Chapter Thirteen
If You’re Into That
“I’m sorry about the mess,”
I whispered before I punched in the lock combination numbers on the keypad.
Callum didn’t say anything, he just followed behind me. He wanted to see the place before the baby came, it was his baby, his nephew? I wasn’t sure if Ardley and him figured out the titles yet. It wasn’t like I could tell him no anyways. And I was too tired to tell him to come back another day so I could clean up. I don’t know why, but I stayed in his office while he attended his meeting, though it was a lot quicker than I thought it would be.
Crystal was making a big fuss about how important the meeting was and how quick I had to be—she started stressing me out—but the meeting wasn’t even twenty minutes long. When Callum came back, he grabbed my purse off the couch, threw it over his shoulder like it belonged to him. He lent me a hand, helping me stand, and we walked past Crystal without saying a word.
Now there we were.
“Make yourself at home,”
I said as I picked up a sweater off the floor and fixed it on the couch instead, like that placement was any better.
My place was nothing like the Oakes mansion—in fact my entire place could probably fit into their master bedroom.
My place looked like a studio because the living room and kitchen clashed together like it was one, my room had a bathroom and that was the only bathroom in the house, I had a guest room, it was the size of a small bathroom so I turned it into my art room—I barely knew anyone so I figured it would be no use to have it, besides, I had a pull-out couch, Val was welcome to crash whenever he felt like it.
Honestly, no house in town could be compared to the Oakes mansion—that place was not only big, but Celeste and Ardley even had a private lake out back. And the only reason I knew that was because Celeste and I had tea on the dock once after an IV therapy session. It was such a peaceful experience.
“Will the baby have a room, or will he be sleeping with you?”
I swallowed as I turned to look at Callum.
I didn’t like those kinds of questions because I was already starting to feel like an unprepared mom—and I didn’t hold that kind of title over the baby.
Like I promised Ardley, I’d wait till Celeste woke up but whenever I was asked a serious question like that it made the dark thoughts occur.
What if Celeste never wakes up?
“And like he said, you can stay at their place in the meantime. I don’t live there, I have my own place, I was just—”
“Yes, it’s fine, Callum. The baby can stay with me,”
I said as I tried not to freak out in front of him because I was sure he’d been freaking out as well, otherwise he wouldn’t be here right now touring my house.
“I didn’t mean to pry or anything,”
he said after a beat.
“I know.”
I stood in the living room watching him walk around the kitchen—it was at least clean, sure there were countless unfinished mugs on the counter but there weren’t any dirty dishes in sight, rotten fruits, or misplaced groceries.
Callum picked up one of my unfinished mugs—that one was supposed to be a mushroom, but it looked like a defect of some sort. And, like he could read my mind, he lifted the dull gray mug in my direction as his eyes sliced to me.
“Is this supposed to be a…mushroom?”
I chuckled. “I tried.”
He smiled as he looked at the mug again. “It looks great.”
I smiled as I shook my head. “Glad I know I can always count on you to lie to me, my feelings are very fragile at the moment anyways.”
“No—it looks great, have you seen the shit they have hanging in art galleries nowadays?”
I raised a brow as I planted a hand on my hips, my back was starting to ache, “are you saying,”
I pointed at the mug in his hand with a grin plastered on my face, “that shitty mug is art?” I nearly laughed.
He smiled, and there was smugness in his tone, “yes.”
I finally took a seat on the couch as I laughed out loud. “Do you want me to show you my art room while you’re at it? I’ve got plenty more failed projects in there that could be called art.”
I heard his steps before I heard his voice. “I’d very much like to see that, Juliette,” he said.
Strangely, my stomach curled. I placed a hand on my stomach to catch the baby moving because he’s been doing that since the first sixteen weeks of my pregnancy, but another strange thing happened, the baby was not moving.
Maybe I was feeling sick because my stomach really did curl. Like an intense feeling, it only lasted a couple seconds though once Callum’s voice faded.
“I was kidding, Callum,”
I deadpanned, still trying to figure out the cause of my stomach-curling moment.
“It seems like you kid a lot.”
