Forgiven (23 page)

The day flew by faster than I would have liked. Even though I was almost completely healed, Caleb still insisted on waiting on me hand and foot. The only thing he let me help with was the dishes, but that was only because he hated doing dishes—who didn’t? But since he’d been doing everything else, it was the least I could do. That night we decided to watch a movie. It still amazed me how similar our tastes were in movies and music.

We cuddled on the couch with a bowl of popcorn and a blanket. I was sitting next to him nestled into his side. He was running his hand up and down my arm, and every few strokes his fingers would lightly graze the side of my breast. I didn’t even think he was conscious of the fact that he was doing it, but the movement was still attacking every nerve ending I had. It felt like the nerves in my arm and breast had a direct connection to my core. I tried squeezing my legs together—I even shifted around in my seat—but nothing relieved the ache.

I looked over at Caleb to see if he was doing it on purpose. He was facing forward, watching the movie. It seemed like there was a smirk lurking at the corners of his mouth, but I couldn’t tell. I decided to just try and focus on the movie, because I was still too shy to start anything myself. I tried to focus on
Inception
, one of my favorite movies, but I just couldn’t concentrate.

Caleb’s hand stopped moving, I felt him turn towards me as his other hand came up to cradle my face. Turning my face towards him, he touched his lips to mine and sucked on my bottom lip. I gasped and he took the opportunity to slip his tongue between my lips. I heard us both moan as he continued to devour my lips.

After a few moments of passionate kissing, he got up off of the couch and picked me up without breaking the connection of our lips. He carried me back to his bedroom, where he lay me down on his bed and did his best to take care of the ache between my legs.

The next morning we were woken by a banging noise that echoed throughout the apartment. Caleb groaned before getting up and throwing on his boxers and a pair of gym shorts. He walked out into the living room. “Josh, what the fuck are you doing?” I heard him yell as he walked down the hallway.

Deciding to get up, I looked at my phone to see what time it was.
Holy shit, it was almost noon!
How in the hell did we sleep that late when we’d gone to bed pretty early last night? No wonder Josh was already home. Emily would probably be back in a few hours.

I crawled out of bed and threw on a t-shirt and a pair of pajama shorts. I knew the bruises were almost gone, but not wanting to give Josh a reason to ask any questions, I put a little concealer on and headed out to the living room. When I got there I realized that not only was Josh out there, but Andrew and Nick were there as well. Shit! I hadn’t seen Nick since the night of the fight.

“So, this is what you’ve been doing all week,” Andrew surmised conspiratorially.

I felt the blush heat my cheeks and if I had to bet on it, I would say that my face was probably crimson by now.

“Don’t be an asshole,” Caleb scowled and came over to put his arm around me. I could see Nick was upset by all of this. I knew he liked me—he’d told me so at the bar that night. I liked Nick, but I just didn’t have the same feelings for him that I had for Caleb.

“Hey Angie, how was your break?” Josh asked with a smile.

I smiled back. “It was better than I expected.”

He looked between Caleb and me and nodded his head. “So, I guess you two are together now, huh?”

Caleb squeezed me tighter. “Yes and I’m not sorry I stayed home with her.”

Andrew looked me up and down, assessing me. I blushed again. “No one came blame you for that.”

“Andrew, if you don’t stop eye-fucking my girlfriend, I’m gonna beat the shit out of you,” he half joked, half threatened.

Andrew threw his hands in the air, palms outwards in a gesture of surrender. “Calm down man, no harm done…but you have to admit she’s fucking gorgeous.”

Were they kidding me? Were they really going to sit here and have this conversation with me in the room? I was already uncomfortable with Nick sitting there watching me.

“Andrew…” Caleb warned.

Josh burst out laughing, and I couldn’t help but giggle as I leaned into Caleb’s side. Once Josh got control of himself he asked, “Who wants breakfast?”

“Breakfast? It’s noon,” I scoffed.

Josh looked at me like I was crazy. “Who doesn’t love breakfast anytime?”

