Callum
Iwas fuming,and I had nowhere to direct my anger. How the fuck could I murder student loans that shouldn’t have existed?
I had taken care of that for Wren back when I found her. She’d deserved to go to college, even if her plans had gotten waylaid by having Ez. And since I couldn’t give her money directly, I had a lawyer—one of my many, many shady relatives—draft a letter to her great-aunt Jenny telling her the fifty-thousand dollars she was receiving was from a fund for widows of fallen police officers she mistakenly hadn’t received when her husband died years earlier. I assumed, wrongly it turned out, she’d pay for Wren’s schooling.
Yet, here she was, three years later, buried under debt. Debt she should not have had. Debt that would keep her tied to a job she barely liked and not on the road with me where we both knew she’d rather be.
My parents would be ashamed of me. My grift had had far too many holes. They’d taught me better than that. Always look at a grift from every angle because what could go wrong inevitablywouldgo wrong. I should have looked at it from every angle. At the time, I was blinded by emotion at finding Wren, and clearly, I hadn’t been thinking straight.
I did a hell of a lot better when I paid off her hospital bills.
Wren allowed me my silence. Inside my apartment, after locking us up tight, I turned her to me and unbuttoned her coat. She turned away and allowed me to slide it from her shoulders. I hung hers up, and mine followed.
She walked to the kitchen while I did this, and I found her there drinking water from a glass. Her eyebrows raised, but she didn’t ask. I felt her anger, and I didn’t like it. She was my soft girl, my sweet girl, the girl I wanted to make happy every second of her day. It killed me to be the cause of her anger.
She placed the glass on the counter, but kept her fingers curled around it. Her tongue darted out to lick a drop of water from her upper lip.
“I don’t care your reason, dragging me out of that party the way you did was not okay.”
She wasn’t yelling, even though she’d once told me she yelled when she was pissed. Maybe she wasn’t as angry as I’d thought. Then, she went on, and it was worse.
“I’m so embarrassed, I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to look any of your bandmates in the eye again. You know better than anyone how difficult social settings like that are for me. I thought I was doing well. I truly did. Then you dragged me out like I was a tantruming child, and I really need to know what I did wrong to deserve that treatment.”
I reached for her, but she held up a hand. That wasn’t acceptable, so I snagged her hip and tugged her closer. I gave her space, but not so much that I couldn’t keep my hands on her.
“Callum...I need you to speak.” Her hands lay gently on my chest. “I need you to explain this to me so I can understand.”
If I dropped to my knees and tongue fucked her, she’d forgive me and forget tonight. I’d make her come as many times as her body could take and she’d melt. My sweet little bird would fall over me, into my arms, and I’d have her again.
She was shoving me now, huffing at my silence, pushing my hands away from gathering her skirt. My eyes met hers, and the wetness pooling there staggered me. My chest caved in like I’d been hit with a boulder.
“Wren…”
She let go of my hands to swipe at her cheeks. “If you’re not going to say anything, I’d like to go home.”
“No.”
“I don’t want to, but I’m not going to let you do what you did without explanation.”
“You don’t take you away from me. You gave me you, and I’m keeping you.”
Her breath hitched. “You claimed me without asking.”
I dipped my forehead to hers. “Don’t pretend you didn’t let me.”
“If I’m yours, you need to take care of me.”
I stilled, her dress bunched in my fists. She was right. She’d given herself over to me, trusting me to be careful. She hadn’t known I’d been caring for her from afar for years. But I’d failed her. I couldn’t right my wrong from three years ago, but I could fix what I’d trampled on tonight.
“You were perfect tonight, Little Bird.” I opened my hands to slide my palms up her sides. “So brave, walkin’ into a room filled with strangers. You don’t even have to speak. Your smile speaks for itself. I was in awe, having you by my side.”
Her body trembled. “If that’s true, why did we leave?”
I took her hand, using her fingers to unbutton my shirt, then slid it inside, over her name on my skin. “This week apart from you was difficult. Almost impossible. I don’t want to repeat it. But this summer, we’re goin’ on tour, and there’s no avoidin’ that. In my head, I’ve been picturing you and Ez ridin’ along with me. Maybe not the whole time, I know the road isn’t the easiest for a little guy, but at least part of it. But in one second, that hope was smashed to bits. You shut it down as soon as Iris brought it up.”
She shook her head. “We haven’t even talked about that...and it’s months away. You can’t know you’ll want me with you then.”
My fingers wrapped around her jaw, tipping it back so our eyes were locked. “I know. Don’t doubt that for one second. You are my one. You are my only. That won’t change.”