Toxic Bad Boy (16 page)

I decided Gianna and I
would need time away to be alone after we got back together, maybe
a camping trip. Until money came in from selling my paintings, I
couldn’t afford anything more extravagant. After we graduated, I’d
take her someplace exotic where she’d wear nothing but a bikini all
day long. When I allowed her to wear anything at all.

“
Give me my money,” Hailey
demanded with her hand outstretched after she’d finished
eating.

I pulled the bills from my
wallet, slapping them onto her greedy palm. “You did
good.”

“
I’m always good,” she
said suggestively. “You seemed to have forgotten.”

“
If it wasn’t memorable,
it’s hardly my fault.”

“
Jerk,” she muttered,
stuffing her earnings into her bag.

Fifteen minutes later I
dropped her off at home, thinking it’d be the last I saw of her if
I could help it. Hopefully I wouldn’t need her assistance in
convincing Gianna that Gage was a cheater.

I waited an hour to call
Gage. He should be on his way home from the party by now. He
answered, the sound of him driving coming through my
phone.

“
Yeah?”

“
It’s Caleb,” I told
him.

“
What do you
want?”

“
A meet.”

“
What
the hell do you mean,
a
meet
?”

“
I need to have a talk
with you. Where can we meet?”

Gage chuckled obnoxiously,
the sound grating on my ears. “You think I’m dumb, man? Like I’m
going to fall for that. I’m not making it easy for you to kick my
ass again.”

“
I promise not to beat
your ass,” I ground out, probably lying.

“
Nope, I think I’ll go
home and get some sleep instead.”

“
It’s about
Gianna.”

“
Of course it is,” he
said. “What else would we have in common but my girl?”

“
My
girl,” I corrected
him.

“
Whatever. What about
her?”

Seemed like we were going
to do this over the phone. “You’re going to break up with her
tomorrow.”

He burst out laughing and
I pulled the phone away from my ear until he’d finished. “I’m
not.”

“
If you don’t, I’ll tell
her about that girl you fucked in the bathroom tonight.” The line
went silent and I check to make sure he hadn’t hung up. “Nothing to
say?”

“
What girl in the bathroom
tonight?”

“
The girl in the purple
dress,” I reminded him.

“
There were a couple girls
wearing purple, but I didn’t go into a bathroom with any of them.
How did you even know where I was tonight?”

“
Nice try, but the girl is
willing to tell Gianna all about it.”

“
She can tell her whatever
she likes, but I didn’t have sex with anyone tonight.” He was a
good liar. Gianna might actually believe him. “It would be
unprofessional of me to mix business and pleasure. I’m trying to
build my reputation as a DJ, not ruin it. If I wanna move up to
deejaying in clubs I gotta have a good rep.”

“
Fuck,” I hissed,
beginning to believe him.

“
Oh, you sleazy fucker.”
he drawled out, realization dawning. “You tried to set me up? What
happened, the chick you sent in hooked up with the wrong guy?” He
busted up laughing again. “I can’t wait to tell Gianna
this!”

I hung up, immediately
dialing Hailey.

“
Hello?”

“
You banged the wrong
dude, you idiot!”

“
What are you talking
about?”

“
I told you, the
half-Asian, half-white DJ!”

“
Oh, that guy?”

“
Yep,
that
guy!” I snapped sarcastically, wanting to strangle
her.

“
My bad,” she said
insincerely. “But you’re the loser who handed over three hundred
bucks.”

“
Did you even approach
Gage?”

“
Nope,
just chilled out for a few hours and took your money,
sucker
!”

“
I want my money back,
Hailey!”

She snorted. “Good luck
with that. What are you gonna do? Call the cops?”

“
Bitch!”

“
That’s what you get for
treating me like a hooker!”

Click
.

“
If a man is truly in
love, the most beautiful woman in the world couldn’t take him away.
Maybe for a few days, but not forever.”

-Eva Gabor

GIANNA

I knocked on the door.
“Caleb!”

No answer.

Trying to call him for the
third time this morning, I hung up when I got his voicemail.
Damn that sexy voice!

His car was parked out
front and it wasn’t even nine o’clock yet.

“
Caleb, wake up!” I
yelled, pounding harder.

Frustrated, I decided to
go get breakfast since I’d skipped it this morning and come back in
an hour. I was just starting my car when the front door swung
open.

He wasn’t wearing a shirt
again. Just because I was scared to act on the feelings he aroused
didn’t mean they didn’t exist. I killed the engine, stepping out
more cautiously than earlier.

Caleb came onto the porch,
wearing nothing but shorts and a pair of headphones around his
neck. After the racket I’d made getting his attention, housewives
in the neighborhood were probably peeking out their blinds. His
muscular chest and arms were going to make them all hot and
bothered.

Not that I felt the least
territorial, of course.

The happiness in his hazel
eyes at my being here had guilt creeping in until I snapped out of
my hot guy daze and remembered why I came.

“
Inside!” I ordered,
barging past him.

“
Gladly,” he said
softly.

Walking into the living
room, I spun around to see him shut the front door. His toned chest
and abs were distracting me from my anger. “Put a shirt
on!”

Without a word, he grabbed
a sweatshirt lying on the couch and pulled it over his
head.

“
Gage called me last
night.”

“
Good for him,” Caleb
answered. “How did you know where we moved to?”

“
My mom told me. Now, how
about you explain last night to me?”

