Читать книгу Aon Ór Crossroads - C.J. Benvol - Страница 9

Rough Beginnings

Cally wasn’t sure how long she sat there or how much time had passed or even where the words came from. It felt like she was sitting in the backseat, letting someone else control her body as the world seemed to play out before her like a movie, because the words that came out were not the ones that she had ever seen herself saying, or even the ones that she knew she should say. No, these words were the ones that would change everything; they were the words that were going to lead her on a road that she never saw as a possibility.

“Only if you show me why I should marry you.”

She watched as her arms wrapped around him, and for the first time, she kissed him. Cally could feel the fire running through her with the desire that he always seemed to envelope her in that washed over her in a fast and furious wave. She didn’t think she had much of a choice, and at this point, the only thing she wanted was Dakota there to protect her and make all of the confusion go away. She wasn’t one to give up easily, but what was she going to do? There was a hot, sexy, hypnotizing guy that wanted her as much as she wanted him. Yeah, this wasn’t that damn hard to figure out, and yet, it was the most terrifying thing she could imagine.

Cally took a step back and tried focusing on something else, anything else. Yeah, wouldn’t you know the first clear thing she saw was his freakin’ car and the memories of all the time they had spent in that car, talking and riding around aimlessly? It seemed that she wasn’t going to win this, no matter what she did or where she tried to focus her mind.

He pulled her in closer until their bodies touched in so many places that her mind started to spin out of control again. She had never been this close to a guy before, and something about it was mesmerizing and shocking. It seemed that she was going to lose this fight, no matter what she did, so instead of fighting it like she knew she should, she just closed her eyes and enjoyed it while there was still time to enjoy it. Because when this was over, she was going to have to tell him the truth about everything and face the pain and fight that was going to soon be her entire life.

* * * * *

Cally was staring at the ceiling when she heard the front door shut and the phone ring at the same time. The world was spinning out of control, and her life was going to Hades as fast as it was moving forward. She heard the knock on her door and felt the blanket being pulled over her just as the door opened. Slamming her eyes shut and prepared for the worst to start, she held her breath, dreading the yelling and berating that was sure to follow.

But the voice she heard didn’t ease her pounding heart. “Hey, uh, phone.” Her older sister, Savannah, rushed then shut the door just as fast.

Cally looked over and couldn’t believe Dakota was fully dressed. She couldn’t believe he had gotten fully dressed in the time it took her to walk in the house, answer the phone, and come in here. How the world had he moved so damn fast and without her knowing it?

She grabbed the phone from the end of the bed. “Hello?”

Cally knew she had cringed when she heard Seth’s voice. “Did you tell him?”

Not knowing how she was going to explain her way out of this, she popped off, “Nope.”

Seth sounded suspicious. “Is he there yet?”

“Yep.” Her answers just seemed to get simpler and harder all at the same time.

Seth seemed to understand something, but most likely not what she was thinking. “Call me back when he leaves.”

“Okay,” was all she could get out as she hung up the phone and dropped it on the bed.

Cally closed her eyes as she reached over her head behind her and grabbed her black slinky dress. There was no way she was sitting up without having something on. She didn’t care what just happened. She needed the safety and comfort of being fully dressed before she could even think about getting out of bed, pulling it on as she sat up, unsure of what to say or think or do.

Dakota looked at her, a little puzzled. “Who was that?”

What in the world was she supposed to say? Oh, that was my ex-boyfriend that I had told that I was breaking up with you so that we could get back together. And he was checking to see if I had done it yet so we can go out later. Yeah, that was so not happening, especially after what had just happened between them.

Taking the coward’s way out, she stretched the truth a little. “I wasn’t expecting you back till tomorrow, so I had made plans to go out.”

He smiled, and there was more to it, but there was no way she was going to admit it to him. “I want to take you home, and we can tell my parents.”

Cally fell back on the bed, wanting nothing more than to die. How had this gone from her breaking up with him to “we’re getting married?” Some cruel fate was coming down on her right now, and she had no idea what it was. It was a good thing that she knew how to adapt to the situation fast, because she had to figure out how to get herself out of this mess that she had just stepped into. The only thing was that she wasn’t the giddy bride-to-be that she should be right now, and she sure as heck wasn’t ready to go around announcing this to everyone; but clearly, he was.

Cally shook her head, trying to find some excuse or even a small piece of reality, and muttered, “They’re at work?”

He just laughed. “Come on, we have to tell my sister.”

Reaching down and grabbing her black strapped sandals, she shook her head. “I’m at least going to fix my hair first.”

“You look beautiful,” he insisted.

“I’m not leaving looking like this,” she protested as she stood up.

She just prayed she didn’t have to see Savannah before she could escape and figure this out. What in the world was she going to tell people? How were they going to tell Savannah, let alone her mom? Standing in front of the mirror, she fixed what she could of her hair and makeup. Cally wrestled with the newest problems the universe seemed to think was funny to throw at her.

She was slipping her shoes on before she opened the door, trying to gather her shaking nerves. She started down the hall and just wanted to die when she heard them talking. Savannah was saying, “You didn’t! What did she say?”

Cally stopped in the doorway, and Dakota smiled at her. But her eyes went to Savannah whose look told a whole different story. She knew that Cally was talking to Seth and she knew Cally was thinking about breaking up with Dakota. Savannah had warned her that if she broke his heart, she was going to kill her, and Cally was pretty sure she would literally kill her. Dakota was one of her sister’s friends, and her sister was very protective of her friends. Yeah, she was so dead, but on the upside, at least, she wouldn’t have to deal with trying to fix this mess she had sunk herself into.

“Let me see.” Her sister’s words barely registered with her. Absently, she held out her hand as Savannah grabbed it very hard and pulled Cally in closer. She knew her sister didn’t want to see the ring; this was her way of sending a warning of what was coming if Cally broke his heart with all the crap she was entangled with.

