Page 69 of His for the Holiday

When she ran out of steam, she finally blew out a heavy breath and shot me a tiny, apologetic smile. “I’m sorry. Hi. You didn’t even ask.”

I shrugged, returned her smile, and reached out to lay a hand on her hip. “That’s okay. I was about to. You just beat me to it. He’s really not here?”

“Nope.” Those wide, glittering eyes moved to mine. “I don’t think he’s coming, Hawk. All this time, him being here was all she cared about, but I think he’s with his new friend. Win thinks that if she does well in the play, he’s going to want to see her more often, which you and I know isn’t true, but if he doesn’t even show up?”

Tears welled on her eyelids and red flashed at the edges of my vision, but I kept my cool, wrapping her up in my arms and giving her a tight hug. “Don’t worry about it, okay? We’ll make sure she doesn’t even miss him.”

I drew in a deep breath through my nostrils, wishing I could go back to the other night and take that swing after all. That fucking coward. Asshole. Prick.

Sutton gave me a watery smile, her hands on my biceps. “Thanks, Hawk. Save me a seat, okay? I’m going to wait until it’s time for her to go on, then I’ll come find you.”

“Emery and the boys have got us all covered,” I said as calmly and reassuringly as I could. “They’ve camped out in the front row and our dads are already together. I’m sure they’ll have found your mom by now. We’ve got this.”

She held my gaze, a deep gratitude sparking to life in her eyes. She nodded and drew in a deep breath before she let go of me. “Eventually, you and I are going to get to talk. I promise. I’m sorry about all this craziness.”

“Hey, the craziness isn’t all yours.” I wound our fingers together and brought them up to my mouth to graze my lips across the backs of them. “We’ve got time, Sutt. We’re not racing against the clock of prom, or graduation, or college this time. We both knew we were going to have to take things slow and work out a lot of personal issues along the way.”

“True.” She managed a smile before she let go of my hands. “Remember to save me that seat.”

“I wouldn’t forget,” I promised, walking away backward to keep my eyes on hers.

She chuckled, shook her head, and ducked away to rush over to Winnie. Once I turned and left the backstage area to go meet up with our families, the intense need to clock Calen resurfaced. I looked around the auditorium when I walked in, but there was still no sign of the guy.

He really isn’t going to show up.I scoffed, disbelief infusing with the rage deep down in my soul. I couldn’t believe this bastard.

As I headed over to join the others, I saw David watching me, the expression in his eyes hard but curious as he tracked me until I sat down. I saved a seat for Sutton next to me, and then the play began and there was still no sign of Calen.

He better hope he doesn’t run into me someplace dark again because if he does I’m not going to give a flying fuck if I prove to David how immature I am. Someone had to make Calen feel even a fraction of the pain he dished out to Sutton and Winnie, and the way I saw it, it might as well be me.