Caleb walked by me into
the kitchen, opening the fridge and drinking straight from an
orange juice carton. “What are you talking about?”

Leaning forward, I
snapped, “Caleb! You sent some skank to that frat party to have sex
with Gage!”

He braced himself on the
countertop, his eyes darkening. “So?”

“
So?
” I yelled. “That’s all you have to say for
yourself?”

“
I’ll do anything to get
you back. I’m not going to apologize for it. And Hailey totally
screwed me over.”

“
Hailey? Were you trying
to give him a STD?” The girl was nasty. Caleb was lucky she hadn’t
given him anything when they messed around years ago. “And you
sound a heck of a lot like Josh when you say crap like
that.”

Caleb circled around the
counter to stand in front of me. “Don’t compare me to that
psychopath. I
love
you, Gianna. How many times do I have to tell you that I’d
never hurt you?”

“
And having Hailey sleep
with my boyfriend wouldn’t hurt me?”

His dark brows drew
closer. “You don’t love him.”

“
Yes, I do!” I lied,
pissed at his selfish attitude. “We are not getting back together,
Caleb. And the answer you’ve been dying to know is
yes
, I’ve had sex with
Gage!”

His face twisted in pain
and I instantly regretted my lies.

His arm swung toward the
front door. “Get the fuck out!” I flinched at the rage contorting
his face. He looked so hurt and angry, for a second I actually
worried that he really would hit me.

I ran out of there, still
mad at Caleb, but now even madder at myself. I knew he’d had sex
with someone else since getting released, so what right did he have
to be so upset with me? It took him only hours after I’d broken up
with him to move on. I’d cried myself to sleep that night and the
next.

So why did I feel so
guilty?

The house was empty when I
got home, my dad at work. Good thing, since my face was a wreck
from crying.

Feeling horrible despite
everything he’d done, I sent a text to Caleb around noon.
I’m sorry I hurt you.

He never
replied.

I cleaned the house for
the next few hours, stopping only to answer the phone when Cece
called. She was bummed about having to turn down the invitation to
the Colorado Ballet Academy, but starting to be happy about the
baby. Dante seemed to be taking it well, but neither one had told
their families yet.

At four o’clock there was
nothing left to clean, so I grabbed my keys and walked to the
corner to check the mail. It was all for my dad except a blue
envelope that greeting cards came in. Addressed to me, there was no
sender listed. My grandparents had sent Chance a present last week
and I figured they may have sent me a gift card. My dad’s parents
were loaded and sometimes sent gifts for no reason.

I dropped my dad’s mail on
the kitchen counter for him to find later and ripped open my
letter. It was a
Get Well Soon
card, which was odd since my injuries had healed
months ago. Opening it, my eyes went straight to the handwritten
note at the bottom.

Because I’m going to cut
you up, whore.

I dropped the card and
envelope, rushing to the front door to double check that I’d locked
it.

*****

CALEB

I’d forgotten all about
Norah. With everything that happened since last night, it had
slipped my mind. She’d called earlier in the day, but I’d turned
off my phone. Gianna had ripped my heart out once again with her
admissions this morning and I was finally forced to face the
truth.

I wasn’t getting my girl
back.

I turned my phone back on
at dinnertime, planning to ask my dad if we could eat out. After
spending the day alone, feeling like shit, I needed company and to
get out of the house.

Before I called my dad, I
saw a text from Norah sent about an hour ago.
We on for tonight?

Hell yeah.

I dialed her number
instead of texting back. I’d forget Gianna and if Norah was willing
to help me out, all the better.

She answered sounding
breathless, like she’d ran to her phone. “Hello?”

“
What do you have in
mind?”

“
How about you pick me up
and we see where the night takes us?” Her voice was slightly raspy,
something I hadn’t noticed before. It made me think of sex. Lots
and lots of sex.

“
Text me your address and
I’ll be there in an hour,” I told her, making a mental note to take
condoms.

“
Okay, see you then,
Caleb.”

I was so getting laid
tonight.

A little over an hour
later I knocked on the door of an apartment not far from the
University of Denver campus. A chick who wasn’t Norah answered. She
was short and round, but cute, like a chubby version of Cece. Heck,
Cece would probably look like this girl’s twin in a few
months.

Norah came out from a
bedroom, wearing another of those short, skintight dresses I’d
found a new appreciation for. This one white, it was a perfect
contrast to her olive skin. I pictured the same dress on Gianna and
found the image even better.

Fuck Gianna!

No, fuck Norah tonight,
Caleb!

Pushing away thoughts of
my lying, cheating ex-girlfriend, I forced a smile for Norah and
her friend who glanced back and forth at us. “You look, uh,
beautiful.”

“
Thanks,” she replied
knowingly, as if it wasn’t news to her. “See you later,
Christina.”

“
Have fun!” Christina said
before closing the door behind us.

I followed Norah down the
stairs to my car. She clapped her hands together in excitement as I
opened her door. “I love your car!”

I got that a lot in the
past from girls. Once I’d settled behind the wheel, I asked, “Where
to?”

“
Why don’t you surprise
me?”

Was this girl expecting
romance? Before Gianna I hadn’t done romance. I wasn’t sure I could
fake it. “Hungry?”

“
Can we eat
Chinese?”

What was up with girls
wanting Chinese food this week? I supposed Panda Express wouldn’t
cut it with Norah, so I drove to a restaurant I liked near my mom’s
place.