Chapter 27: Chapter 27

NICOLE

DON'T GET ME WRONG. I LOVED BARBEQUES. My dad and I went to some of them very often every time elections were close by but this was different.

We were going to a normal barbeque-ish gathering with people we didn’t know. God, if it were those cranky men from back in the days I used to converse with, I wouldn’t be this nervous.

Senators were easy to charm but normal fucking people, that was hard and with what happened with Lucas the last thing I needed was seeing people.

I rubbed my hands together standing by the foyer as I waited for the boys. They had been nervous as hell too.

Well Jr mostly. Connor seemed ecstatic to go out, to make friends.

Smoothing the crispiness of my dress again, I raised my head ready to shout for Jr and Connor that we were getting late only to find Callan leaning against the wall with a devilish grin.

He owned the color black. Every black thing he wore seemed to be interwoven with him, seemed to perfectly match his physique and his aura. Because come on if the man ad an aura it definitely would be black no questions asked.

The button-down shirt he had on looked like mere polythene about to be ripped into shreds by his muscles, the two undone buttons on his chest revealed a whole lot of skin that showed more stacked muscles, traveling south the black jeans hugged his ripped thighs and not in that offish way men wore skinny jeans but in a hot so fucking way.

His hair? As if the black wasn’t enough, his midnight black hair completed the dark stubble peppering his powerful jaw and for a minute there, my heart was in my throat and I could feel it pump blood as well as spike doses of adrenaline in all parts of my body.

The phrase weak in the knees has never felt real like it did now.

“Like the dress”, his velvety voice boomed.

“Thanks, you don’t look too bad yourself”, I threw the compliment with a nervous laugh.

“They remind me of the Amazon leggings”

Amazon leggings, I quirked a brow roaming my eyes on the dress.

“You just said you like the dress; does it look that bad? God, maybe I should change”

I knew I should have worn something a little longer. We were in a small town in Texas who knew how women dressed over here.

I really wanted to make a good first impression.

“The leggings made you look sexy, Nicole”

I paled.

I couldn’t help when the redness creeped into my cheeks at the sudden realization that he was complimenting me. The dress looked sexy? He liked my shabby leggings?

I opened my mouth to say something only for Jr and Connor to appear from the kitchen running around like Robin and Batman.

“You ready?”

“I was born ready”, Connor jumped clutching Callan’s hand.

“I was born first”, Jr taunted sticking his tongue out as he held my hand.

I knelt on our tiled floor.

“Hey no more fighting and remember what we talked about. If anyone asks you anything, what’d you say?”

“Our mommy doesn’t like it when we gossip”, they both said in unison.

“And if they ask about me and Callan?”

“Our mommy doesn’t like it when we gossip but Callan’s our daddy”

“What about what we talked about?” Callan interrupted and I threw him a suspicious glare.

“If anyone bullies us, we tell you and you’ll put a bullet through the mother flunker’s eyes”

I gasped.

“You can’t just tell them you’ll shoot anyone, that’s setting a bad example”

“They said mother flunker, how am I setting a bad example?”

‘Don’t act dumb, Callan it doesn’t suit you”

“Okay, I’ll leave one gun behind just to set a good example”

I stood up scrubbing my eyes over his body. Just how many guns could you fit in a pair of jeans and a simple shirt?

“How about you don’t carry any guns? You said it yourself you ran a background check on them, they are safe”

“I can’t be too careful”

Insufferable fucking asshole.

“Callan I’m telling you if you love your kids, do not go to a barbeque with a fucking gun!”

“Look who owes the swear jar now”, was his last retort before he went back to the living room and came back one minute after,

“I’m clean”

“Good”

I could have sworn I heard him say something about the things he does for family before we hopped in his Toyota pickup.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

“No meaningful chitchat, you stick to me and the kids”

“Should I also wear a collar around my neck and follow you?” I asked cockily as we both stood at the porch of the modern prairie house in front of us.

He leant closer so much that his chest was behind my back and his musky cologne choked the breath out of me.

“Trust me that can be arranged, Nicole. Don’t test me”

His voice, this closeness, my heart tightening with the fact that this was all fun and games to him and not real hogged my senses.

