Page 16 of Bound By Secrets

After a moment, she straightens up and takes a deep, shaky breath before she slowly nods. I breathe a sigh of relief and reluctantly pull my hands away from her face.

She turns to face Connor and Callum as they draw closer to us, eyes bouncing back and forth between us.

"You guys go ahead, I'm gonna talk to Ryker for a moment." Connor's eyebrows turn inward and his eyes meet mine. He snarls at me, making me take a small step back. The dude has always been scary and I used to find it funny, but after leaving Callie and spending two years away from the twins, I’m choosing to be careful around him.

"Are you sure? We can wait out here for you." She declines and pulls Callum into a loose hug, whispering something in his ear. He nods, letting her go before grabbing onto Connor, who is glaring daggers at me and dragging him to the entrance door of the fight club.

"Hurt her again, Ryker, and I swear to God, I will hunt you down and kill you! I don't care if you were my best friend for years. She always comes first!" Connor shouts across the empty lot before Callum reaches past him and slams the door shut. I audibly gulp as his threat settles deep in my bones. If it had been anyone else shouting those words at me, I would've laughed at them.

But with Connor, I know that he means the words. The venomous tone of his voice hurts to hear because the twins were always like brothers to me.

I turn back to Callie to see a small smirk on her lips as she stares at the door that just closed, I clear my throat to bring her attention back to me and the smirk disappears in an instant.

Ouch, that burns.

She looks around the parking lot and then motions over towards the corner before turning to walk over there, not even checking if I'm following.

Once we're hidden in the dark corner behind Callum's Jeep, she turns to me with blazing eyes, anger pouring out of her. I step closer and lift my hand to run my thumb along her trembling top lip, and when she doesn’t retreat, my heart beats a little quicker.

"Stiffen up that upper lip, baby."

Any time she was upset, it's what I always said to her because her lips tremble slightly when she's trying to keep her emotions at bay. She quickly steps back, breaking out of the daze that we were caught in for a few moments and breaking away from my touch.

"Why are you here, Ryker? Where have you been?"

I push my needy hands into my pockets to stop myself from reaching out to her, like my body and mind are begging me to do. A few more tears drop down onto her cheeks and she swipes them away as quickly as they fall. She never wants anyone to see her cry.

"Uh, I've kind of been all over the place, in all honesty, Pretty Girl." She flinches when I use that nickname and my heart cracks inside my chest. "Callie, you have to understand that I left for a reason. I know it doesn't mean much, and I know that it must've hurt, but I had to leave. I had no choice."

"Of course, you had a fucking choice, Ryker!" Great, she's shouting and swearing. This isn't looking good for me. She's never been angry with me before, although I'd never broken her trust or her heart before.

She steps into me, pointing a finger at my chest forcefully. "No one forced you to leave. No one kidnapped you or threatened you. You just upped and left the same goddamn day that you promised me you'd always be there for me! I don't see how there is any justifiable reason as to why you left me that day!"

"He was going to kill one of us, Callie!" My voice echoes through the car park whilst Callie gapes at me in shock.

"What... who was... wait, what?" she stammers. I grab hold of her arm and pull her towards me, but she shakes her head and moves away from me again, nostrils flaring from the anger coursing through her.

"Your father!" Her eyes widen at my admission. "I was never planning to leave you, Callie. I wouldn't have if I had a choice. But, after I'd put you in bed, I went to the bar to find Johnny, hoping there was something he could do to help. I wanted to try and prevent your dad from finding out about what had happened because I knew it wouldn't be good for you." I flexmy jaw, ignoring the pain it causes from where she punched me earlier.

She pulls away from me even more and begins pacing back and forth, muttering to herself. I step towards her but her head shoots up and she stares at me, a pained expression taking over her face.

"He already knew, didn't he?" she whispers, cringing when I nod.

"I overheard him talking, and then I made the decision to leave… How do you know he already knew?" Tears fall from her eyes rapidly and she covers her mouth with both hands to try and quiet the sobs.

I take hold of her arm again, pulling her towards me to wrap my arms around her. I sigh with contentment when she wraps hers around my waist and buries her head into my chest. Rubbing my hand up and down her back, I savour the feel of her tiny body pressed close against mine and the strawberry scent that’s invading my nostrils from her hair. She squeezes me tight, then sighs and pulls back to look up at me.

"Cameron saw me. I'd gotten out of bed a couple of minutes after you'd left because I wanted to clean up the blood before anyone saw it. I was just getting the bleach out of the cupboard when Cameron popped his head around the corner with a big grin on his face… He'd already seen the blood in the toilet and the bits of blood on the floor. I told him I'd come on my period, but h-he laughed and said he'd overheard us when you were there. He t-told me that he'd found the test in my room the week before, and after hearing us and seeing the blood, he sent a picture of the test to Dad." Sobs wrack through her body again and tears start to form in my eyes.

"I'm so sorry, Pretty Girl. I hated that I left, but I did it to protect us. I promise you I did. He would’ve killed me, Callie. I heard him say it. I left because I knew that if I stayed and endedup dead, you would’ve been destroyed." She nods against my chest, hands clinging to the material of my jumper.

Her body relaxes against mine and it fills me with warmth, finally having my girl back in my arms. It doesn't last long though because she pulls back and looks up at me, bottom lip trembling and hands balled into fists against my abdomen.

"I haven't forgiven you yet, Ryker. I understand why you left but it still hurt. I need some time. You left me when I was at my most vulnerable and I needed you. We'll talk properly at some point but-" She gets cut off as someone shouts her name from across the parking lot, making her step away from me in an instant.

I look over my shoulder and see a guy standing there with his hands in his pockets and a worried expression on his face. A sharp pain pierces my chest.

Has she already moved on?

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