Stolen Course(12)

My blood boils. She’s going out with two fucking dudes. Of course they are always up for getting drunk. They probably spend the whole night staring at her tits and imagining putting their dicks in her ass.

“Fuck!” It just comes out. I know I sound like a douche right now. I’ve met this woman exactly once and I was a bastard. I was inside another woman less than twenty-four hours ago, yet here I am getting pissed off at the idea of her with another man.

“What? Something wrong?” she asks sweetly.

“No, just be careful. Make sure you catch a cab.” I try to get off the phone, but she stops me.

“Caleb, the guys I’m going out with tonight are my best friends and roommates. We share a small townhouse in downtown Savannah. No one will be driving tonight. The bar we go to is just down the street. Actually, all the bars are within walking distance. Okay?”

“Emma, you don’t owe me any explanations. I just didn’t want anyone drinking then driving.”

“That’s funny. You didn’t get pissed off until I mentioned Alex and Hunter.”

Christ, I’ve got to end this call. She is entirely too perceptive of my moods.

“Listen, I need to go. I’ll let you know when they move Sarah.”

“Thanks, Caleb,” she breathes into the phone, and I have to suck in breath of my own. I can feel her words, and not just in my pants. Yeah, definitely time to say goodnight.

“Bye, Emma.” I hang up the phone before she has a chance to say anything else.

My ass stays glued to the couch for the next twenty minutes while I try to figure out what the hell to do about Emma. I don’t know her. She’s probably a total bitch just like her sister. Damn it, why the fuck does she have to be Sarah’s sister? That one relationship complicates everything. It’s not like I can fuck her out of my system like I do with other women. Then again, I’ve never had a woman in my system since Manda. I can’t touch Emma. No matter how much I want to. It would be seven million shades of fucked up when things got messy. And there is no doubt things would get messy. Sarah would flip her crazy shit if she found out I was sleeping with her sister. Hell, that little thought alone makes me want to do it all the more.





IT’S WELL after midnight, but I’m still awake and sanding down the new coffee table I just finished. After trying to run off the Erickson trance, I retreated out to my workshop. I always feel better after a few hours of decompressing with a belt sander. The sound of Sarah McLachlan’s Blackbird is blaring through the speakers. It might be an odd choice to some, but it stays on repeat when I’m out here.

My phone lights up from across the room. It’s late but it’s not unheard of for me to get calls this time of night. But when I see Emma’s name on the screen, I’m immediately worried. She was out drinking tonight with two dickheads. I swear if those asspucks let anything happen to her, I’ll kill them myself.

I immediately snatch up my phone. “Emma?”

“Caleb,” she says, crying through the phone.

I start scanning the shop for my car keys but pause when I realize there is nothing I can do. I’m helpless. What the fuck am I going to do? Jump in the car and drive sixteen hours down to Savannah?

“What’s wrong, sweetheart? Are you all right?” I ask as she continues to sob over the phone.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have called so late. It’s just… I had way too much to drink, and I feel like shit about not being there for Sarah over the last few years. I’m such an asshole for abandoning her like I did. She needed me, but I just walked away because I was so afraid of losing her.” My pulse begins to slow and I begin to relax as she continues blubbering over the line.

Fuck. Why do I always overreact to shit when it comes to woman I care about? I was never this way before Manda died, but now I always assume the absolute worst. I have a need to save people and do what I couldn’t do for Manda. Shit, did I just admit that I care about Emma Erickson? This little obsession I have with her just went from bad to fucking ludicrous. I’ve had two conversations with her. I really should go back to being a dick. At least then she will hate me.

“Caleb, are you still there?”

“Yeah, I’m here. Did you need something or were you just calling to bitch and cry?” I ask, pulling some old-fashioned asshole out of my back pocket.

“Don’t be a dick just to keep me at a distance,” she says, shocking the shit out of me. I pull the phone away and look at it as if Siri is going to explain to me how the fuck she just read my mind.

“I thought you weren’t a crier?” I decide to keep it up even though she’s onto me.