Her sister looked back to Dakota and asked, “What are you two doing tonight?”

Cally’s hand was hurting as she seemed to lose the ability to speak, so she was thankful when Dakota answered for both of them “We’re going to my parent’s house now. I want to tell them the good news.”

Savannah had a look that just showed trouble coming at her like a tank ready to run her over. “We’re all going up to the boardwalk tonight.” Her sister glared at her with an almost commanding tone. “You should come out with us.”

“Maybe later, after we tell my parents how it went,” Dakota answered, and she knew there was going to be more to this.

“Your parents know?” was the most she could manage to get out.

Dakota looked at her like she should know something. “I had to tell them when I asked for my grandmother’s wedding ring.”

Okay, well, clearly she had missed something or a lot of some things. She didn’t remember half of what he had said outside, let alone how or why she had agreed to any of this, and here she was, leaning against her bedroom wall, trying to figure out what was going on. Maybe by the end of the night, she would get to hear the whole story; because right now, she seemed to be the only one that didn’t have a clue what was going on.

Apparently, Cally had spaced out again before she knew what was happening, she was being pulled from her bedroom toward the front door. This day was nothing like what she had imagined when she had woken up this morning. What had happened to the day where she ended up spending the night crying for breaking his heart? What happened to knowing what was going to happen? Yeah, in less than ten seconds, everything that had ever made sense was now out the window and running down the street without her.

A broken heart and extreme pain was all gone, and in its place was some strange new hope and love that she still couldn’t figure out where it had come from. No, nothing made sense anymore; everything was absolutely and completely shot out the freaking window with her nice, normal, easygoing life.

They walked out the door, and he even opened the car door for her like she was some important fancy movie star or something. Cally almost had to wonder if it was because he didn’t want her to run, because she was still considering it. There were no explications for this; there was nothing but pure fear overwhelming her, and something unexplainable that was controlling her every action. She was engaged! She couldn’t believe she was engaged to marry an angel! What was she thinking?

When Dakota started the car, he took her hand in his as he drove. Cally didn’t know what it was, but she didn’t know what to say, or do, or think; it was like all her words had suddenly disappeared. She was fifteen, in high school, and getting married. This kind of thing just didn’t happen in this day and age. Seriously, it took, like, courts and parents and a whole mess of stuff she didn’t know of to do something like this. The thing was she wasn’t pregnant, so that didn’t explain any of this, and up until a half an hour ago, she was still carrying her V-card.

Cally was definitely losing her mind, but that didn’t explain why he would ask her to marry him. He was twenty-one and she was only fifteen; he was in the Air Force, and she was barely going into the tenth grade. None of this made any sense.

“Are you all right?” he asked.

Cally could only nod, because she wasn’t sure she could even speak anymore.

“You haven’t said much,” he prodded.

What was she supposed to say? She could barely form a straight thought that didn’t sound mean, cruel, or completely insane. Her sister was going to kill her, she was on her way to talk with his family whom she was terrified of, and she didn’t have a clue how she was going to deal with the fact she was truly and seriously engaged to be married. And now he wanted to think that she should be saying something? Yeah, right!

Cally looked over at him, and it was clear he was waiting for her to say something, anything. So she found enough nerve and managed something she hoped wouldn’t send Savannah into a fit. “What do you want me to say?”

“Anyone else would be happy and laughing and making plans. You’ve barely said anything.” He sounded a little worried.

Cally shook her head. “I need to process.”

Okay, now that made sense, and it was the truth…sort of. She hadn’t processed any of this and she was shaking. Maybe it was all just a dream, and she would wake up and things would be back to normal. Or it wasn’t a dream and her mom was going to kill her.

Her mom was never going to go for this; she wouldn’t let her get married at fifteen. Her mom would stop all this, and she didn’t have to do anything; they didn’t really like the fact she was dating guys that much older anyway. She couldn’t help the little snicker and the grin that came over her at that thought. Her mother was never going to go for this, and if she did, she could tell her dad, and he would stop it. Yes, her dad would kill them all if he found out.

“I see you’re starting to process. Everything’s going to be fine. We’ll get married, and you can stay with my parents until we get base housing in six months or so.”

He sounded so sure of what was going to happen, but Cally knew her mom wouldn’t go for it. Yes, her mom would put a stop to all of this, and she would save her because when it all came down to it, she was still just a kid. Cally knew everything was going to right itself so it would all be fine.

They pulled up in the driveway to his parent’s house, and she got out and looked at the house. It was only three, and she had nowhere to go, and given that she was a bit shy really wasn’t helping her nerves. It took her a while to open up to people, and while she knew her mom would get her out of this mess, she was still not good with dealing with new people.

Yes, she had met his family once before, but she didn’t know them well and was a little nervous around them; okay, maybe that was a major understatement. She was terrified and completely froze up when she was near them.

Cally slowly followed Dakota in the house, and they were no more than through the screen door when his sister’s excited voice demanded to know, “What did she say?”

He pulled Cally in front of him as his sister started squealing and jumping around.

Cally didn’t know what to say or do. And she didn’t let go of his hand; for some reason, it seemed like he was her own personal life preserver, and they were in the middle of the ocean with sharks starting to surround them. The first one was standing in front of them, and she knew there were more to come soon because they were scenting fresh blood—her blood.

He barely got the door closed when his sister started with a million questions. “So when are you getting married? Can I be a bridesmaid? What are your colors? Where are you getting married? You’re not going to let him do this at the court house, are you?”

“Can we even get in the door before you start attacking her?” Cally could feel Dakota shaking his head behind her as he laughed.

Hannah backed up a little, and Dakota guided her over to the sofa. No more than they sat down, she started again. “Well? Tell me what happened.”

Okay, now that was something Cally wanted to hear too, because she had missed most of it when her mind decided to take her on a very colorful movie ride of what could be her life if she chose any one of her real options. Cally looked at him, and his smile just hit her heart so hard that she could feel her heart racing all over again, and she was sure everyone else could too. But she kept that to herself and let him tell the whole story, with some exceptions.

