Kiss To Forget (Blairwood University #2) - Anna B. Doe Page 0,116
Cole. I warned you what would happen if you broke her heart. And what the hell did you do? You went ahead and did exactly that.”
“Dude…”
I rub at my temples, still feeling the constant ache behind them. What the hell is she talking about?
Callie swiftly turns on the balls of her feet to glare at Hayden. “You shush, I’m not done.” Then her attention is back on me, and I wish it wasn’t. Callie is pissed. “If anybody can understand, then it’s me.”
“Callie…”
“No, don’t you dare Callie me, Nixon Cole!” This time when her finger stabs into my chest, her nail scrapes at my skin. “I know how it feels to lose somebody, and not just somebody, but a parent. I lost my parents when I was barely sixteen years old to an accident. I didn’t have time to prepare. I didn’t have time to tell them I loved them. They were here.” She snaps her fingers. “And then they were gone.”
Callie sniffles as tears fill her eyes.
“I’ll never forgive myself that the last words we spoke to each other were said in anger. So no, Nixon, you don’t get to pretend you’re all alone in this because you aren’t. And while your mom’s death is terrible and premature, you had time. You had time to be with her, you had time to show her how much you love her, you got to be by her side all the way, until the very end. I didn’t get any of those things.”
There is movement in the background. Hayden comes in, wrapping his arms around Callie and pulling her into his chest. This time, she doesn’t resist him.
“We got a lot, but we were robbed of so much more.”
“You were,” Callie agrees, sniffling softly. “But you’re the one who’s robbing yourself of even more with the way you’ve been acting. You only had to say the word and we’d have been by your side the whole way, helping you with whatever you needed, but instead you pushed us away. You still keep pushing us away. But that’s not even the worst part. What do you remember from last night? If you remember anything, that is.”
I gulp, trying to think of what might have happened to piss Callie off this much. My memory is hazy at best. Dad. Dad came to the house. We fought, and I threw him out. Fight with Jade. Coming to Blairwood. Drinking and then… nothing.
I rub at my face. “It’s all fuzzy.”
“You drank your body weight in alcohol, no wonder it’s all fuzzy. You had a bunch of people over, and you all got drunk off your asses. And when we asked you to stop and talk to us, you refused to do so. I called Yasmin, because I knew if you’d listen to anyone it’d be her.”
My heart skips a beat at the mention of her name. I haven’t seen her or talked to her since she left with the rest of them back to Blairwood. Since I made her go.
It was for the best.
“Why did you call her? You know we…”
“Oh, I know that you acted like a dick and asked her to leave with the rest of us, but I also know that girl still loves you and wants what’s best for you. I thought you’d finally get your head out of your ass and realize you feel the same. But maybe I was wrong. Maybe you just needed somebody to be by your side for a while. Yasmin gave you everything, Nixon. She was with you when you were at your lowest, she was there to hold you when you were falling apart, she failed a fucking class for you! She didn’t deserve you to throw some hussy in her face and show her where the door is.”
Failed class? What is she…
The ringing in my ears intensifies. Callie keeps talking but all I can hear are those two words.
Failed class.
What? How?
“She gave you everything, and it wasn’t enough. I lost my family, Nixon, but coming here, finding Hayden, you, Chloe, Yasmin… it has given me a new family I didn’t even think I needed. You don’t hurt your family.”
“Callie, I’m so—”
“I don’t want your apologies, Nixon,” she snaps at me without giving me a chance to finish. “I want you to get your head straight and figure out what the hell you’re doing with your life and who do you want to have by your side.”