Page 10 of Bitten By Desire
Had he even believed the things he said to me?Gorgeous. Confident. Sexy.Or was he just trying to distract me? I put my face in my hands. This was ridiculous. I just needed to go talk to him. If I couldn’t get him out of my head, there was a possibility he couldn’t get me out of his either. I tossed the photos in my night stand drawer and walked out of my room.
I was glad Zoey was in class, because I didn’t know how to explain what I was doing. I didn’t know how to explain any of it. I just needed to see Callum again.
I climbed into my car and made the trip back toward the forest. The winding road didn’t seem as sinister when the sun was shining brightly. I didn’t even see any large cats running around. Just thinking about almost hitting one made me slow down. If I got stuck out here all alone, I’d be seriously screwed. Zoey was the one that knew how to flirt her way into free car repairs.I really should have brought her with me…
I turned up the music and kept driving. I’d looked Callum Walsh up online. But there was very little information about him. No social media profiles. Just one measly article about how he’d moved to town a few years ago and took over as head coach. And the article did not include a headshot.
It was hard to be that invisible online. Not one picture of his face? How was that possible?
I turned at the bend in the road and pressed down on the brakes.
The gothic mansion looked creepy in the day too. More so because of the boards all over the windows and door. I stared out the windshield at the boarded up house.
Apparently Callum Walsh wasn’t the coach of the Wildcats anymore. I wasn’t sure if this had even been his house. I honestly wasn’t sure he’d ever existed at all.
But that wasn’t true. Because I saw his golden eyes every time I crawled into bed.
Chapter 4
Thursday
Present Day
“Ah you’re here!” Zoey screamed.
I slammed the taxi door closed as Zoey ran down her front steps. She pushed open her white picket fence and attacked me in a huge bear hug.
“You’re acting like you haven’t seen me in years,” I said with a laugh.
“Ihaven’tseen you in years, Emma.”
“We video chat all the time.”
“Which is very different than hanging out in person.”
That was true. But I’d saved up enough vacation days to stay for two weeks. The wait was worth it. Otherwise the flight here and back would have sucked up my meager five vacation days the past few years.
“You haven’t even seen my new house.”
“You showed me…”
“Via video chat? Yeah, not the same. Isn’t it beautiful?”
“Mhm.” It looked like a cookie cutter house. In a cookie cutter town. I honestly couldn’t picture Zoey here. She’d lived in the city with me after college, but for some reason she’d transformed into a white picket fence person a couple years ago. It was too suburban. Too housewifey. And Zoey was neither of those things.
“And it’s not just the house that’s amazing. The whole town is so cute. I can’t wait to show you around. And you can pretty much walk to everything you need. And everyone is so nice.”
Yeah…all that sounded like a nightmare. A small town meant nosey neighbors. And white picket fences meant judgy moms. Zoey wasn’t married. How was she fitting in so well here?
“Don’t you miss the city?” I asked.
“What’s to miss? The traffic? The stress? The high rent?” She grabbed my bag from me. “Take a deep breath, Emma.”
I stood there in her yard and breathed in slowly.
“That’s fresh air.”
I laughed. “Okay, fair point.” I took another deep breath. The air was damp from a recent rainstorm. But even the cloudy day couldn’t take away from how cute her yard was. It had been a long time since I’d seen anything quite this green. I lifted my camera from around my neck and snapped a picture of her smiling, the greenery the perfect backdrop.
