Page 101 of Kings of Westbrook High

I freeze at that, forcing my body to relax because fuck, he’s right.

Death would be too easy for her.

I inhale a breath and look down, watching her while she stares up at me with a mix of confusion and undeniable fear in her eyes. I squeeze Damon’s hand to assure him I’m good and he slowly loosens his grip on me, watching me closely while I take a step closer to her. I look down and cock my head, running my finger over the engraving on my locket, then I rip the bastard thing off and toss it on her chest. She frowns at that, looking from me to it and back again.

“What are you..?”

I ignore her, backing away before I say something I shouldn’t. She moves her eyes over the triangle of brothers surrounding me and swallows, looking even more terrified when it hits her. I smirk, taunting her with my eyes because yeah, bitch, three just became four, and now you’re fucked.

That expression, you can't choose your family..

It's a lie.

You can.

These boys are my family, and it has nothing to do with her marriage to their father. They're my family because I fucking choose them. These boys crept their way inside my broken heart without warning or permission and call me stupid, I kinda like it. I trust them with my life, I’d kill and die for them without a second thought, I love them more than I love myself.

They’re my home.

Damon takes my hand in his and we leave her sorry ass on the floor to go back upstairs, all three staying close behind me like they’re afraid I’ll make another run for it the first chance I get. I won’t, but I don’t blame them for thinking I might after the way I lost my mind just now.

I feel their waiting eyes on me and move to grab a bottle of whiskey from Damon’s drawer, knowing I’m gonna need a drink or three for this conversation. I crack it open and swallow a shot, dropping down on the bed while the twins sit either side of me. Damon takes the space behind me and I lean back on his chest, interlocking my fingers with his while he wraps his arms around me and holds me close.

“Remember the time you asked me if anyone ever cared about me?” I ask, staring out through the floor to ceiling windows to watch the sunrise.

He locks his jaw, taking the bottle to neck a shot. “Yeah.”

“There was this woman..” I start, rolling my lips when I figure I might as well start at the beginning. “I ran away from Jason once for a few days when I was thirteen. He found out I was pregnant when I started to show and beat my ass for not telling him sooner. He wanted to kill her, and I was ready to protect her with my life, so I took off, hid in the city for a while because anywhere was safer than being in that apartment with him.”

Damon’s arms tighten around me and I close my eyes a moment, doing my best to hold it together when I feel his body vibrating against mine.

“Some stuff happened and I ended up in a gas station bathroom, crying like an idiot because I was feeling sorry for myself. Then this woman showed up outta nowhere, instantly realized what was wrong with me and told me to go with her. I told her to beat it and leave me alone, but she was stubborn as shit for five foot nothing. Told me to move my little chicken ass or she’d kick it.”

Kai laughs lightly at that, grinning despite the unshed tears in his eyes.

“Fuck me, you look just like her.” I rasp, moving my eyes over her boys. “You all do.”

Looking at them now, I see her in them. Not just her eyes, but her.Kai’s humor and that big ass heart he pretends he doesn’t have, Wren’s sweetness and the way he cares about others, Damon’s temper and the need to protect his own..

They get all that from her.

“So anyway..” I clear my throat, taking the whiskey from Wren when he necks it like it’s water. “She wouldn’t take no for an answer so I agreed to go with her, spent a couple nights with her in this shitty motel she was staying in. I didn’t know who she was or why she was helping me, but she said she was gonna bring me home with her, help me raise my kid and send Jason to jail for the rest of his life for what he’d done. She took care of me, told me she’d love me me like I was one of her own, said I’d always have a home with her and her family.” I blink, wiping a stray tear from my cheek. “Then she went outside to take a phone call and never came back.”

Damon smacks the headboard at that, dropping his forehead on my shoulder. “You’d have been here with us the whole fucking time if it wasn’t for her.” He rasps, struggling to pull air into his lungs. “All three of you..”

I roll my lips, nodding because yeah, I think we would have.

“What happened after that?” Wren asks, holding back tears.

I shrug helplessly, looking back to the windows. “I thought she changed her mind and left me there but something about that didn’t feel right to me so I went out to look for her. I didn’t get far before one of Jason’s buddies spotted me in the street, locked me in the back seat of his car and took me back to the apartment. Then Jason tied me down in the basement and did what he needed to do to protect himself. He..” I swallow, squeezing my eyes shut when the memory threatens to climb up my throat and choke me. “My daughter was born sixteen weeks premature later that night. She was dead and buried in an unmarked grave in the middle of the desert by morning.”

They rush me.

All three of them wrap their arms around me and hold me close for I don’t know how long, keeping me trapped between them like they’re attempting to shield me from the outside world and everyone in it.

All I can do is let them.

“I’m so sorry, Callie.” Wren whispers, taking my hand to rub his thumb around my bleeding knuckles.

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