Page 52 of Mine

“I’d love to, but I need to be home at some point tonight. My mom is getting suspicious that she’s not seeing me much lately,” I groaned as we reached Cal’s car.

I went to open the door, but Cal spun me around, so he pressed me between his body and the car.

“He called me a criminal, and you didn’t flinch,” Cal said, as his breath fanned my cheek. His fingers slipped into my back pockets, his eyes on my lips as he held his breath.

“Luke spoke to me today,” I admitted, “He told me some things…” My voice trailed off as he lifted a brow.

“Somethings, Raven?”

Jesus. He isn’t taking any prisoners tonight.

Yet as I met his intense gaze, I felt no fear, I just wanted to know everything about him.

“You’re not called Cal, are you?”

He closed his eyes, exhaling into my face as I cupped his cheek.

“Please tell me,” I said softly.

“Luke is a fuckingdeadman,” he rasped through gritted teeth.

“I want to know who you are—”

“It’s complicated,” he barked, slamming his hands either side of me on the car.

My heart raced in my chest; my eyes darted around us anxiously as I swallowed.

“Who are you, really?” I demanded, refusing to back down. I wanted to know who this man was. The stories he hid so well, I wanted to hear them.

“I can’t tell you that,” he breathed, “Please understand, I can’t tell you a great deal other than I really fucked up. I tried to tell you the other night...” He trailed off as he watched Luke come out of the stadium, his head bowed and his hands in his pockets. He looked crushed, but the hatred in Cal’s eyes scared me.

“I want tokillthat bastard for ever having you. Do you know what it does to meeverytime I see him? Ihatehim. Now he has told you something that was mine to tell.”

“Whoever the fuck you are, tell me what you did. I need to know who I am falling in love with,” I exclaimed as I moved his face to mine. His eyes widened as he swallowed, his brow furrowed.

“You’re falling in love with me? It’s been three days...” his voice trailed off when I narrowed my eyes.

“Tell me about it. I spend a year with someone who I don’t sleep with or fall in love with. I spend three days with a stranger, and I do both.”

He stroked my face, and I closed my eyes, his fingertips invoking demons deep within me I didn’t know existed.

Being with Cal was like swimming in wild waters, your lungs desperate for air as you fought your way to the surface. Cal was that first breath you took,that deep, relieved inhalation. Cal was my oxygen.

“I don’t want to hurt you,” he whispered hoarsely.

“Then don’t.”

Cal exhaled, looking at me sadly. “When I was a kid, I just wanted to be rich. I spent my days researching rich people. What did they do to get to where they were?”

I listened closely, afraid to interrupt.

‘Some were bankers, most were famous, and some invented things. I didn’t want to be rich from inheritance, I wanted to earn my money, myself. When I went to school, I made out I didn’t have much money. I smoked pot, I stole and lied. My parents didn’t know what to do. They tried moving me schools, but I still ended up with the crowd I felt that I identified with. The ones that were cool, but for the wrong reasons. Anyway, there was a girl at our school. She was rich, arrived at school with her driver, designer clothes and bags. Her pops was stupidly loaded." He closed his eyes. “Someone suggested we rob her house. They’d researched it. All I can tell you is that I did what I was told to do. I was onlyfifteen.”

I slid my fingers into his hand and clasped it tightly.

“We broke in. All I had to do was throw the loot onto the ground. Easy. Except the girl was home.”

I could barely breathe as he continued.