Joe’s face got hard and far scarier and he turned his head in the direction of Tina’s house to look at my wall.
“Mike and I are good, we’re solid, she’s tryin’ to shake that up and I told her I’m not havin’ that,” I finished, bringing that subject to a close.
Joe’s hard face swung back to me.
“You and Haines are solid?” he asked.
“Yes, which reminds me, you agree or not, we’re over.”
He shook his head.
I stared then asked, “Why are you shakin’ your head?”
“Because we’re not over.”
“We are.”
“We’re not and you’re not seeing him again,” he declared.
My mouth dropped open.
Then I asked, “What?”
“You need to tell him it’s done.”
I felt my eyes get wide and I repeated, “What?”
“Do it today, he’s a good man, you need to cut him loose.”
I felt my body grow slowly solid but I leaned forward a bit while this was happening and asked, yet again, “What?”
“You’re mine, the girls are mine. I’m stakin’ my claim with you right now and, you force it, I’ll do it with him too.”
Did he…
Did he…
Did he just say I was his and the girls were his?
Did he just say he was staking his claim?
Straight out?
“Are you crazy?” I breathed.
“Nope.”
That was when I lost it. It’d been building all day so it wasn’t really a surprise.
“You have got to be fuckin’ kidding me!” I shouted.
“Nope,” he repeated calmly.
I took a step toward him and snapped, “You fucked someone else while you were fucking me.”
“I lied, never fucked Nadia,” he replied, still cool as could be.
I sucked in breath at the same time my torso swung back.
“What?”
“I lied, buddy.”
“Why would you do that?”
“Doesn’t matter.”
“Yes it does!” I shouted.
“The whole time I was with you, I wasn’t with anyone else. Didn’t even think about it.”
I shook my head, taking a step back then two, his words pummeling me into retreat.
Then I stopped and rallied. “This doesn’t matter, I don’t care. We’re over. I’m not goin’ back there again.”
“You’re already back.”
I stopped shaking my head and glared at him. “I am not.”
“Buddy, you are. You never fuckin’ left.”
“How d’you figure that?” I asked sarcastically.
“You sleep in my shirt,” he answered.
Oh fuck. Why was I such an idiot?
“It’s comfortable,” I snapped.
“And Kate told me, when Mike spent the night, he did it on the couch,” Joe went on.
“He did that because he’s being cool around the girls.”
“I walked out of your room this morning Vi, and neither of them fuckin’ blinked.”
I took those steps back forward again (and then some), getting right into his space and stated, “Yeah, we need to talk about that too.”
“Don’t feed me some shit about you not wanting it. You were awake when I got up this mornin’, you didn’t give me shit, you didn’t say a fuckin’ word, so don’t try and bullshit me.”
How did he know that? He was such a pain in the ass!
“I didn’t want a scene in front of the girls.”
“You wanted me to come back.”
Yes, a total pain in the ass.
“I did not!” I yelled.
Then he moved fast and I retreated just as fast but hit wall and he came in close, his hands at the wall by my head, fencing me in.
“Step back,” I hissed.
“You’re mine, Vi.” he said and the way he said it, I focused on his face.
Very scary. Sinister. And definitely serious.
Joe Callahan was not a man to be fucked with, this I knew and if I didn’t his voice and his face right then would have proved it.
“You let him touch you, it’ll piss me off,” he threatened.
“Mike and I are together,” I whispered.
“Don’t play that game with me or with him.”
“Step back,” I repeated.
“I’m warnin’ you, buddy, don’t play that game.”
I shook my head and pleaded, “Joe, please, step back. I do not need this shit.”
“Then don’t force it.”
“May I remind you, my brother just died!” I cried.
“Yeah, you lose this attitude, I can help you work that hurt out.”
Who was this man? He held onto his tragedy for seventeen fucking years, how could he stand there and tell me he could help me work through mine?
“Really, Joe? Like you helped me work out my grief at losing Tim?” I asked sarcastically.
“That’s not what I was offerin’, buddy, but you want it like that I’ll give it to you.”
“You’re unbelievable,” I snapped.
“I’m yours.”
That socked me in the gut too, so hard it winded me and all I could do was stare up at him.
Taking advantage, his face dipped close and his hands curled around both sides of my head.
“First fuckin’ time you smiled at me in my bed, that’s when it happened,” he murmured.
“Joe –”
“You’re under my skin.”
“Please –”
“I’m under yours.”