Mindless

Twenty Three

~Cole~

"I don't want fucking excuses Rowan." 

"It's not an excuse Cole. The guys a cop." 

"Never stopped you before." 

"No, but there's added weight to it. I can't just grab him when he's on his way home can I? People are gonna know he's missing. He's not just a low level cop either. Did you know that?" 

"Of course I knew that." 

"So you know I couldn't go in there guns blazing." 

"Then why the fuck didn't you tell me you hadn't sorted it yet?" 

"Why didn't you ask?" 

"I'm going to put a bullet in your skull if you carry on being an ass Rowan. I'm not in the fucking mood." I rubbed my forehead and collapsed backwards onto the sofa. Callie had refused to stay home today, against my wishes. It'd been a week since the accident and she couldn't keep calling in sick - apparently- so she'd made me drive her down to Belle's this morning in the new car. I'd made Mark at the bar put Callie on sick leave with full pay which she was shocked to hear about but apparently the new owner is great, gave them a brilliant pay rise, the place looks amazing and now these added benefits are making it hard for people, including her, to want to leave. I'm tempted to drive the place into the ground just so she'll quit. Callie has so much more potential than working behind a bar and in some stuck up retail store and she knows as well as I do that what she really wants to do is totally possible, she just needs to take the step. 

Rowan chuckled down the phone at me which wasn't going to help his situation at all. If he'd have sorted this like he was supposed to weeks ago, Sebastian wouldn't be in the state to have even left the hospital, let alone put her in one. I'd had to get Callie a new phone with a new number and I've been keeping her old one, watching every toxic message come from him. A countdown to her birthday, like some guarantee he's going to get her. Not that I'd tell Callie about the messages since the last one. I know this whole thing was scaring her enough without her knowing just how serious he was about coming to find her. 

"What's so funny?"

"You're whipped." 

"Excuse me?" 

"Your girl. She's got you wrapped around her little finger and you've been dating what, 2 months? I didn't think I'd be seeing the great Cole Ambrose tumble off his pedestal that quickly." I slowly sat up, moving the phone to my other ear. 

"So what if that's the case? At least I've got someone that wants me for more than a quick what is it? 2 minutes? One day Rowan, you'll wake up and realize what a sad, pathetic life you're living and you'll be begging me to help you get something more long term than your one night stands. But if my dad finds out you didn't follow his orders to sort this last month, you're not gonna live to see the weekend, let alone meet your wife." The door behind me pushed open and I immediately turned, guard up as high as it could go as I instantly calculated where all the weapons were dotted around the apartment and how I could get to one. But the blonde stood in the door way, dropping her bag to the floor, red faced with a tight jaw instantly knocked it all down. "Text me every hour until you fix it." 

"Col-" 

"Every. Hour." I hung up the phone and stood up, walking across to Callie. "I'm gonna ask you what happened but right now I'm more concerned about how you got home." 

"Sarah." She let out a huff. "We both quit and walked out so she dropped me off." 

"Sorry, what?" 

"Belle was in and she was going off about how I couldn't work with the pot on my arm because it looked unprofessional and when I asked what she wanted me to do she said she didn't know but until the pot came off I couldn't be in and that it was my own fault that the driver slammed- slammed into me and I should have thought about my job before I let it happen. So I told her to stick her piece of shit job up her stuck up ass and left. I was going to grab a coffee and call you once I'd calmed down but then Sarah came storming out because Belle told her she'd have to pick up my shifts but Sarah has kids and everything and she already works 6 days a week and barely makes minimum wage and this is her one job. So she left. Said that she'd had an offer elsewhere for better pay so now Belle's working front of house alone." I pulled Callie into a tight hug and she held it for a second before pushing out. "Are you busy today?"