Page 70 of Chasing Lynda

16.

Unrequited Love

Lynda

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I FOLLOW CALLIE BACK into the foyer and up a magnificent wooden staircase that leads onto the upper two floors of the mansion.

We see Carter and Zane coming out from one of the white doors at the end of the long hallway as we climb to the top floor.

“Hey Baby C!” Carter hugs Callie, eliciting another frustrated sigh from Dodge’s twin sister.

“Car, you too? Would you please stop calling me Baby C? I just told Bennett to cut it the fuck out.”

Carter’s eyes widen but there’s an amused light in the dark blue of his eyes. “Baby C!” He chuckles, protecting himself with his arms when Callie attempts to slap him on the back of the head. “So violent and listen at that language! A couple of weeks out of sight and I find you a changed woman. Who have you been hanging out with?”

Callie narrows her eyes at Carter, crossing her arms over her chest. “Not that it’s any of your business, but Denise and I signed up for a dating app.”

I’m surprised when Carter and Zane practically hit the roof, following us into the room Callie drags me into by grabbing my hand.

“A dating app?” Zane squeaks, losing his usual composure. “Callie,” he says enunciating every syllable, obviously making a point that he’s using her name rather than the nickname she despises. “I don’t think Denise is a good influence. Dodge already has enough shit on his plate without you spending the summer swiping right with someone who’s notoriously—”

Callie interrupts him. “Notoriously what? I’d be very careful when choosing my next words, if I were you, Zane. You and the others judging Denise for her hookups sounds very much like the pot calling the kettle black. As if you haven’t all fucked her! Including Dodge. And by the way, you make it sound like what I do or who I spend time with is my brother’s business. He’s three minutes older than me, that doesn’t put him or any of you in charge of my life!”

Zane looks too stunned to fend off Callie’s verbal attack, so Carter intervenes trying to calm her down. “No one is judging you or Denise, Bab—Callie.” He saves himself at the last second. “It’s just ... Denise is well known in our circle of friends for partying hard and for her random hookups. What Zane was trying to say is that you don’t seem to have much in common with her, so—”

“That’s exactly your problem, Carter!” Callie snaps. “You think you know everything about me. You think you know me, but you don’t. All you and my brother have ever done is try to keep me from being a normal girl. I’m not a princess you can lock in an ivory tower. I’m a normal, red-blooded woman who wants to go out, have fun, have a fucking boyfriend!”

Ah, yeah. I know exactly what she means. My family tried to keep me sheltered from the outside world; the only reason why I didn’t end up like Ausra, dressed like a total freak and shunned by everyone at school, was that I sneaked around on my parents, skirting all their rules.

My dad would’ve had a conniption had he ever seen me hanging out with Kelley and his friends.

I look at Callie’s agitated expression, her clenched fists, the redness on her cheeks and I know how she feels.

I know how it is when others try to make your choices for you, even though I know that whatever the guys have been doing, was because they care about her; it’s immediately obvious in their demeanors around Callie.

Zane sighs. “Callie, I’m sorry. No one has ever said that you can’t have a boyfriend, we just—”

Her reaction is still fiery, but her tone is softer than just a second ago. “You just don’t get it, Zane. You guys go into‘big brother mode’ every time a guy even says hi to me. You don’t realize how scary the four of you are.”

Zane wraps one arm around Callie’s shoulders and she lets him. “Look, I’ll talk to Dodge and Bennett. I’m going to make sure that they dial down this mode you’re complaining about. But I hope you understand, that if we’re protective of you, it’s because we love you. We don’t have a problem with you having a boyfriend, Baby C—” He tightens his hold on her when she scoffs at his use of the nickname she hates. “We just want you to be with someone who understands how wonderful you are, that’s all.”

Carter nods, his blue eyes full of warmth as he looks at Callie. “Zane is right. And any guy with honorable intentions will understand that and won’t be deterred from getting to know you and from pursuing you. We just want to keep away the assholes who are just attracted by the fact that you’re breathtakingly beautiful.”

Callie looks mollified by Carter’s words. “Stop trying to butter me up, Car. I’m still trying that dating app and I’m still hanging out with Denise. I love you guys, but you all need to butt out. Especially my brother. Now, shoo! I’ll find some clothes for Lynda and we’ll see you downstairs for lunch.”

Carter and Zane walk out of the room and Callie seems to relax a little once we’re alone.

She begins rummaging through her closet and drawers, choosing a few bikinis, several tank tops and a denim skirt. “These should be enough for the weekend. With our parents away, things should be pretty casual. But if you need anything else, I’m pretty happy for you to come in and help yourself.” Her tone is kind, but I can see that she’s guarded; she’s looking at me as if she were trying to figure me out. “Are you staying in Bennett’s room or my brother’s?” she asks.

“I—Dodge said I’d have my own room,” I say, meeting her gray gaze head on.

There’s a pause and we look at each other for a long moment, before Callie speaks again. “It’s obvious that my brother likes you. The way he looks at you and the way he had his arm around you outside ... I’ve only ever seen him like that with Chrissie. But then you were practically sitting on Bennett’s lap and he pretty much kissed you.” Her tone is accusatory. “Are you sleeping with both of them?”

Her question finds me unprepared, there’s a hostility in her gaze that wasn’t there a second ago. “I—Dodge and I—I slept with him last night.”

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