7. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Calista

While I lay in the bath waiting for Rune to come back with lunch for us, so many different emotions swirl through my brain. Everything from pure joy to complete dread. I can’t shake the feeling that something bad is going to happen soon. I push the bad thoughts to the back of my mind as I stare at the gorgeous pink diamond on my ring finger. I twist the band, watching the diamond sparkle under the lights with a huge smile plastered on my face. Two hours ago, I thought I was a single twenty-one year old, about to be living with my parents again. Now, I’m engaged to the love of my life, ready to put in the effort every single day to earn back any of the trust I lost. My phone keeps pinging in the bedroom, but I ignore it while I let the hot water and bubbles relax my muscles.

“Cali!” I hear Rune scream as heruns through the room.

“I’m in the bath!” I yell out as I sit up and turn around to watch him come through the door, clearly panicked about something. “What’s wrong?” I stand, grabbing the robe from the hook and shoving my arms through the sleeves, loosely tying it while I make my way to him.

“You didn’t text me back, I thought your brother came for you.” He pants, breathless. I arch a brow at him, confused. Why the fuck would my brother be coming for me? I motion for him to continue and he grabs my hips, pulling me against him. “Warren said Emmett is pissed that you called him Elliot.”

“Yeah, he already paid me back for that one.” I pull away from him and slide the robe to the side, showing him the bruise on my stomach that he somehow missed earlier.

“I’ll kill him for that.” He growls, dropping to his knees and kissing every single inch of the bruise. “No man gets to put his hands on you and live to tell the story.”

“He’s my brother, Rune,” I sigh, grabbing both sides of his face so he looks up at me, “You can’t kill him.”

“I most certainly CAN kill him.” He huffs, probably taking my words the wrong way. “Besides, if I don't, Karrion will.”

“Nobody is killing my brother!” I grab his arms and pull him to his feet. “I asked for it. I knew he would hit me, and I would have something else to focus on for a bit.” His face drops as he thinks about what I said. “Stop it, it’s not your fault either, it’s mine.”

“If I wasn’t such a prick-” he starts, but I cut him off.

“NO!” I shout, taking a step away from him. “I am a grown ass woman, Merrick.” His eyes darken at the use of his first name. I’m not sure why he dislikes it so much, but he does. I save it for special occasions, or when I need him to take me seriously for a minute. “You taking the blame for my fuck ups isn’t going to help me. I need you to hold me accountable for the shit that I’ve done. If I continue blaming everyone around me for all of the mistakes I’ve made, I’m never going to get better.”

“Okay, I apologize.” He says, holding his hands up in surrender. “But I am an asshole for the way I handled that shit.”

“Let’s just agree that we both should have done things differently and move on from that.” I smile at him, putting my hands on his chest. He lifts my right hand, kissing the palm before placing it back on his chest. “We need to be better at communicating with each other, but we can do it. Together.”

He nods and pushes my hair behind my shoulder. “As long as you’re by my side, we can take on the whole world, baby.” He leans down, kissing the side of my neck. “Starting with Silas. I sent him a list of shit to bring over, he should be here in about an hour. I still need to go grab the food.”

“I thought you already got it?” I tilt my head to the side, “where did you go?”

“To get the food.” He chuckles. “But somebody isn’t very good at communicating, so I got scared.”

“Go get the damn food.” I laugh, pushing him away. He catches my wrists and pulls me close to kiss me. “I love you.”

“I love you more. Be back in a flash.” He says, kissing me one more time before he goes.

A knock at the door startles me and I jump. I grab Rune’s hoodie from the bed and throw it over my tank top as I approach the door. Peeking through the hole, I see Silas on the other side with a giant box and grocery bags. I open the door and step to the side, giving him plenty of room to walk past, but that doesn’t stop him from shoulder checking me on the way by. Of Rune’s brothers, Silas is the one that keeps me the most at arm's length. He jokes with me, but he’s not as friendly as the others. He winks over his shoulder as he sets the box and bags down on the bottom of the bed.

“Where’s Rune?” He asks as I close the door and walk to the couch. I’m grateful that this room has all the amenities of an apartment, minus a washer and dryer.

“He’s grabbing food, he should be back any time now.” I tell him, sitting down and pulling my legs under myself.

“What the fuck is that?” He narrows his eyes on my ring and I pull my sleeves over both fists to cover them. “Just yesterday he booted you out. Now you’re engaged. Just like that?”

“A lot can happen in a short period of time.” I shrug, feeling extremely uncomfortable all of a sudden. “We’re working on things.”

“Working on things.” He repeats mockingly.

“Yes. If you have a problem with that, nobody is forcing you to be here.” I stand and march over to him, because fuck him. “I don’t know what I did to make you hate me, but I’m sorry. Your brother and I love each other. If you can’t accept that, just leave.”

“My brother overdosed on my birthday.” He spits, but I can hear the pain in his voice. “Who’s fault was that, Cali?”

“We got clean, Silas.” I push his chest, but he doesn’t budge. “Fuck you for throwing that in my face again. I know how bad I screwed up, but I fixed it. Just like I’m fixing the mess I made this time.”

“You better fix it, fast.” He gives me a disgusted look that quickly morphs into something else, “because I won’t let you drag my brother down again.”

“I promise that I will never intentionally hurt him, Si.” I hope he can hear the sincerity in my voice, because I know how much family means to Rune.

“It’s the unintentional part that worries me.” He shakes his head and walks to the door, pausing with his hand on the knob. “Just make sure to leave enough pieces that we can put him back together.” With that, he opens the door and walks out, pulling the door closed behind him.