A Touch Of Sin [BxB]

21.

Callum's POV:

Jake walks toward her and I stumble after him, his words spinning around in my mind. After we cross the grass, we stop a few metres from her. She hasn't moved. I can see, now that I'm closer, she looks a lot like the boys. She has beautiful eyes, the nice skin, the defined jawline. She is stunning, in a way that makes you want to stare at her for longer than you should.

"Debra," he states.

"Jake," she says.

"Are you stalking me?" he questions.

"It's not like I have a number to call you."

"Kind of lost that right when you walked out on us and left us with an abusive alcoholic."

I feel incredibly awkward at this point. I take an involuntary step back as if that would help make me disappear.

"Good to see you're not angry, then," she smiles weakly. "I've tried to track down your brother but had no luck."

"How did you find me?"

"I saw a tagged post on Facebook, from Callum. Turns out his mother and I were in a Facebook Book Club together."

Oh. Great. Jake casts a glance at me and I give him an apologetic smile. Damn internet and damn social media.

Jake scoffs. "You. In a book club."

She frowns but doesn't comment.

"Okay. And? What do you want?" he asks.

"Is it a crime to want to see my sons?"

"No," he shakes his head. "Leaving them with a psycho is."

She exhales. "I don't think anything I say will ever make it right."

"Probably not but you haven't actually apologised or explained yourself, either."

"I'd like to. I was hoping we could do dinner."

"Dinner?" he deadpans.

"Yeah. You, your brother," she pauses for a moment, to look at me. "And Callum and Ellie."

A shiver, once again, runs down my spine. She must have looked everyone up.

I must say, Jake's holding himself remarkably well. You cannot tell what he is thinking or how he is feeling. He shrugs.

"When?"

"Tomorrow night?"

"Where?"

"There's a new Italian restaurant in the main street. We could meet there at six?" she suggests, twisting her fingers together, a habit that I know Jake has, also.

"I guess."

"See you then," she nods and smiles at me.

She walks away and we both stand in shocked silence for several moments.

"Did that actually just happen?" I mutter.

"What. The. Fuck."

"Are you okay?" I turn to Jake, placing a hand on his arm.

"I don't know. I haven't heard from her in years. Why now?"

"I have no idea. We can tell the others tonight. See what they think."

"Mm," he mumbles, deep in thought.

We get back to where we were sitting and I clean up the mess we caused.