“I’m in,” Andrew volunteered.

Nick was now looking less hurt, and more pissed. “Sure, whatever.”

Josh looked over to us waiting on an answer. “You guys wanna come?”

Caleb looked down at me. “What do you say, breakfast on me?”

I smiled, he’d taken care of everything all week. “Sure, but you have to let me pay.”

He gave me a look and then turned to Josh. “Yeah, we’re in. Just give us a few minutes to get ready.”

Caleb turned me around and led me back to his room. “Let’s get showered. You can jump in with me to save time,” he suggested with a smirk.

I gasped. “I’m not showering with you while they’re all out there in the living room!”

He pulled me into his arms. “Don’t worry about them.”

I looked up at him. “Did you see Nick’s face? We’ve hurt him enough already, there’s no need to add insult to injury.”

“I’m not worried about him. He’ll have to get over it eventually. Come on,” he pouted at me.

Before I could protest again, he grabbed my hand and dragged me to the bathroom. I finally gave in and got in the shower with him. It wasn’t like we had time to do anything anyway.

Once we were ready, we jumped in Andrew’s explorer and headed to the diner. We sat in a circular booth, with Josh making sure that Caleb and Nick were nowhere near each other.

The guys talked about their trip and football, while I just sat back and listened. Caleb was fascinating to watch when he talked about football, and it was obviously something that he loved to do, and he did it well. The tension between Nick and Caleb seemed to diminish throughout breakfast. I was glad, I didn’t want them fighting anymore.

After breakfast, Andrew dropped us off at Caleb’s apartment. Caleb and I spent the rest of the day hanging out with Josh but as the afternoon wore on, I realized that it was time to get ready to get back to the real world. It had been such a wonderful week with Caleb—forgetting how the week had begun—that I didn’t want it to end.

We were sitting on the couch watching TV when I looked over at Caleb and grabbed his hand. “I think it’s time for me to head home.”

He kissed the back of my hand, but I could see the sadness in his eyes. He didn’t want me to go either. “Are you sure you don’t want to stay?”

I rested my head on his shoulder, “As much as I would love to, if I don’t go home and see Em, she’ll freak.”

He sighed. “Fine, but I’m hanging out with you at your apartment for a while.”

I stood up and held out my hand to him. “Well let’s go then.”

We packed up my stuff and Caleb packed a change of clothes just in case. I said goodbye to Josh and we left for my apartment. Everyone was home by the time we got there. The minute we walked through the door, Emily jumped up off the couch, grabbed my bag from Caleb, and pulled me into my room.

Once she closed the door she turned to me, concern in her eyes. “I was so worried about you all week. Are you okay?”

I sat down on my bed and smiled up at her. “I’m better than okay.”

She sat down next to me and picked up my arm to inspect my wrist, before looking back up and searching my face. Her exploration stopped when her eyes reached mine. Whatever she saw there made her gasp. “You
didn’t
?!”

I knew what she was talking about, but I figured I would have a little fun with her first—payback for giving Caleb such a hard time.

“I didn’t what?” I asked with a blank look on my face.

“Don’t you start with me, you know exactly what I’m talking about,” she scowled.

I laughed. “Yes I did.”

“OH MY GOD!” she yelled.

Caleb came flying in the door, “Is everything okay in here?” he asked with a panicked look on his face.

I smiled at him, “Yeah, honey, everything’s fine.”

His face lit up. “Oh, so I’m ‘honey’ now?”

My face flamed when I realized what I’d said. It had just come out, I didn’t even think about it before I said it. He walked over and cupped my cheek. “Don’t be embarrassed. I liked that you called me ‘honey’.”

He winked at me and started to walk away. “I’ll be in the living room with Jillian and Heather, so you two can finish talking.”

I looked over at Emily who was sat there in stunned silence, her mouth hanging open. I reached over and closed her mouth with my fingers, and she shook her head as if to clear it.

“Who was that? And where is Caleb Jacobs?” she asked in awe.