Sure, he’d made a few teasing remarks now and then but he didn’t mean them. I could see it from the past days we had spent together.

He always busied himself with doing some stupid stuff like setting up hidden cameras in an attempt to stay far away from me as possible. And at dinner? He sat at the farthest edge of the table just to avoid conversation and I get it.

Damn me but I understood him, it was going to take time before he trusted me let alone let me in again.

The oak door opened on the first ring and a mellow ginger stood in the doorway.

Arrayed in a polka dotted knee-high dress, the woman looked like Abigail Cowen only less pretty.

I had nothing on her but when her eyes landed on Callan and she smiled and he smiled back too, I decided then and there that I didn’t like red haired what’s her face.

“You must be Callan, Billy’s told me a lot about you. I’m Abigail Arkinson and it’s a pleasure to welcome you into the neighborhood”

Abigail? Of course, that was her name.

Before I could introduce myself as the wife, red haired Abigail had already stretched her hand out for Callan and the damn man?

He didn’t even like greetings nor contact yet seconds later, his hand interlocked with the ginger and the ginger looked like she would faint at the mere touch.

My heart caved in on itself, jealousy weighing me down like a lead anchor to the ocean floor.

“I’m the wife”, the words slipped from my mouth with a snarl.

I might not have been his real wife but I would rather eat raw pickles than watch whatever was happening happen in front of my boys and I.

He lived with me. I had his kids ergo he was mine whether he wanted it or not.

Withdrawing her hand from Callan’s, Abigail turned her eyes to me as if she was realizing that I existed. That my kids existed.

She stretched her hand towards me and I would be kidding if I said my impulsive thoughts didn’t urge me to rip it off from her body.

God, I was turning into Callan. Driven by rage and getting excited by blood, gore and violence.

“Pleasure. I’m Nicole”

I greeted. She returned it with a forced smile before ushering us in.

Abigail’s house was a bit prettier than she was. The crimson walls were a nice touch, the spiral staircase adding more drama to the house and when she led us to the backyard, damn I was pissed.

The woman sure knew how to throw a barbeque. The men manned the grills just by the perimeter fence.

The women were huddled together on different high tables gossiping obviously about us. The new neighbors.

A few kids ran around the pool, thank goodness they had a few floaters in it. Jr was a good swimmer while Connor hated pools.

“I have a fucking toothache”, Callan grunted behind me and I chuckled.

It was too mellow even for him. The lights peppering the wall were bright enough to wade the moths away and the guys weren’t exactly up to Callan’s standards.

God they all wore slacks!

“Niks, I can call you that right? The men are barely handling the meat as it is, why don’t I introduce you to the ladies and Cal-“, I hated how she drawled Callan’s name from her lips. So sultry and intimate like she knew him for ages.

“Cal, can help them out”, she paused her eyes falling on my babies,” you like cotton candy?”

My kids nodded; Callan shot me a look of ‘I would rather eat my own fingers than leave my kids let alone grill meat with a bunch of lookalike clerks’.

“Great, I’ll take them off your hands if that’s okay with you”

Callan wasn’t happy with it but I merely nodded at Abigail as she went around the pool to introduce my boys to the other kids.

Out of the blue, Callan’s hand snaked around my waist and I shivered at the sudden touch. I could feel his fingers dig into my skin albeit through the loose fabric.

Then as if he got a sick thrill torturing me like this, his breath fanned my ear goosebumps speckling my skin in a rush.

“Say the word and I’ll carry all of us out of here”, he said and I was already in a state of delirium.

If he as so much as said any crude word, I would be hanging onto his shirt for support begging him to take me out of here.

But then my mind, the only thing working right in my body at the moment tried to focus at the image in front of me. Connor and Jr sharing cotton candy with other kids. Smiles on their faces. This was about as normal as they had ever been.

Lucas never let them out of the house, never allowed them to go to school, I would never be like that. I wanted them to be happy.

While I didn’t doubt Callan’s strength or his words either, I turned to him facing him squarely.

“We are not leaving. I’m going to socialize with ginger over there and you’re going to grill me some meat with the men over there and we are all going to have a great night”, I chastised.

