The Coincidence of Callie and Kayden

that?”
     
    “I think that’s how his father was with him.” He steers the truck toward my road. “It wasn’t quite as bad when we were younger, although it still fucking sucked. He would just get mad at things and yell and sometimes slap us or hit us with the belt. It got worse as we got older, like he knew he could….” He grinds his teeth. “Hit us harder without killing us. My brothers fought back when they got old enough, but when they moved out… and I was alone... Things just kind of fell apart. All his anger was kind of focused on me.”
     
    My eyes burn as I blink several times to stop my tears from pouring out, thinking about him alone in that house with that God-awful man. “Don’t live with it anymore. Come stay with me. You don’t need to be there.”
     
    As his eyes search mine, he looks terrified, confused, and kind of like a lost little boy. “Okay, but I have to go pick up Luke.”
     
    I can breathe again, my lungs relaxing as the airflow returns to them. “You’ll come right back, though? Promise?”
     
    He nods as he turns the truck into my driveway, parking it behind my mom’s car. “I promise.”
     
    I glance at the window by the back door, where the curtain is pulled back and my mom is peering out. “Do you want me to go back with you? I just need to tell her.”
     
    Kayden cups my cheek and rubs the pad of his thumb beneath my eye. “I’ll be okay. You stay here and try to calm your mom down.”
     
    “Are you sure? Maybe I should get my dad to drive over with you?”
     
    “Callie, I’ll be fine. Luke’s there. I’m just going to grab my stuff and then come over. Nothing will happen.”
     
    My heart knots as I lean over and brush my lips against his. I start to pull away, but he slides his hand to the back of my neck and presses his mouth to mine again, kissing me fiercely, before releasing me. With a heavy feeling in my heart, I climb out of the car and watch him back away, knowing I’ll be holding my breath until he returns.
     
     
     
     
     
    Kayden
     
    I’m scared shitless. I’ve never talked back to my dad like that and the look in his eyes told me I was screwed, but Callie is right. I don’t have to deal with it anymore. All I have to do is walk away. Something I should have realized a long time ago, but for some reason I just couldn’t.  All I’ve ever seen in my life, is people leaving, not caring hitting, yelling, telling me to suck it up. But then Callie comes along and tells me I can change it—that I deserve so much better. It’s so simple yet her words mean so much to me.
     
    I park the truck behind the tree and send Luke a text to meet me out at his truck in ten minutes, because I need to get my bag. Memories haunt my mind as I walk up the front porch. The atmosphere is dead silent and the front door is agape.
     
    Putting my guard up, I step inside the house. When I was younger, my dad liked to make a game out of the beatings. He would give us time to hide and then he would come searching for us. If we hid well enough, we’d win. If not, we’d pay. We always ended up paying because he’d never give up looking.
     
    The house seems empty so I hurry up the stairway to my room and toss my clothes into the bag. Swinging it over my shoulder, I trot downstairs, feeling freedom waiting for me as the front door emerges into view. But my dad steps out from beneath the stairway, and stands at the bottom, blocking my path.
     
    He crosses his arms over his chest. “I’m wondering if it was the girl that made you act so stupid or if you’ve just gotten dumber since you went away to college? You never really were bright.”
     
    My mind calculates my options. “Look, I’m sorry, but I’m not going to stay here anymore. I just...” I tread down to the step below.
     
    He inches to the side, getting in my path. “You have a workout to make up for.”
     
    “No, I don’t,” I say, my palms sweating. This is the farthest I’ve ever pushed him. “I work out enough at school.” My foot moves down another step and I’m right in his face. “I’m going to go.”
     
    He seizes my arm, squeezing it so firmly the skin burns. “You’re going to get your fucking ass in that God damn car and we’re going to go down to the field to work out. You will not push me anymore.”
     
    I think of Callie sitting back at her house, waiting for me; actually worrying about me. No one has ever worried about me before. I jerk my arm out of his grip