The Redemption of Callie & Kayden

important… after all the things you told me… I think you need to get some help. I really wish you’d just consider staying here with us and take a semester off.”
    “I need to go back to school,” I say. “I need to move forward.”
    She gives an elongated pause. “Then please just go see the therapist…” She’s on the verge of crying. “I need to know you’re okay.”
    I glance over my shoulder at Kayden. “I’m okay, Mom. But if you really want me to go, then I will.”
    “Good.” She sounds relieved. “And you call me every day. And stop by here today before you leave.”
    “Yes, Mom.”
    “And you’ll call me whenever you need anything?”
    “Yes.”
    Kayden starts laughing hysterically, rolling away from me so she won’t hear. I’ve told him how controlling she is and apparently seeing it in action is humorous to him.
    “Who is that?” my mom wonders. “The person on the background who keeps laughing?”
    Craning my neck, I peek over my shoulder at him and he smiles. “Kayden.”
    “Oh.” She pauses and I hear clicking in the background, like she’s tapping her fingernails on top of the counter. “Callie… are you… are you sleeping with this boy?”
    Heat rushes through my body.
“What?”
    Kayden must have heard her, because his laughter kicks up a notch and fills the room. “I have to give her credit,” he says between laughs. “She’s very entertaining.”
    “Callie,” she says. “I’m not going to judge you… I just want to make sure you’re being careful.”
    Oh my God. This is so mortifying. My cheeks are as hot as the heater below the frosted window and I tuck my head down with the phone still pressed up to my ear to hide my blushing face. “Yes, Mom.”
    “Yes, Mom, you’re sleeping with him?” she asks. “Or you’re being careful?”
    “Tell her you’re being careful right now.” Kayden laughs in my ear and it tickles my neck, causing my shoulders to shudder. His arms snake around my waist and then he’s pulling me back, lifting himself up from the bed with one arm. He tucks me underneath his solid body and then lowers himself down on me.
    I laugh into the phone as he starts to tickle my sides and I squirm, trying to keep the phone beside me ear. “Mom,” I say through laughs as his fingers trail high up on my ribs and then halt next to the sides of my breasts.
    “Tell her you’ll make sure to be careful every day,” Kayden teases, his green eyes flashing with untamed desire. He pinches my sides and then moves his hands up my arms and then down them, stopping when he reaches my wrists. He cups each one with one of his hands and then tugs on them.
    “Mom, I got to go,” I say quickly. “And yes, I’ll stop by on my way out.” Before she can respond, the phone falls from my hands and Kayden gathers my wrists together and brings them above my head.
    For a brief second, panic claws up my throat as I’m hurled into the past when I was pinned down on the bed and my heart beat unstably. He must see it on my face too.
    His grip starts to loosen. “Do you want me to let you go?”
    I shake my head. “Just kiss me, please.”
    His mouth turns upward and his lips connect with mine as he bends his back and leans in. And just like that the panic and the memories slip from my thoughts and it’s just he and I. No one else in the world exists.
    * * *
    “So what have you been up to?” Seth asks as he hops cheerily into Luke’s truck beside me.
    It’s a bench seat and a compacted fit, but it’s not that bad. In fact, it’s kind of comforting to be squished into a car with three strong guys who have been there for me in their own wonderful ways.
    “Well, you’d know if you hadn’t disappeared.” I flash him a playful grin as he fastens his seat belt.
    He smirks with doubt in his eyes. “I highly doubt I was missed.” The seat belt clicks and he sits back, tugging the sleeves of his black-button coat down to cover his arms. “Besides, I wanted to give Kayden and you some space.”
    “You didn’t have to. We didn’t really do anything.”
    He arches his eyebrows, accusingly. “Yeah, right. You two have been locked in that room since the new year started. You’re like newlyweds or something, going at it like rabbits.”
    I turn my face away from him as I feel the blush creeping up and try to restrain my smile. “Seth, stop,” I say and he giggles.
    Kayden opens the door and the hinges squeak as he scoots into the seat beside me, but