I smiled then quickly bit my lips to kill the smile. “Well, I think you take me too seriously,”
I said as he sat on the couch next to me.
“Your word is law, Juliette, remember that,”
he said as he turned to look at me.
I stared back, and somehow this time, it felt different. This man in front of me was intense. His blue eyes were demanding and not at all shy.
He was all I could smell—he was so close, the scent of dark wood engulfed my nose, and right now, in this moment of silence it would be weird to just scoot away from him, but I also didn’t want to keep looking at him or break the eye contact.
What was this?
This…this…feeling.
It rooted deep in my stomach and boiled up, spreading itself across my ears, my neck and cheeks. My chest tightened and that feeling felt punishing.
“This is it, Callum,”
I whispered once I finally found the words at the back of my throat, “there’re a couple loose nails here and there, squeaky floors, but nothing life threatening.”
“Loose nails sound life-threatening to me.”
I scoffed as I chuckled. “You’re too vain, Callum.”
His brows pulled together, and he opened his mouth to say something, but a familiar beeping sound came from the door before it clicked open.
My eyes widened as I quickly stood—too quickly. My head was dizzy. Callum’s warm hand pressed behind my back as he tried to offer me support.
“Are you okay?”
he asked as he started to rub my back.
I squeezed my eyes shut and Val’s voice drilled into my skull before I had any time to process the kind of things he’d be assuming. Val’s imagination was a whole other kind of thing.
“Jules, you’ll never guess who—”
The words stopped and I knew exactly the kind of scene he was looking at. Callum’s hand behind my back as he held me up. Callum Oakes was in my living room. Callum Oakes’ hand was planted on the small part of my back, the band of the Rolex on his wrist gently digging into me. To anyone, without any context, this would look very affectionate. Some might even say I was carrying his child.
“Jules?”
Val called out.
“Hey, Val,”
I laughed dryly, “Callum this is Valerian—Valerian, Callum.”
Callum helped me sit back down on the couch. He was treating me like a damn damsel in distress.
I held the bridge of my nose, regretting the fact that I did in fact give Val the security code to my house. I did it weeks ago, I was careless, thinking of future times when I’d be nicely comfortable and I wouldn’t have to get up to go answer the door. The situation came back full circle, and it was biting me in the ass.
Callum and Val shook hands. Callum was in a suit, coming straight from a meeting, meanwhile Val was in his typical lounging clothes—a black shirt and jeans.
Both men took a seat next to me, I was in the middle.
I sighed.
I expected Callum to take his leave once Val came in, but it seemed like that only made him get more comfortable.
“You okay?”
he asked me again as he leaned in.
I glared at him, sending straight daggers. He pulled away and swallowed.
“He’s here for a tour of the house,”
I explained to Val as I glanced at him.
Val looked at me then looked to the side. “Are you selling the place?”
I shook my head. “It was for the baby.”
“Ahh.”
He nodded with the new piece of information.
May his wild imagination rest in peace.
“In that case,”
Val laughed as he leaned forward to catch Callum’s gaze, “rest assured, she’s not crazy.”
I grimaced as I pushed Val’s shoulder. He only sent me a glare.
“She can look like she’ll kill you,”
he went on to say, “but she’s a big softy.” He nudged my shoulder. “You literally cried watching a movie trailer a couple days ago,” he laughed as he teased.
I rolled my eyes. “Shut up, Valerian.”
“Which trailer was it?”
Callum asked.
“Inside Out 2,”
Val replied.
Callum chuckled, “that’s sweet.”
“Sure, if you’re into that,”
Val said carelessly.
And just like that, the room fell silent.
I turned in Val’s direction, sending a glare that clearly meant, why did you say that? He only blinked and smiled back at me.
I sighed as I turned to face Callum—I offered him an apologetic smile. From the look on his face, he didn’t seem affected by Val’s comment but then again I couldn’t read his mind so I didn’t know what he was really thinking.
“I can walk you out,”
I mumbled.
Callum sucked in a breath once he realized I was talking to him.
“Right, I should get going. I’m drowning in emails as it is,”
he said as he stood.
