Chapter 38
Sean
I swipe my arm across Callie’s mattress…cold. My eyes fly open and I search the room for her briefly before climbing out of bed, heels of my palms rubbing at my tired eyes. I drag the zip open on my overnight bag, digging around for the pair of grey sweatpants I packed last night before coming here and that’s when I notice the murmured voices in the kitchen. Callie’s dorm is pretty small, so you can almost always here every tiny noise from whatever room you’re in. There are definitely three voices out there, Callie’s, — of course, I’d know her voice anywhere — Molly’s and I think Anais must be home too. The three of them haven’t had any alone time together for at least a week before I came along and whisked their friend away to my lair for endless sex and cuddles. So, I decide to give them a minute to catch up before I go out there and kidnap my girl again. We both have a full day of training today so I was hoping to keep her in bed until the very last minute, but she obviously had other plans. To be fair to her, she’s a monster when she hasn’t had a coffee in the morning so I should probably be grateful that she’s out there, sipping away at the liquid gold before I undoubtedly piss her off over nothing. I crack the bedroom door, taking a seat on Callie’s velvet, pink dressing table chair and leaning back, gazing up at the fairy lights that hang loosely from her ceiling. “Have you told your boyfriend you’re in love with him yet?” Molly says and I hear a mug being placed down firmly with an echoed clang on the marble island.
Callie blows out a quiet breath and I”m immediately straining to hear every word she’s about to say.
“No…” she mutters and I just know she’s picking nervously at her fingernails. “But he said he loved me by accident yesterday.” Oh shit, I really thought she may have missed that. I should have known, that girl doesn’t miss a thing.
Anais chimes in, “By accident?”
I hear as the three of them sip their coffees and I”m pushing down the breath that’s sitting deep in my throat. I don’t want to risk any tiny sound coming out and them catching me listening. Like I said, the walls in this dorm are made of paper or something and I desperately need to hear how this conversation pans out.
“He said it in passing but…” another deep breath from my girl before she sighs, “it felt right, hearing it coming from his mouth.”
I hear a bar stool or two squeaking as they are pushed back across the tiled floor and I guess Callie’s friends are moving closer to her, hugging and smothering her in their love like girls do.
Callie clears her throat and I can hear the bubble of tears in her voice. “He makes me so happy, like happier than I ever realised I could be. Going from being with a guy like Joel who degraded me and made me feel like I was never good enough for him. To Sean, who tells me I”m beautiful every damn day and makes me feel so safe and wanted, has made my heart literally double in size.”
I’m a puddle. Melted into hot, molten liquid on Callie’s bedroom carpet from her words.
Molly murmurs, “So tell him that, he needs to hear it.”
I do, I do need to hear it, but not until my baby is ready to say it. I won’t push her.
“I can’t,” Callie squeaks and I”m practically bouncing up and down at the bedroom door, desperate to get out there and listen more closely. “I do feel it, honestly I do but the words feel like they’re stuck in my throat and my heart is forcing them to stay there. My body is trying to hold onto the last smidgen of vulnerability that I have left, I”ve given him every part of me and telling him I love him would mean he has my heart to break if he chooses to and I”m just not ready for that yet. I trust Sean, I mean that, I trust him with my whole being but it’s like I”m still waiting for something to change between us. Maybe he’ll get bored of me or decide this one woman thing isn’t what he wants.”
As if I could ever get bored of her, she’s crazy.
The girl has me in a chokehold I swear to god, I”m almost panting as I listen to the conversation trickle off, Anais and Molly offering supportive and comforting words to my girl and my feet take me down the corridor before I ask them to. Poker face Sean, you heard nothing.
As I round the corner into the kitchen all three sets of eyes fix on me like I just walked in on something I shouldn’t have. Little do they know I heard everything anyway but my lips are sealed for now.
“You three ok?” I say totally innocently as they all pull their faces back to their original shape.
Callie nods and I move towards her, ensnaring her in a hug from behind and tipping my face down to leave a rough kiss on the back of her neck. I watch the goosebumps rise where I made contact with her skin and my heart skips at the memory of her words only a moment ago. She sinks her fingers into my biceps as they curl around her shoulders, holding me tightly to her and all I want to do is whisper, “Do you know how much I love you?” into her ear.
But instead I opt for, “Another coffee anyone?”