Chapter 24 Callum
TWENTY-FOUR
Callum
It took a little while to find her. This house was massive. There was an actual oil painting of Z and her parents hanging in the hallway, all of them dressed up in formal wear, with her looking stiff and uncomfortable. It was weird.
Growing up, I never would’ve known we had houses like this in Hart County.
Yeah, I’d gotten to know Dane, and Ayla was super rich too. But neither of them were this stuffy. Javi and Eliza were on another level.
Finally I came to a door at the end of the hallway and heard a faint sound from inside. I pushed the door open and saw Zandra sitting on the bed with her knees pulled up to her chest, hair falling around her shoulders.
I went in and closed the door behind me. “Hey.”
“Sorry I took off like that.”
“I can’t blame you. I would’ve left with you, but I had to take care of something.”
She pulled at a thread on the thick comforter, one of those types that hotels always have. A duvet. “I was standing on the stairs. I heard what you said. Thank you.”
“Just told the truth, as I see it.”
“I can’t believe what my mother said to you. I’m really sorry about that, too.”
“I mean, she wasn’t wrong.”
Zandra sat forward. “Of course she was. Working at Hearthstone is not beneath anyone. Least of all me. It’s like she was implying—”
I heard the rest of that sentence. That you’re beneath me too, she might as well have said.
And I’d really thought her mom liked the chocolates. Not enough to make me appropriate for her daughter, it seemed. Not like that mattered, because Z and I weren’t together or anything.
“Well, you did good getting us out of there,” I said. “Mitsy was trying to get into my pants via the bottom cuff.”
“What? Right in front of her husband?”
“She thought I looked like I was up for it.”
“Well…”
“Careful. Your mom didn’t hurt my feelings, but you might.”
Zandra smirked, and I came over to sit on the edge of the bed. She tipped her head back against the headboard.
“Was this your room? Seems a little bland for you.”
I looked around at the space that could have been lifted straight from a corporate hotel catalog. Comfortable enough, with neutral furniture and generic landscape prints. Zero personality, which was the exact opposite of the woman sitting beside me.
“I never lived in this house. My parents bought it after I graduated and their business really took off. But this is the guestroom I always stay in.”
“What was your high school bedroom like?”
She got up and walked around the room, gesturing as she went. “There would’ve been a bookcase about here. Posters on all the walls. My bed had a floral comforter my mom picked out. But she let me pick the sheets. My favorites had hands flipping middle fingers all over them.”
I barked a laugh. “I bet your mom loved those.”
“Oh, she had feelings, alright.”
My grin was irrepressible. “I wish I could’ve seen these infamous sheets. We should’ve been friends.”
“Like I ever would’ve let you up to my room to see my sheets. The biggest player at Silver Ridge High? I think not.”
“I wasn’t that much of a player.”
“Yes, you were.” She bent down to peer under the bed. “There should still be a box of my old stuff somewhere. Ah, here it is. Mom threatened to throw it away a few years ago, and I stored it here.” She pulled it out and took off the lid. “This is like a time capsule.”
I got on the floor and poked through the box with her. “Math Bowl?” I asked, pulling out an old T-shirt.
She snatched the shirt away. “It was a math competition, and we won. Not that anybody cared compared to whatever the football team was doing.”
“Wait a minute. What is this?” I pulled out a glossy eight-by-ten of a bunch of young men posing and making eyes at the camera. “Is this a signed photo of a boy band?”
“Give me that! It’s not even mine. It was Jessa’s.”
“Sure. Did you dance around holding this photo?” I held it up, examining it in the light. “I think there are kiss prints on here.”
“Shut up. There are not.”
“Oh, girl…” I sang.
Zandra pushed my shoulder, laughing.
We kept looking through the box. She got quiet when we found a few snapshots of her and Jessa, but Z told me about each one and smiled sadly at the memories.
“I remember looking through this stuff, wondering if there was something to explain what happened the night she died. Some hint I’d missed about who her crush was, or who left those cruel notes and broke my window after. But there was nothing.”
“I’m sorry, Sunflower,” I said softly.
She dug around a bit more, pulling out a notebook. “I even still have my diary. If this were a who-done-it movie of the week, there’d be some clue in the margins to explain it all. But real life isn’t like that.”
“What did you write in your diary?”
Her eyes narrowed. “Nothing interesting.”
That sounded like a challenge to me. I snatched the book from her hands.
“Callum, put it down! I’m warning you.” She tried to grab the small book, but I jumped up, using my height against her.
“Callum is the sexiest guy in school,” I pretended to read, “and I wish he would sneak into my bedroom and rub his hot naked bod all over my sheets—”
“I never wrote anything of the sort!” Z jumped in a futile attempt to steal her diary back.
I wrapped an arm around her waist, handing her the diary but not letting her go. “I would never actually read it. But there’s gotta be something about me in there. Right?”
“Nothing nice.”
“If I’d had a diary, you would’ve been in it for sure.”
“If you’d had a diary, it probably would’ve been nothing but a record of sex dreams.”
“Obviously,” I grunted. “And, as I said, you would’ve been in there.”
She glanced down, the way she always did when she got shy. A common occurrence when I talked about how much I’d always wanted her.
“I guess I did think about you,” she admitted. “I noticed you a lot. And it wasn’t all bad.”
“Yeah?” I pulled her closer by her waist, my grip loose and playful.
