Page 12 of Outlawed Treat
Rory is usually a really good baby.She rarely cries and loves one of us holding her.Right now, she knows her mom isn’t good or something because she’s been extremely fussy and has been crying more often than anything else.Cali believes she also might be teething and that’s making her cry as much as she is.Kreed and I try everything to soothe her so Cali can rest.It’s not like she can truly take care of her because she only has one hand.The hand she had surgery on is in a hard cast now and she’s been in a lot of pain.She tries to hide it, but Cali has the lowest pain tolerance I’ve ever seen and has had no choice but to take her pain medicine.It allows her to get the sleep she doesn’t get otherwise.She’s really struggling and I know why.Kreed knows why.With the anniversary fast approaching, we’re all on edge and having a hard time getting through each day.
“I don’t know what I’m doin’.The same thing I’ve been doin’ I guess.Sittin’ here with the kids and you while Cali continues to ignore me,” I answer him as we hear the first sob from Cali’s room.She needs her next dose of pain medicine and is trying so hard not to take it.
Standing from the couch, I start to walk toward Cali’s room until Kreed stops me.
“Don’t.She doesn’t want to see you, Caleb.Cali’s havin’ a hard time right now and doesn’t need you addin’ to it.Take Rory and Bryce out for lunch and I’ll take care of Cali.You can check out the haunted house while you’re out, too.You’re the only one who hasn’t been there yet.For now, give Cali the space she needs.You really hurt her and I don’t know how long it will take her to get over this latest shit from you.Caleb, you really need to think about what you’re puttin’ her through and fix this shit.She needs you and feels like she’s already lost you.That you’re slippin’ further away from her every single time you don’t come visit or just take care of somethin’ outside and then leave without sayin’ a word to her.This shit is on you, Caleb, and you can’t fix things with how you’re actin’ now,” Kreed states, his voice harder than normal as I look at my best friend and see the resolve in him about this.
I know he’s right.This entire situation with Cali is my fault.I’m the one who can’t get past my feelings for her and refuse to cross that line.I’ve been drinking myself into oblivion every damn day and fucking my way through the Feral girls just to stay away from her.When I do come over to mow the yard or fix something Kreed and I noticed was broken, I literally leave the second I’m done working and head back to the clubhouse to drown the need to be with Cali.Needing her fills my veins and makes me want to forget all about her past relationship with Darren.Cali is the only girl who has ever made me feel the way I do when I even think about her.It’s been this way for as long as I can remember and I haven’t been able to find a way to stop loving her or finding the smallest gestures from her to make me fall deeper in love with her on a daily basis.
“That sounds like a good idea.I’ll get Rory ready and take off.Let Cali know what I’m doin’ so she doesn’t worry.I mean, does she even want me to be alone with the kids now?”I ask Kreed seriously wondering if she wants me around them since she’s so pissed off at me.
“Cali wants you with Bryce and Rory.She sees how much you love them and how much Bryce looks up to you.You’re his favorite if we’re bein’ honest and I understand why.You’ve been there for him since the day he was born and have helped him when Darren was still alive and ignorin’ him,” Kreed informs me with a small smile on his face as I take Rory from his arms and let him head to Cali’s room so he can take care of her.
I get the kids ready to head out.I’ve been bringing my truck over every day in case we have to go somewhere.Kreed usually rides with me unless he has other shit to do.Then, he’ll drive his SUV over here.We’re both always prepared to take care of the kids and Cali.If an emergency happens, we’ll have a vehicle to take them somewhere in.I don’t even miss riding my bike right now because I know this is what I need to do for the ones I love.If I truly want to ride my bike, I can leave during the day while Kreed and Tiffany are here to go for a ride.Instead, I choose to stay here with my family.The ones I’ve chosen as mine because they’ll always be the most important people in my world.
Bryce and I have eatenand I managed to get Rory to eat some baby food while we were at the diner.I had fun with the kids listening to Bryce go on and on about football.He’s been watching games with Kreed and I for as long as I can remember.Darren was never big on letting Bryce watch TV with him as he got older.I saw him lose his patience one time because of his son’s questions.Kreed and I encourage him to ask us as many questions as he wants and we answer each and every single one of them.We’ll always encourage Cali’s kids to do whatever they want in their life the same way our parents did with us.My parents are there on a regular basis for Bryce and Rory as well.Every single time they come to visit me, they spend half the time with Cali and the kids.Laura does too.Even if she doesn’t make the trip as often because of her health.Kreed and I tend to go to her at least twice a month.
“Where we going?”Bryce asks when I get him back in his seat in my truck.
“We’re gonna head over to see the haunted house.Some of the guys are there.You wanna go there with me?”I ask him in return as I stand from buckling him in and get ready to close the door.
“Yeah,” he practically shouts, his little voice full of excitement as his face lights up and I savor this moment because I know he’s about to see something his dad would’ve loved.
It’s our junior year of high school and Halloween has come again.Darren wants to go all out again this year and it’s no surprise because he does every single year.Halloween is his favorite time of the year and he always does everything possible he can to outdo whatever he did the previous year.This year, he’s truly excited because his parents are letting him have a haunted house built in the front yard.Well, his mom is.His father is once again deployed on a mission and won’t be home.
“What are we dressin’ up as this year?”Kreed asks because Darren is usually in charge of this stuff.
Once a year we let him essentially have full control over what we do and how we dress.Darren gets so excited he can’t help but go all out and usually he shops for everything and we don’t find out what we’re dressing up as until the last possible second.Only one time did he not truly think about our costumes before buying them.Caliana can’t stand anything too scary.Darren bought us all the scariest costumes he could find in the huge Halloween store.To say she had nightmares for a few weeks after Halloween would be an understatement.Kreed and I took turns sleeping next to her bed because she wanted nothing to do with Darren.He was upset and hasn’t done the same thing since then.
