SEVENTEEN
Miller

"Wait, wait, wait." I look at Everest and watch as his smirk drops when realisation hits him. "Did she just break up with us?" He whispers, his eyes widening.

My eyebrows furrow as I struggle to comprehend what has just happened.

"She knows, and we've just taken her for a fool," I tell my best friends.

I never want to upset Callie and the fact that we have is killing me. It shocked me how she instantly knew and panic suddenly took over, and I worried if I admitted it that she'd leave.

But she left anyway.

"This is your fucking fault!" Everest exclaims at Phoenix who looks ready to swing his fist into his face.

I pinch the bridge of my nose.

I'm pretty sure the two are ready to have a full-blown fight but the door to our Callie's office flies wide open.

I'm honestly surprised at this point that the door hasn't come off the hinges.

"Mum?" Phoenix furrows his eyebrows and I turn my head to see the mixed-race lady staring at her son with a scowl on her face.

"Have you upset, Callie? I've just seen the poor girl in tears!" My heart sinks at her words.

Annie adores Callie so I'm not surprised that she's come in very angry.

"He has, Mrs. Young," Everest speaks up, and I mentally facepalm my face at the immature man.

"Shut the fuck up!" Phoenix shoves Everest making him stumble into a bookshelf.

"Phoenix!" His mum scolds and it instantly makes his back straighten. "I did not raise you to beat people up."

I can't help but scoff and chuckle lightly.

Phoenix practically beats everyone up.

"She knows about the other side of the business, and we were being complete idiots. We didn't take her seriously, Annie," I admit to the older woman, and she shakes her head in disbelief.

"Callie is a strong young woman, she doesn't need things to be sugar-coated for her. Do you understand me?" She tilts her head and all three of us nod our heads. "I understand you three love her very much, but this is probably very overwhelming for her."

I have to take a seat when I realise how selfish we've been. We've only thought about our need for her that we failed to realise that we're going way too fast for her to catch up.

"You all need to apologise to her." She points a finger at us, and we all nod again.

"I'll talk to her." Annie smiles at me. "May I ask why you're here, I thought you were staying in Antigua for a little longer?" I question.

Annie's mother was from Antigua and her father was from England, but unfortunately, they both died in a plane crash. Annie is very familiar with the other side of our business and she knows deep down what happened to her parent's was not an accident.

"We have a huge problem." She sighs, unbuttoning the button to her pink suit jacket. "A very huge problem."

My face hardens.

•••

Phoenix and I arrive home at around seven in the evening. I step out of the car and look up at the window to see the lights on in Callie's bedroom.

"Are you gonna speak to her?" Phoenix questions and I turn to look at him to see his eyes also on her bedroom window. "I don't want to lose her."

"We won't. I'll do whatever it takes to make sure we don't lose her." I pat his shoulder, and he nods his head slowly. "I'm going to tell her everything, Phoenix." He tenses at my words and runs his hand stressfully down his face.

He doesn't say anything and storms into the house. I take a deep breath and after a moment I make my way into the house and up the stairs towards Callie's room.

I swallow hard before I knock on the door and hear her soft voice telling me to come in. Slowly I open the door and slip into her room, a small smile etching on my face when I see her on her bed reading.

"Hi, love." She gives me a cautious look and I bite my lip. "Can I sit?" I point to the edge of her bed, and she nibbles on her bottom lip before nodding her head.

I take a minute to admire the beautiful woman in front of me. She has a black knitted jumper dress on with some black tights, her curly hair is tied half up half down with her usual ribbon in the back.

"I'd like to apologise for the way the three of us dealt with things earlier on. All we want is for you to be happy and feel safe with us. I'm also sorry that we made you cry." Her eyes widen a little because she probably thought we didn't know. "Annie told us."

"I'm just overwhelmed." She whispers and I nod my head in understanding and then hold my hand out for her, my palm facing upwards.

She looks at it for a couple of seconds before placing her hand on top of mine — my skin tingles from her soft touch.

"You're right. We do illegal shit." Her breath hitches and I lace my fingers through hers, not wanting to let go of her warmth. "All of our families have been part of criminal activities for generations. The business is mostly a cover-up but it is legit."

"What do you do?"

"Money laundering mostly, we... Erm, ... we ship weapons and drugs also." I look down in shame, not being able to look my girl in the eyes. "Callie, I understand that you're mad with us, you have every right, but I don't think we'd be able to cope with you leaving."

"Who said I'm leaving?" My eyes shoot up to hers, and she looks at me with furrowed eyebrows. "Miller, I just wanted you three to be honest with me. Do you think I'm going to go run away in fear? I've had my suspicions, trust me I would have left ages ago if I was scared. I just wanted to hear it from you." I exhale a shaky breath and feel a huge weight lift off my shoulders.

"It doesn't bother you that you're dating and working for a bunch of criminals?" I tilt my head, and she shakes her head and reaches forward with her free hand to stroke my freshly trimmed beard.

"All I want is honesty from you all." I frantically nod my head and feel myself getting lost in her deep brown eyes.

"So we're back together?"

She laughs, throwing her head back.

"Seriously though, because I'm pretty sure the other two are losing their shit right now," I say in a serious tone, and she lightly shakes her head.

"I just said that out of anger, okay. I'm not breaking up with you, although I might of if you hadn't come here to tell me the truth." She admits, and I thank the heavens that I did come to tell her. "Come here." She opens her arms up, and I don't hesitate to throw my arms around her.

She giggles lightly when I push her down into the mattress.

"You three can be so stupid sometimes." She whispers, lightly grazing her acrylics up and down my back.

"I'm sorry," I whisper and lift myself to look down at her face. My eyes fall to her soft lips. "Can I kiss you?"

Callie replies by wrapping her hands around my neck and pulling me down onto her lips. She moans when I suck her bottom lip into my mouth. Our kiss is hard and passionate, my tongue swirling around with hers.

I start to pepper kisses down her neck and begin to suck the skin under her ear, causing a soft moan to escape her lips. I pull back and smirk when I see the mark I've left on her.

"You're so beautiful," I tell her, and the most gorgeous smile forms on her face, her small dimples forming on her cheeks.

"I know." She nods and places one last kiss on my lips.

She bends her knees and I shuffle down her body and wrap my arms around her thighs. I watch in awe as she picks her book up and goes back to reading. We always used to read together, but I can't remember the last time we did because I've been so busy.

"What are you reading?" I watch in amusement as she covers her face with the book. "Hey!" I say in a teasing tone trying to see her face again.

"It's by this author, she made a story about her life. She was in an arranged marriage, and then she met the husband's boss." I take in what she's saying and smile, placing kisses on her thick thighs.

A squeal escapes her mouth when I lightly bite them.

"Can I have attention?" I pout, and she playfully rolls her eyes but places her bookmark in her book and puts it down on her bedside table.

"Wanna nap together?"

Fuck yeah!

A/N
Thank you for reading 💙