“But even if we’d been friends, I never would’ve tried anything. I had plenty of attitude, but I was shy when it came to boys.”
I bent to kiss her. “Such a good girl, and your parents didn’t even appreciate it. I think you should do something bad and rebellious to even the score.”
She reached around to squeeze my butt through my khakis. “Such as?”
“Get on your hands and knees on the bed,” I rasped.
Z pulled back and stared at me. Clearly trying to decide if I was serious, and if I was, whether she wanted to go along with this.
Several moments ticked by as I held her gaze. Because I was damn serious.
Then she rushed over to the door and locked it.
Two seconds later, she was on the duvet on her hands and knees. Eagerly awaiting what I might do next.
Nice.
With the heel of my hand massaging my thickening cock through my pants, I slowly walked toward her.
“We have to hurry,” she whispered.
“Shhh.” Easing one knee onto the bed behind her, I slowly worked her skirt up her thighs and over her hips. “I need you to stay still and be quiet, okay?”
I wasn’t going to rush this for anyone, certainly not her self-centered parents.
“I can’t believe we’re doing this,” she said, wiggling around.
“Stay still,” I instructed again. I brought my hand to the crotch of her panties, feeling the dampness there. “Getting wet for me? Are you excited about what we’re going to do while your parents and their snooty friends are downstairs?”
“Callum,” she whimpered. Exactly the tone of voice I wanted. Desperate.
Bringing my mouth to the back of her thigh, I pressed kisses along her smooth skin. Then the other side. My hands joined in, inching upward until they reached her panties.
Soooo slowly, I tugged the damp cotton down until she was exposed to me. “You have no clue how sexy you are, baby.”
“Please lick me, Callum. I want your tongue.”
Mmmm. Z’s request, which was pretty blunt for her, had my cock fully hard and aching.
Okay, maybe I didn’t want to drag this out forever.
“You got it, Sunflower. Stay quiet, now. We can’t get in trouble.”
The first taste of her sweetness on my tongue was even better than I remembered from the other night. Zandra let out a breathy cry. “You make me feel so good,” she whispered.
All I wanted was to give her more.
Yanking her panties down to her bent knees, I helped her pull one leg free so she could widen her thighs. Time to dive back in and get her screaming into the mattress.
I licked her sensitive folds. Sucked her clit. Slid my tongue to her opening and thrust it inside her with my hands roughly gripping her hips. Zandra’s arms bent, and she hid her face to quiet the sounds of her ecstatic cries.
“Callum,” she said, the words muffled, “I’m going to come!”
“Already?”
“Yes—”
Two of my fingers pushed inside her while I kept tonguing, and a split second later she was convulsing and crying nonsense words into the duvet. I loved the sound of her falling apart for me.
As she came down from the high, I licked her gently with the flat of my tongue and massaged her thighs, savoring, until she collapsed to the side and tugged her panties back into place. “No more. I’m too sensitive.”
I wiped my mouth, standing. “Are you happy?”
“So happy.” She sprawled flat on the bed, smiling and looking debauched. “I can’t believe we did that.”
Knee-walking onto the bed, I palmed my straining erection through my khakis. “I can. It was hot. Just need to finish myself off.” Pop went my button, and down went my zipper so I could ease my dick free of my pants.
“Wait.” She propped herself on one elbow. “I want to suck your cock.”
My teeth dug into my lower lip. It drove me crazy when she told me exactly what she wanted, especially if it was to do something dirty to me. “Right here in what could’ve been your high school bedroom? With your mom and dad downstairs?”
Some of the languidness in her expression wore off, and there was that intense Zandra glare we knew and loved.
“Feed it to me,” she whispered.
Ungh. I’d never been this turned on.
“Good thing my cock is dairy and gluten free,” I quipped, and her little snort of amusement was so worth it.
Crawling over her, I went to my hands and knees, my cockhead hovering right near her mouth. With her naughty gaze locked on mine, her tongue flicked out and tasted my tip. Shit. I was the one who needed to stay quiet now, and it wasn’t going to be easy.
Then Zandra’s eyes fluttered closed as she took me into her mouth and started to suck. I moved my hips, dragging my cock over her tongue, and nothing had ever felt this incredible. I was going to lose my mind.
Zandra moaned around my shaft. The rocking of my hips sped up, feeding her more. I wasn’t going to last any longer than she had.
The orgasm hit me with no warning. I had to clench my teeth hard to keep from shouting as I came down her throat.
As soon as my brain could function again, I got up and grabbed a tissue from the box on the nightstand to wipe her watering eyes and the corner of her mouth. “I always knew your mouth was lethal, Z, but I never knew you could do me in like that.”
She gave me a smug, satisfied smile.
After I’d tucked myself away and fixed my pants, I helped Zandra get her clothes back in order. Her hair was wild though. I doubt it there was any fixing that.
“Never had to do a walk of shame from my parents’ house,” she said. “Do you think we can sneak out without them noticing?”
I wrapped her in my arms and kissed the top of her head. “Why should we be ashamed? We’re grown adults, and that’s probably the first decent action this room has ever seen. These walls needed something to talk about.”
Just then, a voice shouted up the stairs, echoing against the cavernous vaulted ceiling of the stairwell. Her mother. “Zandra, are you going to pout up there all night, or are you going to come back down here for coffee and brandy like a civilized person?”
I shot Zandra a look, and we both burst out laughing.