He took my right hand taking it to his lips and I looked around nervously. Oh God he wouldn’t do this in front of…

But when had Callan Asher ever been stopped by anything. He lifted one of my fingers, an action so intimate it had me gasping for air.

Then leaning in, he placed a soft kiss on it.

“I would rather give you another kind of meat that would leave you sore”

“Callan!”

“Fine but if my kids as much as break a nail, we are all out of here. Have fun”, he said walking the other way before he added, “WIFE”

“Niks? You ready?”

I hated the nickname.

“Love your hair”, Tina Hanks complimented.

Mom of two girls, her husband was apparently the man in the big glasses a far off. With honey blonde hair, a dress that screamed the role of dotting housewife, she was alright. Far nicer than the holier than thou women I had been introduced to.

“Thanks, I love your umm…dress”

Everyone’s gazes fell on Tina’s dress, I snagged a glass of champagne dunking it a go. I was bad at chit chat and lying and talking about hair or makeup. God is that what they did around here?

Tina laughed.

“The dress is horrible. I look like Mary Poppins, Frank thought I should wear it so I wore it”, she said dryly.

“It’s not that bad well if you are blind”, I joked, the women laughed all except Abigail who had been too engrossed at…to no one’s surprise…Callan.

“What about you, Abigail? Your husband picked that for you?” I asked, she stared at her dress waving my statement off with a laugh.

“This old thing? Neil is all the way in New York, I hardly doubt he would be interested in what I wear and what I don’t”

Clever. No husband and by the looks of it, she was probably scouting for a lover.

“What about your husband, Nicole?” Joey, wife of William Duncan asked.

“What about him?”

“How did you two meet?”

“At a concert”, a concert I was dancing naked at.

“He likes music?”, Abigail asked and I dunked another glass down my throat.

“He followed me there. He was obsessed with me you see. loving me from a far for so many years and when he approached me, things clicked I guess and now we are married with two kids”

I was lying through my teeth but that seemed to have given the women the message.

He was mine so back the fuck off. Especially Abigail fucking Arkinson.

“Sounds like a fairy tale if you ask me”

“What sounds like a fairy tale?” someone’s voice rocked behind me and I turned around.

Dirty brown hair, a good amount of height and the only other guy I had seen with jeans except for Callan, the man in front of me looked like Abigail only more charming.

He gave me a once over, I returned the greeting too.

“Must be the new neighbor”, he greeted.

“And you must be an Arkinson”, I drawled.

“What gave it away? Lemme guess, the charm?”

I chuckled slightly.

“Aren’t you on your way-out Leo?” Abigail spoke behind me; Leo barely gave her a look as the women scampered away to the dinner table.

“I was, now I’m not. Don’t you have guests to entertain?”

I heard Abigail huff before she stood in front of us warning Leo with,

“She’s married”

“She’s not wrong”, I said once Abigail disappeared.

“I know she’s not. It’s been a while since I saw a fine woman around these parts”

Arrogant, check.

“And what does a fine woman look like in your dictionary?”

“Brunette, married, full of sass”

By the time his words left his mouth I was already walking past him when his hand landed on my wrist. Panic overwhelmed me before I snatched my hand away from him.

Leo or whatever raised his hands in midair defensively,

“Whoa whoa, sorry. This is not how my normal conversations go like. Didn’t mean to spook ya, I was only messing around. Here, how about we start this over again?”

“I think I’ve heard enough”, I said dryly.

“I’m Leonard Arkinson, the unofficial mayor of this little town, apologies for everything’, he smiled warmly.

“Nicole”

“Nicole? Nice name. You are new to the town and again as mayor, I would like to welcome you by offering you a job”

“A job?” I almost coughed, I hadn’t had a job since…well never.

“If that’s okay with you, if it’s not feel free to decline the offer”

I opened my mouth,

“My husband wouldn’t…”,I was about to say my husband wouldn’t like it when I spotted Callan’s hand on Abigail’s ass pretending that he was only pulling a chair out for her at the dining table.

“You know what? I'll take the job, thanks for offering Leonard”