For the most part, she remembered what he was saying with some stranger, more fairy tale like details. She remembered him walking up the yard, but he didn’t mention the strange way he glowed or the overpowering warmth and happiness that seemed to radiate around him. She wasn’t sure he repeated everything he said to her in those lost minutes, but whatever the exact details were would come out eventually. And she knew he did some major editing on the whole reason they went in the house, which was greatly appreciated.

“Were you surprised?” Hannah asked, a little unsure of something.

Cally nodded. “He told me he wouldn’t be back until tomorrow.” She wasn’t sure why she had said that, but that’s what came out.

“Yeah, but you didn’t know he was going to ask you?” his sister persisted.

Cally just shook her head. No, she hadn’t realized he was going to ask her to marry him or she would have broken up with him on the phone the other night. She took a deep breath to calm herself. She didn’t want to break his heart in front of his family; she wasn’t even sure she could. They could at least wait until her mom had a fit and called it all off.

“So when are you getting married?” Hannah asked again.

Cally shrugged her shoulders as she mumbled, “I don’t know.”

“You’re not going to let him have his way and get married at the courthouse, are you?” the younger girl asked, a little whinny.

That was the second time she had said that, and Cally still didn’t have a clue as to what she was talking about. He hadn’t said anything to her about it, but apparently, he had said something to his family. It was clear that he had every intention of doing this as soon as possible, but she just didn’t understand any of it. She looked to him, questioning him with her eyes, but it didn’t seem to work, so Cally flat out asked, “What is she talking about?”

He just shot an evil look at Hannah. “We’ll talk about this when everyone gets home,” he tried to reassure her, but she could see through him; he was stalling.

Now who was evading the question? Cally shut out the fact that his sister was in the room and that they were at his house, and she focused on him. “Why does everyone seem to know what’s going on but me?”

He looked at her questioningly. “We talked about this.”

“When?” Cally asked, shocked and disbelieving him. She didn’t remember talking to him about this. Heck, she didn’t even remember what exactly he said when he asked her to actually marry him.

He squeezed her hand, trying to reassure her. “On the phone.”

Cally nodded. Knowing that meant on the phone when she was half asleep one night and she didn’t remember most of what he was saying. “Okay, I missed something.” She just shook her head, trying to figure out what was going on.

Hannah asked, “You really didn’t know he was going to propose?”

Cally shook her head and bit her tongue. She had no clue what he had been thinking, because she wasn’t paying attention to what he was saying, and now she was going to have to deal with her mother’s anger at all of this when they told her what had happened.

“But you still said yes. So you have to love him,” Hannah answered, like that made everything else make sense.

If that is what his sister thought, then great. But she was sure that her mother was going to kill her for even agreeing to this; that was if Savannah didn’t beat her to it.

“What are you thinking?” he asked, looking a little worried.

Cally just shook her head.

“You can tell me anything,” he encouraged.

She couldn’t believe she was saying this. “I was wondering who was going to kill me first—my mom or Savannah.”

He laughed, knowing the joke and underlined truth to that statement. “Savannah. That’s why I’m not sure it’s a good idea to go out with them tonight.” Well, at least he could find something funny in all of this.

If they weren’t going out with Savannah and all his friends, then what was he thinking that they were going to do tonight? And what was going to happen when she got home and he couldn’t stop her sister from killing her?

Cally was just about to ask when Hannah, thankfully, changed the subject. “So when are you going back?”

Dakota’s answer was to be expected. “I switched with a guy, so I have to go back Sunday.”

Hannah smiled. “So you get to spend four days together, aw, how sweet.”

Cally shook her head, knowing that wasn’t going to be the case. “I have to work tomorrow and Saturday.”

“Can’t you take off?” Dakota’s sister insisted, like she had a choice in when she was scheduled to work.

“I’m filling in for someone else tomorrow,” Cally told her, hoping that the girl would understand that jobs didn’t work that way; you couldn’t just take off at the last minute whenever you wanted to.

Dakota was ever the optimist. “You’re working day shift, so we can go out tomorrow night, and I’ll pick you up Saturday after work.”

Okay, so she was going out and most likely getting drunk Friday and Saturday night, and he was going back Sunday, which meant that she was going to be alone with Savannah for the next week with no protection! Yeah, this had all the makings for a murder plot.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

Cally just shook her head, not wanting to admit the massive friction that was starting to overwhelm her.

“We’re going to have to work on this,” he teased, half seriously.

She looked at him, mustering up the courage to throw the obvious back in his face. “I was just counting the number of days I have left on this planet.”

“You’re overreacting,” his sister groaned as she made a face at him.

Cally looked to Dakota who knew as well as she did that she wasn’t overreacting. He just didn’t understand why Savannah was going to kill her. She wasn’t even sure he understood just how bad this crap was.

Cally knew he was trying to reassure her, but it wasn’t helping. “She’ll calm down,” he said.

She couldn’t stop shaking her head as she argued, “She’ll kill me first.”

He looked her dead in the eyes as he insisted, “If she’s still angry when I leave, you can stay here.”

What planet did he think he was on? “No one is going to let that happen.”

His sister seemed to agree with him. “Yeah, they will.”

All right, everyone had officially lost their minds. “I have to work, and it’s only a short walk to work from my house. If I stayed here, how would I get to work?”

Hannah just gave her some knowing smile, just before Dakota thankfully changed the subject. They didn’t seem to want to answer that, and she was still right—she wasn’t going to last the weekend, let alone until he figured things out.

Cally sat there as the two of them talked and she let the dread and fear start filling her again. She wasn’t going to make it through this day, let alone the next three. What had come over her? Why was this happening to her, of all people? And what happened to the sane, rational Cally? The one that knew breaking up with Dakota was the only thing that would keep her alive in the long run?

