Page 36 of Marked By the Pack
I cleared my throat. “I gotta head into work. Can we maybe talk about this again tonight when I get back?” I’d convince Callum that Zoey needed to know the secret for her own safety. And bring him over tonight to tell her.
“Sure. I’ll be back a little late because I have a dinner thing. But we can talk about this when I get home.”
I nodded. “Please be careful today.”
“You too!” she called behind me as I walked out the front door.
The cool autumn air swirled around me. Callum wanted me to meet him at one of his listings to take some photos. I walked down Main Street and smiled to myself. Everything was going to be fine. And it was a little hard to be upset in such a cute little town. It was easy to fall in love with Crooked Point. The Halloween decorations from the Fall Festival had been toned downa bit. It was more simple fall décor now. The pumpkins and hay remained, but nothing too scary. Not that it was super easy to spook me anymore. I’d seen it all at this point.
And I knew better than anyone that nothing was simply black or white. Callum wasn’t a monster just because he was a vampire. And Otto wasn’t a monster either. But he didn’t have the same control as Callum. That’s what worried me. Maybe one day it would be safe for Zoey to date him. But that day wasn’t today.
I turned off Main Street and smiled. I double checked the address and walked up to the old Victorian house. Zoey had taken me here when we’d gone house hunting. It was the only house in town that felt like me. It wasn’t new, with cold lines, and colder details. The house was old and needed work, but it was full of life. And maybe I had a thing for old Victorian houses since I’d first met Callum in one.
I knew Callum was the listing agent for this one. I’d run into him when Zoey and I were looking. And God, I’d been so mad at him. He’d been wearing these brown colored contacts, trying to pretend he wasn’t who I thought he was. It was a travesty to hide his beautiful golden eyes.
The front steps creaked under my feet. I knocked on the door and Callum opened it.
“Hey, baby.”
I loved it when he called me that. “Hey, yourself.” I stood on my tiptoes and kissed him. “So this place needs new photos, huh?” I walked past him and smiled at the worn wooden floors. It definitely took a certain eye to capture this beauty. “Let me see what the oldones looked like.” I typed in the info for the house on my phone but no listing came up.
“I pulled the listing,” Callum said.
I looked up at him. “Why? I’ll have the photos ready in no time. I can have them edited by tonight if you want.”
He put his hands in his pockets as he stared at me. “You like this house, right?”
“No, I love this house.”
He smiled.
“I mean…what’s not to love?” I turned to stare at the old fireplace. A few of the stones were missing. But it truly was beautiful. “It just needs some love put back into it.” I turned back to him. “And maybe some new bathrooms. A few updates and it will be as good as new. Hell, if I knew anything about renovations, I’d want to do it.”
“Well…I know some things about renovations.”
He had offered to fix Zoey’s lights last night. “And here I thought you were just a real estate agent?”
He smiled. “I’ve had a lot of professions over my life.”
“Mhm.” I could picture him getting his hands dirty, wearing a pair of worn jeans instead of the fancy suit he was currently sporting. One of his last professions had been the coach of a soccer team. I had a feeling he was pretty good at everything. “So were you a carpenter in a past life?”
“It’s just something I’ve dabbled in. I fixed up that old house where we first met.”
“This reminds me of that place actually. One of the reasons why I love it so much.”
“Well, it’s a good thing I took down the listing then.”
I just stared at him.
“I think we should buy it, Emma. Fix it up together. Make it our home.”
Ourhome? The way he said it made tears pool in the corners of my eyes. I really liked the sound of that. “Really?”
“I could tell how much you loved this place when you first saw it. Your whole face lit up. Well, it lit up when you weren’t staring daggers at me.”
I laughed. “You were being terrible.”
“Maybe this will help make up for it.” He gestured to the room around us.
