Читать онлайн «The Redemption of Callie & Kayden»
Автор Джессика Соренсен
The Redemption of Callie & Kayden
Jessica Sorensen
For everyone who survived.
Acknowledgments
A huge thanks to my agent, Erica Silverman, and my editor,
Selina McLemore. I’m forever grateful for all your help and input.
And to everyone who reads this book, an endless amount of
thank-yous.
Prologue
Callie
I want to breathe.
I want to feel alive again.
I don’t want to feel the pain.
I want it all back, but it’s gone.
I hear every sound, every laugh, every cry. People move
around the room frantically, but I can’t take my eyes off the sliding glass doors. There’s a violent storm outside and rain is hammering
against the concrete, dirt, and dry leaves. Lights flash as
ambulances drive up under the port and the glow reflects off the
rain on the ground, red, like blood. Like Kayden’s blood. Like
Kayden’s blood all over the floor. So much blood.
My stomach is empty. My heart is hurting. I can’t move.
“Callie,” Seth says. “Callie, look at me. ”
I take my gaze off the door and stare into his brown eyes
filled with worry. “Huh?”
He takes my hand in his and his skin is warm and comforting.
“He’s going to be okay. ”
I stare at him, forcing back tears, because I have to be strong.
“Okay. ”
He lets out a sigh and pats my hand. “You know what? I’m
going to go see if he can have visitors yet. It’s been almost a damn
week. You’d think they’d let him have visitors by now. ” He gets up
from the chair and walks across the packed waiting room to the
receptionist’s desk.
He’ll be all right.
He has to be.
But in my heart, I know he won’t be all right. Sure, his
wounds and broken bones may heal on the outside. On the inside,
though, the healing will take longer, and I wonder what Kayden
will be like when I see him again. Who will he be?
Seth starts talking to the receptionist behind the counter, but
she barely gives him the time of day as she multitasks between
phone calls and the computer. It doesn’t matter, though. I know
what she’ll say—the same thing she’s been saying. That he can’t
have visitors, except for family. His family, the people who hurt
him. He doesn’t need his family.
“Callie. ” Maci Owens’s voice rips me out of my daze. I blink
up at Kayden’s mother with a frown on my face. She’s dressed in a
pinstripe pencil skirt, her nails are done, and her hair is curled up into a huge bun on the top of her head. “Why are you here?” she
asks.
I almost ask her the same thing. “I came here to see Kayden. ”
I sit up in the seat.
“Callie, honey. ” She speaks like I’m a little kid, frowning as
she stares down at me. “Kayden can’t have visitors. I told you this a few days ago. ”
“But I have to go back to school soon,” I say, gripping onto
the arms of the chair. “I need to see him before I go. ”
She shakes her head and sits down in the chair next to me,
crossing her legs. “That’s not going to be possible. ”
“Why not?” My voice comes out sharper than it ever has.
She glances around, worried I’m causing a scene. “Please
