Dare Me

“And the friendship was real enough for Cal to overlook the bit about the Satan cat.”

“Which he did explain at the next bar,” Callum said, holding me against his chest as he wiped his eyes with the knuckle of his thumb. Ana was a limp mess of giggles on the couch. Once again, I ignored the way she grabbed Callum’s thigh to get back up. I was in too good a mood from the story and it carried all the way over to the hotel, a charming cottage that overlooked a bright green hill and the ruins of a Fourteenth century castle. I was gazing out our breathtaking window when Callum came up behind me.

“Hey.” I turned to see him grinning with his hands behind his back. “Give me your hand.” I did and he clasped a sparkling, rose gold bangle around my wrist. “Happy birthday.” My mouth parted as I stared down in awe of the rose-cut gems, gleaming with a life of their own. “In case you’re ever crazy enough to think you aren’t worth it, you can look in the mirror while you’re wearing this and see that you upstage diamonds you’re so fucking perfect.”

My fingers touched to my lips as I admired it over my skin. I wasn’t sure if it was the bracelet or his words that had me feeling more radiant than the precious stones. “It’s so beautiful, Callum,” I breathed. He smiled and brought me to the edge of the bed, holding both my hands.

“I’m going to try to make the shoot go by as fast as possible today. I’m going to make sure I’ll make it to dinner with you,” he said. Ana claimed the photographer had an emergency and had to leave early, which meant portraits had to be pushed up to my birthday. Callum had planned for most of the day off but now he was going to be tied up till well into the evening. I had a feeling Ana had something to do with the change of plans but I refused to let it upset me because I was in Scotland, for God’s sake, and everything around me was beautiful. I could easily spend the day exploring and end my evening with a romantic dinner with Callum. I wanted to finally accommodate his work schedule so it was perfect, really.

“I have a whole list of places I want to see, so don’t stress about rushing. Just make sure you’ll be around to give me at least the last few hours of my birthday together.”

He kissed me. “That won’t be a problem.”

*

I was sure my mood was radiating from my cheeks as I skipped out of the hotel. I had a long, dusty pink sweater on that matched my new bracelet from Callum and there were rose-colored threads in the knee-high socks I wore under my long suede boots. I felt like a walking smile. I hardly minded that I walked ten minutes before realizing I’d forgotten my wallet at the hotel. There was still a bounce in my step as I walked through the front doors but I slowed down when I heard Ana’s distinct drawl behind the wall of the lobby bar.

“I just wouldn’t have seen you with a girl like her. She seems… obvious. Vapid pretty girl. Not a whole lot up here but enough right here to distract you from that.”

I froze next to the entrance, on the other side of the wall she sat against. My body was immediately tense and I prayed right away that Ana was just on the phone. With a friend. Maybe an ex. But the sentence that followed dashed what little hope I had for that.

“You seemed too smart to fall for that kind of superficial trap, Callum.”

My heart pounded at his name and the pain built in my chest as he took his time to respond.

“You seem to think you know me well for someone who met me five months ago.”

“I do know you better than any of the other women you’re generous enough to give the time of day to. For starters, I’ve been interviewing you for months. Then there’s the fact that we’ve been fucking regularly since April.”

The pain in my chest sank like a knife to my stomach.

Fucking. Regularly.

Since April.

I clutched the wall, my brain sinking instantly into a dark well that crawled with red flags and confirmed suspicions. So I wasn’t being at all paranoid that night at The Pike – the night that Callum and I had sex for the first time since I came back. There was something between him and Ana. Something significant.

I heard Callum’s short laugh. “That doesn’t do much to prove that you know me. I’ve slept with a lot of women.”

“You haven’t given many interviews to the Times though.” It was quiet for a second and I knew the triumphant “mm” Ana hummed was a response to Callum’s silence. “Let’s not forget the fact that you’d just taken your cock out of me when you got a text and said, ‘Fuck this, you’ve got to be kidding.’ Couldn’t help but observe that you weren’t exactly excited for her to come back. I mean – hmm. What else did you say? That she was ‘poison’? That she didn’t ‘belong’ in your life? You suspected from the jump that she was going to be a burden and an embarrassment to you and what do you know – you were right.”

With those words, I went dizzy.

I was poison. A burden. I didn’t belong. They were my more paranoid suspicions but here they were, confirmed by the smug lips of Ana Hale from the Times. I was seething, humiliated but I couldn’t hide behind the wall anymore. I stiffly turned the corner and stood there before them, waiting to be noticed, the tears in my eyes clouding every bit of my vision aside from Callum, his chair and his stupid Scotch in his hand.

“Oh, Christ.” I heard Ana’s groan. I didn’t have to see her face to know that she’d seen me. I hated the pang of shame I felt and refused to back away, watching in slow motion as Callum turned around. The second his eyes settled on me, he let out a very long, very guilty breath. God. Damn it, Callum. I shook my head at him, disgust creeping into my fury and betrayal emanating from the pit of my closing throat.

“I don’t belong in your life?” I whispered, staring at him, unable to

believe the cold, icy look in his eye as he rose to his feet, grabbed my forearms and walked me backward.

“Not now, Lake.”

“What the hell, Callum?” I breathed, reading nothing but anger in the vacant stare he gave me. God, I hated it. I always had but in this moment, I hated that look a million times more than I ever had in my life. “You were sleeping with Ana? Since April? You told her about me? What else did you tell her? How long were you going to keep this a secret?”

“Lake, I’m not talking about this. I have work to do. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but the cameras are in there – they’re setting up right now.” I looked past his tightly flexed arm, where his finger pointed. I saw the rest of the lounge my tear-filled vision had missed a second before. Aside from Ana, there was a photographer. A lighting crew. I saw Oz turned around in his seat at the bar. The man serving him his drink was frozen with him. Every last person in there was turned to me, staring. Gaping. Joining my fury now was mortification and that very embarrassment Ana had mentioned. I looked back to Callum and down at his fingers wrapped around my wrists, trying desperately to pull me out of sight. To hide me.

“Do I belong in your life, Callum?” I whispered the question.