Page 24 of Callum

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Apparently, Grant’s idea of “reintegrating me into the MacAlisters” is grunt work. “Are you kidding me?”

He laughs at my incredulous tone, reaching out to slap me on the back a bit too hard. “Everyone starts at the bottom, brother.”

“I’m wearing the goddamn ring already,” I remind him, pointing to the silver band on my right hand. I can’t wear the skull publicly since it would give away more than we are ready to reveal, so I’ve traded it for the standard MAC silver.

“It’s easy work, Cal,” Merrick’s even tone floats across the room, and I spin toward him. He’s leaning against the doorway to the packed cellar, and I swear he’s biting back a smile.

“Then why don’t you do it?” I demand, gesturing toward the table full of guns.

“I have more important work to do,” he chuckles, gesturing to the bar above us. “Speaking of…duty calls.”

Merrick grabs a case of beer from the shelf beside the door before disappearing up the stairs again. He’s barely out of sight when I round on Grant. “I have more important things as well.”

“No, you don’t,” Grant shoves against my shoulder, forcing me into the chair. “I have more important things, but you do not. Your only job today, your sole focus, has to be appearing as a part of the MacAlisters again.”

“This is a joke, right?”

“I don’t joke.”

“That’s bullshit.”

“Okay,” Grant concedes, a smile tugging at his lips. “I don’t joke about this.”

My eyes scan the table again, counting the parts on the charred wooden surface. This will take hours. Hours that Rosalind will spend in Theo’s care. Hours that I could have been using to track down her baby. Hours I could have spent torturing answers out of her.

I still haven’t decided if that torture would come at my hands or my cock.

“It looks like you still have too much on your mind, Cal.” Grant sighs, leaning a hip against the table. “Might I suggest using this time to think through it all? A mindless task might be exactly what you need to get the answers you’re looking for.”

“I don’t have the answers I’m looking for.”

“Then you’re looking for the wrong answers.” He slaps me on the shoulder again before leaving me alone with my thoughts.

And a table full of guns that need the serial numbers filed down.

Fuck.

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“You aren’t the first man to hold me against my will, and I doubt you’ll be the last.”

Rosalind never used to tell me about her past. She wouldn’t even hint at it like she had this morning. Every part of her has been locked away since long before I met her, and I can’t tell if the cracks I see forming are from the secrets trying to force their way out or someone trying to force their way in.

What if she fell for someone else?

The thought won’t leave me alone. I’ve known Rosalind since she was fourteen years old, and she was already a feral thing. A wild animal in a trap, ready to bite the head off any man who came near her.

She let me come to her, though.

I will never forget the sound of her scream. There was no terror in it, only rage. She was so angry that the man had grabbed her. So furious that he managed to get her backed into an alley. So outraged that he dared put his hands on her body.

There was no chance in this world I would have let him hurt her. I would have done anything for her before I even saw her face. Just from that scream, I knew she was different. I knew she was special.

I knew she was mine.

The sound of metal shaving against metal drowns out my weary sigh as my mind floats back through my memories.

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