Page 59 of Bound By Secrets

“No, Callie. None of that is your fault.” He tips my head back up, forcing me to face him as he shakes his head. “Anybody in your position would’ve been affected by what they’ve had to endure. You are so strong. Mentally, physically, and emotionally. Don’t ever doubt that. This hasn’t affected you mentally because you’re weak, it’s because it’s traumatic and wrong.”

A tear drips from my eye, and he swipes it away before it trails down my cheek.

“I just want to be able to forget about each and every time that he touched me. I want to rid the memories from my mind, but it’s impossible,” I cry, tears now falling freely from my eyes. Nate stands up, pulling me with him and allowing me to rest my head against his chest as he lightly circles his arms around me.

“It’ll get better with time, Callie. I promise it will, and I’ll be here to help in any way that I can,” he vows, pressing soft kisses to the top of my head as I cry into his chest.

After a few minutes, I begin to calm down. With my breathing becoming even and the tears finally stopping, I step back out of the comfort that his arms provide. I gently wipe at my face with the sleeve of my top and chuckle when I see him watching me.

“I’m sorry, I don’t know what’s happening to me. I'm so emotional lately.”

“It’s okay to show your emotions to people, Callie. Sometimes it helps to let it all out.”

Now that I think about it, I do feel a little lighter, like a small amount of weight has been lifted off of my chest. Whether that’s because my emotions have been pouring out of me today or whether it’s due to my dad being gone, I’m not sure. But I’m glad, it feels good to be able to relax slightly.

When I yawn, Nate motions with his head towards the door.

“I’ll head out and let you get some rest. I can imagine today’s been a lot. Do you think you’ll come to college tomorrow?”

I shake my head as I lead us out of Callum’s room and towards the stairs.

“I think I’ll probably have a few days off. I don’t want people to see all the bruises. It’ll also give us some time to go through my father’s office and see if we can find anything for your dad,” I tell him, slowly making my way down the stairs, trying not to jostle my sore body.

“Yeah, I understand. If you need anything, just call or text us, Callie. We’ll be there for you.” I turn, smiling at him with appreciation.

“Thank you, that honestly means a lot, but I won’t message or call whilst you're at college. I don’t want to get in the way of something important.”

“Bitch, you’re important,” Kat shouts, walking into the entryway with Brad, Callum and Connor behind her. “We’re not going to college tomorrow. We’ll be here with you.”

“Especially when we know Ryker’s also gonna be here, it’s only fair if we’re here too. Can’t have him spending more time with our girl, can we, Nate?” Brad chimes in, winking at me. Nate chuckles beside me.

“Would it be okay if we came here tomorrow?” I smile up at him and nod.

“If you all want to come here instead, then you’re more than welcome to, but I can’t guarantee it’ll be any fun.”

Kat rolls her eyes and walks over to me, gingerly pulling me into a hug. “No need for fun. We just want to help you. We’ll be here at ten o’clock sharp,” she states, kissing my uninjured cheek. I hear Connor grumble and then hear the sound of fading footsteps, and I smile when I hear Callum’s laughter fade away as well.

Brad takes her place as soon as she steps away, pulling me in for a brief hug and kissing the top of my head before nudging me back over to Nate who’s awkwardly standing at the bottom of the staircase.

“If you need time by yourself, then we’ll go to college. I don’t want to crowd you.” I walk over to him and wrap my arms around his body, lifting on my tiptoes until my lips are beside his ear.

“I want all of you to be here, so I’ll see you at ten,” I whisper, trailing my lips down the side of his neck as I lower myself to theground. I feel the shiver that runs through his body, and it makes me feel giddy inside knowing that I can affect this beautiful man with the simplest little thing.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Nate

Searching through someone else’s things is starting to make me feel really uncomfortable. Maybe it’s more disturbing because I’m searching Cameron’s room, and the things that I’m finding are making me realise that there is something really strange about this guy.

Kat, Brad and I turned up at Callie’s about an hour ago. After a quick drink and a breakfast roll, we were all designated rooms to search.

I’ve been here for about thirty minutes. I’ve searched his walk-in wardrobe which was easily the size of my own bedroom; in there, I found a large black duffel bag that was almost filled to the brim with needles and little glass jars containing fentanyl and midazolam. There was also a whole collection of knives.

I made sure not to touch anything and I captured some pictures before quickly moving on. I remember Callum mentioning that they’d get drugged before they were put in the basement, so I’m assuming the contents in the duffel bag are what they used.

After that, I’d moved onto his bedside cabinets that were pressed against both sides of his king-sized bed. I cringed as soon as I spotted a bunch of condoms inside the top drawer and slammed it shut. When I checked the other one, there was a picture of Callie when she was younger, standing with who I assume is her mother. There were slash marks across the picture, and it was wrinkled and torn as if someone had screwed it up plenty of times.

Now, I’m searching through his chest of drawers, checking if there’s any fake bottoms in the drawers or anything stuck to the side. I’ve searched two and thankfully come up empty-handed so far.

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