Page 99 of Fate Will Bring You Home

“Are you being serious right now?” He was looking at me like I was the stupid one. I hitched my thumb and pointed to the door. “The one getting in her car in front of our house.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, Aubrey. I was asleep, and when Callie texted me, I got up, showered, and just came downstairs about five minutes ago.”

I paused before talking because he could be telling the truth, but I needed to know for sure.

“So, if I go check my camera I put up I won’t see her leaving here through the back door?”

He sat up a little straighter. “We don’t have a camera at the backdoor. Only the Ring doorbell out front.”

Got him. “So, the correct answer would have been, no, you won’t because she wasn’t here. And then maybe asking when we got a camera in the back.”

His eyes went wide. “Aubrey.”

I threw everything I was holding down on the ground. “Are you fucking serious, Jake? You’re fucking cheating on her. How could—”

I heard the door open and stopped talking mid-sentence when Callie walked in. “Hey, what’s—what’s wrong?”

“Do we have a camera in the back?” Jake blurted out.

“Not that I know of… should we?” she asked suspiciously.

Jake looked at me, and I smiled. “You tell her, or I will.” And then I left and went to Nick’s house because if I didn’t leave, I would put my fist through Jake’s stupid fucking face.

Nick was just as pissed as me, and it took everything in him not to beat the shit out of Jake, but I sent Callie a text to call me, so we waited. She seemed okay when she showed up at Nick’s a few hours later.

“Hey, are you okay? How did it go?” I was expecting her to be broken and distraught, so something didn’t happen as I thought.

“Fine; he explained that he was having a client come and pick up paperwork.”

My mouth dropped open. I know he is lying to her. I saw the look on his face when he thought I had caught him on camera. “Really, Cal? You believe that he had a client pick up paperwork at our home while he was wearing nothing but a towel, and he had her come through the back door, and you don’t see anything wrong with that?”

“No, he said you misunderstood him.”

“What is there to misunderstand, Callie? He told me he fell asleep, got up, showered, and came downstairs. Not once did he mention a woman coming over to pick up paperwork. Not until I called him out for cheating, and only because he thought I had a camera in the back. He wasn’t going to tell you about her. Why do you think that is?”

She huffed like she was mad at me. “He said he didn’t want me to think anything of it, so he had her come in the back door so I wouldn’t even have to ask questions.”

“And you believe that?” Nick asked.

“I do. I trust him. He would never cheat on me,” Callie said confidently.

I had to walk away from her. I might say something I don’t mean, and she’s too vulnerable right now. I know she doesn’t really believe what she is telling me. She can’t. She’s not this dumb. I couldn’t hold my tongue.

I turned back toward her. “I can’t fucking believe you are serious, Callie. There is no way you are this stupid.”

She didn’t say anything, she just stared. I realized that she wasn’t going to respond so I left. I didn’t know what else to do; I needed to blow off steam. The next thing I knew, I was clicking on Link’s number on my phone.

Me: Hey, can you call me? I need to vent, and I can’t call anyone around here because it’s not my business to spread, but I need to talk to someone.

My phone rang immediately, and Mr. Grumpy Butt appeared on the screen. I couldn’t help but smile.

“Hey, beautiful. What’s up?”

CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

Lincoln

June

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