Page 117 of The Photograph

“Fuck you, Cal.”

“Only if you make me fly.”

I flip him focus on Aelin’s reply.

“Well…”

“Well, what?” Emma says.

Aelin’s voice lowers to a raspy whisper. “Honestly, Em, he’d have to get his own scale.”

“That good?”

“Mmm. You have no idea.”

Baby. Fuck.

Emma’s tone softens. “He’s a lot of man, though, with a lot more experience. Weren’t you scared?”

When Aelin hums, the warm sound ripples through me, and I rub my chest.

“It was my first time for everything, so of course I was, but never of him. I don’t know… I felt like I could try anything with him and that … freedom in itself is scary … but good. I really felt safe with him, Em. And sexy.”

Cal whips his eyes to me and mouths,“You’re her first?”

I grit my teeth.“Didn’t your mama teach you it’s rude to eavesdrop?”

His smirk returns.“Yeah, same as yours did, but I was here first.”

Emma says, “I know you did, babe. For the safe part, I mean.”

I stop dangling the bottle.How?

“Yeah? How?” Aelin asks.

“You left Sam alone with him. And you’ve never done that. With anyone. Don’t look at me like that. Cara and you, but mostly you, are hyper protective of her. It took you two years to leave Sam with my mom. And she still talks about it.”

I stare at the ground.Baby, you’re killing me.

“Well, that was before…” Aelin murmurs, and I snap my eyes to the wall between us.

Before what?

“Before what?”

“Before I told him what happened to me.”

More rustling for a few seconds as their voices are clearer. They’re close to the balcony. “When did you tell him?”

“He came to see me a few days after the hospital, and I… I thought he was coming to apologize or tell me he’d made a mistake… Em, I was in so much pain. It felt like my insides had been ripped out. He was mean and angry, so I told him.”

And I’ll never forget.

“And … I called him that night and he hung up on me.”

I spring to my feet and my chest tightens.

“What?” Emma says.

---