Page 9 of Fighting Our Forever

Chapter Seven

Ryan

Iknow I shouldn’t have done that to her, but I couldn’t help myself. If my sweet Callie wasn't such a stubborn ass, I wouldn’t have had to. She knows there’s something between the three of us, and for the life of me I can’t figure out why she’s fighting us so hard. I’m not letting her push us away for another seven months.

Walking down the hall to my classroom, my cell buzzes in my pocket. Pulling it out I smile down at the text I just received.

Paul: Have you seen her?

Ryan: Oh, have I seen her.

When I don’t add anything else, he replies with a gif of Stanley, from The Office, rolling his eyes. I don’t know what it is about that damn show, but we started watching it a couple weeks ago, and we can’t stop. Whenever we have free time, that’s what’s on.

Ryan: We’ve got a date with her tonight. I told her we’d text her the details.

Paul: Fuck yes! What are we doing? We can take her to Gio Carlo’s for dinner.

I shake my head knowing how wrong he is. Gio Carlo’s is the nicest restaurant in this small town. I know he wants to show her how good we can treat her, how we’ll cherish her forever, but I know Callie, and that’s not the way to do it.

Ryan: You’re going to have to trust me on this one. Callie will hate it. We’re going to Mountain Adventures.

Paul: Putt-Putt?

Ryan: You got it. Make sure you’re home by four forty-five, I want to pick our woman up by five-thirty.

Paul: Ok. See you at home.

As I’m opening the door to my classroom, the bell rings, and I’m relieved to find none of my students have snuck in before the bell like they tend to do. Instead of texting her the details, I decide to get a little more creative. While my students are coming in and unpacking, doing their morning routine, I quickly order some flowers online.

We’ll see you at 5:30 Beautiful!

XOXO Ryan and Paul

∞∞∞

We’re about to get out of the truck to get our woman when she walks out of her cottage and quickly locks the door. Damn, she looks good in dark blue jeans and a white fitted t-shirt. I know she’s not trying to look good, but she looks fantastic in whatever she’s got on.

“What the hell is she doing?” Paul asks in frustration and then gets out of the truck.

I shrug, half the things this woman does are foreign to me. Following behind Paul, we meet her in the middle, and she stops, staring at the ground.

“Why didn’t you wait for us to come and get you?” He demands.

She sighs and looks up at Paul, the fight within her almost tears me apart. “Why waste your energy getting out and coming to my door. It’s fine Paul. I can just as easily lock up and hop in the truck.”

I take her hand and hold it between my much bigger ones. “You wait, because that is what a man is supposed to do for their woman. We are here to protect you, Callie, to make sure you’re safe.”

Jutting out her chin and placing her hands on her full hips, she frowns at us. “I don’t need you to keep my safe Ryan. My dad is a cop remember? He taught me how to protect myself. Plus, now that the psycho is gone, there’s nothing to be afraid of.”

“You shouldn’t have to protect yourself. That is our job now.” Paul says pushing her auburn hair out of her face.

“It’s really not.” Callie huffs stepping out of Paul's touch. Crossing her arms over her chest, she glares at us.

“Whatever you say, Precious. How about we go have some fun instead of arguing over forgone conclusions?”

“The only reason you two are here right now is because I needed coffee this morning and I refuse to drink lounge swill. This will be our first and only date. After tonight, that’s it!” Then she pushes past us and stomps toward my truck, purposefully getting into the back seat and slamming the door.

Paul looks at me. “What the fuck does coffee have to do with anything?”

---