Chapter Thirty-Two
Callum pulled his new truck into the driveway and tried to hide the dread creeping into his bones.
He glanced from the Willoughby house to the one he’d grown up in and back to Grace’s.
It had been so long since he had stood on her parents’ front porch and watched her sit in the passenger seat of Dominic’s car.
Their lives would be so different if he had walked down those stairs and told Grace how he felt.
He’d done that now, and it was time to give her the space she needed. His body physically ached to let her go.
“Are you going to visit your dad?” she asked, fingers tugging at the hospital bracelet on her wrist, which she hadn’t been ready to cut off.
“Yeah. I’ll pop in for a minute if he’s home.”
Her head turned. “You didn’t call?”
Callum shrugged. “I’m not that far from here. I can always come back.”
He needed her to understand that the offer was always on the table.
He would come back for her, without question, at any time.
He’d be anything she needed, and right now, she’d made it clear he needed to return her to her family and the start of a stable life lived on her own terms. “I’m a phone call away. ”
“This feels… strange,” she admitted. “We’ve been together every moment since I knew you were back.”
“Now that you’re alive,” he gave her what he hoped was a lighthearted look, “we can do this whenever we want.”
What did he expect? It’s not like they would finish a couple of crazy weeks and, what, move in together?
The truth was, they had both been on shaky ground before they collided.
Not exactly logical to think they should cement themselves together and pretend life would work out unless…
he didn’t know, they did work. Work on themselves.
Work on staying together. Yet, he wasn’t sure when he would see her again.
That was shredding his insides. “You need some time to pull your life together.”
She nodded, tugging her lip between her teeth.
“Grace, this isn’t goodbye.”
“I know.”
“Hang out with your parents. Ease into permanent decisions.” Like him. “Figure out what you want without fear forcing those choices.” Want him.
She did. He believed that, and knowing it made leaving her harder.
“I will,” she said. “I haven’t seen them in so long.”
Another car pulled up in front of the house.
Hayden jumped out, blindsiding them both.
“Oh my God,” Grace cried. “Hayden!” She turned to Callum, eyes wide and smile hinging into jaw-dropping territory. “Did you know?”
“No. I haven’t been able to get a hold of him.” Callum should have been thrilled, but the arrival of his best friend was the final nail in the coffin. The conversation was over. They couldn’t stay in his truck any longer.
“I can’t believe it.” She jumped out and ran to her brother.
Callum scrubbed a hand over his face, took a deep breath, and followed. It made sense. Of course, Hayden would haul ass back home. Callum hung back on the sidewalk and watched the reunion. His heart swelled for them. Hayden swung his little sister off her feet in a hug.
Hayden set Grace down and strode to him, pulling Callum into a backslapping greeting. “Thanks, man. I owe you everything.”
“Of course. Good to see you.”
“The team’s not the same without you,” Hayden offered. “Actually, it kinda fucking sucks. It’s working out for you at Titan?”
“Yeah. It’s good.” Titan brought him Grace and into a new fold. New teammates. New life. New everything—almost.
Grace didn’t move to Callum’s side as she had for the last few weeks. Callum didn’t take her hand. By some unspoken agreement, they weren’t sharing what had happened between them and fell into the roles they’d always had. Older brother’s best friend. Best friend’s little sister.
“Have you seen Dad and Mari?” Hayden asked.
“Not yet. We just pulled up.”
“Then let’s go.” Hayden hooked an arm over Grace’s shoulders and looked back. “You coming in?”
“Not this time. I’ll let you catch up.”
Grace ducked under Hayden’s arm. Callum’s heart seized.
She closed the distance and wrapped herself around him, hugging him so tight he was terrified they’d never see each other again.
He wanted to bury his face in her hair and memorize the way her body pressed against his.
Instead, Callum held her like she might break, dropped his chin on top of her head, and fought every urge in his body to kiss her goodbye.
Not in front of her brother.
Not right now.
Not until… he didn’t know.
He hung on to her for another moment, pressed a kiss to the crown of her head, and spun her back to Hayden. “Say hey to your folks.”
His throat hurt, and, fucking hell, if he spoke again, his voice would break. Callum tossed up his hand to say goodbye, jumped in his truck, and drove and drove and drove.
Miles and time passed. He didn’t realize where he’d been driving until the house came into view. The front window had been replaced, and a familiar car waited in the driveway. Callum parked and knocked on the door before he even thought of what to say.
With Argos and Toto flanking her side, Alicia swung the door open and scowled as she scrutinized him like only a librarian might, then her face softened. “Well, fuck. You didn’t break her heart. She broke yours.”
He pinched the bridge of his nose and didn’t have shit to say.
“Come inside. You’re letting all the air conditioning out.” She directed him to the living room and walked away, letting him pull his act together. “Lemonade or iced tea?”
He sat on the couch that had been his bed and took in the room. The rug and drapes had been replaced. New books sat among her plants and knickknacks on the shelves. If he hadn’t known better, he would have thought Alicia’s living room always looked like this. She worked fast.
Alicia returned with lemonade. “If you don’t speak up about what you want,” she handed him a glass, “then you can’t complain.”
He took the lemonade. “This is great.”
“As if there’s another answer.” She sat across from him and signaled the dogs to lie down. Sherlock pounced onto the couch, nuzzling his leg. “Guess he still likes you. Grace, on the other hand, might never be forgiven for dragging him outside and into that car.”
