The Callahan Dynasty

The Good Old Days

Jason

"I think you should play the pity card." Anthony spoke as he scanned his Ipad. "Try to get some sympathy from them. You definitely haven't gained any favour with your recent behaviour. So I suggest you remind them about your raging anger issues, heck, maybe you should even admit to having IED. I bet that will get them to go more lenient on your crazy ass."

I looked up at my brother from my phone. "Haha, are you done insulting me yet?" I asked him.

He shrugged and just kept scrolling on his Ipad. "Nope."

"How many times do you want me to apologise?" I asked him.

This time he looked at me with the hazel eyes that were so identical to mine.

"Out of all the people you screwed over, I'm not one of them. So I'm really not the one you should be apologising to." He spoke.

"Then what the heck do you want me to do? We already agreed that Harry can't find out about it." I spoke.

Anthony had really been trying to guilt trip me from the minute we got into the SUV.
"I'm not talking about Harry. I'm talking about Kate and Bella." He spoke.

I shut my mouth as I remembered my encounter with Kate earlier.

She had taken responsibility for the action and even said it was her fault. If only she knew what my ulterior motives had been last night.

As a Callahan, I have been taught to take responsibility for my own actions and never take the easy way out. The noble thing would be to tell her what my intentions had been but I had already made up my mind to never see her again unless I have to. And even if I have to, it's going to be strictly about our plan.

And as for Bella... well I didn't want to care about what she thought but I did.

Once again I had messed up with her. I had once again proven to her that I wasn't trustworthy.
I had blown another opportunity to get her back.

"Have you talked to her?" I mumbled quietly hoping he wouldn't hear.

Anthony's expert ears, however, picked it up.
"Who are you talking about? You seem to have a lot of 'hers' in your life these days, Mr Liplock."

I rolled my eyes. "Cut it out. You know I'm talking about Bella." I snapped.

Anthony's expression suddenly grew serious and I knew at that moment that something must have been wrong.

"Honestly, little brother..." he started. "I don't think she cares all that much."

His words immediately made me feel like something very important in my body had shattered.

I don't know what kind of reaction I expected to get from Bella but it definitely wasn't... that.

"I think she honestly just doesn't want to think about you too much, you know?" Anthony quickly added trying to make me feel better. "I think she's still hurt after the incident, you can't really blame her for wanting to keep to herself. And not to mention, she has to babysit heartbroken Harry all by herself and get the Boss's job done. That can't be easy. Who would have thought I would be the only one out of us with the most stable relationship." He spoke with an uneasy laugh.

I didn't say anything. I just looked out the window.

The thought of Isabella possibly not caring about me anymore hit me in all the most painful places.

You don't just lose something like what we had.

All the memories we shared. How she made me feel, how she completely understood me. How we could always work as a team.

Love like that doesn't just die.

I remember how mad I was when my father had said Isabella would be Harry's bodyguard instead of mine.

I had been dropping not so subtle hints trying to get him to let us work together and was completely distraught when she was given to Alex instead.

It's only later when my mother revealed to me why he had done that. He already knew how much Isabella and I were in love at the time and it's well known that lovers should never be in that position. All we would do was pull each other's focus.

It also didn't hurt that the body guard he later assigned to me was Ethan...

I quickly pushed the thought out of my head not wanting to relive all that.

The rest of the drive went on in silence for me.

Anthony went over some details for his schedule with Carl who was driving.

I perked up when he mentioned that he'd pick Kate up right after he completed Farah's errands.

I couldn't help but wonder if Kate would want me with her today. I recalled how nervous she got just at the thought of public events.

I wondered how she would react at today's rehearsal. I was sure I knew most of the models on Diane's line up.

I'm not proud to say that I knew them way better than I should have.

I know what kind of girls they are and how desperate they are to get to the top.

I had no doubt in my mind that they would all too eagerly pounce on fresh meat like Kate.

Especially with her connection to me.

I considered going there after my meeting just to make sure she was okay.
I immediately shook the thought away.
I was supposed to be staying away from her.
Couldn't I do that?

My body betrayed me as it reminded me too vividly about her soft, warm lips on mine. How my hands molded her bare skin... how I had wanted her back at her house...

No!

I shook the thought away more firmly. This was a sexually deprived boy speaking illogically.

I tried to focus on what really mattered today. My hearing.

For years I've gotten in trouble with the council too many times to count but probably the most among my siblings.

Anthony is probably the most mischievous Callahan but the goodness about him is that he knows how not to get caught. So do Harry and Bella.

It's one thing I was never able to master properly and Harry, Isabella and Anthony have never ceased to pick on me about it.

I sighed as  I thought back to the good old days when the four of us were a team and there were absolutely no secrets between us.

It felt like a lifetime ago.
The SUV suddenly came to an abrupt stop

I looked out at the house I had grown up in.

"Ready to face judgement?" Anthony spoke.