Skin
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Daisy Danielle
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Kady loves Callum. Callum loves Kady. But there’s a lot of pain, and a lot of past that seems dead set on keeping them apart. Can they figure it all out, or will what could be never really happen?
Chapter 1: Prologue
KADY
EIGHTEEN MONTHS EARLIER
I rolled my eyes as I heard my phone ping while searching for my clothes. “Goddammit,” I mumbled through gritted teeth. “Cal! Have you seen my bra?”
Cal stepped out of the bathroom in all his tattooed, shirtless glory, a toothbrush hanging out of his mouth and the bra dangling from one index finger, a shit-eating smirk on his beautiful face. “This bra?”
I scowled as I snatched the flimsy green lace. “This bra? How many of these things you got laying around, ya doofus?”
Cal just gave me a rumbly chuckle. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”
“How’d it get in there?”
Callum shrugged as he went back into the bathroom to rid himself of the toothbrush. “You were kinda just throwing shit around last night,” he answered as he reappeared in the bedroom.
“I wanted to get off. Don’t get cocky.”
Suddenly I was surging forward, Cal tugging me into his freshly showered chest. “I think you already know just how cocky I am.”
I rolled my eyes again, just to disguise how much this man melted me. How much he always had. I was putty in his goddamn hands. “You’re an idiot.”
“You love me,” he muttered before he thrust his lips onto mine.
As his kiss deepened, my brain screamed that he didn’t know how true those words were. I’d spent the last ten years trying to bury the way I felt about this man, convincing myself and him that the love between us was platonic.
It wasn’t. It never had been, at least for me. Callum Boyd had always had my heart. Even when he was married. Even when he was heartbroken and lost after the divorce, and even now, when this was supposed to be nothing more than a casual hookup. I loved him. I always had and I always would.
“Who keeps blowing up your phone?” Cal asked once we finally stopped making out, tucking a few errant strands of hair behind my ear. “Thing’s been going off since last night.”
I sighed and shook my head. “Greg.”
I felt Cal stiffen, though he tried to look unaffected. “Oh yeah? What’s he want?”
I groaned, feeling an instant chill as the contact of Cal’s freshly showered body left mine. “What does he usually want? He apparently thinks we’re forever material again, ya know. ’Cause clearly breaking up with me and fucking half of Los Angeles for the third time didn’t dissuade him.”
Cal nodded as he headed for his dresser. “Did it dissuade you?”
I eyed his back suspiciously. Fishing, huh? “What on God’s green earth would make you ask that?” I planted my hands on my hips, waiting for him to meet my gaze. This is it. Tell him. Tell him now.
Cal refused to look at me, just continued sifting through his drawer like there was a difference between the hoard of black T-shirts it held. “Come on, Kady. You’re a relationship girl. I’ve known you long enough to know that.”
I scoffed and gave my head a shake. “So, since I’m a ‘relationship girl,’ that relationship is obviously with Greg? Because I have zero other options?”
Callum snickered and I instantly felt anger bubbling in my gut. “I mean, it sure ain’t with me, is it?”
I nearly gasped aloud. His words hit me like a physical slap across the face. “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”
I watched Cal’s back flex with a sigh before he finally turned around. “Kady, come on. You know I’m not ready for that. You know I’m not there. Hell, I don’t know if I’ll ever be there.”
“I knew you weren’t there six months ago when all of this started, but I didn’t think you would always be there.”
“I mean, I don’t know that it’ll always be,” Cal retorted as he sank onto his unmade bed. “But it won’t be any time soon, I can tell you that much. I thought we’d been pretty clear about that.”
I felt the sting of tears starting to form in my eyes. “So, this?” I motioned between the two of us. “This is still just ‘fun’ to you? Just two buddies getting their rocks off when the need hits?”
His stare was deadpan. “I thought it was fun for both of us.”
“You fucking know what I mean, Cal. Stop playing dumb.”
“Kady,” Callum sighed as he stood and stepped toward me. His palms came to rest on my shoulders. It felt cold, distant, a stark difference from his touch mere moments ago. “You know I love you. You’re my best friend—”
“But?”
“But…” Cal paused, the wheels turning in his head as he searched for words that would soften the blow.
Little did he know, it was far too late for that.
“But if you want a real relationship, one that’s more than secret hookups and getting drunk and going home together,” he said, “maybe you should talk to—I don’t know? Someone else? Maybe Greg. Maybe things will be different for you guys this time. He’s kind of an idiot, but he’s not all bad, right? Something’s gotta work between you two for you to keep going back.”
“Wow…,” I said with a bitter chuckle. “Fucking wow.”
I couldn’t be here anymore. My body moved of its own volition, suddenly desperate to find the rest of my clothes and get as far away from this man as I possibly could.
I should’ve known. I should’ve fucking known.
“Kady—”
“No, Cal. We’re good,” I interrupted sardonically. Dress, check. Bra, check. Underwear? Fuck it. He can keep ’em.
I tugged my glittery little party dress over my head and stuffed my bra into the purse hanging from the doorknob. “We’re so fucking good.”
“Kady, wait.”
“Don’t worry about it, Callum,” I said, grabbing my purse from the doorknob. “I’ll see you around.”
“Babe—”
“Don’t. Just fucking don’t. Enjoy your day, friend.”
Without another word, I walked out of the bedroom and headed for the front door, where my shoes waited. I didn’t even bother to put them on, just swiped them up and got outside before he could follow.
As I fired up the engine of my truck, there was one thing I knew for sure: Callum Boyd would never love me the way I loved him, and continuing the way we were would only break my heart. I refused to let that happen more than it already had.
But the masochistic part of me waited. Waited for a sign that he cared. The front door opening, a shout to stop, anything. Any sign that a part of him, no matter how small, didn’t want this to be how we ended. That he wouldn’t let it be how we ended.
But it never came. And I was done waiting for even an ounce of the care I had given him.
The tears started falling the second I put the truck into drive and floored it toward the apartment I shared with my best friend. It was only a few minutes before the dash screen lit up with a text alert:
Greg
Come to New York. Let’s talk. Please, Kady.
And in that moment, I made a decision. A wrong one. One that I thought would protect me, protect my heart. Too bad I didn’t know how wrong it was until it was nearly too late.
