Page 8 of Sunflower

“Amelia?” I thumped my fist against the door. “Can you hear me? I need to take a shower, too.”

Nothing.

Pacing the room, I ran my hands through my hair, my anxiety spiking to heights I hadn’t seen in years. I couldn’t miss my own dad’s wedding. Ihadto be there.

Half an hour and a distinct track in the carpet later, the bathroom door finally opened. Amelia flounced out with one towel around her hair and another wrapped around her torso.

“What the fuck, Amelia?” I gave her the dirtiest look I could manage without reaching for her neck to strangle her. “Quick shower means fast. Not a fucking hour!”

“Oh, shut up,” she said airily, waving me off. “It’s only been fifty minutes. You still have plenty of time.” With a pinched look on her face, she perused the clothing I’d laid out for her. “What a mess.”

Growling, I felt my fingernails dig into my palms from the anger pounding through my veins. I didn’t bother responding to her, focusing entirely on rushing into the shower and tearing my clothes from my body.

I had the quickest shower on record, and once the water was turned off, I turned around to grab a towel.

Only to groan when I discovered Amelia had used them all for her own shower.

The single towel that remained was a hand towel.

“For fuck’s sake!” With a deep breath in and no other option, I snatched it off the hanger and began wiping my body down. A tiny towel was still better than no towel at all.

Once I was somewhat dry, I exited the bathroom with the towel held in front of my dick. She’d seen me naked plenty of times, but I’d never been comfortable walking around nude. Add in the fact that she was being a right bitch and a half today, and I wasn’t in the mood for any teasing.

“You couldn’t fucking help yourself, could you?” I snarled at her. I had an hour to get ready and head down to the function hall and find my family. It should be plenty of time, but I was beyond stressed out after the events of the last twenty-four hours and Amelia’s theatrics weren’t helping.

She smirked at me from her position in front of the mirror, where she was doing her makeup. “What?”

I shook my head at her terrible attempt at feigning innocence and focused on getting dressed. Once I was done, I folded all the clothes that weren’t being worn and placed them either back in our respective suitcases or on hangers. All my clothes were placed back in my suitcase, as I figured Amelia would want most of hers left out.

Ten minutes before the wedding was due to start, I dragged Amelia out the door. I didn’t care that her hair wasn’t done to her liking or that her makeup looked likea peacock had thrown upon her. All I cared about was getting downstairs so I could watch my dad marry Erin.

And to see Callum again, but I wasn’t telling anyone else that.

Holding Amelia’s hand in a death grip, I rushed through the lobby of the hotel, searching for the event hall where the ceremony was being held. Thankfully, the hotel had put up signs everywhere to welcome the guests that had been able to make it, so it was relatively easy to find out where we needed to go.

I barrelled through the doors to see Dad standing at the front of the room chatting happily with the minister. He looked so damn good with his dark gray suit and the pop of pale green from his tie, his hair all slicked back and looking professional. He turned around at the noise of us entering, raised an eyebrow, and looked pointedly at his watch.

Mouthing the wordsorryto him, I frantically cast my eyes around the nearly full room to see where Amelia and I could sit. A hand popped up from the front of the crowd, followed by Callum waving to us, then pointing at the two seats he’d obviously held for us.

I breathed a sigh of relief and made my way quickly up the aisle, still dragging Amelia along behind me.

It wasn’t until I collapsed into the seat next to Callum in relief that I realized I was now sitting next to someone I hadn’t been in the same room with for years.

Turning in my seat to take Callum in, the first thing I noticed was his smile. He wassmilingat me. I blinked at the obvious change in him since the last time we’d interacted and was immediately thrown for a loop. I’d expected him to be all snarls and grunts, like the last time we’d been in proximity with each other.

The next thing I noticed was his face. He appeared thinner than the last time I’d seen him, his cheeks slimmer, his jaw more defined. His hairstyle was the same, but the mop of hair thatused to hang over his eyebrows was now trimmed much shorter and was layered with product to keep it tame.

And to my great delight, his freckles were still everywhere.

He lookedgreat. The clothes he was wearing were smart but casual, the type you’d see in a corporate office, and they all fit him perfectly.

He dazzled me, just like he had when I was fifteen.

I’d totally forgotten about Amelia until she elbowed me in the side, startling me. When I narrowed my eyes at her, she raised an eyebrow at me, obviously waiting for me to introduce her even though she could do it herself.

But it wasn’t only the introduction she’d elbowed me for. I blushed when I realized that she’d caught me staring at my soon-to-be stepbrother. She smirked at me knowingly when I floundered.

“Right. Um,” I said, coughing to get my head back in the present. “Callum, this is Amelia. Amelia, Callum.”

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