The door closes with a little more force than necessary, and I flinch, afraid to turn around to face him.
“What are you doing here?”
I spin slowly on my heel. “Well, it’s nice to see you, too.”
Wes approaches his desk, tossing a pile of files onto it and folding his arms tightly over his broad chest. His face gives nothing away. No emotion whatsoever. After seeing his calendar, I know better.
“Callie, I really don’t have time for this. And I didn’t take my number out of your phone, so you’d have a reason to stalk me at work. I need you to leave.”
I plop down into the chair facing his desk. “No. Not until you hear me out.”
“We’re not going through this again,” he growls. “I don’t want to see you anymore, and we have nothing else to say to one another.”
“This has nothing to do with us, you stupid jerk. I didn’t come down here to try to convince you to be with me or anything like that. I came here because you’re running out of time. If you don’t stop being such a stubborn ass, you’re going to be too late, and you’ll never get anything resolved.”
His aquamarine eyes cut right through me. “Fine. If it has nothing to do with us, then what could you possibly be here to resolve?”
“I met your mother today.”
“Oh that’s nice.” Wes jerks his arms free from his jacket and flings it onto his chair, crossing the room to stand in front of me. “So you went and whined to my mom about me? I did nothing but stick up for you when Shane told me what you said about me to Makenna. I told him they were stupid for treating you that way, when it was my fault to begin with. I told him that everything you said was true. And you repay me by bringing my mom into it more than she already has been? Complaining to her isn’t going to change my mind. She can’t change my mind.”
Oh, hell. And he just thinks he’s pissed right now. “No, Wes. I didn’t speak to your mom today. I said that I met your mother. As in Chesley Adams.”
Every muscle in his body freezes, except I can see the ones in his jaw flexing as he clenches it. “Get the hell out of my office,” he seethes through his teeth.
This is the first time I’ve ever been scared of him. Not that I’m afraid he’ll hurt me physically, but that he’ll tear my heart to shreds. He looks like he could rip me apart right now, but I have to stand firm. I have to make him understand.
“I will. But first I need you to listen.”
He throws his hands in the air. “There’s nothing you have to say that I want to hear. You had no right, Callie. None. How dare you stick your nose in my business? My life isn’t any of your concern, and it never will be. I don’t want you in my life. I don’t want you talking to my parents or my brother or my friends. I sure as hell don’t want you talking to my mother. Why can’t you understand that I want nothing to do with you?”
His words cut me deep, and I almost believe him. I know he’s trying to scare me off, but all he’s doing is pissing me off. “Would you just shut the hell up and listen for once? You think you know everything, but you have no freaking clue. I’ve put up with your shit countless times, and yet, for some reason I still care enough to try to help you. You don’t want anything to do with me? Fine. But you will sit your ass down and listen to what I have to say first. Then, and only then, will I walk away so you’ll never have to see me again. If you want to spend the rest of your life as a coward, well, I guess you have the right to do so. If you want to close yourself off to the rest of the world when life gets hard, be my guest. Because it’s you who’s going to be unhappy and alone. It’s you who’s going to lie in bed at night, wishing you hadn’t pushed everyone away. So this is my last effort to help you. Not because I’m under some stupid impression that I can be the ‘one.’ It’s because, no matter what you want from me, I care about you enough to want to see you happy.”
“No, I—”
“Would you just shut up?” I interrupt his rebuttal. “Sit down, be quiet, and give me fifteen minutes of your undivided attention. Trust me . . . you’re going to want to hear what I have to say. Then, when I’m finished talking, I’m going to walk away, just like you asked. You don’t have my number, and you don’t know where I live, so you can’t track me down and tell me how wrong I am. You just get the opportunity to listen. After that, we’re done for good. You won’t see me again. I’m not here to convince you to be with me. I just want you to hear what she told me, without interrupting me or sharing your opinions. You don’t get to talk. Understand?”