Her heart nearly stopped again as she heard a car door shut outside. She looked down at her watch and realized it was nearly five thirty; one of his parents had to have just gotten home from work. This just kept getting worse. She groaned inwardly as the dread began building yet again. Why couldn’t they tell her mom first, and then they could avoid having to tell his parents all together, because there was no way in this world that her mom would agree to any of this.

Cally didn’t mean to do it, but she held her breath as she heard the door open behind them. There was no way she was getting out of this now. But everything inside her screamed for her to run as far as she could go and as fast as she could make it before someone tried to stop her and drag her back into this mess. She felt Dakota squeeze her hand, trying to reassure her, but it wasn’t working. Nothing could prepare anyone for this—telling parents that a fifteen year old was getting married was insane! No it was beyond insane; it just couldn’t happen. This was so not happening!

Cally vaguely heard the second car door shut, and the second time the screen door shut, when his mom asked, “So what happened?”

Hannah was more excited than anyone and answered bubbly, “She said ‘yes,’ of course!”

There was no way she could face anyone now that it was out. It hit her at that second that there was no way she could back out of this on her own. But there was also no way that her mother was going to let her get married at fifteen either; so she could just keep holding on to that one sane and rational thought.

She couldn’t move or speak or anything as everyone seemed to keep moving around her and doing what they must normally do. She was engaged to a guy that was perfect in every way, a guy that she was planning to breakup with just a few hours ago. A guy her mother was going to force out of her life as soon as she found out what the two of them had been doing. Yeah, where was any of this normal fifteen-year-old behavior?

Cally sat there, shaking as his parents sat on the love seat across from them. She had met them once before, but only for a few minutes. She didn’t really know them and was terrified of them, not because they were going to hurt her or something, but because she just didn’t know them that well. She couldn’t look at them or say or do anything other than sit next to their precious son. She couldn’t even believe this was happening at all, and yet, here she was, waiting for them to start yelling at her or something. And she couldn’t look at them, because she knew the fear they would see in her eyes, the fear of them seeing the truth that she just wasn’t ready to get married to their beloved son.

Hannah was the one to break the awkward silence. “She was so surprised. She had no clue he was going to propose.”

His mother reprimanded her daughter. “Let them tell us.”

She was more than happy to let Dakota explain what happened much the way he had to his sister. Cally just sat there, staring at the ring on her finger for the first time, truly admiring its simple beauty. She hadn’t really looked at it before now, and she was surprised. It was light gold and delicate and beautiful. It was made of gold and had a diamond surrounded by emeralds. There was a beautiful etched leaf pattern etched into the band that wrapped down and around the finger. It was very beautiful and far more than she deserved after everything she had been about to do to him.

She looked up when she heard them ask, “Are you sure about this?”

He was so confident and sure of everything. It was something she admired about Dakota. “Yes. I want to do this as soon as we can. I want her out of that house.” He squeezed her hand, and she couldn’t believe what he had said.

“And what do you want?” his father asked her, like she had a say in this.

Cally knew he was asking her, but she didn’t know what to say. So she shrugged her shoulders, lost in this conversation much like she had been lost in this mess since before it had even started this afternoon.

She could feel his mom staring at her, but the farthest she could look toward them was the coffee table. She heard his mom ask, “Does she even know what you’re planning?”

Dakota’s answer made her want to scream, but she didn’t as he answered for her. “We’ve talked about this.”

His father asked again, “And what does she want? We know what you want and we understand that, but what does she think about all this?”

Hannah jumped in, giggling. “She has no idea what he’s planning.”

She couldn’t help it as she put her left elbow on the arm of the sofa and landed her face in her hand. Yeah, she wasn’t going to admit that she had no idea what was going on beyond agreeing to marry him, and even that was a little on the sketchy side.

Dakota defended his actions the best he could. “We’ve talked about it.”

But Cally just couldn’t hold it back. “At one in the morning when I was half asleep. I had been up since five that morning and had gone to school and work.” She looked over to him and asked, “Why don’t you explain all of this to me? You know the one person here that should have a clue what you’re doing.” She knew he was surprised by her outburst, but nowhere near as surprised as she was or even half as much as she was lost in all this.

He looked her in the eye with all the seriousness the world had to offer him. “I told you that I want us to get married as soon as we can. It will be about six months before we can get base housing, but once we get it you’ll come up there with me. You can finish school up there and get a transfer to one of the stores near the base. We planned this out together.”

Okay, maybe he wasn’t nuts; he had clearly planned all this out, and it sounded somewhat familiar. She remembered arguing about school and work and him coming up with a way around every argument she threw at him until she had just given up from the exhaustion. He seemed to smile when she couldn’t do anything more than nod.

“You remember we talked about this?” he asked again, seeming to need her to agree with him.

She just nodded and quietly admitted, “Vaguely.”

His sister gave her a weird look, accusing, “You said he didn’t tell you.”

Cally looked at the girl, frustrated from all of this. “That conversation is more like a dream than anything.”

His mom’s voice changed as she asked Cally, “You didn’t agree to any of this?”

Cally shrugged, because she didn’t want to lie and couldn’t tell them she had changed her mind about all of this, so she gave the best answer that she could come up with that wasn’t a complete lie. “I did agree to marry him this afternoon.”

His father asked again, “But is this what you want to do?”

How could she say no at this point? How could she do anything that didn’t break his heart? Cally looked at Dakota, and almost like magic, that strange golden energy surrounded him again as it mesmerized her. He seemed to become pure joy and happiness and something else all at once. And yet, the expression on his face was blank. She didn’t know why she said it or even where the word came from as she heard her own voice answer, “Yes.”

“Have you told your parents?” his mom asked next.

“No.” But when they did, there was going to be a lot of yelling and screaming before they told him that there was no way that their fifteen-year-old daughter wasn’t getting married.

His father asked, “When do you plan to do this?”

