Mindless

Twenty

~Cole~

Fuck knows why she hadn't answered my call last night but it'd pissed me off enough to get into a fight on the ice today. It's a charity game for fuck sake. It's not that competitive. I just lost it. I'd spent the whole day seeing red even though I knew she'd gotten home safe. She'd text me, and I'd checked the camera to see her stood in the middle of the apartment for a solid few minutes. I came out to text her back but it didn't deliver until this morning and when I looked back on the cameras, I just caught her heading into my room, dildo in hand and I was tempted to flick across and watch whatever show she was putting on in my bedroom but felt it might cross some serious lines right now. 

I'd checked on the guys I had tailing her constantly, no one had caused trouble at work, she'd been a little reserved, less chatty with people than she had been the other nights I'd had them keeping an eye on her but nothing concerning. They said she'd sat in the car talking to someone but couldn't make out exactly what was being said. It wasn't aggressive or anything and the mumbled voice on the other end of the line was female so it wasn't Sebastian. I had no idea what was going on with her but I wanted to go home at the very first opportunity just to get back with her. I hated this. Being hundreds of miles away, not knowing what was going on in her head, not being able to hold her like I did before I left. 

"Head out of your phone Ambrose." Theo slapped me between the shoulder blades. "Apparently Callie thinks this team need to see the real you. Can't make you do that if your sober and staring at your phone like it's gonna explode." He moved to stand in front of me, sliding a beer bottle to me along the bar. "She's fine. Lil called her earlier after getting a text from one of her college friends. Cal called her on her way home from the bar last night." 

"One of her college friends?" Theo nodded. Well, that solves that then. We both looked around the bar awkwardly. Theo had made it perfectly clear he wasn't exactly my number one fan and that's fine. I didn't need some guy 2 years younger than me to make me his god. 

"So what's the deal with you two then?" I almost choke on my beer. "Because you sure as hell don't seem like the kind of guy to get pent up about some blonde girl with a train load or baggage looking for a little fun." I clenched my jaw tight enough to stop me  cracking at Theo. "You're not the first to get like this over her you know? Pretty much every guy she sleeps with becomes addicted like she's some kind of drug. She's not a relationship kind of girl." 

"You don't know jack shit." 

"I've known the girl for nearly 5 years Cole. I know a lot more than you think I do." I turned to face him. "You need to know what you're getting into if you're gonna develop feelings for her Cole. She's used to pushing people out and she's damn good at it too. This is why I was against your whole arrangement in the first place. I love Callie like a sister but one thing she's really fucking good at is having guys fall for her and then dropping them like a game. Lilah's told me about guys in college who were top of their field. Basketball, baseball, swimming, general academics. But Callie fucked with them so badly they destroyed everything. Burned it to the ground trying to get her back only for her to forget their names. That's her business and I'm not gonna judge it. But there's a reason I told you not to get attached and to keep it as that one weekend at the wedding, to not let it get out of hand. Because now you're attached she's going to move on and it's already effecting your attitude at work." 

"You really think I'd let her go that easy?" 

"You don't get an option on it unfortunately." 

"Theo?" He raised an eyebrow at me, drinking slowly from his beer bottle. "Keep speaking about Callie like she's an annoying waste of space and I will make sure your retired before the start of the next season and stuck in a wheelchair for the rest of your life."  As my phone started ringing in my hand, I gave him a quick smirk. He knows Callie less than he thinks he does. I check the time as I answered, moving through the bar to find a quieter spot, a little confused as to why she was calling me at 10pm when her shift doesn't finish until 1. "Hey." 

"Hey." I can hear the roar of my car engine on her line, the call otherwise silent. 

"Everything okay?" 

"Uh. Yeah. Listen. Remember when we were on our way to the wedding and we ran down all of our rules for this whole, fake dating thing?" I leaned back against the wall. 

"Cal. You sound upset Love. What's going on?" 

"Nothing's going on Cole. I'm fine. Would you just let me get this out? Do you remember or not?" 

"Yes, I remember. 9 rules." 

"Good. Okay. Good. I'm- uh- I'm pulling rule 1. This isn't working how I need it to anymore." 

"What do you mean it's not-" 

"It just- it just isn't. It's no bodies fault. I just- I don't know. It's not working. It's not benefitting me and the rule was if it stops benefitting one of us, we stop." 

"Where are you right now Cal?" 

"I'm driving back to your place so I can get my stuff and get out before you come home. I shouldn't have-" 

"Hey, when I get back home, I'm thinking of making lasagna. With some garlic bread. What do you think?" My heart pounded in my chest as I pulled my phone down, long enough to send a quick text to Rowan, demanding he get to my place and calm her down. She wasn't going anywhere. Not a chance in hell was Callie moving herself out of my place. We were going to get to the bottom of whatever was going on with her. 

"Lasagna? Cole, are you even listening to me?" 

"I'm listening Cal. I hear you. I just think you're having a bad minute. If it's not working Cal, that's fine, we can sit down and talk about it when I'm home on Saturday but you're not jumping into this without us talking it through first. Pull the car over, I'll get Row-" 

"I'm not pulling ov-" Callie is cut off with a screeching of tires and the crunching of metal and the world stops. For what feels like the entirety of the universes existence, I'm frozen, listening to the beeps of the phone going dead. I turn around and for some reason Theo is stood right behind me. Wide eyed like I've been screaming bloody murder in the hotel hallway.

"Call Lilah. Something's happened to Callie."