Graydon
That phone, if you could call it that, was almost unrecognizable. The screen beyond repair, the back was barely hanging on by the wires. The circuit board was broken in half, hanging on by a thread. She’s going to get a waterproof phone, and we’re getting her one of those life proof cases too. If he did that much damage to the phone, what the hell does her back look like? I don’t know if I could see, and not kill the son of a bitch. My hands tighten on the wheel. Between this mess and the bullshit that Elder Greaves is pulling, I don’t know how much longer I have, hell all of us have before we snap. The rest of the ride to the cell phone store is silent.
I pull into the parking lot and Zeke gets out to open Callyn’s door, holding out his hand to help her out of the truck. Over the week, she said her back started to hurt less, but we made it a point to help her, so she didn’t jar the injury and make it worse. The rest of us get out. Lucian kept ahold of the phone. Well, there’s no fixing that.
“Come on, Callie bear, let’s go get you a phone.”
An hour later, we walk out of the store, Callie with a new phone and we only paid for a couple of good cases. Lucky for us she had insurance and they replaced it. They were able to recover her contact list, but her pictures were lost. It’s a good thing she sent those to Zeke and he can message them back. It’s not like we wouldn’t have taken more pictures with her. I’m proud of her because when they asked what happened to the current phone, she said her father got angry and smashed it. They gave her a look and she just shrugged her shoulders, not wanting to elaborate. While they worked, we made plans to go to the mall afterward.
“I missed having a phone more than I thought I would. I missed texting you guys every day. I felt like I did before you guys barreled into my life.”
“You don’t regret it, do you? Becoming friends with us?” Lucian inquires.
“Absolutely not. Before you, I wasn’t really living, I existed. I was merely surviving. You all gave me something I didn’t know I even needed. I thought I was okay on my own. I mean I have been for years. But having you guys in my life has been the best things to happen to me in a while. You are breathing new life into me. You are giving me hope. You make facing each day easier.”
Well, damn. What do you say to that? I couldn’t form any words. Instead, I reach over the console and hold her hand. Callyn is amazing and she doesn’t even know it. She has helped and changed us, just as much as she says we do her. The rest of the ride to the mall was quiet. I reluctantly let go of her hand, before I do she gives my hand a light squeeze. I look at her face and she gives me this small smile. I understood it was comfort.
This time it’s Max who opens Callie’s door and helps her out of the truck. As we walk through the front door, I realize Max doesn’t let go of her hand. My gaze flicks back and forth between the two. Callyn doesn’t seem to mind. She looks around as we are walking through the food court, nothing exciting. I look back to Callyn and I see her yank on Max’s arm because something catches her attention. I chuckle. At this point, she’s basically dragging Max behind her.
“Slow down, Callie. We don’t have to rush,” I hear him say.
“Sorry, I got excited. Do you know how long it’s been since I’ve been to the mall? Since before my mom passed. I usually go to the thrift store to get clothes.”
“Well, then lead on. You don’t mention your mom much. And what did you see that captivated your attention?”
“Actually, it was something I thought Lucian would like. Sometimes talking about my mom is hard. I miss her like crazy.” She holds out her other hand palm up toward Lucian.
He grabs it and laces their fingers together. Max makes a motion to let go of her other hand, but Callyn doesn’t want to let go. She starts to head to the store, pulling both behind her. I look over at Zeke, who is standing next to me, and raise my eyebrow at him. He smiles. I thought maybe we would have a hard time when it came to telling her she is mated to all of us. But now, seeing how comfortable she is with holding two different guys hands, it may be easier than we thought.
Zeke and I follow behind. When we catch up, I can’t take my eyes off the wide smile she’s giving Lucian. Her eyes are sparkling. I don’t think I’ve seen her look so happy. I want to see that kind of smile every day.
Maximus
Her eyes grow wide when we walked into the mall. She glanced around the food court but kept walking. Then out of nowhere, she was pulling me towards a novelty store. After telling her to slow down, she explained why she was so excited. I couldn’t fault her.
Every time Callyn mentions something else she hasn’t been able to do, or her father wouldn’t let her do, my heart breaks more. I couldn’t imagine having to live basically on lockdown. She’s missing out on everything a teenager should be doing. Well, I’ll… we’ll make sure she gets to experience as much as she can.
I was surprised when she said the thing that caught her attention reminded her of Lucian. Not because I was jealous, but because her first thought was for one of us and not herself. Then, she extended her hand out to Lucian. When he excepted, I went to let her go, but she squeezed my hand and refused to let go, that was a surprise. So, now we are walking over to the store window, both of us holding her hand. We stop outside of the store and she points the best she can with my hand in hers to the mannequin.
She looks over to Lucian and he smiles while shaking his head, but it was Callyn that caught my attention. I’ve never seen a smile that big from her, well maybe once after we put shaving cream in Graydon’s hand and made him slap himself. Right now, her eyes are alight with amusement.
“What did she see?” Zeke asks from behind us. Callie turns enough to meet Zeke’s eyes.
“The shirt on the mannequin. It says I’m thinking with a buffer signal. You know because he always seems lost in thought.”
“I like it,” Lucian says. “Do you want to go inside and look around?”
“Maybe in a little bit. I just want to walk and around and see what else is here.”
“That we can do.”
Over the next couple of hours, we walk the whole mall twice. Once just so Callie could see what stores where here and the next time was her going into almost every store. Normally, I would get bored and irritated having to go inside every store, but Callyn made it fun. Not once did she point out something she wanted. She found a lot of stuff that she thought we would like and made it a point to show and tell us. Her favorite store ended up being the novelty store. It’s my favorite store here too. She loved to shirts with the funny saying on them. I like the gag gift section. Halfway through our trip, Callyn went and held Zeke and Graydon's hands and continued walking through the mall, not a care in the world.
Which I’ve never been more thankful for. She seems oblivious to the looks and the whispers she was getting. Some from older people and some from younger people. Did it look weird that she was holding hands with two guys? Yeah. Did she care? No. Do we care? No. It feels natural, as it should be. We are all mated to her. Once the shifter community knows the truth about us being destined mates, they will understand. The human community, on the other hand, they will always give us dirty looks. They don’t like what they don’t understand. None of that will matter if Callyn and the rest of us are happy.
Callyn was practically bouncing all over the place all day. I was too. The guys probably shouldn’t have let us into that candy store. No way was I going to ruin this day, by saying anything to her. She deserves a day to relax, and not worry about what is going around her. I just hope we made this day special. As we walked the mall, we asked her questions about her mother. We figured out that her mother’s maiden last name is Cambridge. Hopefully, this bit of information can help us find out more about her past.