“I was hoping to do it tomorrow,” Dakota answered.

She looked at him, knowing that she had told him that she had to work tomorrow but needing him to hear it again. “I have to work.”

“I’m sure you can get out of it when you explain why,” he insisted, but for some reason, it didn’t sound like they were talking about the same thing.

There was no way he was going to get this past her mother, so she didn’t have to worry about taking off work; at least, not yet. Cally’s eyes were trained on him as she said, “You know I’m fifteen and I can’t get married without my parents signing off and then jumping through legal hoops galore?”

That overconfident look on his face left a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. She was so in trouble; there was no way her mother would agree to this. She just knew it deep down inside her. The overly stern and controlling woman wouldn’t agree to this, would she? There was still more to this that she didn’t quite grasp, and his overconfidence was starting to unnerve her already shaking nerves.

Cally was so focused that she hadn’t noticed Hannah had gotten up. But the voice coming from the front door was so familiar that there was no way she could miss it. It was Seth. She heard Hannah announce, “Pizza’s here.”

Dakota tried to assure her, saying, “She likes me, she’ll agree.” Like nothing else was going on in the world around them. How could he not know that Seth was there? How could Seth not know that she was here?

Cally’s face fell back into her hands as she tried to hide. There was nowhere to hide, and there was nothing she was going to be able to do if Seth saw her. She heard the door shut behind them, but she still couldn’t move. She didn’t just have to face her mother with all of this, she also had to face Seth. Seth may get angry, but at this moment, she knew he wouldn’t hurt her too much.

Cally felt Dakota turn her head toward him as he asked, “Are you all right with all of this?”

“Yeah, sure, we’ll go with that,” she answered him, even more lost and afraid than she was before.

His father was the one that said it. “You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to. We would understand.”

Cally nodded, because she knew they would understand, but Savannah would kill her, and the way Dakota was playing this, she was going to end up on her sister’s good side by tomorrow; at least, that was what she hoped. Savannah was only worried about Dakota getting hurt, and if her mom didn’t stop this, he was going to get what he wanted, so there really wasn’t much to say.

Hannah called out that dinner was ready, and she vaguely saw his parents get up. Cally was so screwed up that she had no idea how or what had just happened. She felt him let go of her hand for the first time since they had sat down, and she couldn’t help but look at him.

“Don’t worry. Everything’s going to be fine. My parents love you, and my sister is excited about us getting married. Everything’s fine,” he tried to assure her.

Cally just nodded and stood up with him, knowing that this wasn’t over yet. He wrapped his arm around her waist as they walked into the dining room, and they sat down to eat. She hadn’t eaten all day, but for some reason, she just wasn’t hungry. When Hannah asked what kind of pizza she wanted, Cally only half answered, “I’m not hungry, thank you.”

Almost as one, they all looked at her. Cally felt her heart hit the pit of her stomach, and then the twisting and squeezing started again as her nerves went off. The bad thing was that she was starting to get used to these insanely intense feelings that seemed to overwhelm her.

His father was the one that said it first. “You said she wasn’t pregnant.”

Dakota looked at her with shock, and all she could do was shake her head. “I’m not.” It was the truth for sure, but it didn’t seem to matter. Seriously, today was her very first time, so how could they think something like that.

“Are you sure?” his mother asked.

Her eyes stayed fixed on his. “I’m not, I swear. It’s just”—she didn’t have to words, but somehow she managed to say it—“with everything that’s happened, my stomach’s in knots.”

Slowly, everyone started eating and talking as Cally sank back into her dread-filled thoughts again. She just sat back, and more than anything, she wanted that deep dark hole to hide in. She couldn’t help but cringe as everyone started talking about what was going to happen next for them. Dakota seemed to think that as soon as he could arrange it, they were going to be married, and she was going to move in here with his parents. She had no idea why he was so insistent on it, but he was. What was up with him wanting her to move out of her parent’s house? It was almost like he didn’t like her parents or something.

Hannah was happy to join in and help plan everything that was going on. Cally, on the other hand, couldn’t believe any of this. It seemed like it was all planned out and everyone had worked out all the details months ago and these were just the final details being ironed out. Yeah, they were all officially nuts or she was; it was getting hard to tell anymore. And considering what was happening, she wasn’t all that sure she wasn’t the one losing it.

When dinner was over, Dakota said they were going back to her house to tell her parents the news. Her heart started pounding and sinking deep into her stomach again, and they wondered why she didn’t want to eat. At that point, she just gave up, because no one was going to have time to kill her. Her own heart was going to give long before anyone had the chance to do it, or she was just going to throw up on everyone—she wasn’t sure which.

She had all but given up at that point and was surprised as he leaned down and kissed her before she got in the car. Cally just let the heat and fire take over. She was done trying to deal with her erratic feelings at this point. Besides, this was one of the few things that she didn’t mind him doing today. Especially considering that every time he kissed her, the world seemed to right itself for just a few moments before it flipped upside-down again.

The ride back to her house was quiet, for the most part. She was too preoccupied with everything that was happening to really care about anything else. The sun was starting to set when they pulled up, and the lights in the house were on. She could clearly see her mom walking into the living room through the large picture windows. Okay, now her stomach was truly starting up again, and this time, she was almost positive there was a hurricane brewing in the pit of her stomach.

Cally didn’t want to go in the house, let alone get out of the car. She wasn’t all that surprised when Dakota walked around and opened the door for her. He was truly a gentleman in every way. She just looked at the house that now seemed like a gas chamber waiting to take her last breath away from her. She could only hope that her death wasn’t waiting for her in there.

Dakota wrapped his arm around her waist and almost pulled her in the house, because she was sure that she wouldn’t have gone in there any other way. Cally didn’t want to go in, but she knew there was no way out of this. She cringed as she opened the door, feeling the icy glares from her parents, looking at them, accusing them of something. She looked down at her baby sister sitting on the floor, playing, and then to her mom and knew something just wasn’t right.

