Mindless

Twenty Nine

~Cole~

"I really really really need to pee." Callie unbuckled her belt as I pulled into the garage. I was kind of upset about our trip coming to an end right now. I had a few months left until I would need to be back at work so I am still trying to convince Callie there would be no harm in us disappearing for that time. Right now she's not tied to anything and this might be the only time in either of our lives that we can pack up and spend 9 weeks with no timeline, to expectations, to plan. We can travel wherever we want to, stay where we think looks nice, swim in oceans, climb mountains and see the sunset. Count stars in dozens of different countries. Then come home, set up her dance studio, I can work my ass off with the team and we can start our lives together how it should have been all along. No fake dating, no bullshit.  She just needs a little more persuading.

I think the sadness on her face at the start of the drive was a tell tale that she's coming around to it, we can look at some stuff tonight and we'll get excited about it. She'll be packing her bags by midnight, I can see it happening now. 

"I told you to go when we stopped for those coffees." 

"I know but I didn't need to go then." I chuckled at her, pulling into our usual space. "What's so funny?" 

"Nothing baby. Nothing's funny at all." 

"Oh I get it. You're trying to not say I told you so aren't you?" 

"I would do no such thing." 

"That's so mean. Your girlfriend is in pain she needs to pee so bad. You're mean." 

"I'm not mean." 

"My ears beg to diffe-" I lean across the center panel of the car, grabbing her face and kissing her quickly before she can finish her sentence. "Mean." 

"I'll buy you an all expenses paid trip to wherever you want in the world to make up for it." 

"I don't want a trip." 

"Then what do you want? You want the moon? The stars? A mansion? Tell me and I'll make it happen." 

"You're so damn dramatic. You can't get me the moon." 

"If you told me you wanted the moon Callie, I would get you the fucking moon babe. Don't test me. It won't give you the results you want. Go pee before you explode. I'll bring the stuff upstairs." Callie nodded quickly, practically jumping out of the car, clutching her bag close to her as she dashed for the elevator a few feet away. "Cal?" 

"Hm?" 

"You look cute today baby." Callie smiled, a soft blush forming on her cheeks as the elevator doors opened and she rushed inside. 

We'd only been gone a week but I was kind of bummed about coming back home. Peace looked so good on both of us and I know that running from the stresses that are here waiting for us isn't exactly the smartest thing to do, but I can't help it. Seeing Callie hurting physically hurts me. It's like a stab to the chest and I know that being here, especially now she's out of work, all it's going to be is painful reminders of the past 5 months. I just hope that getting her away for her birthday did the right job at pushing Sebastian out of her head and that the guy has the common sense to get his warning and judging by the radio silence on Callie's old number, he has. That man has been a sour note on mine and Callie's relationship from the very start. 

I climbed out of the car, walking around to the back to grab our bags. It didn't surprise me when Callie over packed and brought 2 suitcases for our little get away. What did surprise me is she packed so much and still forgot to pack swimwear. Lucky for me, it did mean I got to buy her a full new range that ended up being more of a treat to myself that it was to her. Fucking her in the hot tub might just be one of the highlights of my life. 

"COLE!" I jerk my head backwards to the deep voice and rushed footsteps across the garage. 3 people I didn't expect to be seeing this quickly after our getaway. Of the 3 though, I'm more surprised to see Nick here. Dressed as casually as ever in a plain black tee and dark jeans. 

"Hey. Why are you guy-" 

"Where's Callie?" Rowan slapped his hand against the roof of my car from the passenger side, immediately spinning around to me. 

"She ran upstairs to the loo. Why do you guys hav-" Rowan bolted across to the lift and my stomach sunk to the center of the Earth. I was missing something here and something tells me it was not good in anyway, shape or form of the word. 

"Someone's in your apartment. We knew you guys were coming home so we checked the cameras like you said to but everything is turned off." My dad grumbles. "Checked all the buildings camera footage and it's all gone. Last shot we had of anyone coming in was 3 days ago." I didn't need to check my calendar to know that was Callie's birthday. My feet carried me across the space to the lift, knowing I'd sent Cal upstairs without even checking the cameras first. I'd had my phone turned off for most of the week, only checking it whilst Callie was in the shower or sleeping to drop in on work things, get any updates from my dad. Nothing had come through from anyone important. No text from dad. No calls from Rowan. Nothing. We run on the rule of no news is good news. Everything was fine. 

I hit the button over and over again, watching my phone load up slower than it ever has. Why do these things take longer when you desperately need them?! I couldn't call Callie because if she'd somehow gotten into the apartment without whoever knowing she was there, calling her would be the last thing I would want to do without me being in there. 

But the very second my phone turned on, it was hit with the alarms I'd dotted around the apartment and if my stomach had hit the center of the Earth before, it was now falling through the other side.