Page 12 of Bound By Secrets

"I don't know.” I look down and see that I'm still holding the handles of Callie's black handbag. "Let's go to the cafeteria. I need some food, and I need to give this bag back." I walk out of the tiny room, looking back at Brad when he doesn't follow me.

"You go ahead without me. I don't think Callie would want to see me after her reaction this morning in class." He rubs his hand along the back of his neck, a nervous gesture of his.

"From what Kat just said, I think it was just the nickname that made her react like that. Just call her by her name or something else, and I think you'll be alright. Besides, she was looking at you with interest earlier before you opened your mouth." He glares at me but lets out a deep chuckle and motions for me to walk out of the room.

"You’re obviously interested in her as well, with all those lingering looks you've been giving her."

"She's hot, and she seems like a great girl, so yeah, I'm interested. But I don't mind if she's also into you."

"Might make things more fun that way,” he says, smirking as he watches my brows furrow in confusion. When I think about his suggestive words in more detail, my eyebrows raise, and he winks at me.

Of course, his mind went there. The guy has been a sex fiend since puberty hit him. At first, he used to sleep with anyone he could, as many times as he could.

In the past year or two, he's become a little more responsible. He’s still probably sleeping with a few girls here and there, but now he mainly uses his fist or a fleshlight to keep himself satisfied.

Unfortunately for me, I know all of this because the guy has his own room at our house, and all we have is a thin wall separating our rooms.

He's mostly silent when we're out if there are a lot of people around that he doesn't know. However, in the bedroom, the guy doesn't shut up. It's annoying sleeping in the room next door sometimes.

We enter the cafeteria, with no interruptions this time. Our eyes scan around, looking for my sister's bright blonde hair or Callie's brunette locks. Brad nudges me and tips his head toward the line of people getting food. I spot my sister standing with one of Callie's brothers and start walking in her direction.

Halfway across the room, Brad grabs my arm and turns, heading in another direction and towing me along with him.

"What are you doing?" I ask him, bewildered by the sudden change.

"She's over here, sat with the scary motherfucker."

I pull my arm out of his hold and straighten up, following him to a table at the far end of the cafeteria by the windows where I can see Callie. Her face is lit up whilst she laughs at something with her brother, who's sitting beside her. Brad confidently strides forward and sits opposite her, smiling.

"Hey, cutie." He winks and I watch as she blushes. "Nate has your bag. You, uh, left it behind in class." He sounds like he had a slip with his confidence there, probably due to the death glare that he's receiving from Connor.

I take the seat next to him and hand her bag over to her. She thanks me quietly, putting it on the floor and then glances between all three of us as we fall into an uncomfortable silence.

She clears her throat and pokes her brother. He looks over at her and they look to be having a silent conversation with the way her head moves whilst his jaw clenches and his head shakes subtly from side to side.

After a minute or two, he huffs out a breath, and then turns to face us. He looks between us a couple of times and then back to Callie. She punches him with a surprising amount of power and he turns back to us, rubbing his arm.

"Sorry," he grunts out. She pinches him then and he sighs again before continuing, "I'm sorry for pushing into you guys in the corridor." Brad chuckles next to me whilst I sit here in shock. She got this guy not only to apologise, but she got him to talk. I've never heard him talk at all. I honestly thought he was mute because all he ever seems to do is grunt and growl, kind of like an animal.

"Did I seriously just hear you apologise?" My head whips around to see her other brother standing behind me with a broad smile stretched on his face in amusement. "Jesus. Callie’s behind this, isn't she?" He asks, looking over at Callie. He then bends forward, holding his stomach as he laughs.

"Shut up," Connor huffs out, which just makes his twin laugh harder.

"Callum, leave him alone. He was doing the right thing for once." Connor shakes his head at them, his scowl no longer taking place on his face; instead, he looks at his brother and sister with a spark of happiness in his eyes.

"Okay, what have I missed? Are we all friends now?" Kat asks as she sits down next to Callie. A slight tension seems to reappear at her words, and Callie sighs.

"Yes, we're all fine here, right guys?" she pointedly stares at her brothers, and they nod their heads. The nicer one turns to me and Brad, holding his hand out across the table.

"Hey, I'll formally introduce myself. I'm Callum, also known as Sunny sometimes, or Cal. I'll also introduce the other half of me, his name's Connor or Grumpy. But I don't think he'd appreciate you guys calling him that." I smirk and shake his hand, introducing myself and then Brad does the same.

"Okay, now that that's out of the way, I'm going to get food, considering you and Kat only thought about feeding yourselves and no one else." Callie stands and starts walking through the cafeteria towards the line of students waiting for food. Brad and I jump up and follow her to get some food for ourselves, too.

Chapter Eight

Callie

After we'd all eaten lunch together, the rest of the day went seemingly well. Callum and Nate are both in Criminology class with me, so we walked there together. They seemed to get along relatively well, and they spent half the lesson teasing me about how annoying it is to have a little sister. Cue the eye roll.

---