“I thought we’d go as football players and Cali can be our cheerleader.It’s not like she doesn’t attend every single one of our home games and is the loudest cheerleader we have.It’s not scary and we already have everythin’ but the cheerleaders uniform.I’m workin’ on gettin’ one from the cheer coach right now.She’s just lookin’ for one in Cali’s size since she’s so damn small.You all good with that?”Darren asks us as we all turn to face Cali where she stands between the three of us.
I watch as her face turns redder than a fire truck and she tilts her head down toward the ground.The color slowly creeps up her neck to her face and doesn’t even stop until her ears are red.Her eyelids have lowered so she’s squinting and Cali’s nose is scrunched up.This is exactly what happens when she is nervous and shy about something.The last thing Cali is gonna want to wear is a skimpy as hell cheerleader's uniform.She hates showing a ton of skin and our cheerleading uniforms are truly skimpy and show more than they cover.If Darren truly knew her, he wouldn’t have thought of us dressing this way.Though I suppose it’s better than the scary shit.
“Are you okay with wearin’ that?”I ask Cali as Darren steps up to her and wraps an arm around her shoulders.
“Sure,” she whispers and I know it’s the last thing she wants to do as she wrings her hands together and starts to visibly shake in Darren’s arms.
“That’s not what she wants, Darren,” Kreed speaks up since things are so weird between Darren and me.
Cali and him just started going out and it’s broken something in me.I was waiting to give her the time she needed to be ready for a relationship with me.Instead, he swooped in and took her from me without hesitation.I thought Darren was a friend, one of my best friends, but now I question every aspect of our friendship.A true friend wouldn’t go behind my back and ask Caliana to be his girl knowing how much I like her.Honestly, I think him being with her has more to do with his fierce need to compete in every aspect of his life.
“Cali, if you don’t want to be a cheerleader, you don’t have to.We can choose somethin’ else,” Darren says, his voice showing he really doesn’t want to change anything about our costumes as he finally picks up on the clues his girlfriend is giving him without words.His excitement dims to almost nothing and his expression sours like I’ve never seen before.“I think you’d look hot as fuck in a uniform though.”
Darren doesn’t let anything take away his excitement about Halloween.This simple conversation has managed to do that though.He looks at Cali and nothing else as she tries to figure out some way to get him back on track and not thinking about the situation she finds herself in.I don’t have to hear her words to know exactly what Cali’s thinking or feeling.Every emotion is written all over her face and I’ve learned to read her like her favorite book.Cali can’t hide a damn thing from me and Kreed.Darren is the only one who hasn’t learned to pick up on even the subtlest of cues from the girl he claims to be falling for.It makes no damn sense.
“It’s fine.I’m not gonna change everything this close to Halloween.I’ll figure something out so I’m not showing everything the rest of the girls do.How about you show us the haunted house,” Cali says, changing the topic because she’s uncomfortable and doesn’t want to make a big deal out of things.
Darren becomes excited all over again.He leads us to the haunted house he’s spent weeks preparing.While the three of us head inside so Darren can point out even the smallest of details he’s thought of, Cali waits outside.She won’t step foot inside even during the daylight when there’s nothing scary and no one to jump out at her.On Halloween night, the haunted house will be full of kids from school who dress up in the various scenes throughout the place.They love to come to Darren’s place because they know it will be better than any party they could attend that night.They love dressing up and scaring the hell out of everyone who dares to enter anything Darren cooks up.The only rule they have is they can’t scare any little kids.That’s a hard rule and no one ever breaks it because they won’t be invited back again.
As we walk through the house, I take in the various details Darren has been thinking about since the previous Halloween.He literally will wake up the day after his favorite holiday and begin planning what he wants to do the next year.Darren draws out plans, writes down every single detail he wants to incorporate, and asks us a million and one questions to make the next event better than the last.He also never does the same thing twice in a row.This year is a haunted house so next year will be something different.I’m not sure what, but he’ll make it epic.
Shaking my head, I clear the thoughts of the best haunted house I ever walked through.Darren didn’t skimp on anything.Especially the fake blood everyone used to cover themselves and various props they used for their character.It’s a good thing Cali chose not to walk through that year’s haunted house because she probably wouldn’t have slept for a year.Kreed and I would have been sleeping on her floor and waking up every hour from the nightmares she was having.Cali tends to have them without anything scary filling her mind.
Closing the door, I make my way to the driver’s side and climb in the truck.It doesn’t take me long to navigate our way from the diner to the haunted house.I can see Manic, Master, Chaos, and Bean are here working on things.I’m glad Master is here because I haven’t had the chance to talk to him since he started pulling up the footage from the hospital security system.We have church tomorrow since it’s been a few weeks.Our priority has been Cali and the kids and everything else can wait.If there’s a problem with any of the businesses or anything, Count can come talk to me and he knows this.
When I pull up to the haunted house, Manic rushes over with Master.They ignore me and get the kids out of their seats with Manic taking Rory in his arms.She snuggles against his chest as Bryce holds Master’s hand and they walk toward the haunted house.This is in the middle of town where several booths and other things will be set up for Halloween.It’s more of a large town party instead of the kids going trick or treating door to door.Half the town will be here handing out candy, candied apples, cider, donuts, and everything else you can think of.
“Unca Caleb, can I go in?”Bryce asks me without letting go of Master’s hand.
