Broken Piece

New Piece

She hadn't gone anywhere, like she thought, she was weak.

Instead, she had gone back to the condo, back to Davison who said nothing when she came in.

She had expected drama but merely got eerie silence.

After that, Davison began to watch her. That was the only way she could describe it. It made her skin crawl at first, and she became convinced he was going to attack her, but after a while, it began to bewild her.

Callie caught herself thinking about Davison's watching a lot, trying to make sense of it.

Callie sighed as she added more seasoning to her chicken. That had been what Aiken had wanted to show her, he claimed it was his 'World Famous' seasoning. She doubted it was world famous, but she had to admit it was pretty good. He made it himself and was obviously quite proud of it.

Speaking of Aiken, they had struck a friendship the last month or so, mostly one where they communicated via text, but Aiken was nice to talk to. And despite his silliness, he was quite intelligent and took night classes at same college she had once gone too oddly enough.

His father owned the butcher shop and Aiken was taking business management classes so when the 'Old man, finally let's go of the oar' as he had said, he would take over the shop and build it into something greater. He had ambitions and dreams, and Callie respected that.

She appreciated Aiken in a way she found a bit dangerous. He was a friend, a friend she didn't have to share with Davison unlike Anna. She loved talking to him more than she liked speaking to her own husband, obviously.

"You're always cooking!" Anna whined as she attached herself to her, making Callie roll her eyes.

"And you're always here," she said back.

Anna cried out dramatically before letting her go and staring at her with large 'hurt' eyes. "You don't enjoy my presence?"

"Too much of a good thing is a bad thing," Callie said simply.

Anna shoulders dropped in feigned defeat. "Fine, I'll go." Callie glanced at her. Anna narrowed her eyes. "You're really kicking me out!" Then she threw herself at Callie again. "Don't make me go yet...I'm so hungry! Can I leave after you're finished!"

"You're a weird grown up, Anna." Callie laughed and shrugged her off. "Go sit at the table and behave."

"Okay!" Anna chirped. "Speaking of children", Anna said as she sat down. "I'm surprised Davison hasn't gotten you pregnant already he already has you in the kitchen...you know, barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen..." Callie choked on air. "Not on the chicken!"

Callie ignored the last part, but really wanted to ignore it all. "I don't think that will happen for a while..."

Anna drummed her long purple painted nails on the table and shrugged. "Just saying, he seems to want to tie you down. That'll be the perfect way of doing it."

"Don't give him any ideas," Callie mumbled to herself. She placed the chicken in the oven before she turned to face Anna, a curious expression on her face. "What do you see when you look at us, Anna? Davison and I?" She wanted to know what other people saw. Did they see the act? The cracks in the masks? Were they really fooling everyone?

Anna seemed surprised by her question. But Anna wasn't one to back down from sharing her opinion. "I think Davison completely runs the show. I don't know, but its something about getting married that has turned him into a major ass wipe. I think you're devoted. I think Davison is protective borderline controlling." Callie turned away at that to hide her expression. "I don't know...Are you two having problems? I can't get that morning I came over out of my head. It seriously looked bad, and if I didn't know Davison how I do I would have thought that..." she trailed, seeming not to want to finish her sentence. She frowned deeply, lips pressed thin. "I'm being nosey and putting my nose in married people's business, but both you mean a lot to me...What was that really, Cals?"

She was being so sincere, Callie honestly didn't have it in her to lie. So, instead, she chewed on her cheek and avoided Anna's gaze. "I..."

"Callie..."

"Why are you always here?" Anderson strutted into the kitchen with a pair of expensive shades on and a suit. He looked like a model, modeling said suit, but if you went by Anna's expression he would have been elephant throw up.

"You wouldn't know I was always here if you weren't always here!" She shot back. "Can you not see we were in the middle of a conversation here. Be gone! You're just here to take advantage of Callie's bomb cooking!"

"And you're not?" Anderson eyebrow rose above the rim of the sunglasses.

"No, sweaty ass, Callie and I are actually friends so I can take advantage of her cooking. Its what friends are for."

"Callie and I are friends, right, Cals?" He turned to her. She pretended not to hear him and turned back to the stove, not wanting to get in the middle of one of Anna's and Anderson's bickering things. "She's so cold..."

"I know..." Anna said with pleasure and a big smile. "I love when she's mean to me." Callie shot her a weirded out expression. "But back to the point, why are you wearing sun glasses in doors, the curtains aren't even open!"

"I forgot I had them on, damn!" He snatched them off his face and tucked them in his pocket. "It is you, who is the mean one, Anna. You!" he pointed at her.

Anna smiled wickedly. Callie laughed at this, Davison's friends were something else altogether.

Anderson made a weird face that made Callie laugh harder at the randomness of it.

"Well, it sounds like we're having fun in here." Davison stepped into the kitchen. Callie's laugh instantly dried up. He glanced at her before looking at his friends. "What's so funny?"

"It's a secret." Anderson shrugged.

"My wife cannot have secrets with another man." Davison said seriously.

"Callie hand me a knife so I can stab your husband for saying stupid s**t!" Anna said dryly.

"Or with anyone," Davison continued like she hadn't spoken. "That wouldn't make a very healthy marriage." He and Callie locked eyes again, she looked away first.

