Page 16 of Pinky Promises

Chapter 7

Brynn

Ifidgetinmyseat for the fifth time. Callum’s car might be comfortable as hell, but my mind has been racing since we left the town house. Tension laces my spine, so it feels wrong no matter what position I sit in. Lexi and Hadley’s words have been playing on replay.

Just before he had walked into the kitchen, Hadley had been doing her best impression of how things go down in her mind when Cal gets all “growly,” as she so eloquently put it.

Fate was a fickle bitch when he walked in and almost caught us. Thankfully, he didn’t catch on to what we were laughing at. And then the ball dropped—Zoe was no longer able to attend the wedding. Once again, Callum came to my rescue, swooping in to save the day from being the seventh wheel: he asked for me to be his date. It was as if the stars were aligning for something explosive. Let’s face it, whether a good thing or bad, we would be explosive.

“What’s on your mind?” He taps my nose with the tip of his finger before focusing his attention back on the road.

“Huh?”

“You act like I don’t know when your mind is racing. Tell me it’s not that asshole. Spencer doesn’t deserve any more of your time, not even your thoughts.”

I shake my head. “No, I’m not thinking about him.”I’m thinking about you.To be honest, since my chat with the girls, Spencer has been the furthest thing from my mind. My focus this afternoon was either talking over wedding plans with Lexi and Hadley that included a checklist of things to make sure we bring to the wedding or on the man sitting next to me.

“Okay,” he draws out. “Then what’s got your attention?”

I remain silent as I try to figure out what to say next. I feel like I’m living in a Robert Frost poem and deciding which road to take. Do I just come out and say something or take the cautious route and ask without asking directly? My lips are moving before I decide.

“Can I ask you a question and you give an honest answer?” I turn in my seat and bring one leg under the other.

“Of course. Don’t I always?” His grip tightens on the steering wheel.

“Well, yeah.” Sometimes he’s a little too honest, like admitting that he’s just there for the food when one of the girls has a 9-1-1 crisis, such as finding out they kind of slept with their new boss.

“Sorry, it’s silly. Just something that the girls and I were talking about earlier that I need a guy’s opinion on.”I need your opinion. I need you to tell me that I’m not crazy thinking like this.“How do you know if a guy likes you?”

“Woah, you’re not trying to ditch me at the wedding already, are ya?”

“What?” No, it’s nothing like that. It’s just something that the girls and I were talking about earlier, and I just needed a guy’s opinion.”

“All right, well, the first thing is he does the exact opposite of everything Spencer did.”

“Callum,” I scold. “I’m serious.”

“So am I,” he chuckles.

I groan. “You know what, never mind. This was stupid. It doesn’t matter anyways.”

He reaches out to graze his fingertips on my arm. “I’m sorry. It was a joke. I’m just trying to lighten the mood. You caught me off guard with your question, that’s all.” The car slows down as we approach a red light. He sinks back into his seat with a sigh. “How do you know if a guy likes you,” he repeats my question to himself.

Callum runs his palm over his tightly clenched jaw, covered in a light five-o’clock shadow. There is a new crease between his brows that is begging me to smooth away with my thumb. I didn’t think it was that hard of a question, but based on his focus ahead of him and his pursed lips, he is deep in thought on how to answer.

“Well, he will always find ways to touch you. Touching you…” He pauses. “The slightest feathered touch will have the power to ground him and calm him even in the strongest of wars in his mind. Imagine what that would do if he got to touch you more…” He trails off, and I swallow thickly at the innuendo.

“He’ll make sure that your safety is his priority over anyone else.”Callum always asks that I text him when I leave or arrive home, even when preoccupied, like going on a date.“Hell, if hereallylikes you, then it’s not just your safety that becomes a priority—it’s you.” My eyes begin to fill with tears at his sincerity.

“He’ll do anything to make you happy, even if it makes him uncomfortable.” A prime example flashes in my mind—like the time Hadley and I—well, mainly Hadley—convinced him to pretend to be Lexi’s boyfriend.

“His eyes will always find you in a crowd.”Or in a small group of friends when he thinks you aren’t looking but can feel his gaze on you.

“He accepts all parts of you, crazy-ass friends and all.”Every threat of needing to find new friends is just that, an empty threat. Even after finding out that Hadley calls her assortment of sex toys her pussy posse.

I can associate a moment in our lives with every reason Callum has said. His answers come so easily to him, as if he was thinking the same examples.

The air suddenly becomes suffocating in the vehicle, and I fumble to get to the window button before I begin to gasp. I close my eyes as the cool air hits my face and attempt to steady my breathing.

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