Page 97 of Marked By the Pack
And Otto was more important to me than my fears.
But please, don’t kill me.
Chapter 25
Tuesday
Emma
“Well, I’m exhausted from moving all my stuff in today,” Kebe said. “But it was so great meeting you.” She patted Callum’s thigh before standing up and stretching.
The hem of her shirt lifted ever so slightly, revealing a tattoo of some symbols I didn’t recognize. I wouldn’t have noticed the tattoo at all if I hadn’t been following Callum’s gaze.
I wasn’t usually a jealous person. But I’d also never felt the way I felt for Callum with anyone else. And I really didn’t like how touchy-feely Kebe was being with him. And how okay he was with it.
More often than not, Callum was the one touchingme. He was sensitive about the scar on his thigh. He could barely look at me when he talked about it. And yet…Kebe had just touched him on his thigh and he hadn’t even flinched.
“The pleasure was all mine,” Callum said with a smile.
She smiled back.
Yeah, I didn’t like this at all.
“Night, Emma,” she said with a wave. She turned around before I could respond.
“Goodnight,” I said to her back as she went up the stairs.
Silence settled over the living room. I wasn’t sure whether to say something, or just let it go. But I didn’t get a chance to decide because Callum made the decision for me.
“She seems lovely, doesn’t she?” Callum asked. “While you were upstairs I offered to give her some private showings tomorrow. So I won’t be able to help you with painting tomorrow morning. And afternoon probably. These things always take longer than I assume they will.”
Yup…he’d definitely made the decision for me. Private showings?No. Just…no.“I’m not really comfortable with that.”
“If you don’t want to paint alone, we can just push it off a day. One day won’t make a difference.”
I thought he was excited to move in with me. That he couldn’t fathom spending one more night apart. He’d literally said those exact words to me. And yes, normally one day wouldn’t make a difference. But honestly, in this case it could. One day with the two of them alone could lead to us breaking up.
“It’s not that,” I said. I tried to think of anything to make him cancel the showing without him thinking I was super paranoid and controlling. “Isn’t it supposed to be sunny tomorrow? It would probably be best to postpone.” Postpone long enough for me to talk to Zoey about this predicament. She’d know what to do.
“No, it’s going to be overcast. I already checked.”
Damn it.I really wasn’t okay with this. “I don’t know, Callum.” I tried to lower my voice. “I get kind of weird vibes from her.”
“Weren’t you the one that asked her to move in with Zoey?”
“Yeah, but I don’t really know Kebe. I was just having trouble talking to Zoey about the werecat stuff and I thought her having another friend to bounce theories off of was better than me dry heaving. But now I think I made a mistake…”
“I don’t think so. I meant what I said. She seems lovely.”
I disagree. I think she seems like she’s hitting on you even though I spent the afternoon telling her how we fell in love.“But you can never really trust anyone, right? We don’t know who she is. Or where she came from.”
He shrugged. “I feel really comfortable around her. I don’t really know how to explain it… But talking to her feels more natural than usual. Like I’m not tripping over every word trying to remember if people say carpe diem these days or YOLO.”
I wanted to laugh. Because I hadn’t heard anyone use YOLO in years. But I was more concerned about the rest of what he’d said. “Do you have to do that with me? Watch what you’re saying?”
“I wasn’t comparing you to her. She just seems like kind of an old soul, you know?”
No, I didn’t know. And itdidfeel like he was comparing us. “But do you, Callum? Watch what you’re saying around me?”
