Page 38 of Hell's Claim

“Well, now, I didn’t see that coming,” he said, surprised.

“What?”

“You lack self-confidence. You are so confident while on investigations, I never noticed. Callie, I’m aware of your past, we all are, honey, it is not something you’ve ever hidden from us. But it’s done a number on you. Honestly, I had a crush on you for ages at the start. However, you were so focused on the tasks facing us I realised you’d never date a member of the team,” Jack replied.

“Really?” I asked, pleasantly shocked.

“Yeah.”

“Jack wasn’t the only one,” Phil spoke up, and I turned to him with wide eyes. “I fancied the pants off you, but you had an unapproachable air to you. Now, I know it’s because you’re guarding your heart, but that little trait was attractive because I wanted to be the man who breached your walls.”

“Damn,” I muttered, more than a little shocked by their admissions.

“Not me, though,” Harry admitted cheerfully. His gaze flicked to Freddie, who didn’t notice. “I liked someone else.”

“Sunny is being genuine?” I asked.

“Yeah. Callie, the man is sending you personal gifts, but when sending something that can be shared, he covers all of us. That’s a guy with a mission. Sunny knows how important we are to you. By including us, he’s covering all bases into winning you over,” Freddie explained.

I frowned, trying to understand. “Sunny’s using you to get me?”

“Not quite. Sunny knows buying you food and not us would make you feel bad. To neutralise that, he sends to us all. That means we like Sunny and say nice things about him. Which means you absorb our good feelings about him. It’s a clever plan,” Freddie continued.

That gave me food for thought. Sunny was honestly courting me, according to the others. I still didn’t know if this was his way or apologising and trying to make amends. As much as they ate at me, I hated my self-doubts and wished I could read people better.

I had dated a couple of times, but they’d not been men like Sunny. Adam had done a number on me, and the guys I’d dated after him had been few and far between. Trust didn’t come easily to me. Sunny had hurt me more than Adam, though, and if I was honest with myself, it was partially my own fault. I knew Sunny had been drunk; I had to take ownership of that.

But Sunny, the sexy man, was courting me, and in earnest, it appeared. I wasn’t sure what to make of that.

Chapter Nine.

Sunny

Every day for a week straight, Sunny sent Callie gifts. Chance looked confused at what he was doing, which appeared to be nothing. Chance wasn’t aware of his slow courtship of Callie. However, Freddie had spilled the beans to Lavender, and Lavender had told Clio, who was ecstatic. Clio kept dropping hints of things that she knew Callie liked. Thalia wasn’t much better, but Polly regarded him suspiciously. Let her. The bitch had been taken down several notches after her two weeks with Callie.

There was even talk of the five quints doing a special episode for the network, which would be interesting. But that was up in arms at the moment. Right now, Sunny was watching Callie from a distance as she received his latest gift. She was outside Ravenberry Manor, and her team were milling around as usual.

Callie unwrapped the parcel, and a squeal left her lips.

“What is it? Holy damn, how did he get hold of that?” Phil exclaimed.

Callie was holding a prototype of a new spirit box. It hadn’t even been released for commercial use yet. With Phoe’s help,he’d tracked the inventor down and invested some money to get Callie one. It was the buzz item in the paranormal community, apparently one of the clearest and most powerful boxes created. And now my girl had it.

Sunny watched Callie’s face light up as she opened the box it came in and yanked it out. The team all crowded around her as she examined it. Callie’s face was alight with sheer pleasure, and Sunny smiled. He had scored a winning goal with that. Callie passed the spirit box to Phil as she read the card.

He’d signed it and told her to be ready for seven tonight and to dress nice. Callie blushed as Freddie snatched it from her hand and squealed. Callie laughed as Freddie began babbling at her and shook her head.

A warm feeling flooded Sunny as he realised that was what Callie looked like happy. It was rare, as she kept herself tightly locked down. But for a brief moment, Callie shone. Sunny wanted to see more of that and would break his back ensuring Callie was always content.

Knowing he’d see Callie tonight, Sunny turned away. He had a mission.

Sunny hit his Harley and disappeared before Callie realised he was there. He headed into the Black Hills and left his bike in a parking lot. For an hour and a half, he hiked into them before turning to where Zeus was buried.

Today he wanted to tell the asshole’s remains that he’d not only survived but thrived. Even though Zeus had been killed after Sunny had left, Bear had brought him out here when he had returned. Sunny had needed to know where Zeus laid, and Bear had understood. The bastard had caused so much pain, Sunny needed to see the unmarked grave.

The route had been burned into his brain, and Sunny found it easily enough. He stood and looked at the slight depressionin the ground where the body had decomposed and the dirt had resettled.

“I won, asshole. I’m still standing,” Sunny murmured.

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