Broken Piece

True Piece

Callie was excited, this was her first time leaving the house alone in forever, even though it was just to the butcher's shop didn't curb her excitement. She needed a little excitement and happiness in her life, especially considering what tomorrow was.

Tomorrow marked the third year since the night Suzanne was driven to blindly running across the road.

But Callie didn't want to think about that as she got into one of Davison's cars. It was the less flashy one of the three that he currently owned, and she had been the one to pick that one. Davison hadn't seemed to care as he texted away on his phone with a pensive expression on his face.

She had gone to the butcher with Davison only once, but she remembered where it was. It was in a lower income part of town, if you could even say it was 'in' town. It was more on the fringes, really in a different town completely. Callie was a fan of the butcher shop, she had never been inside of it, but she loved the meat and seasonings Davison seemed to always purchase from there.

The shop was only fifteen minutes from the condo, so she was there in no time. She looked down at her phone as she exited Davison's car, checking the time. She still had to go to the grocery store and the hardware store for bug spray after finding a couple of ants behind the toilet in the guest bathroom.

She entered the tiny little shop and realized the place was also a small deli because of the tables sat up. No one was currently seated, actually, no one seemed to be around at all. She approached the counter and looked at the handwritten menu written in chalk on the wall.

She drummed her fingers against her hand bag as more time went by without a sign of an employee or anyone else.

"Uh...is anyone here?" She finally called out.

"Just a minute!" The reply came right away much to her relief. As she waited she bent to peer into the display case at the meat displayed. She looked up when she heard the swinging doors behind the counter squeak open. "Ho-" he cut himself off as soon as he saw her, much to Callie's confusion. "How may I help you?" He said after a moment, seeming to get over whatever had been wrong before as he smiled at her. He wiped his hands on his blood stained apron.

He was actually younger than she thought he would be, maybe her age or only a slight bit older. He was tall, very much so, even taller than Davison. His smile was friendly and reached his brown eyes. His black hair was wavy and a bit unruly. A handsome man to sum it all up neatly.

It was the friendly expression that made her forget about his hesitated greeting and jump right into what she needed. She began to put in her order as he jotted everything down, his eyes on her more than on the paper underneath his tanned fingers. It made her a bit uncomfortable, which made her stumble over her words a couple of times.

"Alright, I'll have all of that ready for you." He said once she finished. "Are you staying or will you leave and come back? It'll be a while."

She thought about it, the grocery store she usually went to was a good twenty if not thirty minutes away from here and she would have to leave and come back again, she didn't think that was a good idea. "How long?"

"About twenty minutes maybe twenty five, my dad left me here alone so I'm a little swamped."

Callie smiled politely, "I'll wait...if that's fine, that is."

He laughed and tucked his pencil in the pocket at the front of his brown button up. "Why wouldn't it be fine?" He waved at the sitting area. "Do you want a sandwich or something? It'll be on the house...as an apology for the wait."

"Uh...no...that's fine, thank you." She denied a little caught off guard with the offer. She doubted he made that offer to everyone who had to wait a little for their orders. "I...had a big breakfast." She said for a lack of anything else to say.

He nodded in understanding. "I'll be right out." He started for the door but stopped and turned back to her. "About my greeting when you first came in, I didn't mean anything by it... uh... we just don't get too many new people coming in. I think I know everyone who comes here by first and last name by now." He looked a little nervous as he looked back down at her order. "How did you hear about us?"

Callie couldn't understand why it seemed like he was trying to make conversation with her, maybe that's just how this place was? "Uh...my...husband actually comes here a lot."

The man winced. "Husband..." He said quietly but she heard him anyway. He sighed. "Oh, cool, makes more sense. The old man doesn't advertise to get more customers, says the ones we have are good enough. That man thinks small... I'll be right out. Oh, and I'm Aiken."

Callie smiled again at the man and nodded once. He finally went to the back, leaving her alone in the front of the store. She took a seat in the chair closest to the door and waited.

Aiken appeared only fifteen minutes later with her things neatly in a paper bag. Callie quickly stood and met him at the counter, already reaching into her bag for one of Davison's cards. "How much is it?" She questioned.

"Actually, I wanted to tell you we were out of the roast, for a place with not that many customers we run out of that stuff fast." He said, making Callie shoulders dip in disappointment. She was going to use that, that night. "I... can give you a call when we get it in again..." She must have shown her confusion and unsureness on her face. "For strictly professional reasons, of course!" He added quickly with a nervous laugh. "You're married so of course..."

