Stolen Course (Wrecked and Ruined #2)

It’s true. Caleb and I really aren’t doing anything but talking, and we have only done that once. Yet, it still seems like this is more, and we both know it.

“Emma, I have no idea what the hell I’m doing.” He lets out a loud sigh. “I haven’t dated anyone since Manda.”

“What?” I yell across the line. “Never?”

“Nope. Never.”

“Damn, it’s been five years! You must jerk off like twelve times a day!”

What the fuck is wrong with me? Why I would say that to him in the middle of a serious conversation? However, acting like a raving lunatic, for once, works in my favor. Caleb actually starts chuckling.

“I said I haven’t dated anyone, not that I haven’t had sex. But thank you for worrying about how many times I jerk off. It makes me feel a lot less pervy about where my mind has been when thinking about you.”

“Oh, okay. That makes more sense! Wait, what exactly have you been thinking about me?”

“Nothing you haven’t been thinking about me, obviously.”

“Well, I don’t masturbate twelve times a day.”

“Stop ruining my daydreams, woman!” He laughs into the phone.

I play along. “Actually, I do it thirteen times.”

“That’s my girl,” he rumbles over the line, ensuring that today’s real count will be at least one. “Go back to sleep, Em. I’ll call you tomorrow.”

“Hey, Caleb? Before you go… I’m serious about Manda. I don’t have any issues with you having a past. I’m not an insecure girl who is trying to compete with her memory. So if you ever want to talk about her or anything…I’m here, okay?

“You really are an amazing woman, Emmy,” he says in a joking tone, but I know he means it.

“Yeah. I know. And I get a new nickname? What, Emma wasn’t short enough for you? What happened to sweetheart?” I try to keep the end of this conversation lighter than the beginning.

“I was just trying something a little different.”

“Oh good. I like sweetheart. It makes me feel all warm inside.”

“I like the idea of you feeling warm. Wet is preferred, but warm is good too.”

Okay, make that two times tonight.

“Oh yeah? I took a shower earlier. I was wet then. Is that the kind you’re talking about?”

“Not exactly, but I’m going to assume you were naked in the shower, so I guess that will work.”

“Definitely naked…and wet.” I take a deep breath, hoping this crosses into full-fledged phone sex, but Caleb cuts it off.

“When are you coming back?”

“Hopefully soon.”

“Well hurry up. I want to see you again.”

“I probably won’t be naked or wet when I get off the plane,” I say, attempting to take it back to sexy.

“Probably not, but I’ll make sure you are both very shortly after.” His words cause me to let out a quiet moan. “Goodnight, Emmy.”

“That was mean, Caleb,” I whisper into the phone.

“Go make it fourteen, and we’ll talk tomorrow.”

I let out a frustrated groan as he begins to laugh. “Night, Caleb.”

“Night, sweetheart.”





JUST STEPPING out of the shower, I hear my phone ringing across the room. I don’t recognize the number, but I immediately recognize it to be yet another Chicago area code.

“Hello.”

“Emma Jane?”

“Yes?”

“Hey, it’s Jesse, Brett’s girlfriend.”

I release the breath I didn’t even realize I was holding. “Shit! I mean… Hey, Jesse.”

“Bad time?”

“No, not at all. I was just getting out of the shower. What’s up?”

“Well, I just got off the phone with my new friend Eli Tanner, and he said he is going to have Sarah call you in about an hour.”

“What?!” I scream.

“She’s still at the hospital, but as a favor to Brett—”

I can hear Brett bitching behind her. “No, I had nothing to do with this shit. Damn it, Jess.” I can almost picture him pinching his nose and pacing.

“Jeez. Okay, fine,” she says, answering his complaining. “As a favor to me, Eli volunteered to head up there at lunch and pass her his cell phone.”

“Seriously? Oh my God! That is fantastic news!” I shout as she begins to giggle on the other end of the line. “Jesse! I love you!”

“No you don’t, but you are still very welcome.” She continues to laugh.

“So one-ish my time?”

“Yep. Just keep an eye on your phone.”

“Thank you so much. I… Damn. Jesse, I really appreciate this.”

“It’s no problem, Emma. She needs you right now.”

“Thank you.” I hang up with a renewed hope.





A FEW hours of staring at my phone later, it finally rings.

“Sarah?” I quickly answer.

“Hey,” her broken voice comes across the line. It’s so dull and flat I barely even recognize it.

“Are you okay?”

“Well, that depends on your definition of okay. I’m handcuffed to a hospital bed, waiting to be sent to the psych ward, while talking on the phone of a man who hates me to a sister I haven’t spoken to in years. Does that sound okay to you?” She goes from sad to bitchy with just one sentence.