His facial expression made her pause. It actually looked like she may have hit a nerve. His eyes dropped to the ground, and he took a breath before they made eye contact again. But she had to stop it before it started. She didn’t want to go back and forth tonight seeing who could throw more insults at the other. She just wanted to go home.
She reached out to yank the phone away from him before calmly asking, “Can you text Micah and see when they’ll be coming up? I don’t want to barge in on them in bed or anything, but I’m ready to go; it’s past midnight.”
Callum didn’t say anything. Instead, he chose to take this moment to stare her down…again. It was as if she was a puzzle he just couldn’t quite figure out. His eyes roamed from her head to her feet and she awkwardly shuffled on the couch as if the movement would lessen the feeling that stare gave her.
She was about to sayfuck itand start mouthing off when he suddenly got up and headed downstairs without a word. Due to herknowledge of the townhome’s layout, she knew his bedroom was across the hall from Micah’s in the basement, and based on their interactions thus far, she assumed he was probably just ignoring her and had headed to bed.
She might be spending the night on this couch, and if so, Kristin was doing all of her laundry for the remainder of the week. Hell, maybe even the month.
She was more than surprised when Callum walked back in a few moments later followed by Kristin and Micah, the latter still awkwardly buttoning up his pants. She muttered out a quick “Thanks” and received a head nod in return before he disappeared back into the kitchen. Despite how brief it had been, this was their first interaction that wasn’t openly hostile.
After a way too drawn out goodbye between Kristin and Micah, they finally started to leave. But when Sam looked back, she found Callum leaning against the door frame, watching her.
Chapter 6 - Callum
Callum had read through the same four pages of the catalog three times now without retaining a single ounce of information. His mind was too focused on the whiff of peppermint that had lingered in the air after Sam had walked away.
It had been two days since he’d seen her, and she was still stuck in his head. He hated that. He didn’t want to think about the way her hair moved as she walked through the room, or the enticing curve of her neck just above the collar of her shirt. He didn’t want to remember the way his chest had tightened when she burst out into a laugh at something one of the other waitresses had said, or the way her green eyes seemed to shine in the twinkling lights that were strung through the ceiling of the bar. He didn’t want any of it. Mostly because it was perfect. It was all too damn perfect, and he would ruin it. That’s what he did. Callum Barker ruined things.
“You figure out which ones we should order?” Drew waved a hand in front of Callum’s face as he spoke.
“Um.”
Shit.
He turned back to the front and looked through the first few pages once more. These chairs and tables were getting ridiculously expensive, but they needed at least three new sets for one shop alone.
“What’s wrong?” Drew slid the book out of Callum’s view and gave him a knowing look.
“Nothing,” Callum spat out while he stood and walked over to the new cases of ink they needed to organize.
“Bullshit,” Drew countered. “You’re in a pissy mood, and while you might physically be here, your mind is in a completely different place.”
“I have a lot going on.”
“No, you don’t.”
“I’m here fixing all this crap and dealing with the shit storm at Topline.” He hoped Drew understood that said shit storm was the creep of a manager, Mason Brimley, whom Callum was still trying to figure out how to deal with, and not the girl who had lived in his every thought since he’d first laid eyes on her.
“You’re thinking about her, aren’t you?”
“Who?” Callum furrowed his brow as if he didn’t know exactly who Drew was referring to.
“You know who.” Drew stepped directly into Callum’s line of sight.
Callum tried to lift up the crate to move somewhere else, but Drew quickly stopped him.
“Why were you so mean to her the other night?”
“I still have no idea who you’re talking about,” Callum lied.
“Cut the shit, Callum. You were an ass to her.”
Callum reached for the chair behind him, making a very ungraceful plop as he sat. Drew promptly sat right beside him. It was a weekday and Inked was closed, so they were thankfully alone with no prying ears to listen in.
“I would fuck up her life.”
“I don’t think you would,” Drew quickly countered.