Her face in that moment told Cally everything. She knew! And she knew everything that he had done today. Her shock was only hidden by the fact that her only way out was gone. Her mother wasn’t going to help her get out of this mess; no, her mother was going to give him everything he wanted with no questions asked. She was done for; everything was done. There was no way she was going anywhere but where Dakota wanted at this point.

They sat down on the love seat, and from what she was seeing, she had nothing to say to them. This was a setup from the start; he had manipulated everything, everything except for her saying yes. That was the only thing he couldn’t have controlled. And yet, she had agreed, even though she didn’t want to; or she did, but she didn’t want Seth to get mad at her over this. Her life was no longer her own. It was Dakota’s, and he was controlling it in every way.

Her treacherous mother asked, “What did your parents say?”

Dakota smiled. “Their happy for us.”

She didn’t have to ask, but she just couldn’t hold back the accusation “You knew? You knew he was going to do this and you let him?”

Her mother laughed at her. “He asked us last week.”

“And you agreed?” she demanded, anger starting to fill her.

“He’s a good guy and he’s got a good job. I didn’t see why not.” Her mother shrugged it off like it was nothing. But it was her face that gave Cally the answers she needed. She was out of control, hanging with “the wrong crowd,” and they had two other kids to deal with, so one less wasn’t a big deal to them. The truth was there, and it hurt worse than a knife stabbing her through the heart; they didn’t want her anymore and they were getting rid of her.

Cally just shook her head, angry, disappointed, and broken from the truth of what they were doing. She stood up, and Dakota took her hand, and she looked down at him, wanting to run away from all of this. “I’m going to the bathroom. I’ll be back.” Maybe, she added silently.

This house had a strange layout; she had to give it that. She could easily see down the main hall, but halfway down was a second hall that led to the bathroom and the back door. She was very tempted to just walk out the door, but she didn’t, because she really did have to go to the bathroom…first.

Once the door was shut, the tears starting falling. The truth that they had planned everything—every single detail had been planned out, and no one had told her anything about this—stung. Yeah, Dakota had said something on a midnight phone call a month ago, but how was she supposed to remember all of that? How was she supposed to deal with any of this? She was fifteen, still a kid, and there was no way she was ready to get married.

The tears fell, and she just wanted to stay in the bathroom forever. But her downfalls were that there were no locks on the doors in the old house and she had a three-year-old baby sister that didn’t know the meaning of privacy. She tried to wipe the tears from her face and started redoing her makeup the best she could. If she was going to have to face anyone else, she was going to do it looking her best, even if her eyes were now a little swollen and red.

She picked Kaylee up just as she heard the front door open and she couldn’t help but freeze next to the backdoor. Something wasn’t right, and she wasn’t going back out there. She heard her mom saying, “Hey, Jay, she’s in her room.”

Okay, Savannah’s boyfriend was here. She could deal with that. He had always been really nice to her, for the most part. But when the front door opened again, Cally took a step back, knowing that something was seriously wrong about this.

Her mom said cheerfully—a little too cheerfully for her mom—“Come have a seat.”

Her hand was on the doorknob at her back when she heard Dakota’s mother ask, “Where’s Cally?”

Dakota was saying, “She went to the bathroom.”

Jay was heading back to Savannah’s room when he saw her and stopped to stare at what had to be a “deer ready to run” kind of scene. He looked at her hand on the back door but didn’t say anything. More than anything, she just wanted to run, and she knew he would out her the moment she opened the door, but she really didn’t care at this point. She wanted out of here, out of this mess that Dakota had made of her life. One set of parents she could deal with, but two was too much. Why were they all ganging up on her? What had she done to deserve this?

Savannah’s voice pierced her own panic. “What are you doing?”

Jay didn’t take his eyes off her, and he didn’t have to, because Savannah came around the corner to see what had to be an interesting sight. Cally could hear Jay’s quiet tone as he informed her, “His parents are here.”

Savannah just shook her head and headed toward Cally. She pulled the door open and started backing out with every step her sister took. But with Kaylee in her arms, she was put off-balance and stumbled just as Savannah grabbed her arm and ordered, “Get in there. You have to deal with this. Have you told him yet?”

She didn’t have to say anything else. Cally knew what she meant. Had she told Seth about Dakota’s proposal? “No. I haven’t had the time.”

She held her breath as her sister pulled her back in the house. Savannah was going to kill her, but hopefully not right now with a baby in her arms. Then again, the last time they had really fought, it hadn’t mattered if she had Kaylee in her arms or not. Savannah had pushed her down the hall, and she knew she wasn’t going to win this time, so she just went along to keep from starting a fight in front of both sets of parents and Dakota.

As she walked by, Jay absently offered, “Congratulations.”

Yeah, that’s just what she wanted to hear right now. Cally just shook her head and held on tight to Kaylee as she stumbled back in the room and sat next to Dakota. Her mother was talking to his mom, and everyone seemed too focused on the two of them to have noticed her very forced reentry.

Kaylee started wiggling to get down, and while she wanted the extra comfort from holding her baby sister, Cally didn’t have much of a choice but to let her go. Dakota leaned over and whispered in her ear, “What was all that about?”

It seemed her near escape attempt wasn’t completely unnoticed. She just prayed that it didn’t extend to the two sets of parents that were currently planning out her life. “I was trying to run from her, she’s going to kill me,” Cally answered with half the truth of what was running through her mind.

She watched his face and knew he didn’t believe her for a second. He was going to ask them later, but the truth was once she had seen Savannah, she just knew she was going to be roadkill, so she started running. She just wasn’t going to mention that the other reason she was going to run was because his parents were here talking to hers, and she felt completely lost in this mess.

When Cally saw Savannah and Jay starting back toward the front door, another hard, fast wave overtook her. She was ready to run, and the only thing holding her still was Dakota’s arm on her shoulders. He leaned over and whispered, “She won’t do anything.”

