Page 20 of Callum

Sitting bolt upright, I hiss at the pain lancing through my ribs. I’m alone in the living room, the resounding silence of the house giving no indication of whether or not Callum is here somewhere.

A soft gray blanket pools around my waist as I slowly lift my right leg off the pillow and place it on the ground. Pins and needles don’t begin to describe the pain radiating from my knee down to my foot, but I breathe through it while examining the gauze wrapped around my shin. There are spots of blood beginning to peek through here and there, but for the most part, it looks far better than the bloody sweatshirt I stole off Harlowe when I broke her nose.

Forcing myself into a standing position is the wrong move, and my leg gives out before I’m even fully upright. I crash into the coffee table, sending a remote flying off the other side.

“You’re alive, then.”

Callum’s bored voice filters toward me from the hall. He moves through the shadows, shrugging on a crisp white button-down over his bare chest. Small droplets of water dance across his skin, glinting in the late afternoon light and distracting me from his words. New tattoos dot his chest and stomach, but I can’t see what they are from here.

He stops next to the fridge, adjusting his collar with calculated movements perfected over time. The sight of him in just dark dress pants and an undone shirt, bare feet padding across the floor, and wet hair dripping onto his shoulders has something fluttering deep in my gut.

Every move I make reminds me of how he felt buried deep in my ass. His eyes lingering on my body. His hand sitting against my throat.

Then, I remember him plunging a needle into my neck, pinning me to the ground as I tried to fight him off, and that fluttery feeling turns to rage.

“No thanks to you,” I spit, using both arms to ease onto my feet again.

“I was fairly certain it wouldn’t kill you.”

“Fairly certain?”

“Yeah, Red,” he smirks at me, his eyes glinting in the early morning light. “Fairly certain.”

We’re back to him calling me “Red”, I see. Rage fills my veins, and I know my anger is responsible for my response, but I don’t really give a fuck. “Where’s Lachlan?”

The same violent look crosses Callum’s face that I saw the last time I mentioned his brother. “If you know what’s good for you, you’ll stop asking.” He gives me a pointed look over his shoulder, reaching into the fridge. “Do you have anything on you that the GiGi’s could track?”

“No one tracks me without my knowing—”

“I did.”

His confession stops me dead. There’s no way that’s true. He always used to know where I was, but I assumed he was using his Underworld contacts, not fucking tracking me. “You’re lying.”

“Hmmm,” he smiles around a mouthful of yogurt, slowly pulling the upside-down spoon from between his lips. One dark eyebrow lifts, daring me to challenge him further.

“You son of a bitch.”

“You have no idea,” he mumbles the words almost carelessly, but I see the sharp way his eyes track my movements as I limp past the dining room table. “Do you have anything they can track?”

“No. I ditched my phone in the woods three days ago.” Or was it four? I have no idea how long I was under.

“Good,” he shoves the remainder of his yogurt in my direction. “You need to eat.”

“I’ll have Lachlan grab me something on the way to his house.”

I’m not ready for how quickly he moves, soundlessly stepping around the end of the island to press into my personal space. “He’s not coming for you, Red. You’re stuck with me, and you’ll eat whatever I fucking give you.”

“Why would I trust anything from you, Doc?”

“Because we both know I wouldn’t poison your food. When I kill you, it will be with my bare fucking hands,” Callum smiles like that idea is the best thing he can think of, but the joy quickly drops from his eyes. “He won’t be able to save you from me, Red.”

I’m getting whiplash from how quickly he’s skipping between hatred and jealousy. My head swims from the heat pouring off his body, my knees threatening to give out when he sways into my space. He knows exactly what he’s doing, and the realization pisses me off.

So I choose to piss him off in return.

“I don’t need Lachlan to save me. I just want him around.”

Callum’s cheek twitches, his jaw clenching hard enough the muscles flex beneath his skin. “Why?”

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