“Yeah, but none of them were Vi.”
Another score, a muscle jerked in Haines’s jaw, he knew Cal spoke the truth.
“She likes you,” Cal informed him. “She wants what she had back.”
“I’m not Tim.”
“I’m not sayin’ you are. I’m just sayin’ you represent what she had.”
“It isn’t just that, we got somethin’.”
Cal felt his own jaw tighten because he knew Haines spoke the truth.
Haines’s voice also calmed. “And what we got, you can’t give her.”
“Same’s true with me,” Cal returned.
Haines’s voice was actually soft when he asked, “What can you give her, Cal?”
“Everything,” Cal answered and he scored again, Haines blinked.
“She needs –” Haines started.
It was Cal’s turn to soften his voice. “I know what she needs, Mike.”
They stood staring at each other silently.
Cal broke the silence. “She’s gonna come to you, break it off, cut you loose, this time let her even if she tries to hold on at the same time.”
Cal watched Haines’s entire face go hard as the knowledge penetrated as to what Cal was saying and how much he knew of the game Vi was playing. It was a game she didn’t know she was playing, she didn’t have the experience, but she was running roughshod over Haines all the same.
“She was fifteen when Tim asked her out, she’s got no idea what she’s doin’,” Cal defended Vi.
“I know that,” Haines ground out.
“She’s lost, with Sam gone now more than ever,” Cal went on.
“You aren’t helpin’ her get found, Cal.”
“We’re all lost, Mike. The best chance we got is to wander this life with the people who matter.”
He’d scored again and he wasn’t looking for it. Haines went from angry to watchful.
“You don’t want her for her, you want her for you.”
“Yeah,” Cal replied instantly, “isn’t that what you want?”
“I want her because she’s Vi.”
“And I want her for the same but because she is, she can give me what I need.”
“And what’s she get?”
“She gets to give me what I need.”
“Nice,” Haines bit out, back to pissed.
“That’s who she is, man, haven’t you figured that out? Isn’t that what she does for you? Because if it isn’t then you don’t have her, nowhere near. That’s what she is, that’s what those girls are, that’s who she made them to be. They exist to give you what you need. It isn’t selfish, that’s how they get off. Fuck, when I went to the mall with them, Keira tried to be my personal shopper.”
Cal knew it cost him but Haines couldn’t help but chuckle.
Then he asked, “No shit?”
“She picked a pink shirt,” Cal told him then added, “with flowers on it.”
Haines chuckled again.
Cal kept going. “She ever shove her shoulder in your pit, make you put your arm around her?”
The humor fled Haines’s face but he didn’t answer which was his answer.
“Katy do it?” Cal pushed.
“Kate did it?” Haines whispered.
“Vi did it when I needed her, Katy did it when she needed me.”
Haines closed his eyes and looked away.
“Stand down,” Cal repeated, his voice quiet and Haines’s eyes opened and he looked back at Cal and when he did, Cal knew he’d won.
“You f**k her over –”
“I won’t.”
“You do…” he let that hang and Cal decided not to repeat himself so Haines finished. “You don’t give her everything, I’m back and I’ll bust my ass to do it instead of you.”
“I know that, she does too, so I reckon I better bust my ass so you don’t have to.”
“Wouldn’t be work.”
“Agreed.”
They again stared at each other silently.
Then Haines broke the silence but he spoke quietly. “You gotta know you’re killin’ me, man.”
Cal spoke quietly back. “I know, Mike.”
And he did, he couldn’t imagine standing down from Vi, not now. He’d pulled away twice thinking it was for his good and hers and neither time was the least pleasant. It was like tearing off a f**king limb.
Standing down for good would kill.
But if he knew Haines had with her what Cal had, he’d do it knowing he’d be doing it for her. Haines wasn’t stupid, he knew she was tied in knots and a woman like Violet didn’t get tied in knots for something that didn’t matter.
Cal mattered to her.
Haines knew that.
So he was standing down.
“Fuck,” Haines muttered.
Cal didn’t reply. There was nothing to say.
Haines studied Cal then said, “Anyone else, I’d be f**kin’ over the moon for you, Cal.”
Cal remained silent but that didn’t stop him from thinking that Mike Haines was a good man.
“Now, I’m not,” Haines finished.
Cal lifted his chin.
The muscle jumped in his jaw again, Haines nodded then he moved to turn away.
For some f**king insane reason, before he did Cal said, “She’s out there.”
Haines’s eyes locked on his. “What?”
“Whoever she is for you, she’s out there.”
“Fuck me,” Haines muttered.
“Mine moved in next door, man,” Cal pointed out.
Haines turned fully to Cal and his mouth was twitching when he mumbled, “Joe Callahan, romantic.”
Cal shrugged. Haines wanted to see it that way, f**k if Cal cared.
He pushed away from the truck, dropping his arms and turned to the door. He caught sight of Colt as he did it and Colt wasn’t fast enough to hide his smile.
Crazy f**k.
Cal looked back at Haines as he pulled himself up into the cab.
Haines gave him a nod. Cal nodded back, slammed the door, buckled up, hit the ignition and pulled out of the Station.
His phone rang as he drove down Grant. He yanked it out of his back pocket, looked at the screen, flipped it open and put it to his ear.
“Yo, buddy.”
“Joe.”
Hearing her say his name, he grinned at the windshield.
“That’s who you called, baby.”
“Where are you?”
“In the truck.”