Stolen Course (Wrecked and Ruined #2)

IT’S WELL after midnight, but I’m still awake and sanding down the new coffee table I just finished. After trying to run off the Erickson trance, I retreated out to my workshop. I always feel better after a few hours of decompressing with a belt sander. The sound of Sarah McLachlan’s Blackbird is blaring through the speakers. It might be an odd choice to some, but it stays on repeat when I’m out here.

My phone lights up from across the room. It’s late but it’s not unheard of for me to get calls this time of night. But when I see Emma’s name on the screen, I’m immediately worried. She was out drinking tonight with two dickheads. I swear if those asspucks let anything happen to her, I’ll kill them myself.

I immediately snatch up my phone. “Emma?”

“Caleb,” she says, crying through the phone.

I start scanning the shop for my car keys but pause when I realize there is nothing I can do. I’m helpless. What the fuck am I going to do? Jump in the car and drive sixteen hours down to Savannah?

“What’s wrong, sweetheart? Are you all right?” I ask as she continues to sob over the phone.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have called so late. It’s just… I had way too much to drink, and I feel like shit about not being there for Sarah over the last few years. I’m such an asshole for abandoning her like I did. She needed me, but I just walked away because I was so afraid of losing her.” My pulse begins to slow and I begin to relax as she continues blubbering over the line.

Fuck. Why do I always overreact to shit when it comes to woman I care about? I was never this way before Manda died, but now I always assume the absolute worst. I have a need to save people and do what I couldn’t do for Manda. Shit, did I just admit that I care about Emma Erickson? This little obsession I have with her just went from bad to fucking ludicrous. I’ve had two conversations with her. I really should go back to being a dick. At least then she will hate me.

“Caleb, are you still there?”

“Yeah, I’m here. Did you need something or were you just calling to bitch and cry?” I ask, pulling some old-fashioned asshole out of my back pocket.

“Don’t be a dick just to keep me at a distance,” she says, shocking the shit out of me. I pull the phone away and look at it as if Siri is going to explain to me how the fuck she just read my mind.

“I thought you weren’t a crier?” I decide to keep it up even though she’s onto me.

“I’m not usually, but I just had a threesome with my roommates and it made me all emotional.”

“What the fuck, Emma?” I scream over the phone.

At the exact same time, she screams, “I knew it!” Damn, if she didn’t just trick me into blowing my own asshole cover, and it only serves to piss me off for real this time.

“What do you want, Emma? A pep talk about what a great sister you are? Because I am fresh out of those tonight. I’m glad to hear you got tag-teamed. Every woman deserves a good dick in the ass every now and again. But if that’s all you called for, I’m headed to bed.”

“Tell me why you got upset earlier when I told you I was going out with Hunter and Alex?”

“Oh Jesus Christ, Emma. What the fuck do I need to say to get off the phone right now?”

“The truth would work,” she says, annoyed. And guess what? It pisses me off even more that she has the balls to be annoyed with me. I didn’t call her at midnight. I barely even know this woman. Still, somehow I’m so attracted to her that I find myself trying to protect myself from her and what is sure to be a train wreck.

“Okay. The truth. Fine. You’re sexy as fuck, and I can’t stop thinking about drilling into that smartass mouth of yours. And after hearing about your little double-play action tonight, you can add your ass to that list too.”

“Wow. That really was honest,” she says, taken aback by my outburst.

“Great, I’m glad you approve. Now, I’m going to bed.”

“Caleb, wait.”

“Goodnight.” I hang up before I can say anything else I’ll fucking regret.

I stand in the center of the room for a few minutes just trying to catch my breath. I can’t believe I just said all of that to her. So much for not complicating things.

I lock up my workshop and barely make it back into the house before the phone chirps in my hand.



I just called tonight because I needed to talk to someone who understood the whole Sarah situation. I’m sorry if I bothered you. -Em