Caleb’s POV
As I march back into our office, everyone’s lunch gripped in my hand, it takes everything in me not to crush the bags into dust.
Storming past the reception desk, I find Melanie sitting there, typing on her computer though she stops when I walk in, giving me a tentative smile.
‘Mr Hawthorne, would you like a coffee?’ she asks nervously.
‘Black, one sugar’ I snarl back before stomping into my brother’s office and slamming his and Callan’s lunches down in front of him.
‘Woah! What the hell big bro’ his brother whines, picking up the bags and gingerly opening them. ‘What did this sandwich do to you? Damn, it looks like road kill in here.’
I snort angrily before turning on my heel and heading toward my own office, slamming the door behind me.
Once inside, I drag my hand through my hair, forcing myself to breathe as images of Tessa leaning into that asswipe and laughing fill my head. What was she doing with that idiot anyway? He’s got player written all over him, surely she can see it. She needs someone better, a guy who knows how to treat a woman and doesn’t think that any willing female should be taken home for some no-strings f*cking.
‘What like you?’ the sneering voice in my head asks, ‘she needs someone like you?’
I snarl angrily, shaking my head, not like me, I’m too f*cked up for someone like Tessa. I’m not a good man and I haven’t done good things, I’ve done things that no man should ever have to do, been someone that I never want anyone else to see. Tessa is light, I can see it in her, everything around her is bright, my darkness would only extinguish her, suffocate that light until it was gone.
‘But you want her’ the voice needles vindictively, ‘you hate the thought of anyone else touching her.’
Throwing my sandwich bag onto my desk, I turn around and slam my fist into the sturdy wood of my office door, the thick material buckling under the impact, as I growl loudly, relishing the external pain that matches how I feel inside.
‘She’s my stepsister’ I grit out, ‘even if I was interested, which I’m absolutely not, she’s off limits. I’m just doing what my father asked, watching out for her. She f*cking needs it as well because if that’s what she’s picking up as a friend on her first day in a new damn city, she’ll be pregnant by graduation.’
My stomach churns harshly at the thought of Tessa being pregnant, smiling widely as she places her hand on her stomach. Some faceless asshole beside her, arm wrapped around her protectively, proud that his dick has been inside her and hit the mark.
Roaring loudly, I punch the door again, over and over until a decent depth hole has been created and my knuckles are bleeding.
The door slams open and I just manage to step back in time as my brother barrels into the room, taking one look at me before shutting the door behind him and locking us in.
He grabs my wrist, dragging me over to my chair and pushing me into it before pulling open my bottom drawer and taking out the first aid kit that I keep there.
‘Want to talk about it?’ he asks as he opens the box and starts taking out antiseptic wipes, some cream, and a bandage.
‘No’ I mutter clenching and unclenching my fists as I watch my brother stalk around my desk to grab a chair and drag it around to place it in front of me.
‘I’m not a baby, I can do it myself’ I snap as he takes my hand.
Gage looks up at me, his normally fun loving features, serious, ‘don’t start with me Caleb’ he growls back, ‘you’ll sit there and let me look even if I have to tie you to that f*cking chair.’
I huff looking away from him, ‘I’d like to see you try’ I mutter.
‘Yeah, yeah, big bad Marine, couldn’t possibly be outmaneuvered by an Army boy’ Gage retorts tartly as he dabs at the broken skin.
‘Not my fault you went for the soft option’ I sigh, watching as the corners of my twin’s lips twitch.
‘So, what’s going on?’ my brother asks, shooting me a look as I hiss from the cream on my knuckles. ‘Why are you trying to break down your own door?’
I shrug, ‘never did like that door’ I reply, ‘can’t get a new one if it’s intact though can I?’
Gage chuckles, wrapping the bandage around my hand with well practiced ease. ‘Please, if you wanted a new door, you’d buy one and f*ck anyone who said you couldn’t’ he grumbles. Looking up at me, his eyes narrow, ‘is this about Tessa?’ he asks suddenly.
Electricity shoots through me at his words, ‘f*ck, am I that easy to read? Does he know I’m fighting an attraction that I shouldn’t have? Don’t deserve to have?
‘W . . what do you mean?’ I croak out, inching back into my chair, away from the man who knows me better than anyone else.
Gage blows out a breath, ‘look’ he starts, ‘we all got blindsided by this whole marriage thing and we certainly didn’t expect dad to pick someone with a kid, but she’s here and she seems nice, they both do.’
He holds my gaze, studying me, ‘give her a chance man, she’s just as at sea as we are, you can see it. At least we got to stay in our own f*cking homes, she got uprooted and dragged across the country without a choice.’ His eyes soften as he grabs my shoulder, squeezing it, ‘I know you don’t like change Cale, f*ck knows I do, you like things to be in order and routine and your socks to be paired in your drawer. This is crazy, but it isn’t Tessa’s fault so try to not be such a surly bastard around her.’ His face breaks into a grin, ‘it won’t kill you to smile when you see her, your face won’t get stuck in a nice expression or anything. I promise, no one will suddenly think that the great war hero Caleb Hawthorne is a nice, jovial ass hole.’
‘Dick’ I mutter, but I can feel my shoulders relaxing.
‘Wait, was that?’ Gage leans closer to my face, ‘f*ck me, that was almost the hint of a smile big bro! What the f*ck? It’s a Christmas miracle and it isn’t even Christmas yet.’
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.