Yeah, that’s what he thought. The sister from Hades was going to flat out kill her when they were alone.

Her father was feigning some interest by asking, “Where are you two going?”

Savannah shot her an evil look and then looked innocently to him. “We’re meeting up with some friends to hang out.”

Their parents never asked where they were going or when they would be back unless someone else was around. They really didn’t care unless they needed one of them to watch Kaylee, which was more often than they admitted. She looked over at Dakota and just waited for them to leave. She clearly wasn’t going anywhere unless Dakota said so, and she had no interest in even being here with this group planning out her life like this.

Giving up, she just sat there, still and quiet, while everyone seemed to plan what was going to happen to her life—when they would get the license and how they would schedule the wedding, what everyone was going to wear and who would be there, and everything that they would need to do and get. It seemed Dakota and both of their parents were planning everything, and all she had to do was sit there and let them. Clearly, she wasn’t going to get a say in any of this.

After a while, she just gave up. She had stopped caring what they were saying and planning. It was clear she wasn’t going to get a say in anything, so she just sat there and watched Kaylee playing on the floor. It had to have gotten late, because her little sister started getting tired and carried around her “nite-nite” blanket. Cally used it as an excuse to get up, anything to get away from what was going on. Yeah, sit here and listen to five people planning out her life for her or putting her baby sister to bed? No contest.

She picked her sister up and carried her to bed. Cally put on her favorite Barney movie and the three-year-old laid down without a fuss. She slunk down to the toddler bed, and as much as she despised that damn dinosaur, she started watching it. Kaylee was asleep, almost instantly, but she had no desire to go back out there and decided that Barney was the lesser of the two evils right now.

She knew she had gotten away with hiding longer than she should have. She just didn’t want to go back out there and wasn’t going to unless someone came in here and told her that she had to. No one needed her, and she doubted anyone even knew she was gone. When she had left, Dakota was just as deep in the conversation as the rest of them, and they hadn’t even gotten to the part she knew was going to spark an argument—her moving into his parent’s house after they got married. She still didn’t understand that one; what did it matter where she lived?

Cally wished that she could get to her own room without anyone seeing her; even to Savannah’s room would be better than this. When she looked up, it was to see Dakota standing in the doorway watching her. She looked at him, questioningly, still not sure what to say.

“You want to get out of here?” he asked in his deep rich voice and seeming to know something that she didn’t.

Cally just huffed, “Do I have to sit out there listening to them all night?”

He shook his head. “I was thinking we could meet up with Jay and everyone, maybe hang out for a little while.”

She couldn’t help but chew on her bottom lip as she debated that one. Where there was Savannah, there was a party, and where there was a party, there was sure to be something to take her mind off this insanity. Getting out of here tonight sounded like the best thing to happen to her all day; at least from her mindset, it would be the best thing to happen since he sprang this marriage proposal on her.

She pulled herself up and headed out the front door with Dakota on her heels. No one seemed to notice or care that they had left. The truth was she really didn’t want to go back in there, and any excuse to get away from all that was a good excuse at this point.

They were pulling out of the drive when she finally asked, “Why didn’t they say something when we left?”

“I knew you had enough, so I told them we were going to go out for a while to celebrate.”

“Where are we going?” she puzzled, praying that it wasn’t going to involve more wedding plans or people that would want to kill her.

“They went up to the boardwalk. Most of them have to work tomorrow, but those that don’t will be there.” He laughed. Yeah, murdered at the boardwalk! She could see the headlines now: “Sister Kills Sister Surrounded by Thousands of Families with Young Children that Are Now Scarred for Life.” Details at eleven.

They pulled onto the main drag of the overcrowded beach town, and it was clearly packed with tourists. But when they got down to the end of the long street, she saw a parking spot, and they pulled in. Three cars down were three black trucks, all with their gates down and a good sized group sitting there, laughing and talking. These were not her normal school friends; they were Savannah’s. Most of them were either twenty or twenty-one and had all gone to school together. Cally was the youngest in the group, and she never really fit in, except with Dakota.

The first person she saw was Savannah in the back of Jay’s truck, talking and laughing with a group she didn’t know. Jay was standing next to the truck as they walked up, and when his eyes met the two of them, she felt like lead weights had just been added to her soul. All he did was, at that point, hold his drink up and loudly cheer, “Congratulations!”

Everyone looked at the couple, and most started cheering, and one asked, “What’d I miss?”

Savannah looked as evil as the devil as she hissed, “They’re engaged, and from what I hear, their getting married before the summer’s out.”

Cally hated being the center of attention, and right now, she was and she wanted nothing more than to run and hide in the darkest hole she could find. Cally sat on the back of one of the trucks as everyone started talking again, and she seemed to fade from their minds. She watched as one of the guys gave her a hard evil look as he stormed off.

She looked back to one of Savannah’s friends and asked, “What was that about?”

She leaned in and handed Cally a drink as she questioned, “You don’t remember, do you?”

She shook her head as the girl quietly explained, “When we took you to that party a few months ago, you were talking to him for a while before you started talking to Dakota. He got furious and walked out. A few of us went after him. He and Dakota nearly got into a fight over it.”

Cally looked back to the retreating figure, not remembering what had happened that night. “I didn’t know that.”

The girl just laughed. “I’m surprised you remember anything from that night.”

She couldn’t help but laugh as she opened the can saying, “They said it was just 7-UP. I didn’t know.” They had fed her 7-UP and some other booze until she had gotten so drunk, she couldn’t remember a thing. It was one of the guys’ twenty-first birthday party, and no one was asking about ages. She never thought they were going to give her any booze in her 7-UP.

They both started laughing as she was handed a cup. She stared into whatever concoction she had just been given this time when Dakota took it out of her hand. “Hey.”

