Nobody Loved Me Like You Do

💋CHAPTER 25💋

Callan Anders POV

"Mom, dad. What is she doing here?" I ask in rage.

"I invited Valencia over so you can make amends," my father says.

"Not happening," I reply.

My father is about to say something but Sadie shows up.

"Dinner is ready," Sadie says as she appears in the foyer dressed in a tighfitted, black sparkly dress with a black chocker around her neck and her lips smeared with red lipstick.

She looks marvelous.

Confusion etches her features. "Is everything alright?" She ask's.

"Absolutely," mom says. "Let's go in," she urges me.

"No thanks," I turn around with Kashmere but she stops us.

"Please Callan, stay and we can sort things out. Kashmere.." my mom looks over at the girl besides me.

"You should listen to your mom Callan. Let's stay," Kashmere insists.

About to open my mouth for another arguement, I give in. Fine, we'll stay but only because Kashmere said so. We all make our way into the dining room and settle down. Valencia overtakes Kashmere and takes a seat besides me.

Sadie invited her boyfriend over.

Andreas and his girlfriend are also in attendance. I'm not surprised at how these two break up and then make up. Last time, they argued, exposing their cheating scandals and yet here they are, still together.

Andreas and I were in college together. His father is a shareholder in our company and therefore, they are like family to us. Unfortunately Mr Bocelli, his father, couldn't attend because he is away in Mexico.

"Mr Vaughn finally excepted my offer," My dad enlightens.

My dad can't put business talk aside at least for this dinner.

"That's amazing news Mr Anders," Andreas comments. "We need to celebrate but what made him make that sudden decision?"

"He was impressed with Callan's inviting persona at the event. I'm expecting you to continue this same behavior," he looks at me.

At the end of the dinner, I dab the napkin all over my mouth and cheeks when suddenly, Valencia opens her mouth.

"Callan, can we excuse ourselves. I want to speak to you," she requests.

I look over at my father and I notice the urging glare in his eyes so I get up and head out of the dining room with Valencia following behind.

"What do you want?" I ask agitatededly.

"The way we ended things..." She begins but I cut through.

"Let's not talk about our former relationship. Things ended so let's move on," I suggest.

"No Callan. We need to discuss this. You literally broke up with me over text with no explanation," she scolds.

I run my hand over my face.

"But that's not what I called you here for. I wanted us to set things aside and start all over as friends," she says.

I look at her.

"At least for the sake of our parents' business deal," she adds.

My father would kill me let alone disown me if I mess this up. Valencia is only asking for friendship, nothing more. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that so I accept. Anything to keep my father happy.

Kashmere Lynn's POV

Callan's dad kept on sending me glares and that made me feel uncomfortable. I almost excused myself in the middle of dinner but I refrained from doing so. When Callan and Valencia excused themselves from the table, my curiosity piqued.

When it was time to leave, the family bid us farewell. As me and Callan make our way outside, Callan's mom, Savannah stops me.

"Kashmere, can you give me a minute?" She ask's.

"Sure," I accept.

"I wanted to apologize about earlier," she says.

"About earlier?" I act clueless when in actual, I know exactly what she is talking about.

"Gerald's behavior. I can assure you he is not always like this. He can be grumpy but once you get to know him, he is way more likable. He just isn't warm with strangers, I hope you understand," she enlightens.

"Oh no. That's fine," I lie. "I even forgot about it".

She smiles.

"Also, you're welcome to attend our future events. I'm hoping to see you on my birthday in 2 months," she invites.

"Sure. I'd love to attend," I accept.

"Hopefully. Have a great journey back home". I catch a whiff of her sweet smelling perfume as she hugs me and kisses my cheek.

I say my goodbyes to her and head over to Callan, who is waiting for me in the car. I get in and close the door. Callan starts the car and I count 1 up to 3 to ask this question.

"What were you and Valencia talking about?" I ask.

This will probably piss him off 'cause it's non of my business.

"She was just offering friendship," he answers as he focuses on the road.

He looks over at me. "Are you okay?" He ask's.

I nod my head.

Another question sits on the tip of my tongue. What is it about us? I want to ask him about earlier. What did he mean when he said he would still be with me? Did he mean relationship wise or friendship?

I almost ask him but I refrain from doing so. I'm afraid of rejection or the humiliation it comes with so I just keep my questions to myself and leave it for the future to answer them.