sakura
“Still interested in that guy?” I asked Ichika while sitting in Escape.
Callan had ignored me again today during school, and I really needed to talk to him, really needed to apologize. If he had plans with the mob, then he had to be here, right? This was where they hung out.
“Sorta,” she started, sipping on some water. “We fucked a couple of times, and …”
Yet while Ichika talked, I couldn’t focus.
I scanned the bar again, then stared out the window at the parking lot, looking for his car. But all the cars here were sleek with tinted windows. And it was dark outside, so they all looked the same to me.
“I’m going to use the restroom,” she said at some point.
Unable to focus, I nodded. When Ichika searched for the restroom, I pulled out my phone and opened our messages to each other. My knee bounced uncontrollably, and I ground my teeth together.
Had I really been that much of a bitch?
I’d screwed up so badly. So freaking badly.
So, I texted him, needing some kind of response. Anything honestly. A red-faced angry emoji, a thumbs down, even a no would suffice. But not a Delivered message that I would stare at constantly until he read it.
Me: Can we talk this weekend?
Me: Please.
I waited for a few moments, and then Delivered changed to Read.
Three bubbles appeared on the left side of the screen, and I swallowed in an attempt to wet my dry throat.
Please answer. Please answer. Please answer. I refused to go the entire weekend without talking to him.
“Did you make up with Professor Big Dick?” Ichika asked, sliding back into the booth.
My cheeks flamed, and I clenched my jaw. “Don’t call him that.”
“Oh no,” Ichika joked. “Is he small—”
“Ichika,” I growled.
I loathed the thought of anyone talking about him like that. I didn’t want him to be with anyone else, to flirt with anyone else, to have people flirt with him. The mere thought made my blood boil. He was mine.
But I had stupidly told him I hated him over and over again. I had fucking ruined it all.
What if he was with another girl right now? What if he was sleeping in her bed with his cock buried inside her, whispering dirty little words into her ear and telling her that he would do anything for her, just as he’d told me?
“Are you jealous?” Ichika beamed, leaning forward.
“No,” I snapped.
Though if he were with another woman, I would be.
But I was working myself up for no reason at all. He was still typing back. I glanced down at the screen and chewed on the inside of my cheek, heart pounding. The three little dots continued bouncing, and then suddenly, they stopped.
Fuck.
No response.
I finished my food, and when we decided to leave, I dragged my feet back to my car.
After slipping into my car, I locked the doors and started the engine. My phone buzzed.
An image from Callan popped up in our messages of a ribbon-wrapped present lying in the center of my bed, next to the stuffed bunny that Mom had given me for Easter the year before she became a druggie.
My heart lurched. Callan had been in my house! I glanced at the time and widened my eyes. While Dad was home?!
Me: What is this?
Instead of giving me an answer, all he responded with was, Your room is cute.
And for some fucked up reason, I expected him to follow up with … Next time I see you, I’m ripping that IUD out of your pussy and will give you a reason to keep all those stuffed animals in your room for our baby.
God, I am fucked.
Fucked. Fucked. Fucked. Fucked. Fucked. Fucked. Fucked.
Stepping on the accelerator, I sped home while making sure that nobody followed. I shouldn’t have been at Escape, but I had wanted to find Callan and maybe figure out how to stop this sex trafficking ring.
Once I parked in my driveway, I shot out of the car and gazed around like a maniac for Callan’s car parked on the street somewhere. But there weren’t any cars parked on the road as far as I could see, and Dad was home.
I slipped inside the house through the back door so I wouldn’t have to talk to him, took off my shoes, and then ran up the stairs to my bedroom. I shut the door behind me and stared at the present that lay in the center of my bed.
My heart pounded.
After dropping my purse, I jumped onto the mattress and sat crisscross by the pillows. I took the small card with my name written across the white envelope and pulled it out.
Sakura,
Only for you.
Love,