34. Callum
Callum
“I knew the second I met you that there was something about you I needed. Turns out, it wasn’t something about you at all. It was just you.” – Jamie McGuire
“ W hat—motherfu…”
My curse gets lost when this little shit takes off down the street like her ass is on fire, her laugh echoing through the almost empty street.
To prove a point . Oh, I’ll prove it, all right! Shaking my head and refusing to admit that I’m amused, I sprint after her.
What has my life turned into? I’m chasing my fake wife down Love Street, wearing only my sweatpants in mid-fall.
I nearly miss a step when I remember Sophie is only wearing her Outlaws jersey and a pair of neon green panties. Fucking hell. I speed up because she’s actually fast and she might’ve gotten away if this was anyone else chasing her.
Sucks for her, I didn’t spend half my life in the Navy for nothing.
“Callum? What are you doing, honey?” I hear my mother shout, evidently still partying at LPs at this time of night.
“Not now, Mom,” I yell back just as Sophie’s feet hit the sand and she lets out a shrill shriek when she realizes I’m gaining fast on her, especially running on the beach. Bad move, wifey. This is my turf.
“Gotcha, little menace!” I grin when she’s a few feet away from me.
“In your dreams!” she spits out, defensive and comparative to her core, making me laugh.
She does that a lot. Make me laugh, I mean. She does it, when I nearly forgot how that felt. She does it, when I all but started to hate the sound.
Laughing wasn’t part of my life plan any more than feeling the warmth of another person, sharing a bed with someone else or fucking like rabbits every damn day, yet here we are.
None of this was a part of the plan. None. But an unpleasant burn starts inside my chest at the thought of losing it.
In the past few weeks, ever since she took a knife to my control and shredded it, I wasn’t able to stay away from Sophie. Not for a moment. Not for a day.
And it’s not just sex, damn it. It’s not that at all, because I find myself looking for her pops of color everywhere I turn.
I find my ears listening for her infectious laugh that she gifts the world with so freely.
I run home to watch the game with her because seeing her expressive emotions is the highlight of my day.
I make detours half ways across the town for her favorite foods and now I can even fall asleep with her freezing feet underneath my leg!
And it scares the shit out of me. All of it!
It scares me more than any mission I’ve had as a Seal over the course of sixteen years.
So, what the fuck am I supposed to do with it all now ?
My eyes settle on the girl who pulled me into this insanity. From laughing to fucking and I’m ready to tackle her sweet ass down, when all of the sudden she screams, “Clover! I lost my panties!”
“What?” I shriek and stop, looking around the sand for the neon scrap of material.
How did she manage to lose—Sophie’s ringing laughter cuts off my thought and I look up, seeing her sprinting far away, her hair swooshing around, those damn panties peeking out from underneath her jersey and two middle fingers raised high above her head.
“Lord have mercy on your ass when I catch you,” I call into the night and take off after her again. This time I’m not playing around. But if I thought she’d yield when she saw she was about to lose, I was dead fucking wrong.
This little menace takes a sharp left and starts climbing up the rocky hill that surrounds this part of the beach and leads to the Loverly Cave itself.
Where the hell did she learn to do that?
“Sophie, get down from there! I caught you. That’s it.” I stop, my hands on my hips, panting slightly after that chase as I watch her climbing even higher.
Jesus Christ, how can she even see anything right now? Sure, the moon is almost full and bright, but not that bright.
“Do you see your arms around me? Because I sure as heck don’t. So I win.”
“Sophie! That’s too high, get down from that rock.”
“No, I won’t.”
“Jesus Christ.” I sigh, rubbing a hand over my face as my heart starts to race for a whole other reason, worry. “Fine, you win, now get down.”
“Nope.”
“What do you mean, nope ? I just told you, you won.”
“I knew I won without you saying it, but I’m still not climbing down.”
That little brat…
“And why the hell not?”
She’s quiet—too quiet—for a beat. “I can’t,” she finally admits.
“You can’t?” I frown, searching with my eyes for something that’s obstructing her.
“Yes, I can’t. I-I’m scared of heights.”
I stop. “Oh my fucking…” I bite back the string of curses hoping to spill at the stars above that gifted this girl to me and take a deep breath. “Why the hell did you climb up there then?”
“I blame adrenalin…and you!”
“Of course, I’m to blame. I was the one who started this pointless chase.”
“It was not pointless! We proved I’m always right.” She still manages to sound haughty up there, even in her current predicament.
“We—meaning me—knew that anyway.”
Sophie gasps and sends me a glare that I catch even in the dead of night. “Then why didn’t you just say so!”
“And miss all this fun?” I cross my arms, smirking and cock my head to the side to catch a glimpse of her two round ass cheeks hanging out.
“Pervert!” She catches me. “Stop checking out my ass. I thought you said this wasn’t your fault,” she spits out.
“It’s not.”
I can hear the click of her tongue over the crushing waves behind. “Staggering conclusion.”
I can’t help but laugh at her dry tone. “Glad you think so. Now, come on, you’re not that high up. If you jump, I’ll catch you.” I get into position.
“Yeah, th-that’s not going to h-happen.” Her teeth start to clatter from the cold chill sweeping across the beach.
“Sophie, I promise I’ll catch you.”
“Oh, I have no d-doubt you would.” Her matter-of-fact praise makes my chest swell like a damn peacock. I like knowing she believes in me. I like knowing she trusts me.
I like it all a lot.