"Food is done!" Callie said to avoid looking at Davison. "But I only made enough for one guest..." She smiled innocently at Anderson and Anna who looked shocked. "Guess, you'll have to figure it out between the two of you who gets the plate." She glanced at them both as their looks turned to horror. "Knives or forks in a battle to see who draws blood first. Who'll get the plate?" She grinned.

Playing along, Anderson and Anna stared each other down, both of their hand reaching for the stray fork in the middle of the table.

"Alright, alright," Davison snatched the fork up from the table, an actual smile on his face. If Callie didn't know better, she would have said the smile was directed at her. "Peter would never let it go if we allowed them to kill each other. Do you really want him over here everyday with his caterpillar eye brows and judgement eyes?" He joked with her, almost making her drop the plates she was carrying to the table. That had been unexpected.

She didn't think he had ever 'joked' with her and it wasn't mean spirited.

"Uh...uh...no..." She said intelligently, unable to come up with anything else.

"How about we do something later?" Anderson said once they all were seated and started eating the meal Callie had cooked. Normally, Davison and herself went their separate ways once she was finished cooking, but when his friends were around they sat at the table.

Callie enjoyed Anderson and Anna's company a lot, and Davison was usually decent when they were around.

"Like what?" Anna questioned.

"Well," he shrugged, "we can go to the new bar I just opened, you know, since you guys didn't show to the grand opening..."

Callie frowned, she hadn't known anything about it. She would have diffidently gone if she had.

"You open a new 'bar' every month, but never mind that, I'm in!"

Davison groaned at Anna's words. "Why did you have to mention a bar, you know how she gets when she drinks. And it's a weekday, you have work tomorrow."

"Thanks dad, but I think I'm good. I do a great job, hungover or not." Anna shrugged.

"I wouldn't hate to have you as my lawyer." Anderson frowned at her.

Anna shrugged again. "My clients love me. And let's not all gang up on me, you should be at work right now, Dee. Forget Anderson, he has daddy's money, but I'm pretty sure you still have to go to work."

Davison wiped his mouth with his napkin. "Peter is at the office today, I worked from home today."

"Why?" Callie blurted. She couldn't help it, him being at home all day had really picked at her nerves.

Davison glanced at her. "Well, I have a feeling my friends would show up to bother my wife and decided I would be a buffer." He met her eyes.

"Callie loves us," Anderson said with a light frown.

"And we don't bother her!" Anna added.

"We'll go," Davison said, surprising her.

Anna cheered.

(BP)

Callie doesn't drink, but that didn't stop her from appreciating the high scale bar Anderson owned. With its low lights and calming décor, she really liked it. Soft music played from the speakers, but the stage along the far wall suggested there was usually a live band.

"This place is really nice, Anderson." Callie said to Anderson and smiled at the man sitting across from her in the booth. She took another look around the place, sure her face was one of awe.

"Thank you," Anderson returned her smile, "nice to know one of my friends appreciates my hard work." He sent Davison, who was sitting next to her, and Anna who was sitting next to him a pointed look. "It's too bad you don't drink, we have first class liquor here."

"Yeah and all of his other ones do too, all seven of them." Anna knocked back another shot. "Its not special anymore, Aye."

"I have real supportive friends, huh?" He asked sarcastically.

Callie smiled at them and glanced towards Davison who was silent. He was drumming his fingers against the table and staring up at a screen showing a soccer game. He had a beer bottle pressed against his lips and he seemed to be thinking more than paying attention to the game.

Feeling her phone vibrate in the pocket of the tight pants Anna had dressed her in, Callie pulled it out and smiled at the text from Aiken.

'Why do I have to wash my dad's underwear by hand just because he's the reason I exist and he's paying for my education? Russian parents are the worst!'

Callie held her breath to keep from laughing at the picture attached of Aiken holding up a pair of drawers with tongs and a disgusted look on his face. Aiken was such a bizarre man.

She was about to text him back about how he didn't need to tell her that when she felt eyes on her. She looked up to find Davison looking down at her, his head tilted.

"What's so funny?" He asked, gaze flickering to the cell phone. The smile she didn't even know she was wearing faded as she placed the phone back on the table before her, returning the screen to the home screen.

"Just something funny a friend sent me." She said quietly.

Davison put his arm laid out behind her on the back of the booth and leaned in closer to her. "You have friends now?"

"They're more of an acquaintance," she put it another way, gaze on the buttons of his white shirt.

"Where did you meet these acquaintances?" He grilled.

She looked up into his eyes. "When I go shopping..."

He leaned back, making her realize how close he had gotten. "My wife, the social butterfly, making friends in the grocery store. You must be awfully charismatic when you're not around me."

"Not really," she admitted with a smile, mostly because she was thinking about how she had met Aiken and the awkwardness of it. Davison narrowed his eyes at her smile, eyes seeming locked on her lips. "We just talk bout spices and good side dishes." She told the truth, she and Aiken talked about such things. She glanced towards Anderson and Anna who seemed to be having their own conversation.

"Should I be worried about this acquaintance taking my wife away?" He said in an asking tone.

She looked back into his eyes, slightly surprised by his question. "Is your wife something you really have?" She asked lowly. "Or something you even really want?"

He smiled, but as always except for that one time earlier, it didn't reach his eyes. "Yeah, why not? My wife is a gift my mother gave me, I aim to keep it." He tugged at a curl hanging near her ear.

She sucked in a breath and shook her head gently. "When are you going to stop this?"

His answer, which was to not answer, didn't bode well for her.