Page 16 of Just Breathe

He rolled his eyes at me over his coffee cup.

“I think we need to tell Candy again what our deal is and if she can’t follow that, then it’s going to have to end. It will not end the way she wants it to,” Aiden said, rinsing his cup out.

“Not it,” I blurted out.

“Hell no.” Callum scowled. “You know I’m socially inept. I would probably make her cry and then it would be a bigger disaster.”

“I’ll do it. I know you two don’t handle that shit well and would probably be soft on her. She’d come back thinking it was ok to move in.” He walked out of the kitchen.

“Fuck, I kind of liked Candy. She was always down for something different, and she was always ok with just leaving. I felt like I didn’t have to hold up a pretense with her.” Callum shrugged his shoulders. “You’d think they would be ok with getting fucking fantastic orgasms and that’s it.”

He grabbed my cup to rinse out.

“Well, unfortunately for women, they require some sort of emotional connection for a relationship, and it doesn’t help that society tells them they need to marry, have a job and pop out babies.” I shrugged as we left the kitchen to meet Aiden by the work truck. “Men aren’t wired like that; well, I think us personally because I have met guys who have wanted the whole white picket fence fantasy. We’ve dealt with too much shit to know life’s not all fucking roses and all.”

“You don’t think of settling down?” Callum asked. It was rare for him to get personal, and this was the second time in less than twenty-four hours that he’d gotten deep.

“All the time, but I know it’s probably not in the cards for me. I don’t think I’ll ever find someone, much less someone who’s ok with you and Aiden. Though I have thought of having a kid running around and I think it would be amazing, but I’m not holding my breath for that.” Callum looked at me confused, like what I said made little sense.

“I guess you’re right. The crazy thing is, I can’t see myself settling down and having kids. I would be afraid to fuck it up because, you know, at some point, I will fuck it up.” Thoughtful Callum was unusual, and I know he was probably thinking the same thing.

“Let’s go!” Aiden yelled from outside.

“Damn, that was too heavy for a morning conversation.” Callum shook off his discomfort and walked out the door. “Hey, can we pass by Mary’s? I want a chocolate croissant,” he yelled at Aiden. I knew he’d change the subject because feelings were too hard to deal. The less he felt, the better he functioned.

“Mary’s sounds good,” I agreed as we got to the truck.

“Really guys? The one time you agree on something, and I thought we said we would start work early to get off early.” He started the truck.

“It’s on the way, dude.” Callum put his seatbelt on.

“Yeah dude,” I chimed in.

“Fine, but you guys are paying.” Aiden pulled out of our driveway.

“Sure.” Callum agreed. “I need more coffee for this early as hell morning. Tell me why we agreed to this?”

“Dinner with Jane,” I answered, wondering if he would bitch about that.

“Fine,” he grumbled. Aiden and I looked at him like he was growing a third head.

“Just fine? I don’t think you’ve ever been just fine about waking up early in the morning,” I teased.

He shrugged like it wasn’t a big deal, but it actually was. We hadn’t even known this girl for a week and Callum was ok with waking up early just so we could go to dinner with her. I don’t even think he knew how much of a big deal this was. Aiden and I looked at each other in the rearview mirror, like we both knew what each other was thinking. This girl was working miracles with grumpy Callum, but was she only to be Callum’s?

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