Page 137 of Shattered

Callum laughed and kissed her brow. “No way she could hate you. No one could ever hate you, Sam.”

She wanted so badly to believe him.

Chapter 55 - Sam

The buzz of her phone was what finally pulled Sam from sleep. Callum groaned when she pulled away to see who was texting.

In reality, it was already midday. After driving back to her townhouse, they had spent half the night wrapped up in each other's arms.

Sam had begrudgingly pulled herself out of bed for her eight o’clock lab. When she and Kristin had returned home around ten, Sam had had to stifle the laugh at Callum still snoozing away and wrapped up in her pink sheets. She desperately needed to study for final exams in the upcoming weeks, but this sight was too tempting. She crawled in beside him, promising herself that she wouldn’t fall back asleep.

She didn’t keep the promise.

The second buzz had her reaching forward and reading the message.

Christian: Can’t get together today. Can we switch it to lunch tomorrow? Dianne’s? 11:30?

Sam: See you then.

She and Christian still hadn’t spoken since he’d stood her up after her meeting and he’d sent her that text that she promptly deleted. But it had been over three weeks now, and she knew she could only put off their usual lunch dates for so long. She decided to hear him out. They had been best friends for the better part of fifteen years. The least she could do was let him explain why he’d left, and then she could make him grovel by buying her dessert.

“Who in their right mind messages people this early?” Callum groaned out as he pulled Sam in closer.

“Callum, it’s almost one in the afternoon.” She kissed his nose.

His eyes shot open. “What?” He quickly let go of her and rolled over to check his phone. “My alarm didn’t go off. It was on silent.” He rubbed the sleep from his eyes as he sat up to give her another kiss.

“Where do you need to be?” she asked as she threw him the pants he was now looking for.

“Topline. I ordered some new barstools and chairs. I probably spent way too much money on them, but I’m trying to update the place.” She gave him a nod. The place definitely needed some updating, especially if he was going to pull in a younger crowd as was the plan. “I want to make sure they look as good in person as they did online.”

He nodded his head toward her phone as he threw his shorts on. “Was that Kristin?”

She gave him a timid glance. “No. It was he-who-shall-not-be-named.”

Callum initially laughed at the reference, but then went stone-faced when he realized who exactly she meant.

“Why is he texting you?”

She could tell it was difficult for him to keep the edge out of his voice.

“We were supposed to get lunch today, but he’s busy, so just rescheduling it for tomorrow.”

Callum sat back on the bed and ran his hands through his hair. The topic of Christian hadn’t come up once in the two weeks they’d been back from Charleston. In all honesty, they had been far too busy with more enjoyable things to really worry about anyone else. But she’d known this conversation was coming.

“I don’t want you to see him.” Callum stared at the ground as he spoke.

“Callum–”

“Please. I will literally do anything. Just tell me what to do so you don't see him anymore.”

She wanted to scream.

“Give me a valid reason.”

Callum paused.

She watched as he weighed the options in his head. She was desperate for him to come clean about Christian and Millie's relationship. That’s what Christian had said was the reason. Christian and Millie had dated, and Callum had gone all crazy protective older brother on him.

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