I got to my feet as well. Callum followed me out, and in the corner of my eyes I saw Val mimicking the action of two people recklessly making out like he was some sort of teenage boy. My brows furrowed as I grimaced, but I quickly masked the look once I realized Callum was paying attention to me.
Val, that imbecile. He didn’t have a single serious bone in his body.
Once we reached the front door I watched Callum rock back and forth on his heel like a kid trying to find the courage to say something.
“Is it good enough?”
I asked, hoping that I made things easier for him.
His brows furrowed. “What?”
“My place,”
I whispered sheepishly.
Callum sucked in a breath with a light chuckle, “oh, yes, yeah.”
“You can text me.”
His ears changed to a shade of pink. “Text you?”
I nodded. “Yeah, you guys are starting with the flooring soon, right? You can text me if anything comes up.”
“Oh.”
He seemed a little disappointed.
“Thank you for driving me,”
I pulled my lips into a thin line, “how are you getting back?”
“I had Crystal follow us here,” he said.
Crystal, brunette, circular-framed glasses, green eyes, long eyelashes, tall enough to be a model. His secretary.
“Cool,”
I bit my lips but then the realization hit me, “wait…has she been here the whole time? In the car?”
Callum simply nodded.
“Oh my god, Callum, you gotta go,”
I said as I opened the door and tried to push him out, but the man didn’t budge. He was rock solid, hands in his pockets.
“Is Valerian gay?”
I blinked as my mouth dropped open with the question.
I was so taken aback, I was at a loss for words. I was drawing blanks for a solid minute trying to recover.
That kind of question was random and completely out of character for Callum. And it made things worse because I could tell it was a serious question for him. His brows pulled together as he waited for my answer.
His jaw hardened.
“I—”
I opened my mouth to speak but I was still at a loss for words. I turned to look in Val’s direction, but he was long gone from the living room, he was probably in the bathroom or in my art room poking around.
“No?”
I tilted my head to the side. “I’m actually not sure, I’ve never seen him date anyone, and we don’t talk about it.”
Callum’s shoulders sagged a little. “Are you guys involved?”
“Callum.”
I sent him a long look.
His lips pulled into a thin line as he read between the lines. “Sorry, I’m prying.”
I nodded. “You should get going,”
I said as I held my hips.
I didn’t want to spend another second standing. It felt like my back could snap in half at any second. And the baby was starting to get active around this hour. I couldn’t handle getting beaten up by a fetus and endure the back pain I was already struggling with.
“Okay,”
Callum finally said as he stepped outside of the house, “I’ll text you.”.
My head bobbed. “Cool, looking forward to it, and I’ll stop by whenever I can.”
He nodded.
I closed the door behind him, satisfied with the fact that he didn’t hate my company entirely.
I’d been stopping by the site after work. It was becoming a ritual— finish up with work, pack food for both Callum and I. We sat on the floor or tables, wherever there was a clean spot in the building, and ate together. We talked for hours—talked about the building, talked about the baby. Just anything. The only reason why I didn’t stop by today was because today was my day off and apparently it was his too—so technically I did go to the site because that’s how I found out he was in his office.
I plopped down on the couch and started rubbing my belly as I closed my eyes. The couch dip then Val’s voice followed.
“What was he really doing here?”
I sighed, “looking around. Val, he was looking, like I told you the first time.”
I didn’t have to look at his face, but I could imagine the unimpressed look he gave me when he said, “you know when I said sure, if he was into that.”
With my eyes closed I slowly shook my head, “why did you even say that?”
“That’s not the point—”
Val quickly said, “did you see his reaction?”
I shook my head. “I was too busy glaring at you and trying not to stab you.”
“Well, that punk smiled,”
he chuckled, “from ear to ear.”
“So?”
“So?”
he exaggerated, “he’s interested in you.”
I sighed.
“And you like him.”
“Instead of projecting your obsession of fabricating people’s romantic lives, why don’t you just write a novel?”
I groaned as I kicked my foot up on the coffee table. “You’d be a New York Times Bestselling Author in no time,” I mumbled with my eyes closed.
“Just wait and see,”
Val laid back on the couch, “weeks from now, you’ll be telling me I was right.”
“Sure, and I’ll also be a bajillionaire.”