The Redemption of Callie & Kayden

of the snow. She blinks up at me as she clutches her head and lets out an agonizing groan that tears at my heart.
    “That hurt.” Her chest ascends and falls as she sighs with her lip pouting out.
    It’s the most fucking adorable thing I’ve ever seen and it briefly flings me back to that place in her bed where she’s looking up at me and trusting me as I thrust inside her. But as I reach my arm out to her, I catch a glimpse of the scar on my arm and I’m back on the floor at my house and my father is stabbing me. I’m cold and helpless and I don’t know where I’m going to end up.
    Callie puts her hand in mine and warmth envelops my body. I pull her to her feet, and unable to help myself, slip an arm around her waist and balance her in my arms. It feels so good to hold her and I start to choke up.
What the fuck is wrong with me?
    She tips her head up and peers at me with her big eyes. “Hi.” She bites on her lip, like she’s embarrassed by her word choice.
    This time I decide to do better than the last time she said this to me. “Hi.” I run my hand through her hair, brushing some snow out of it.
    Her lips tug up into a smile. “Are you okay?” She skims across my frozen skin and her lips go slack. “You look frozen.”
    I can’t help but smile. “You just fell and slammed your head on the ice and you’re wondering if I’m okay?”
    She nods like it’s not a strange question. “Did you drive your bike here?” She glances over at the motorcycle and then back at me. “Without a coat on?”
    My fingers dig deeper into her hips, mainly because I’m looking for an excuse to cling onto her. “Maybe.”
    She frowns. “You have to be cold.”
    “Not really,” I lie.
    “Ummm… guys?” Luke interrupts and Callie and I blink out of our own little world.
    I look at him, pulling Callie closer to my chest. “What?”
    Luke signals at his house where his mother is staring at us through the front window that’s surrounded by icicles. “Do you mind if we head somewhere and talk. I’d like to get the hell away from here.”
    “Yeah, of course, man.” I start to let go of Callie, but she slides her hand from my shoulder and down my arm.
    “I’m going with you,” she says as she laces her fingers through mine.
    I shake my head and try to remove my fingers from hers. “No way. You’ll freeze to death.”
    She straightens her shoulders and fixes me with a look of determination. “Yes, I am.”
    I look at Seth, who’s fiddling with the strings on the hood of his jacket. “You mind helping me out with this one?”
    “Sure.” Seth unzips his jacket and slips his arms out of the sleeves. “Put this on.” He chucks the jacket to Callie and she catches it with a smile on her face.
    “She’ll freeze to death,” I say as Callie puts her arms through the sleeves. The jacket nearly swallows her tiny body.
    Seth raises his eyebrows as he yanks down the sleeves of his black shirt, and then he backs toward Luke’s truck. “She’ll be fine. She’s a lot tougher than you give her credit for.”
    Callie zips the jacket up all the way to her chin and then gathers her hair at the nape of her neck and pulls the hood over her head. She looks up at me and her eyes are filled with so much willpower I’m not sure what to do with it. She’s usually so fragile and vulnerable.
    “Are you sure?” I ask, hoping she’ll change her mind. “Because it’s colder than hell.”
    She steps past me toward the bike with her chin elevated even when her small legs sink deep into the snow concealing the front yard. “Absolutely.” A smile touches her deep-red lips and humor creeps into her voice. “Besides, hell is warm.”
    I restrain a laugh and walk behind her, the snow up to my ankles. “Okay, if that’s what you want.”
    “Kayden.” Luke calls out my name and I reluctantly turn around.
    “Don’t do anything stupid,” he says, and for a second everything’s normal between us. He’s just my friend, not the guy who saw me lying on the floor in a pool of my own blood and cuts on my arms that I put there myself. He tosses me one of his spare coats, a thick tan one with a thermal insulated layer that he keeps in the truck in case it breaks down. He likes to always be prepared.
    I catch it and put it on, even though I was enjoying freezing the pain out of me. I pull the hood over my head and when I turn around Callie is sitting on the bike. She looks good on it, like she belongs there, and it makes me