anticipation of what was going to happen.

I’m like a goddamn woman, obsessing over every intricate detail of those few minutes. But I’ve never felt this way, thought this way. Sex has always been just sex for me; a fun, pleasurable means to an end of release. I’ve had some meaningful relationships, but none where thoughts lingered long after I’d gotten off.

This was just a kiss, and I can’t fucking stop thinking about it. Or her. The way she smelled, like a warm sugar cookie with a side of zesty, spicy orange. The sounds she’d made, these tiny little moans that I don’t even think she was conscious of letting out into my own mouth. The way it had felt, like our lips were meant to connect until the end of time.

Jesus Christ, I was so far gone over this woman who was, essentially, off fucking limits. It was probably a good thing, though my cock disagreed, when Colleen put a stop to it. She was the more level-headed of us two, because I would have unzipped my pants and fucked her right against the door in that supply closet.

“Not at all,” I say huskily, trying to mask the desire building in my body again.

I resorted to my hand three times in the last day thinking about Colleen. I’m like a fucking teenager who just discovered masturbation for the first time.

“Any time he does an interview, it just causes more problems for the club, not to mention my father. And when it comes to Colleen … shit, she tries to act like it doesn’t fuck with her head, but it puts her in an ugly place. He seems hell-bent on destroying her from behind bars, as if he didn’t mold her into this robot of a person her entire life. I wish the media would just stop giving him attention, but I know this is their fucking life blood. Freaking vampires.”

I nod in agreement, understanding a little bit more about Colleen than I had before. I grew up an orphan, for all intents and purposes, and typically let that cloud my view of kids who grew up with parents in a family home. I’ve always thought that nothing could be worse than what I’ve been through, which is why I said as much after she was crying in the massage room after her father’s first interview. It dawned on me that growing up with the same narcissistic, ugly-souled human could cause just as much damage as being passed around foster care.

“You’ve got that right. They’re a necessary evil, and unfortunately, Jimmy is getting his fifteen minutes before he fades off into the background with his scandal. Don’t worry, it’ll happen. Just like all those guys who did steroids, or cheated with call signs, they were the talk of the town. Until it dropped them, and they’re even worse off now than they were when their trouble was the highlight of the news reel. Hopefully, he’s getting a good beatdown in prison.”

Walker snorts. “One can only hope. All right, man, enough energy has been focused on that motherfucker. Let’s play a round of pool before pong.”

A grin has my cheeks flexing, because I’m damn good at pool. Walker doesn’t know that, though, and I’m going to take a lot of sadistic fun in hustling the shit out of him.

21

Colleen

By the time I make it to my floor of the hotel in Baltimore, my feet are screaming at me and I have a headache building behind my left eye.

The lock flashes green as I swipe my key card in front of it, and the minute I’m behind the door, I kick off the heels that I stupidly wore on the flight here. It was a dumb