What I don’t like is the fact that I like it.
“Then what’s the problem?”
“I-If you catch me, it’ll mean you won. ”
“Oh my God.” I groan, throwing my arms up. “I’ve already told you, you won.”
“Yeah, I d-don’t b-believe you. Not one little bit.”
“So, what’s your plan? Sit there until you grow old?”
“My plan is f-for you to figure it out.”
“Oh, really now? How fucking convenient.”
“I thought so too.”
“God curse the day I met this woman and my whole life went up in fucking flames.”
“I’d-d prefer to call it ‘added spark into it,’” she shouts, evidently hearing me talk to myself.
At least, she has no idea how much I mean that. Because I was absolutely content with my simple life, simple routine, no excitement, just living every day. And then comes in this wrecking ball of chaos, coloring over every gray area of my life until I no longer recognize it.
Who the fuck thought I would be looking forward to watching cop cam videos every night with Sophie curled up in my lap, feeding me chocolate-covered almonds—that she somehow figured out I loved—or going to the bar with our friends every weekend and sometimes even during the week when I’ve never show my face in there ever since I left LC at eighteen?
“Mm-hmm, spark.” I pat the pockets of my sweatpants for the phone but of course, it’s not there. I’m just about to send yet another colorful curse into the sky when it lights up with orange lights and a loud siren.
“Oh, fuck no,” I curse, after all.
“What? Who’s there?” Sophie asks before the fire department truck gets onto the sand and our way. Mentally, I try to remember what day today is and if it’s the fuckers’ shift. But they helped me figure it out real quick.
“What the fuck are you two doing here?” Of course, it is. Because God’s not done with punishing me yet.
Luke and Griffin park, getting out of the car, the headlights of which illuminate the whole insanity of this night.
“Taking a hike on a beach, which I suggest you two do as well.” I wave my hand for them to move along just as my amazing wife yells, “Help!”
“The fuck?” Luke shouts, his eyes snapping to Sophie. The eyes that I’m about to pop out.
“Hey! Eyes over here!” Luke dares to roll them, but looks away quickly. I don’t give a shit that he’s madly in love with his wife. No one’s allowed to look at mine.
“Um, Cal, seriously, what are you two doing on the beach in the middle of the night half naked?” Griffin asks, clearing his throat as he does his best not to stare at Sophie’s ass.
“I’m going to assume the same thing you and Julie keep doing all over the town, beach and everywhere else.
Seriously, get a room from time to time.
But these two did take it up a notch,” he adds, casting a quick look at Sophie halfway up the rock.
“Jesus, how did I get stuck with you kinky motherfuckers for friends?”
Griffin fake coughs. “Says the guy with a pierced dick.”
“Okay! Is anyone going to help me?” Sophie yells.
“Jesus, Cal, go catch your wife before she falls and breaks something.”
“No!” Sophie interjects. “Clover can’t.”
Luke and Griffin frown as I lift my eyebrow. “Didn’t think I tried that, smart-ass?” I ask him.
“And why the hell not?” Luke asks Sophie.
“Because he can’t w-win.”
“Win what? What kind of kinky games are two into?”
“Luke! If y-you don’t g-get me off here, I’m going t-to tell them about th-that one time you and Grace—”
“Griff, go get the ladder from the truck,” Luke quickly cuts her off. Smart man.
They set it right next to Sophie, who is now shaking so badly from the cold she can barely hang onto it. Not to worry, I’ll warm her ass right up as soon as I get my hands on this little menace.
“You two.” I nod to my friends. “Look away.” Rolling their eyes, they do as they’re told. “How did you even know we were here? ”
“Cal?” Griffin gives me a look. “You forgot where we live? We got no less than thirty phone calls about you chasing your wife down Love Street. Naturally, we had to see what was happening for ourselves.”
“Naturally,” I deadpan.
“Hey, we like you like this.”
“Like what?” I arch an eyebrow, watching as Sophie carefully takes a step onto the ladder.
“Alive,” Griffin says at the same time as Luke grumbles, “Less miserable.”
Griffin elbows Luke with a glare and they start arguing but I ignore them both, their words echoing through my mind. Alive. Less miserable.
That’s…accurate, but also an understatement because that girl up there makes me feel things—want things—I can’t fathom. Or couldn’t before.
Sophie starts descending, and a brief thought runs through my head that I should just let her go. I should stop being this selfish bastard keeping her when I have no right. And then another wave of self-loathing washes over me when I realize that I won’t. Can’t. I can’t let her go.
No matter how wrong it is. For this year. Just this year, I want to bask in her color as much as possible. Because that’s all I could have.
Right?
Before her feet can touch the sand, I wrap my arms around her waist as I bring her body into mine. “Gotcha,” I whisper into her ear and then wince. “Jesus, you’re freezing!”
“Clover, you promised I won.”
“Yeah, no. I don’t remember promising. That sounds nothing like me.”
“You…” Sophie starts thrashing in my arms—fruitlessly, I might add. And then she starts cursing and threatening she’ll kill me if I don’t let go off and play fair.
Fair…I stopped playing fair the moment I asked her to marry me.
No, I’m not letting go of her. Instead, I bring her into me closer, leashing the relief, the elation at having her in my arms once again and whisper, “You silly, silly girl. As if you could ever run away from me. As if there is a place where I wouldn’t catch you.
Now, stop wiggling, I told you once already that I’m not into exhibitionism. ”