On The Rebound (Steinbeck U #1) - L.A. Cotton Page 0,12
time, I couldn’t believe how clueless Callum was; how oblivious he was to the way his words cut deep.
“Of course not. God forbid we actually had any kind of relationship.”
“Look, Calli,” he released a long, steady breath, his eyes darting around me, “I can’t do this, not right now.”
“You can’t do this?” I jabbed my finger at him. “Try being in my shoes. I get here… after Mom…” The word lodged in my throat. “Only to find out that my brother hasn’t told his teammates about me.”
“Teammates? How do you—”
“And Declan? Were you ever going to tell me about that, huh?” My voice was shrill now, laced with pain.
“Declan? What does he have to do with anything?”
“I saw Zach.”
“I see.” His jaw clenched. “Well, I didn’t think you needed to know.”
“What is wrong with you? I know we’re not close, but I’m still your sister, Callum.” The words echoed around my skull. “I thought that might count for something.”
“I…” He hesitated, and it was enough for the little girl inside me to cling to the hope that Callum wanted to fix our broken relationship. His whiskey eyes—eyes we shared—darted to the ground as he rubbed the back of his neck. When he lifted his gaze again, I waited, hoping he might say something, anything, to fix this mess. But his silence was deafening.
“God, you are so frustrating,” I sniped, feeling my control slip. He was just standing there, acting so goddamn indifferent when I was barely holding myself together.
Inhaling a ragged breath, I forced myself to calm down. Yelling at him wasn’t getting anywhere, and it was only making me upset. Tears were already burning the backs of my eyes.
“I’m here, Callum. I go here now. We can’t just pretend it’s not happening.”
He stared at me, looked right through me, and said thirteen little words that gutted me.
“I’m not pretending. I just have bigger things to worry about right now.”
Zach
She’d whimpered.
Calli had actually whimpered before flying down the stairs and disappearing into the stacks.
I couldn’t get the image out of my head as I sat and listened to Victoria go on about some sorority mixer she was planning. I didn’t want to be here, but Vic had asked me to come, and more and more, I found myself unable to say no to her. She was my brother’s girl, and she was fucking lost. Much like myself.
We’d struck up an odd friendship before the summer. My parents had invited her over, and I’d stumbled across them all sitting around crying into their drinks. I’d taken one look at Victoria and asked her if she wanted to get some air. Air led to more drinking... and that led to a lot of anger... and maybe some destruction of private property. To this day, my old man still thought a bunch of kids snuck in our yard and ruined his beloved fire pit.
Fuck.
The anger in my veins had reached boiling point, and I found it hard to concentrate on anything she was saying.
How dare Calli stand there and act all high and mighty, trying to offer me sympathy?
Calliope James.
My sweet pea.
Fuck, I shouldn’t have called her that, but it just rolled off my tongue as if my brain hadn’t got the memo that she wasn’t my Calli anymore.
It didn’t mean the same thing it used to though.
Not anymore.
We weren’t those people to each other now.
We weren’t anything to each other.
“Are you listening to a word I say?” Victoria asked. “I’m starting to think I’m boring you.” She smiled, tucking a strand of her glossy red hair behind her ear.
“I’m just feeling the pressure.” I dismissed her, motioning to her empty glass. “You want another one?”
“Okay, another skinny latte please.”
“I know your order, Vic.” She never veered from her regular.
“Silly me.” She chuckled, batting her long lashes at me.
With a small shake of my head, I joined the line, trying my best not to let my eyes wander to where Calli sat with Josie Molineux. Of course she had to befriend the one girl at SU who had a direct link to the team. As if the universe hadn’t ass fucked me enough already.
A couple of girls behind me began whispering.
“That’s him... Zachary Messiah.”
“So tragic. But word has it, he’s even better than his brother.”
“I know, but surely it’s like a curse or something. I heard his parents and the school made some whack deal to let him transfer.”
“So freak—”
I glanced back, quirking a brow and they instantly swallowed whatever shit was about