She shook her head, feeling as though her world was somehow shattering into a million pieces. “I think I’m done here.”
He took a step toward her and she took a step back. He immediately froze.
“I'm not about to allow some guy to dictate who I can and can’t hang out with just so I can keep his attention. I may be a lot of things, but I’m not that desperate.”
Sam made it up the stairs and out the front door before she had even registered that she’d left his room.
By the time it finally did register, she was halfway across the parking lot waving down an Uber driver who was parked at the entrance, and the rain had soaked through her clothes and hair.
She jumped in and slammed the door shut just as she heard Callum shouting her name.
Chapter 22 - Callum
His leg muscles finally kicked in moments after she left the room. But by that point she was already out of the house. And by the time he made it to the front porch and was somehow involuntarily calling out her name, she was shutting the door of a car and riding off.
He refused to acknowledge the questioning looks of concern he got from Drew and Keiser (and pretty much everyone else) as he walked back into the house and down to his room.
He let out a grunt of frustration as he slammed his bedroom door.
Why was he so surprised?It’s not like he didn’t already know he was going to fuck it up. He always fucked everything up.
He’d fucked up school and his career path.
He’d fucked up Rebecca’s plan.
He’d fucked up his family.
Why was he so surprised that he fucked it up with Sam?
******
He couldn’t find the drawing. He had walked right back to his room and straight to the table where he knew it was. But it wasn’t there. A momentary panic set in before he saw it sitting off to the side. Sitting right on the table he’d placed it on before he kissedher. Right before he’d damn near fallen into oblivion and never looked back.
A breath of relief escaped. His fingers were shaking as he lifted the drawing from the table and then carefully placed it inside his bedside drawer. He knew that drawing was all he would have leftof her, and damn if he was going to let it go.
He would keep it safe.
Even if he couldn't keephersafe.
When he lay back on the bed, he couldn’t ignore the smell of peppermint. It could have been coming from the diffuser he had placed in the corner, but he knew it wasn’t. It was too authentic to be anything but her, and when he turned over to bury his head into the pillow where her fiery red curls had only moments ago been, that scent surged. It slammed into him so hard he knew it would never leave.
This was it.
There was no turning back from here on out.
If he were a better person, he would leave it alone. If he were a better person, he would decide that the momentary high he experienced when her lips were on his, and her moans filled his ears, and her hands roamed his body was all he would get.
But he was not a better person.
He was selfish and greedy, and he was poisonous.
Chapter 23 - Sam
Sam was patiently waiting for Christian to pull up on Saturday morning. Even she was surprised at how well put together she appeared. The makeup was doing a good job of hiding the bags caused by her lack of sleep over the still crowned Newbie-Asshole.
Last night had been perfect, and then it had become her worst version of hell. She had never felt so alive before Callum. His touch, his mouth, his eyes, his…everything. He was a drug and she was an addict. And then he had to go and act like a complete and total ass and ruin it.
She had experienced enough misogynistic assholes in her life at this point. Growing up in the system, she’d dealt with plenty. Now, they were nearly impossible to escape in a male-dominated major. And she knew her chosen career would be filled with assholes who got off on being the ones with the answers, the ones in power, the ones who made the decisions.