sakura
Once Georgina began screaming at me, Callan gently took my chin in his hand and brought me back up to him. He kissed me right on the mouth after I sucked him off, and it sent heat coursing through my body.
When he pulled away, I cuddled up next to him. I had so many questions that I wanted answered—most of them about his gift of Jett’s head—but I didn’t want to bother him right now. Especially now that he was recovering from being stabbed multiple times and nearly drowning.
“Callan!” Georgina screamed. “Look at me! Get me out of here!”
Callan tucked some hair behind my ear, his lips curled into a small smile, then grasped my thigh. “There is tape in the garage—second cabinet, third drawer down. Can you get it for me, please?” he murmured against my lips.
Glancing from him to Georgina, I nodded and walked out of the room. As soon as I shut the door behind me, I sprinted to the garage. I didn’t know what Callan was planning on doing to her, but I hoped that he would kick her out of our lives for good. I didn’t want her bothering us anymore.
And if she lived … we would never hear the end of all the pain we had caused her. Because she’d definitely flip it around and play victim. She had been abusing him for years. But this was the end of it. The complete and utter end of her wrath.
I would do anything I had to do to protect him.
Once I returned with the tape, Callan had pushed himself to a standing position and had tugged on some sweatpants. He took the roll of duct tape from me and stumbled over to Georgina, nearly falling over multiple times throughout his five-step trip.
He tore off a piece and smacked it across her mouth so her screams were muffled. Then, he handed it back to me and took my hand. I began leading him back to his bed, but he urged me toward the doorway.
“Callan,” I whispered, “you really should be getting rest.”
“I’m hungry,” he said. “I haven’t eaten in the past twenty-four hours.”
After opening the bedroom door for him, I followed him out of the room and gently shut the door behind us because I didn’t even want to hear a single peep from Georgina. She had ruined his life and nearly killed him.
Even if she hadn’t pushed him, she hadn’t attempted to save him.
“Sit,” I said. “I’ll make you something.”
“Us something.”
My lips curled into a smile as I opened his fridge, searching for food. But it seemed like Georgina had completely cleaned him out, or he hadn’t been to the grocery store in a long, long time. So, I found some veggies and broth in the pantry for soup.
Callan sat back on an island stool while I cooked, watching me quietly with a small smile on his face. And when I finished and placed a bowl of soup in front of him, he took the spoon, scooped some veggies onto it, and placed it at my mouth.
I wrapped my lips around the utensil and swallowed the food.
“Thank you for making this for me,” he said, leaning across the table and pushing hair off my forehead again. “Go grab some for yourself.”
“I want to make sure you have enough,” I said. “There’s not much food in your fridge.”
“Do you want to go shopping with me?”
Shopping with Callan in Redwood? Not only would everyone see us, but he also wasn’t healthy enough to be walking around a grocery store for thirty-plus minutes. He should be lying down for the rest of the night.
“Maybe some other time, Callan,” I said, grabbing an empty bowl anyway and filling it with soup. “I’ll run to the store after you get back to bed and buy you some food for the week. You are in no shape to go out.”
Instead of putting up a fight, like I’d expected, he scooped more soup in his spoon and ate.
“So, um,” I started, pushing my spoon around my soup, “I got your gift.”
He glanced up at me, his lips set in a small smile. “Did you like it?”
I chewed on the inside of my cheek and stared at him for a few moments. Gunther had told me that Callan wouldn’t do something like that, but after the last forty-eight hours we’d both had, I wouldn’t be surprised about anything in Redwood anymore.
And I wouldn’t blame him.
“Did you really give me Jett’s head?” I asked.
His spoon clattered against the glass bowl, the hot soup splashing everywhere. “Jett’s head?” he repeated, staring at me in horror through wide eyes. He shook his head, dark bags underneath his eyes. “That’s what you found in the box?”
“Yes,” I whispered. “Gunther tossed it into the ocean. I-I didn’t know what to do.”
“I didn’t give you anyone’s damn head.” He paused and dropped his gaze to the table, brow furrowing. “Who was in your room? Who has access to your house? Because I didn’t give you a fucking head, Sakura, especially if I wasn’t there with you to open it. I know how upset you would’ve been.”
“I-it’s fine, Callan. I just wanted to let you know.”
“It’s not fine,” he said, jaw clenched. Then blew out a low breath. “I’ll handle it.”
Though I didn’t think he was suited to do anything but rest right now. Maybe even for the next week or more. He should take all the vacation days he needed from Redwood Academy because he couldn’t go back to school like this either.
“I think you should rest,” I whispered.
“Did you get anything else with the head? A note? Card?”
“There was a note.”
“Where is it?”
“I’ll go get it,” I said, standing. “It’s in my car.”
After retrieving it from the car, I slid it across the island to him. What was so wrong about this whole thing was that the handwriting looked nearly identical to Callan’s from what I remembered in class. Whoever had planted the head had been watching us.
Sakura,
Only for you.
Love,