He gave her the same look he had at dinner, and she had a feeling he was still considering the possibility. Cally tried to take it back, but he grabbed the soda she had sat down next to her and put it in her hand. “This is so not fair.”

He leaned in and whispered it just loud enough for her to hear him. “Prove it.”

She was shocked that he would say that to her. “Just wait,” she warned him, not sure what she could do to him at this point but needing him to see that she wasn’t going to stand for his accusations.

He just laughed. “Now, where have you been all day?”

She rolled her eyes. “Hiding from the psychotic mess you were making.”

“Is that what you really think?” he asked, trying to figure out something.

Cally took a long swig of soda and shook her head. “You put me into shock, then dragged me around to a bunch of people I don’t know, and put the fear of death in me. What do you expect?”

He smiled. “Is that all it was?” Then he leaned down and kissed her hard and fast before one of his friends started talking to him and his attention turned away from her again.

She just nodded and looked past him to a group walking down the boardwalk ramp toward them. One face stuck out like a sore thumb, and almost like she had called to him, he looked her dead in the eye with the wrath of Zeus shooting bolts of lightning at her. Seth wasn’t turning around and he looked like he was going to come over here and start something she wasn’t ready to deal with tonight.

Dakota was talking to a taller guy, and she glanced back at Savannah who turned from Seth to her. She had to do something, so she leaned back and said, “I’ll be right back.”

Annalise asked, “Everything all right?”

“We’ll find out,” Cally said with a different kind of fear running through her.

She made sure Dakota wasn’t watching as she walked up to Seth. His words cut through her like a blade of steel. “You didn’t do it!” he snapped.

She couldn’t look at him as she answered, “No.”

“When?” He demanded to know like she owed him something.

Seth’s brother grabbed her hand and shoved it into Seth’s face until her new ring was sparkling at them. Seth nearly yelled, “You hussy!”

Cally watched him turn and storm off.

His brother demanded, “Why didn’t you tell him?”

She couldn’t look him in the eye. “Because I didn’t think anything like this was going to happen.”

“You’re just another Jezebel,” he yelled as he followed his brother.

Cally turned to see Dakota, Jay, and one of their other friends walking toward her. This wasn’t good, and there was no way she was getting out of this. “What was that about?”

She looked back to Dakota, and their eyes locked as she was trying to explain what had happened. “I broke up with him, telling him I didn’t want to date anyone over the summer. He was angry when he saw me and when his brother held up my hand.” She was still cradling her hand and holding tight to where her new ring was.

“He’s not taking the engagement well?” Jay laughed it off.

Cally shook her head as she looked past them to Savannah. Her sister knew what she had just done, and she didn’t have to be over here to hear them either. Savannah knew that she had just fully and completely ended it with Seth and she was watching to see how this was going to play out. If Dakota let it go, then she would too; but if not, well, blood didn’t mean anything when it came to Savannah and her friends.

Dakota wrapped his arm around her and kissed her in a way that she knew was more of him claiming his rights to her than anything else, and when he was done he held her close as they headed back to the trucks. It was over. It didn’t matter what Seth said or did at this point. All she had to do was keep it together for a month or so, and none of it would matter anymore. She would be his wife, and no matter what she wanted or felt, she would never cheat on Dakota. It was done. There was no getting out of this; she was getting married.

I’m getting married, I’m really getting married. That was the moment reality was starting to kick in. The more the words played in her head, the more real it all seemed.

Cally looked over to Savannah as they walked by, and she nodded. Her sister knew it was over with and what she was going to do was the right thing, or she’d be the one that would kill Cally. Savannah had gotten her way yet again. Cally wasn’t going to break Dakota’s heart. She was going to love him and become his whole world or end up dead in the process via her sister’s hands. Yep, the way life works for a fifteen-year-old, do what you’re told or the older sister will make you do it via physical force; a.k.a., she would beat you down if you didn’t. Cally could attest to that firsthand.

It wasn’t until a few people started leaving that Cally realized what time it was. She looked over to see Savannah and Jay getting ready to leave, and she then looked to Dakota. He was still talking to a few people, and she just sat back and did everything she could to hold it together. The wild emotional rollercoaster that had been her day was finally starting to catch up with her. More than anything, she just wanted to curl into a ball and cry. She broke up with the wrong guy and agreed to marry the wrong guy, and now was getting married, married!

Cally just leaned back and looked up at the stars, wishing that this was all just a dream, hoping that everything would work itself out. This life was already too stressful for her, and she wanted nothing more than to run and hide. To boot, she had to work tomorrow, and she really didn’t care what anyone said. Work was the only sane thing left in her life, and she was not flaking out just because they wanted to plan a bunch of crap behind her back.

It was nearly one before they left. She had to be at work by six thirty, and she knew she was going to be tired. For the first time, she took Dakota’s hand and walked back to his car, knowing she was going to be with him forever. Something had happened tonight, and she wasn’t sure if it was Seth or Savannah or just getting away from everyone’s planning frenzy—but something had changed.

The boulder she had been carrying with her for the past few weeks was now gone. Some huge invisible weight that had been dragging her down was gone. For once, she wasn’t feeling like she was walking on a thin line between a snake pit filled with rattlesnakes and a crocodile feeding frenzy. Yeah, the weight was gone, and in its place were the dangerous reptiles ready to attack if she wasn’t careful.

Dakota walked her up to the dark house. There weren’t any threats around or anything to worry about in this small safe community, but he did it because it was the gentlemanly thing to do, and that is what he was—above all else, he was a gentleman. He kissed her goodnight—one of his infamous knee-weakening, fire-setting, passion-filled kisses that left her wanting more.

He laughed as he looked at what he had done to her again and teased, “Not tonight.” He just walked away, and she knew no matter how much she wanted him, he wasn’t going to give in.

Cally watched him get in his car and pull out before she went inside. She knew Savannah was probably still up, but she needed sleep tonight, not another lecture from her sister. She barely made it to bed before she passed out from this long messed up day.