Page 96 of Burn

“Why didn’t you just go knock on his door?” Officer Ryan asks, seeming entertained by this. Either that or he’s entertained by the fact that Scarlet’s acting like a fool and moving closer and closer to him. I swear to God though, if she steals his gun, I’m out of here.

“She’s too much of a chickenshit,” Izzy adds, holding her hand to her chin that’s really starting to bleed. “I told her to just call him but she wouldn’t.”

Officer Ryan grins, that same kind of smirk Caleb gets, and digs out his cell phone. Shit. He’s calling it in and we’re heading downtown.

I wait in unbearable silence and contemplate throwing myself into oncoming traffic to avoid being arrested and my dad finding out about this.

And then he says, “Hey, Caleb,” and I stop breathing altogether. “Do you know a Mila . . .?” He pauses, holding his hand over the receiver of his cell phone. “What’s your last name?”

“Wellington,” Izzy says for me, because I fucking hate her right now.

“I’m going to have you fired,” I whisper to her, completely serious.

She rolls her eyes at my empty threat.

The officer moves the phone back to his mouth. “Wellington? Do you know her? She’s apparently looking for you.”

Caleb says something and Office Ryan grins. “Okay.” He tucks his phone away and crosses his arms over his burly chest, watching Scarlet out of the corner of his eye. Somehow, and I have no idea how, she found a sucker and she’s sucking on it. Anything to draw attention to her mouth, apparently.

Staring at my soaked and broken heels, I ask, “What did he say?”

The officer laughs, and my terrified eyes find his. “He knows you. Said he’d be right down.”

I want to die.Something fall from the sky and kill me.

“How do you know him?” Scarlet asks.

The officer smiles at me, then Scarlet. “He’s my older brother.”

Awesome.

It’s an unbearable three minutes when I see Caleb exit the apartment building and cross the street wearing jeans and a black hoodie pulled up over his head. When he approaches us with a smile, he yanks the hood off, confused yet amused eyes wandering to mine.

I have nothing to say. I’m bleeding and look like a drowned cat.

“What happened to you?” he asks and then glances at his brother, smiling.

My heart is invading my ears. What did he ask?

When I don’t reply, Izzy does, naturally. “She wanted to see you and you didn’t call her or come by the hotel.”

Caleb buries his hands in the pockets of his hoodie, relaxing against a parking meter. “I was in training down in Vancouver. Just got back like an hour ago.” And then he winks at me. “I don’t have a number.” He glances at Izzy’s bleeding chin. “What happened to you?”

“I fell from that tower crane.” She tips her head backward to the yellow tower of death.

Despite the look of concern, he laughs and reaches for her head to angle it up. “You need a couple of stitches.”

“I could have told you that,” Scarlet finally says, only now she’s got one arm tucked around Officer Ryan, and he’s allowing it. He even gives her his number on a ticket, I assume. Or he’s writing her a ticket for being a complete dumbass.

Letting go of Izzy, Caleb steps to me, bumping my shoulder with his. “So . . . you’re into stalking now?”

I cross my arms over my chest. “Sadly.”

Licking his bottom lip, he squints and leans into my ear, his lips brushings my earlobe. My unicorn tummy tickles return because he’sthatgood. “It’s fuckin’ hot.”

I’M SURE YOU can guess where Caleb and I end up?

After tossing my keys to Scarlet, Caleb he hauls my ass over his shoulder and carries me all the way back up to his apartment and tosses me on the chair in his room. “Hope you didn’t have anything else planned for tonight.”

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