Page 40 of The Consequence of You
“You really believe that don’t you?”
“Yes. Don’t you?”
“No. Our actions matter, and I don’t want to be responsible for anything I can’t take back. Not again.” She rubs at her wrist absentmindedly. The edge of her tattoo is just visible, and it’s on the tip of my tongue to ask her about it, but before I can, her phone rings.
The shrill sound has her shoulders tensing. She pulls it out of her pocket and stares at the caller ID before clicking answer. She lifts the phone to her ear. “Rossi.” She pauses. “Yes. I’m on my way back.”
I can’t make out what he’s saying, but his voice is loud enough to have her pulling the phone away from her ear slightly. “I’m fine. Può essere un po' una testa di cazzo, ma lo conosco dai tempi della scuola.” She speaks softly and quickly, switching to Italian halfway through, but even with my rusty knowledge of the language, I manage tofollow her words as she tries to reassure her bodyguard, she’s okay getting home.
“Va bene. Tornerò presto a casa.” She hangs up the phone.
“Should you be describing the person who rescued you from your ex-boyfriend and is now driving you home as ‘a dickhead’? Have you no manners?”
Callie blushes, clearly not expecting me to understand her words.
“You speak Italian?”
“I know a few words. I vacationed in Rome and Naples a few times and picked up a working knowledge.”
She raises an eyebrow.
“Follows that with limited vocabulary, the term dickhead made it in there. Learned that from an ex-lover by any chance?”
I laugh. She’s so far from the truth, it’s funny, but I don’t correct her. Growing up, our nannies and household staff were from all over the world. As a result, I got used to hearing a variety of languages at home. While my siblings were off in the music room or horse riding, I would spend hours with the staff, having them teach me swear words and rude jokes that I could tell with my parents having absolutely no idea what I found so funny. It was an endless source of amusement growing up, but it also means I have more than functional Italian, Portuguese and Spanish.
Still, if Callie wants to believe I know the phrasetesta di cazzobecause a spurned lover called me that, then I have no interest in correcting her.
“I should leave you here right now and you can make your own way home.” I tease, but she’s quick to apologise.
“You’re right. I was being rude. Thank you for the lift.And for the distraction. I appreciate it.” A large part of me isn’t ready for the evening to end but I need to get her home.
“Better get going before your bodyguard sends out a search party.”
We get into my other car and head back to her place.
As I drive, I see her get the silver bracelet Nico returned earlier out of her pocket. She turns it over in her hand before fastening it around her wrist. Her expression is downcast, beaten even. The race lifted her spirits, but it’s clear the earlier part of the evening is now weighing on her mind again.
“Would you like to talk about what happened earlier, at the art gallery?”
Callie looks at me doubtfully.
“With you?”
“Well, I wasn’t suggesting you talk to yourself. Yes, with me.” Her forehead screws up, a cynical look in her eyes. A few minutes later, I pull into her driveway and turn off the engine. She makes no move to get out of the car. When she speaks again, her voice is shaky.
“He was my first boyfriend.” I wait silently for her to continue. “It didn’t end well.”
“Did he hurt you?”
It’s not the vibe I got when I saw them earlier, but I ask the question anyway, because something in the past left this woman badly affected. If he laid one finger on her, the fucker is a dead man walking.
“No. God, no. Nothing like that. He was always respectful. He was perfect.”
Hearing Callie describe this guy as perfect makes my blood boil, and the thought she might still see him that way makes me irrationally angry.
“So, he dumped you, is that it?” I snap. Callie shoots me a confused look at my terse tone.
“No. It’s… complicated. We always knew there would be an end point. It just came quicker than we imagined, and I didn’t act in the fairest way, as far as Nico was concerned. That’s why I asked him to meet me tonight.”
