Stolen Course(48)

“Where do you want all your photography stuff, sweetheart?” Caleb says walking into the bedroom I’m currently hiding in.

“Who was that?” Sarah quickly asks even though I can tell by the tone of her voice that she knows exactly who it is.

Sarah and I are doing really well, but I still haven’t broached the whole Caleb topic. I just figured it would be a topic better saved for later in her treatment and recovery.

“Oh just one of the guys helping me move.”

Caleb lifts a questioning eyebrow, but I shake my head and try to push him out of the room. He doesn’t budge though, but he suddenly becomes very interested in my phone call. He crosses his arms and leans against the doorjamb. All I can do is roll my eyes and go back to the conversation.

“So what are you up to?” I try to ignore the hot, tattooed elephant in the room.

“Why is Caleb Jones helping you move?” she asks, obviously recognizing his voice.

I flat-out lie to her. “Um, he offered to help.”

“You know he used to call Manda sweetheart?”

“What?!” I shout, whipping around to face him.

“What’s going on, Emma?” she asks.

“Shit, Sarah. I…” I stumble over my words. Caleb’s eyes go wide, and the veins in his neck begin to strain. “We’ve been seeing each other since I moved up here.”

“What. The. Fuck!” she screams.

“I’m sorry! I should have told you sooner. I just didn’t want to upset you. I mean, I’m not even sure how serious it is.” I lie again, frantically trying to backtrack out of situation that might hinder her recovery.

“No, what you should have done is not started fucking my best friend’s fiancé!” she screams so loud I have to pull the phone away from my ear.

Fantastic. I’ve downplayed it too much and now she thinks we are just sleeping together. I glance up at Caleb, whose wide eyes have turned murderous.

“Sarah, it’s not what you think.”

“What is it then?” she yells back at me.

“We started talking a couple of months ago when I first came up.” I begin to explain everything so that hopefully she will understand, but she quickly interrupts me.

“Did he tell you that he hates me? That he blames me completely for the wreck and killing Manda? That he thinks I should pay for it?”

“Sarah, no one blames you for the wreck.”

The lies won’t stop coming out. I once again glance up at Caleb, who might as well have flames shooting from his ears. I’m trying to talk my way out of this, yet I only seem to be digging myself deeper.

“Caleb does! For fuck’s sake, Emma. You can’t be this stupid. He is going to use you to get to me. He is hateful and calculating and will do just about anything he can to hurt me. And in this case, he is doing you! Wake the fuck up!” she screams before hanging up on me.

“Shit!” I quickly begin looking through my numbers to find one for Building Foundations on speed dial. “Hi, Judy, this is Emma Erickson. Can you have someone go check on Sarah? We just had a pretty big argument. I just want to make sure she doesn’t do anything rash.”

“Sure thing. I’ll call you if anything is wrong,” she says reassuringly.

“Thank you.”

“No problem.”

I hang up the phone and turn my attention back to the man who is damn near exploding in the doorway.

“What?” I scream, becoming increasingly pissed off by his over-the-top reaction.

“Where do you want me to start?” he hisses.

“Oh God, stop the dramatics. Just tell me what you’re pissed about already.”

“You never told her about us, but then again, why would you? It’s not like we’re serious or anything.” He doesn’t say another word before he turns and heads for the door.

“Caleb, you’re acting like a baby!” I shout at his back.

It’s probably not the smartest thing I ever could have yelled, but I’m pissed. If he doesn’t understand why I didn’t tell her or why I tried to downplay it, then he isn’t as smart as I thought.

“Fuck you, Emmy,” he says over his shoulder, charging for the front door.

“Hey, dickhead. Don’t talk to her like that,” I hear Hunter say from the other room, and I know this just got a hell of a lot worse.

I rush into the den and find Caleb standing nose to nose with Hunter, with Alex pushing into the middle to separate them.

“Enough. Everyone just quit!” I yell, trying to break up the chaos.

Caleb’s chilly gaze swings to mine. “Gladly,” he says before walking out the front door, slamming it hard behind him.