Page 126 of Chaos at Westbrook High

I want to ask why, but I refrain, waiting for her to decide if she wants to tell me on her own.

“I had a baby when I was thirteen.”

I freeze, my eyes widening in horror. My stomach bottoms out as a sickening shiver rolls down my spine, but I force myself to stay completely still.

“Did Wren tell you that?”

“No,” I choke out, hating myself for the way my voice cracks.

“She was killed, and I…I can’t go through that again, Hailey. If I had another child and something happened to them, if someone hurt them—” She stops, but the look in her eyes tells me everything she doesn’t say. She looks devastated. Terrified. Murderous. “I’d turn into somebody else, and it scares the shit out of me. The thought that I could become someone like Katherine or…him.”

With the blood running through your veins, you’d make a terrible mother.

“I already have his temper,” she whispers. “I can’t stand the thought of becoming a monster. Of losing my family.” She shakes her head. “I’d rather die.”

I swipe the wetness from my eyes. “Kai knows that, doesn’t he?”

Callie nods.

“But you won’t talk to Damon about it?”

She sniffs, looking down at her hand wrapped around the bottle. “I want to, but…”

“It would break his heart.” Not just the fact that she doesn’t want children, but the reasons why… They would tear him up inside. They’re tearing me up, and she’s not the love of my life.

I swallow. “What was her name?”

Callie’s head snaps toward mine. “What?”

“Your daughter. What was her name?”

Her brows pinch as she stares into my eyes. “No one’s ever had the balls to ask me that before.” She takes a breath. “Her name was—fuck, it’s stupid.”

“It’s not.”

Another breath. “Her name was Claire. I named her after the only woman who’d ever given a shit about me and my unborn baby. The only woman who’d ever tried to save us from him.”

“Claire…Kingston?”

She nods. “Did you ever meet her?”

“Yeah. A couple times.”

A sad smile touches her lips as she puts the bottle and the joint down and turns her body to face me, our heads sharing the same pillow. For the next two hours, she talks, and I listen.

Chapter 41

KAI

“What’s happening?” I whisper to the boys.

The four of us are standing on the roof at the entrance of the private hangout spot my brothers and I had built. There’s a huge infinity pool on one side, a hot tub, a fire pit, a bar, and three daybeds on the dais facing the pool, lit up by multicolored strip lights. They’re set to purple right now—Callie’s favorite color. She and Hailey are on the bed in the middle, their hands linked, heads close, eyes closed, a wireless headphone in each ear.

“I think Callie’s made a new best friend,” Levi whispers back.

“I’m her best friend,” Wren and I say together.

I glare at him. He glares at me. I shove his ass. He shoves mine right back. Just as I’m about to get him in a headlock, Hailey’s arm flops out to the side on the bed, palm up. She doesn’t speak or even look this way, but I know what she wants.

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