Page 85 of Shattered

“He thinks he’s pretty cool. I have yet to make a final decision on the matter.” Sam shrugged her shoulders in indifference and Callum shook his head knowingly. “Where’s Drew?” she asked while she guided them inside.

“Filling up his bike,” Micah answered. “Where’s Kristin?”

“I’m here!” Kristin called out, practically out of breath, as she lugged two full suitcases down the stairs.

Callum tilted his head in confusion. “We are going for three days. You need a swimsuit and two outfits.”

“Listen here, Callum Barker. A girl must have choices.” Kristin’s finger was inches from Callum’s face. “What if we go to dinner? Or brunch? What if we go to the theater or a dance club? And I will need good shoes for strolling all up and down King Street. And then sandals for the pool and I’ll need heels for dinner,” Kristin exasperatedly explained.

“Point taken,” Callum conceded as he stepped back to watch Micah throw her bags in the back of his truck. “What about you? Where are your bags?” Callum gestured toward Sam.

“Just this,” Sam said as she threw her backpack over her shoulders.

Packing light was something she’d learned from childhood. She’d never known when she might have to move from place to place, and being afforded time and space to pack was a luxury she had never been given.

“Two outfits and toiletries.”

Callum grinned.

“I didn’t know Drew had a bike?” Sam questioned as they walked outside and locked the front door behind them.

“Yeah. He should be here in just a moment. Micah and I already filled the trucks last night.”

“Why are all three of you driving?”

“We both have single cab trucks,” Callum said as if that explained everything.

Sam widened her eyes in question.

“Since you and Kristin are both coming, we all needed to drive to make room.”

Sam knew where he was going with that.

“Who am I riding with?”

His answer was a shy smile.

She took a deep breath. “Sounds about right.”

Sam wasn’t sure how she felt about this. She still hadn't apologized for her outburst the night she’d gotten the email. She had made him believe it was all his fault and she hated herself for it. There’d been so many times she’d almost stopped him that night they’d worked together. Once, she’d almost blurted it out at a table as she was filling drinks and he was passing plates. She knew she would have to say something at some point, but the words just wouldn’t come.

In her mind, she was teetering on the line between him being just a friend she desperately needed to apologize to for implying he’d fucked up her life, and he was just a friend she desperately needed to stay away from because every thought of him ended in barely clothed daydreams.

Chapter 36 - Sam

The short ride from their house to the interstate was silent.

Sam sent Kristin a short and concise text letting her know how much she owed Sam for what she was being made to endure. It wasn’t necessarily bad, but he was inches from her.

Inches.

She could smell him. She could see the defined lines of his bicep. She could reach out and touch him if she wanted to. She could lean over and kiss him at any moment. But she wouldn’t, and it was absolutely torturous.

They each spent the better part of the first hour stealing glances at the other and waiting for the other to break the uncomfortable silence. At some point along the way, Sam placed her earbuds in her ears and leaned her head against the window, hoping to drown out the tension that seemed to always surround them.

She hadn’t meant to fall asleep, but was woken up sometime later by a nudge to her shoulder. After sliding the earbuds out and readjusting her eyes, she found a beautiful sunset coming through the window.

“Do you need anything?” Callum asked.

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