“There’s a chance some of his scratches will turn into scars. Maybe that will make them even.”
“Petty logic to a cat?” Alicia harrumphed. “Spit it out. Why are you here?”
He took a long drink because he didn’t have an answer. “Just sort of ended up here without thinking.”
“Is Dominic in jail again?”
“Yeah. He’s got bigger problems to deal with than Grace. He won’t bother her again.”
“Good. He can burn for all I care.”
“We see eye to eye on that. One of the many reasons I like you, Alicia.”
“I’m not very likable.”
He laughed. “I’ve liked you since the moment you hit me with a pen. You’re a good friend.”
“Grace is, too, which leads me to ask again, what put that look on your face?”
He honestly didn’t know. They had lived in a bubble, just as Vivian had said, and he was heartbroken that it was over. “Real life called, and I don’t know where that leaves us.”
“Did you ask her?”
“Well… no.”
She rolled her eyes. “You’re an idiot.”
“What was I supposed to ask? I said everything I needed to say. She knows it.”
“You know what she’s been hiding from, and now, the world is her oyster. What comes next? What’s she seeking? What does she want?”
“I don’t know.”
Alicia snorted. “That’s bullshit.”
“She’s back with her family, figuring out what life should look like. I mean, come on, coming back from the dead isn’t easy.”
“That’s not all she wants, and you know it. She’s one of the strongest, most creative people I’ve ever met. Dominic stole her life from her. I didn’t know her before, but I can imagine it.”
“I’ve always known her, and… yeah. She is.” He threaded his fingers through his hair and rested his head in his hands, elbows on his knees, and lost himself. He was grieving. He’d had and then lost the woman he’d always wanted. “She needs to be home.”
“No. She needs to reconnect with her family. In a way, similar to how she reconnected with you.”
He gave her a look. Maybe Alicia had missed exactly how he and Grace had reconnected.
“No, not like that, you weirdo. I mean, she needs to be around them. Be with them. And then…”
He waited for whatever wisdom Alicia would throw his way.
Instead, she threw a pillow. “And then? Come on, Callum. And then what?”
“I don’t know.”
Alicia tossed her hands in the air. “God, you are dense. Think it through. What does she need now?”
“Her family.”
“Brother, you are her family. Not in the same way as her blood. But you have to understand that. Whatever happened between the fire in my living room and today when you trounced back in here, there was a transformation that surpasses whatever game of footsie you two had been playing in my kitchen. Can you see that?”
He could feel it for damn sure. “She needs time.”
“For what?”
Callum tipped his head back and stared at the ceiling. It had been repainted. He couldn’t find the lines on it that he’d fallen asleep staring at, knowing that Grace was sleeping directly above him. “To learn how to stay in one place.”
“Not a bad answer,” Alicia muttered.
He snickered and straightened to look at her. “I know what she wants. But I don’t know how to get it for her.”
“That’s the tricky part. You don’t. Dominic got her everything on earth.
But he stole her magic, her power. You’re what she wants.
Staying in one place is what she wants. Not panicking about how to hide is what she wants.
You are her solace. The place she goes to settle down.
” Alicia cocked her head. “My question for you is: can you handle that?”
He didn’t hesitate to nod.
His phone rang, and he didn’t know the number. “One second,” he said, then answered.
“Hey,” Grace said on the phone. “Guess what?”
A smile curled on his lips, and a warm light like the glow of sunrise dawned in his chest. “What?”
Alicia excused herself to the kitchen.
“I have a new phone number,” Grace explained. “Not a phone number that forwards to another number and then another number.”
“Nice work. How’s that feel?” He leaned back. It had only been a couple of hours, but he needed to hear her voice more than he realized.
“Strange—Callum, I miss you.”
He ran a hand over his face and rubbed his eyes. “Miss you too, babe.”
“I wish you’d gone to your dad’s.”
“I had to run.”
“Work?”
“No… just errands.”
“How does this work? Us?” she asked quietly.
“I’ll visit you whenever you ask me to.”
“Like a long-distance romance?”
He hadn’t found the words to describe what he wanted, and those fell short. Callum wanted so much more. “If that’s what you want to call it.”
“It’s ridiculous, but I want everything to go back to how it was.” She half-laughed. “Except for the part with the guns and fires and abductions.”
He loved her more than he knew how to explain. They could be together. Live together? Why not? He didn’t know—but he knew Dominic had rushed her, and now everything needed to slow down. “That’s not ridiculous.”
“Can I call you tomorrow?” she asked.
She’d gone from stripping off her clothes and demanding he fuck her to her asking if she could call. “Call me a hundred times a day. Any time you want.”
“Are you still my white knight savior?”
His lips quirked. “I’m your everything.”
“You are.”
She ended the call. Callum let out a heavy breath and petted Sherlock after he jumped onto his lap.
Alicia padded back into the living room. “How’s our girl?”
“Excited to have a real phone number.”
Alicia rested her hands on the wingback chair. “Believe it or not, that’s one step in the right direction toward permanence.”
That was a good way to look at it. He gave Sherlock another scratch and stood. “Thanks for listening to me.”
“Of course. Where to now?”
He thought about his crappy apartment, which could use a serious upgrade, and his job.
In the last few days, he’d given his colleagues his complete trust and was rewarded with teammates in something far deeper than name only.
They were a team, and for the first time, he felt like a part of Titan. “Home.”