Callie was still unsure. "Uh...When do you think you'll get more in?"

"I don't know, that's the reason I wanted your number... So I could call you when it came in, so you would know before every one else so it wouldn't be sold out." He nodded along with his words.

"Huh," Callie bit her lip, what could it hurt? It wasn't as if this guy wanted her number because he was interested in her...especially after finding out she was married. She glanced at him, catching him watching her before he looked away again and cleared his throat. Or did he? No way. "I guess that would be fine..."

"Really!" He seemed surprised as he stood a little straighter. "Alright," he grabbed a piece of paper and took the pencil from his pocket, "what's the number." She told him her number and he jotted it down. "Should I call you pretty roast woman or..."

"Oh, no, Callie, my name is Callie."

He smiled a bit but didn't write down her name. "No last name?"

Callie retuned his smile with a real one of her own. "No, I mean, I answer to Callie, just Callie is fine."

"Alright, nice meeting you, Callie, I should be giving you a call soon!"

(BP)

Callie entered the condo juggling bags. She had to nudge the door closed with her hip before making her way into the kitchen to put the items away. On her way she noticed a hand bag sitting on the sofa and sighed.

Of course, he had utilized the time she was away and snuck a woman in, although he never made the effort to 'sneak' one in before. Deciding she wouldn't allow it to damper her mood, Callie began putting the items away, already planning how she would get into her room as quietly as possible.

She made as little noise as possible as she put the things away, once finished she started for her bedroom, tipping toeing as silently as she could. She was almost to her room, but she had to go by Davison's first and that wouldn't be easy. His door was cracked.

She could hear voices, two people were clearly in a deep conversation, one voice slightly heated, the other defensive. The heated one was clearly Davison.

She thought maybe they wouldn't even notice if she went by. She started forward but stopped when she heard her name. She frowned deeply, ears tuning in.

"She's nothing like you described her, even according to others I've spoken too." Davison snapped. "I better not find out I've been lied too this whole time!"

"I'm not!" Callie now recognized the voice as Blaire's. "She's acting, Davison! And as for everyone else, why would they bad mouth your so-called wife to you?" Her voice had an high pitched whine to it. "Come on, why are you asking me this stuff? I thought I was called over for some fun..."

"Stop!" He demanded, making Callie want to peek through the door, but she didn't dare. "You told me you were friends with her."

"I am, Dee, come on. Let's stop talking about this now...this conversation is such a buzz kill."

"No, we're having this conversation right now!" He bit out. "That is a lie! If you were friends, why have you not attempted to contact her? Why has she not attempted to call you to come save her or some s**t!"

"We were friends, alright! Not now obviously, she went and changed! I hated how she treated your mom! How could I be friends with her after what she did? I told you all of this because I wanted her to pay for what she did!" Callie's blood ran cold. "I'm trying to help you."

What was she hearing? Was she really hearing Blaire blaming her for what happened to her mom? This all started with Blaire? This was some kind of ill advised attempt at revenge? Her body began to shake.

The nerve of that f*****g b***h!

"I don't think I believe you." Davison said coldly. "Not anymore!"

"Seriously? Has she gotten into your head too? Your mom herself told you what type of girl Callie really is...remember that?" Davison's silence was long. "She's tricked you into thinking she's some sweet angel like she tricked your mom!"

"She's doesn't behave like someone that would do what I've been told by you she did!"

"She's acting! She's afraid of you because she knows that if you ever found out how you treated her mother you would mess with her even more. She's just afraid of you, Dee. She's tricking you with that sweet girl act!"

Callie had heard enough. She reached for the door to push it open and let her presence be known but stopped.

What did this change? Nothing. She knew Davison hated her, now she knew why. Blaire was once again out to ruin her life and fed Davison some bullshit he believed.

"You better not be lying to me, Blaire. I'll ruin you if you are. I married this girl, and I've hated her long before you shared what happened that day with me, so let me find out I went this far for nothing." He threatened.

Blaire laughed, and it sounded nervous to Callie's ears. "Come on, Dee, let's talk about something else, better yet..."

Callie walked away chewing harshly on her bottom lip. Her mind whirled with the words she had just heard as she entered her bedroom and closed the door behind her. She leaned heavily against it, her eyes going to the picture sitting on her dresser without thinking.

Pushing herself off the door, she walked towards it. She didn't pick up the only framed photo in her room, but she did frown at it.

