Page 39 of Eternally Bound

“Daniel collected me,” I said. The irony was that I couldn’t force the words kidnapping out of my mouth in connection to Daniel. Yes, he did it to protect me, but my anger that Callen would even contemplate putting my son’s safety on the table made me furious. I could forgive a lot, but never that.

Gambling was Callen’s weakness. Daniel was mine. Maybe we were both just weak human beings.

“Daniel?” His voice sounded suspicious. “You call him Daniel?”

“Yes, I call him Daniel.” The anger flared within me at Callen for zeroing on stupid things like that. “And yes, I’m safe. Don’t worry, he didn’t hurt me. Nor your son. In fact, he is ensuring we are safe.”

Unlike you!I kept the words in. Callen was a pawn but a willing one because he couldn’t walk away from gambling.

To my horror, Callen started sobbing softly.

“I’m sorry. This is all my fault.”

I couldn’t argue with that, so I remained silent. I didn’t want to say something mean; he was Bram’s father. And I knew he loved his son. When he wasn’t hung up on gambling. I didn’t want to be one of those parents that hate each other and have Bram stuck between us two.

“Listen, we are okay,” I finally said, attempting to comfort him. “Once things settle, we’ll figure out an arrangement for Bram.”

“What do you mean?”

Hell if I knew what I meant. I wasn’t sure if Daniel was serious when he said he wasn’t letting us go. His words of assurance that he wanted me and loved me would be the only thing to keep us here permanently.

Jesus, one day around Daniel Carrington and I was back to being a self-doubting teenager.

“Ainslee?” Callen’s voice brought me back to now.

“I’m here,” I told him. “What I mean is that you and I have never even been a thing. But I’m not sorry.” Truthfully, we should have been having this conversation face-to-face, but I needed to get it off my chest. “I’m not sorry because we got Bram, and he is the most important thing in my life. And for that, you will always have my affection. But I don’t love you, Callen. It is not fair to string you along.”

“Is this because of the gambling?” he questioned, and I could hear sadness in his voice.

“That is a small part of it,” I told him honestly. “It is not okay what you have done. You need to get help for yourself. You are a wonderful man, but even without the gambling, you and I would have never worked out.”

“Why, Ainslee? I thought we were making progress.”

“Because I gave my heart to someone else a long time ago,” I admitted. It was the first time I had said that. Callen knew nothing about my first love or my past lover. Because there was only Daniel before Callen. “You and I weren’t truly making progress, we were just trying to come to terms and settling for whatever we have.”

“I love you,” he cried out and a lump in my throat choked me hearing his words. I didn’t want to hurt him; I cared for him. But I didn’t love him and to have forever, I needed love. What a damn mess! A freaking love triangle. I loved Daniel, Callen loved me, and Daniel… well, I wasn’t sure where Daniel stood. He didn’t promise me love, and I wanted love.

If Daniel didn’t love me, I would just have to settle for a future without him. I was enroute to that future anyhow before all this happened.

“I’m sorry, Callen,” I told him softly. “I don’t want to hurt you.” I wasn’t sure what I was waiting for. His forgiveness. His regret. His friendship pledge. When he remained silent, I added with a heavy heart. “I know this seems sudden, but both you and I know we’ve been struggling for a while. I want us to stay close and in touch, for Bram’s sake. He needs us both.”

“Ainslee, I can fix this,” he pleaded and it made me feel like shit. “I’ll talk to Hector Carrington and fix it all.”

“No! He’s the last person on this earth you should talk to. Please… I don’t want to see anything happen to you,” I warned him. “Please be smart about this, Callen. For Bram’s sake, don’t do anything reckless.”

“I won’t,” he muttered. “I promise I will fix it. And then we can work this out and start planning our future.”

Taking a deep breath in, I slowly let it out of my lungs. I didn’t want to hurt him but working it out wasn’t an option. We have been working things out for so long and it never went anywhere.

“No, Callen,” I said with finality. “Our relationship will only go as far as ensuring our son is happy and has both of us in his life. We haven’t been working out for a while now. It is over.”

“I can’t talk to you about that right now,” he sounded slightly agitated and annoyed. His words hurt. “I have to go.”

Without another word, he hung up the phone, and I remained sitting, staring into the dark of the night, wondering where Daniel was.

Chapter Fourteen

Daniel

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