Cal looks at me, and I see fire behind his eyes.
“He’s not worth it. Let him go, please,” I plead, tears in my eyes. “He’s not worth it, babe.”
Cal is in a rage. I have to get him out of it. If he kills the bastard and goes to jail for the rest of his life, I’ll never forgive myself.
“He’s not, Cal, he’s not,” Angela chimes in.
Cal nods, removes his knee from Aaron’s chest, and lets his neck go. Aaron immediately balls up, gasping in as much air as he can. Cal looks at him like a dirty rat, completely disgusted, and kicks him.
I look at Aaron and think about how badly he hurt my friend. What Cal’s done still doesn’t seem like enough for how he hurt Hillary on more than one occasion, but I can’t let Cal dispense what Aaron deserves. We all watch as Aaron starts to get up. Cal steps up to him one more time, and Aaron freezes, his eyes full of fear.
“If I ever find out about you hitting another woman again, if I even think you’ve hit another woman again, you’re dead,” Cal warns him. “Do you understand me?”
Aaron nods frantically. Cal punches him in the stomach, and he keels over.
“Open the door,” he says, looking at me.
I do as he says. The next thing I see is Cal pulling Aaron out into the hall and pushing him down the stairs. We watch Aaron roll down the steps. After a few seconds, he manages to literally crawl out the door. I look at Cal. I can’t believe what I’ve just seen. He looks at both of us but doesn’t say anything. I don’t know what to say, and Angela looks completely shocked.
“Go get her things. I’ll be in the car,” he says simply, catching his breath.
And then he’s gone. I look at Angela, whose mouth is wide open.
“I don’t think he’ll be bothering Hillary anytime soon,” she says softly.
All I can do is nod.
May 12th 2011
May 12th, 2011
“Lauren, your aunt is on the phone,” Angela says, holding the phone out to me.
I gesture that I don’t want to talk. She gives me an apologetic smile.
“Umm, she’s not here, Mrs. Scott—I mean Brooks,” she bumbles. After a moment she laughs. “She says she knows you’re here, and she really needs to talk to you.”
I roll my eyes and take the phone. “Hi, Raven,” I say, trying to keep the dryness from my voice.
“Hi, sweetie, how are you?” she says anxiously.
I arch my brow. I know she’s itching to tell me something. “I’m fine. What’s going on?” I feel almost as anxious myself.
“Cal is here!” she reveals cheerfully.
I feel my stomach drop and close my eyes, a smile spreading across my face. It’s about time. It’s been three whole days since I talked to him.
“Lauren, are you there, sweetheart?”
“Yeah. I’m here,” I tell her, remembering I’m on the phone.
“He says it’s really important that he talks to you,” she says urgently.
He thinks whenever he needs something or wants something, it’s important. But when anyone else—
“Did you tell him where I am?”
“No, honey, I don’t know where you are exactly.”
“Did you tell him who I’m staying with?”
“Honey, will you please talk to him? You are still his wife, even if you’re upset with him right now,” she urges.
I roll my eyes again. This is the Raven I know. “I’ll talk to him,” I mumble.
“Cal, here she is,” she says happily.
“Lauren,” he says dryly. His voice doesn’t sound too urgent to me.
“Yes, Cal?” I say unenthusiastically, even though I’m really glad to hear his voice.
“Where are you?” he asks nonchalantly.
“Why? Do you actually care now? It has been almost a week, if you haven’t noticed,” I mumble bitterly.
“Look, I need you to get to the house.” He sounds annoyed.
“No.” He’s not my master; he doesn’t get to say “jump” and have me ask how high.
“This is important,” he says, his tone softening a bit.
“Important, yeah.” I laugh, and he sighs in frustration.
“I’m coming to pick you up,” he says as if it’s a command.
“You don’t even know where I am.”
“Do you want me to play a guessing game?”
“You know what, Cal? Whatever it is, I don’t care—”
“Lauren, can you just meet me at the house? Please,” he interrupts.
I run my hand over my head and bite my lip. It could be a trick, him just getting me back to where I don’t want to be, but there’s a hint of urgency to his voice.
“Why?” I ask, knowing I probably won’t get an answer.
“I need to tell you in person,” he replies quietly.
“Of course, in person,” I say softly to myself. “Fine. Fine, Cal.” I ignore that little voice in my head. I’ve pretty much blocked it out since I met Cal—why start listening now?
“I’ll be home before the evening,” he says.
“Yeah, okay.” I sigh and hang up. I can’t believe I’m even doing this.
“What happened?” Angela asks curiously.
“Cal says he needs to see me,” I tell her weakly.
She sits on the couch. “Are you going?” From her expression, I can tell she already knows the answer.
“I’m just going to see what he wants. He said it’s important,” I say, trying to convince myself more than her.
“No judgment here,” she replies, grabbing the remote and flipping through the channels on the TV.
I roll my eyes at myself and flop down beside her. “I’m so pathetic,” I mumble and rest my head on her shoulder.
“Not pathetic, just in love.” She giggles, leaning her head on mine.
“I think being in love makes you really stupid.”
“No question about it.” She laughs. “You don’t think this is just a ploy to get you back home, convince you to stay? Because that’s what I think.” She chuckles.
“If it is, I’ll leave,” I say pointedly.
“Aww, come on. Once you see him, it’s all over. He starts whispering in your ear how sorry he is, touching you in all the right places, making you forget why you were even mad in the first place…” She eyes me. God, how many times has that happened?
“Have you been stalking me?” I tease her, but I realize how perfectly that describes the end of every argument we’ve ever had.
“Well, let’s get you back to the hubby.” She laughs, grabbing her keys from the table. “If you’re not staying, you won’t have to take anything with you.” She sticks her tongue out at me.
I laugh. “You’re right.” I shrug and grab my purse, following her out the door.
I wonder why people take a chance on falling in love. If I could go back through time, would I change the things I’ve done? My mind says I would, but the decisions I made concerning Cal were never made logically.