Page 53 of Ciaran

I bite my lip, wondering whether to mention to Callum that I know why he and I split up. I plunge in.

“Ciaran told me what you did…why you broke things off with me.”

Callum’s eyebrows almost disappear into his hairline. “He did?”

I nod. “I wish you’d told me, though. At the time, I mean.”

He swallows another forkful of eggs and shrugs. “Wasn’t my place to tell you.” He sets down his silverware. “And if you’re being honest, you’ll admit you weren’t interested in him back then.”

“That’s fair.” I stare down at my hands, cursing my younger self. How different my life would have been if I’d ended up with Ciaran instead of running away with Tanner.

“At least now you know I’m not a complete heartless bastard, huh?”

I lift my chin and smirk. “Yeah, you’ve redeemed yourself.”

I start to clear away the breakfast things, and Callum stands to help me. It’s kind of nice, comfortable, and for once, he doesn’t make me feel… less than. We finish up, and I head for my bedroom, until Callum calls me back.

“Millie.”

“Yeah?”

“Don’t hurt him, otherwise the bastard you knew in high school will make a one-time-only return visit. Especially for you.”

My skin prickles. Even though Callum says the words with a slight curve to his lips, the underlying tone sends a message that he’s deadly serious. The brief moment of normalcy we’d shared scatters.

I nibble on my thumbnail and hope my eyes are shining with sincerity. “I won’t.”

Chapter 20

Millie

“Strike!”

I swagger over to where Ciaran, Callum, and Laurella are standing next to the rack of bowling balls, and I high-five Ciaran while sticking out my tongue at Callum. He’d been full of it on the way over, saying he was the master at bowling, and how he always won every game no matter who he played against. I might not play very often, but I have a natural talent for bowling. Always have. Of course, I let him think I was terrible.

“You know what they say, Callum.” I form a cocky smile. “To assume is to make an ass out of you and me.”

“Yeah, except Callum’s the only ass I see,” Ciaran says, twirling a lock of my hair when I move into his side.

Callum scowls until Laurella sidles closer to him, sweeps a hand over his backside, and murmurs, “Aw, my little stronzo. Don’t worry. You’ve got a mighty fine ass.”

He smiles then and bends down to peck her lips.

“What does stronzo mean?” I ask Laurella, guessing it’s Italian.

“Asshole,” Callum answers for her. “It’s her way of telling me she loves me. Isn’t that right, sweetheart?”

Laurella’s lips tip up. “Of course it is, tesoro.”

I suppress a grin. Laurella has the magic touch with Callum. He laces his fingers, cracks his knuckles, and picks up his bowling ball.

“Okay, Frayser. You want a fight, you got one. Get ready for a play-off. Just you and me.”

I make a dismissive gesture with my hand, although my insides go all gooey, because this feels like a real family, and I’m becoming a part of it.

“Do your worst, O’Reilly.”

He limbers up, then rolls the ball down the lane. It crashes into the pins, scattering them in several different directions. If he gets a strike, we’ll tie the match. The last pin rocks back and forth, then settles firmly on its base.

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