“Em, that’s what I’ve been trying to tell you.”

“Sexy
and
sweet? I guess I might have been too hard on him. I have to say, I was shocked when he said he wanted me to go on the cruise because he was going to stay with you for the week. After I left I was worried that he might regret staying and take it out on you, or bail on you. But I was wrong…very wrong.” she mused.

“And how did you finally figure it out?”

She shrugged her shoulders. “Simple…you slept with him.”

My mouth dropped open in shock. “So let me get this straight. You decided my boyfriend wasn’t a total asshole because
I had sex with him
? It didn’t matter that he was willing to give up his spring break trip to stay with me while you went on your cruise?” I demanded.

She turned and grasped both my hands. “That’s not what I meant. I realized that he wasn’t a total asshole when he wanted to stay with you this week. I still had concerns though, but I just figured out how special he really is, because you slept with him.”

“Huh?” I gave her a blank look. “What are you talking about?”

She gave me a sad smile. “You’ve guarded your virginity like it was the Holy Grail because of the stupid-ass lies your father’s been spouting for years. There was only one way you were going to give it up, and that was if you found that special person, someone deserving of your heart.”

“Em, I’ve only known him for a few weeks…” I trailed off looking down.

“Look me in the eye,” she demanded. I looked up and she smiled. “You love him, don’t you?” she asked.

I sighed. “Yeah, I do.”

“Well, what’s wrong with that?” she looked confused.

“I don’t know.” I shrugged. “Nothing. Everything.” I threw myself onto my bed with a huff. “It’s just,” I paused needing to collect my thoughts. “All so…new. I’ve never felt this way about anyone before.”

She squeezed my hands reassuringly. “It will be fine, your heart wouldn’t choose someone who wasn’t worthy of it.”

She dropped my hands and pulled me into a hug. When she let go, I smiled at her, “Thanks.”

She stood up and held her hand out to me. “Now let’s go save Caleb from the wonder twins and their twenty questions.”

I had to laugh as I gave Emily my hand, because Heather and Jillian were probably grilling him about our week like a couple of seasoned detectives. She helped me to my feet and we headed to the living room.

Caleb sat patiently answering the questions Heather and Jillian were throwing at him. He saw us walk out of my bedroom and gave me a smile. Heather looked up then and smirked. “Well, look who decided to join us.”

I rolled my eyes at her and sat down next to Caleb. “Ha, ha, very funny. Are you done grilling my boyfriend?”

“Actually, we are. And since no one has been shopping, we were thinking about going to grab a pizza for dinner,” Jillian said.

“Sounds good to me,” Emily said pulling money out of her pocket. “Are you guys going to pick it up?”

Heather shrugged. “Sure.”

I stood up. “Let me get some money.” Caleb grabbed my hand and pulled me back down to the sofa and said, “I got it.” He pulled money out of his pocket and gave it to Heather.

She smiled approvingly at him. I turned toward him. “You don’t have to keep paying for me.”

He’d already paid for breakfast that morning, and everything else all week, so I felt bad that he was paying for pizza too. He kissed me on the forehead. “I know, but I want to.”

“Anything special on the pizza?” Jillian asked.

Everybody shook their heads. Jillian grabbed her keys and out the door they went.

Emily came and sat down on the other couch. “Now that they’re gone, tell me what’s going on with your dad.”

I felt my body start to shake as I thought about the call from Officer Simons. Caleb put his arm around me for support, and I took a deep breath. “He’s out on bail, but there’s a restraining order on him.”

Emily stood up. “ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?” she screamed. “They let that asshole out on bail?”

The tears were stinging my eyes as the fear overwhelmed me again. Caleb shot Emily a warning look, and pulled me in tighter to his side. “Shh, baby, I’m not gonna let him hurt you,” he soothed.

Emily came over and sat on the other side of me. “Oh Angie, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to freak out, I just can’t believe they let him out.” She linked her fingers with mine. “Everything will be okay. Did they set a hearing date?”