Page 96 of Pitcher Us
A solid ten seconds go by, and Adam doesn’t say anything. He doesn’t move to hit me—he just stares.
“Look, Callie’s?—”
“I know,” Adam cuts me off.
A little taken aback, I huff. “You didn’t let me finish.”
Adam chuckles lightly. “True, but you were essentially about to tell me that Callie's more than a secret hook-up to you, which I already knew. You planned her birthday party. You made her tea…Will, I don’t even go to that place and I knew they were closed on Christmas.”
Yeah, that one was a stretch.
“Wait, so you knew this whole time?”
“Oh yeah, the whole time.” Adam laughs. “Did you seriously think I wanted to run five fucking miles hungover? I stopped by your place earlier searching for some Advil but you weren’t there. I shrugged it off at first but when I came back with, ya know, shoes, I was going to go out to the store but caught you in the hall. I put two and two together and couldn’t pass up the opportunity.”
“You fucking—you egged it on!” I know he should be the one hitting me, but I really want to hit him instead.
“Oh yeah, that was fucking priceless. Your face—I thought you were going to have a heart attack.”
“And you don’t care?”
Adam shrugs. “Do I love the idea? No. But your saving grace was that it was obvious you cared about her. If I thought you were just fooling around, I might have hit you, but you bought a motorcycle in Florida to take her on a date.”
Fuck, is Adam all-knowing or something? “How did you know about that?”
Adam gives me a pointed look. “You bought one bike in Seattle. You lived there for five years. I thought it was odd when you said you bought one on a whim, but it didn’t exactly clickuntil I remembered the text Callie sent back after I asked her to go to lunch. It was an extremely over-explained message about all the girlie shit she was going to do that day.”
I laugh at that. “Yeah, her ‘annoy them with talking’ tactic isn’t subtle once you get to know her.”
“No, it’s really not. I kept waiting for one of you to tell me, but I figured there was a reason you hadn’t, so I thought I’d just wait it out.”
Sighing, I sit back down on the bench. “Yeah, this wasn’t exactly the way we had in mind.”
“I’d say not.” Adam takes the spot next to me. “For what it’s worth, I’m happy you two are happy, but I have to ask—what happens now?”
Isn’t that the fucking question of the hour. Olsson was pissed, that part’s obvious, but he didn’t outright fire Callie either. “The main thing we have to wait on is Olsson. Our plan was to show how our relationship wouldn’t impact work…but today kind of fucked that plan over.”
Adam laughs. “Do you think you broke Nic’s nose or jaw?”
“Oh, I got both for sure.” It took all of my will to let Nic take that first punch. I let him be the first aggressor, but after his hit landed, every hit of mine carried the thought of what he did to Callie.
I shake my head. “I love your sister. So, yeah, this might not have been the way we thought it would go, but she’s all I really care about.”
“I know.” Adam claps my shoulder. “But I’m not the person you need to say that to.”
Oh, I have every intention of telling Callie how I feel about her. I kicked my sisters out of Callie’s place this morning because I actually needed them to help me with what Lucie calls my “grand gesture.”
“Hey.” I shoot off the bench. “Can you bring Callie home?”
“Yeah, I can.” Adam gives me a puzzled look. “But I think it would be better for you to.”
“I know, but just trust me. I have a plan.”
Chapter 41
Callie
My ride home with Adam has been silent. I can’t say I hate it. I’m not exactly in the mood to talk, but the fact that I left Will alone with Adam and came back only to find my brother waiting…