(BP)

It was nearing one in the morning when she heard Davison leading Blaire to the front door, the blonde hoarse but talking loudly about how good she felt. Davison was silent or didn't respond loud enough for Callie to hear.

The brown skinned woman had been trying to sleep for hours, but she couldn't. She would twist and turn, falling a sleep for what couldn't be more than seconds only for her mind too wake her. She wanted too, because she thought it wouldn't make a difference with him, but she had to tell Davison her side of the story.

She couldn't allow anyone to think what had happened to Suzanne had been her fault, especially not her son.

Rolling from bed, she slid a sweater over her thin, sleeveless night shirt and exited her bedroom before she lost the nerve.

She could hear that Davison was still in the living room, so she sucked in a breath and headed there. She entered just as he sat on the loveseat, half his face glowing with the light from the lamp. His eyes were closed, his chest bare, and a glass half full of brown liquor was in his hand draped over the side of the loveseat.

She stood there for a moment, not saying anything, just watching the side of his face that was visible.

"You didn't cook," his voice made her jump not expecting it. He hadn't even opened his eyes. She wondered how he did that? This wasn't his first time seeming to sense she was in the room without seeing her. She was sure she hadn't made any noise.

"You seemed busy," she said back.

One eye cracked open, then the other. "Are you being smart right now?" He sighed.

"No," she denied with a shrug, "I just didn't think that when you were done doing whatever it was you were doing, you would want to heat up and eat a whole meal."

A smirked tugged at his lips. "You know exactly what it was I was doing?"

She couldn't understand the smile. What was there to smile about? Were his words suppose to mean something to her?

She sighed quietly, wanting to get on with what she had came out to do. "I want to talk you about what happened three years ago today."

His smile instantly vanished and his slouched straightened as he sat up and leaned aggressively forward. "Absolutely not!" He snarled. "You are not coming at me with this s**t today of all days, Callie!"

"But I heard what Blaire was saying and..." She stumbled over the dark look that flashed across his face but pushed forward, "it's not true!"

"So, you're a f*****g eavesdropping? You're listening in on my conversations!" He yelled and stood.

Callie's heart started to pound. "No...No, I heard my name so of course I stopped to listen!"

He laughed but it sounded more like a scoff. "Unfucking believable!" He began to pace, roughly scratching the back of his head with his free hand.

"B-But that's not even the point!" She quickly said. "The point is what she's told you is a lie! Mom didn't..."

He stalked towards her aggressively, making her words get stuck in her throat. His hands wrapped around the front of her sweater as he yanked her roughly against him. Their bodies collided, knocking the air out of her. His nose pressed against hers as he stared her down, the look in his eyes one of complete chaos and abhorrence. "Didn't. I. Tell. You. Not. To. Call. Her. Mom!" Each word increased in volume until he screamed the word mom.

"I..."

"Didn't I f*****g tell you that!"

Her hand went to his hand as she dug her fingers into his flesh desperately wanting to get him to release her. "Yes..." She whispered. "But," she didn't know what possessed her to keep talking, maybe wanting to get the truth out. The truth fixed everything, right? "I want to tell you..." He pushed her away from him, his eyes wide and crazed.

"You just won't shut up!"

Callie caught her footing, the push not powerful enough to make her fall. She shook with fright but couldn't back down now. She winced and looked down at her feet, finding out where the glass he had in his hands earlier had gone, the shards were currently poking at her bare feet. "I love Suzanne! You're not even trying to listen to me." She said stepping away from the shards. "Why?" She demanded.

He rubbed at his eye brow with the back of his hand in a painful looking way, he looked like he was literally holding himself back from strangling her. "Because you took my f*****g mom away and didn't even appreciate her! She told me herself how you treated her, and now you have the nerve to come stand in my face and lie about? Spiel a whole bunch of bullshit about how much you loved her?" He gritted his teeth so hard it was like he was showing his teeth to her and his fists balled up tight. She glanced towards the front door, that was much to far away. "Don't even think about it!" He snapped.

Callie breathing harshly as she fought off sobs took several steps back before she spoke again. "I don't know...I... Suzanne loved me and I loved her, no one's lies can take that away, not even yours!"

He yelled like a demon and Callie knew it was time to bolt then, so she did. He was right behind her too, but she had quick enough to slip into her bedroom and slam the door shut and lock it. His fist connected with the as he continued to rage.

"f**k you Callie!" He yelled. "f**k you!"