Page 60 of Shattered

“Yeah, it does.”

“So, where does that leave us?” She looked up at him.

“Where do you want it to leave us?”

“I want you. You know that. I’m about as obvious as they come.”

“Not really. Not when you go out on dates with other guys.”

She sighed, exasperated. “I’m not sure how many more times we can rehash this. I told you that wasn’t a date. Just lunch with a lifelong friend.”

Callum sat there silently for a while with his hands clasped on top of her legs fidgeting with his thumbs.

“You could ask me out.” The words came out in a rush. She wasn’t sure where this brazen woman was coming from. Kristin would be shocked at what trouble Sam was letting her mouth get her into. But when no response came she continued. “But that’s not something you’re going to do, right? You aren’t going to ask me out because you ‘don’t date.’”

“It’s not that. If I was going to date someone, it would most definitely be you. It’s just that I would hurt you. And I don’t want to hurt you.”

“No, you wouldn’t.”

“Yes, I would. I hurt everyone I’m close to.”

“Try me.” She sat up further, closing the distance between their faces.

“What?”

“Try me. I’m a big girl. I can handle myself.” She watched as he leaned back against the bench, closed his eyes and ran his fingers through his long hair again.

“You realize people would talk right? I mean, I’m covered in tattoos, and I’m seen as a failure by my entire family.”

“You are most definitely not a failure by any means,” she countered, but he didn’t stop.

“And you look like a fucking ray of sunshine and have all these plans for med school. We aren’t exactly a typical pairing, are we?”

“I’m going to take that as a compliment,” Sam said, rolling her eyes. “Why do we have to be typical? There isn’t some perfect mold we have to adhere to. If everyone lived a cookie-cutter life, the

world would be pretty boring, right?”

“I would fuck up your world,” he said as he finally made eye contact with her again. This time he turned more fully toward her, letting his arm rest across her legs.

“No, you don’t know what would happen if we were together because you haven’t given it a chance. You can’t base life on the what ifs,” she said just as a gentle mist started to fall.

Callum looked up at the sky at the same time she did and then lifted her legs off of him. “Come on. Let’s head back. It’ll be a downpour before too long.”

The walk back was silent. The tree canopy shielded them from the mist that had started to fall, and they seemed to use that as an excuse to slow the walk; to stay in their own little world before something came crashing in to tear them apart again. It wasn’t until they began to break through the tree line and onto the main road of her complex that the rain really started coming down. Callum grabbed her hand as they made a dash for her house. By the time they made it to the front porch, they were both soaked and freezing. They stood there in silence staring at each other, not sure where to go from there. This was something they seemed to have perfected over the past few weeks. This was the invisible pull that surrounded them.

A loud crash of thunder broke the silence and made them both jump.

“Did you kiss him?” Callum asked abruptly.

“What?”

“Last week, when you were with Christian. Did you kiss him?”

“No.”

“Good.”

Within seconds, Sam’s legs were wrapped around his waist and his mouth was once again on the soft spot of her neck. Her heart was racing so fast she knew Callum could feel each beat as he licked the rain from the skin on her neck.

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