Page 56 of Catalyst

So, I forced myself to breathe as I leaned back, resting my arm under my head as I stared at my ceiling instead of the goddess beside me.

“You seem weirdly full of energy, seeing as it’s like three AM.” My voice came out far rougher than I intended.

I felt Callie shrug against me. “I think it’s just the sugar.”

“… You open the letter Shin sent you?”

Callie stiffened.

“Wow… I am suddenlyverysleepy.” A fake yawn muffled her words.

She shifted around to get comfortable, and I should have just let her go to sleep, be quiet, or do literally anything that wouldn’t cause my thoughts to race. But, I knew how desperately Shin wanted to share his memories of Sulien.

“You wanna go to my mom’s with me tomorrow? I’m sure Shin would love to talk to you about Sul.”

“Kane… I don’t know,” Callie said slowly. “The last time I was there, things kind of wentbad.”

Yeah, that was an understatement. But I knew how much this meant to Shin. And, I also knew Shin had a lot of fatherly love to give and no place to put it, and Callie was currently fatherless. To me, it seemed like a match made in heaven.

“He’s not as bad as people make him out to be,” I assured her.

“He’sVexxas,” she said with a curl of her lip. “He kills people and reduces buildings to ash for fun.”

I clicked my tongue in disapproval as I shook my head.

“He’s Shin Seo, Sawyer’s grandpa. That makes himyourfamily.”

“Family? Kane, my family didn’t incinerate a hospital just to make a point!”

“No, they abandoned their pregnant teenager because she pissed them off. Shin isn’t a saint, but he’dneverdo that.”

Callie’s breath hitched, but no words came after. I chewed on my lower lip, silently cursing myself for being so fucking blunt. Obviously–reminding her that her parents were shitty wasn’t the right move. But I couldn’t take back what I’d said.

“Look–you don’t have to like Shin. You don’t even have to trust him. He’s killed people. He’s caused destruction.” Somehow, that still felt like I was understating the disasters Shin had caused. “But, he wouldneverdo anything to hurt his family. That means you and Sawyer.”

Callie let out the softest, most pathetic whimper I’d ever heard. And, part of me wondered if it was meant for me. But, after a minute of almost painful silence, Callie cleared her throat. Her breathing was shaky, and I could tell she was doing her best to hide it.

“Can you at least think about it?” I asked.

Yet more silence. Part of me wanted to tell her to forget it; I’d just visit my mom on my own and tell Shin that Callie was sick. It wasn’t a lie, but I knew that it’d only make him worry more.

Finally, Callie broke the silence with a barely perceivable “Fine.”

Chapter 18

Callie

“Would you still think I was pretty even if I was like three hundred pounds?” I asked as I slumped against the cool glass of the passenger side window.

Kane’s hand slipped under my dress as he squeezed my knee. “You’re notlike three hundred pounds.”

“No…. but I feel like it.”

For the first few months of my pregnancy, my mom kept sayingjust wait. One day it’ll feel like you grew over nightlike it was some sort of magic spell, or maybe even a curse. And, I thought that was some sort of cautionary tale to prevent me from snacking too much.

Like,oh, don’t eat spinach artichoke dip every day. It’ll make you fat.Butno, she meant it. When I woke up tangled in Kane’s arms, it felt like someone had taped a lead weight to my belly, which made itimpossibleto get up by the way.

So impossible that I accidentally woke Kane when trying to go to the bathroom this morning. Luckily, he was nice enough to help me up. But that did very little to soothe the embarrassment caused by the situation. And now, as I sat in the passenger seat ofmyVolvo, my back stuck to the blonde leather with an ungodly amount of sweat… I couldn’t help but wonder how Kane felt about me.

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