Page 28 of Bitten By Desire (Crooked Point #1)

Monday

I stared at Callum. He looked just as handsome in front of a roaring fire as he did in the moonlight. I’d pictured nights like this with him. Dreamed of us being a couple. After years of searching for him, I didn’t think it could ever be possible.

But here we were. Just like a normal couple. My thigh was pressed against his under the blanket. And it just felt…right.

Maybe it was foolish to have invited him inside. But I didn’t know how to say no to him.

And I’d given him every opportunity to hurt me.

He hadn’t. I wasn’t sure if magic was real or not.

But if it was…the pen not burning him was proof that he wasn’t a monster.

The final proof was the way he was staring at me.

He wasn’t hiding behind fake colored contacts.

And he was staring at me like he was as addicted to me as I was to him.

How had we stayed apart for ten years?

Where had he been?

I pressed my lips together. I wanted to ask him all the questions rolling around in my head. But I didn’t want him to stop looking at me like that.

I took a deep breath. “I’m still waiting for my apology,” I said, keeping my tone light and playful. I smiled at him. “And now you owe me like a thousand more. ”

He didn’t match my smile. Instead, his scowl returned. “I was always going to find you, Emma. When it was safe.”

I shook my head. “When what was safe?”

His eyebrows lowered even more. “I wasn’t exactly in a place back then to be in a relationship.”

“How does that have anything to do with safety?”

He shook his head, like everything was coming out wrong.

“I just want you to know all the pieces that kept us apart. I was in a bad place. But meeting you that night? It was like a wakeup call. That maybe I could live my life differently. If I could be different.” He shook his head. “This isn’t coming out right.”

“No, I get it. That night felt pivotal to me too. But when you left town I thought it was completely one-sided. The way you just walked away? And the way you pretended you didn’t know me on Main Street? Do you have any idea how that made me feel?”

“Tormented.”

That was exactly how I’d put it. I nodded.

“That’s how I felt too. For ten years. And I’m so close. I just…needed a few more days. You showed back up too soon. But I feel like I’ve been dying without you.”

I swallowed hard. He was saying all the right things. But I was still so confused. “A few more days for what?”

“To take care of the Bennett situation.”

“What situation? I told you we aren’t dating…”

“No, it’s more complicated than that. He told you about the golden pen. Did he show you any other artifacts?”

“You mean the pocket watch? ”

Callum nodded. “I wasn’t… myself when we met that night ten years ago. I’d already been planning on skipping town. It was my last night in that old house. I’d been miserable for a long time. A really long time.” He sighed.

I reached out under the blanket and grabbed his hand. Had he lost someone? Had something terrible happened? I wanted to know all of it.

“I wasn’t a good man, Emma.”

I knew that. He’d walked away from me like I’d meant nothing. He was cold. And cruel. And God was he beautiful. Beautifully tormented.

He cleared his throat. “I used to use that watch that Bennett stole. To mess with people’s minds.”

To get them alone. To bite their necks. I shook away the thought. Callum had said he wasn’t a vampire. And I was pretty sure we both knew that he didn’t need a supposedly magical watch to woo me.

“But when I was with you, I didn’t feel like I wanted to control your mind.”

“Controlling my body with your words was enough?” I smiled again, trying to lighten the mood.

“I think partially, yeah. You made me realize I didn’t need it. I didn’t want it anymore. But when I realized the watch was stolen? And by who? It wasn’t about the horrible things I had done with it. It was about the horrors Bennett would do with it.”

“Bennett? What could he possibly do with it?”

“Emma.” His face looked pained. “He used it on you.”

“What?” I shook my head. “No he didn’t. He only just showed it to me tonight in the vault. ”

“Did you see him pick it up out of a drawer or off a hook on the wall?”

I tried to remember. “No.” My heart started racing. “I was looking at something else and I turned around and he was holding it.”

“Did you see him put it back?”

I felt like I was going to be sick. “I was distracted. No…I…I didn’t see him put it back.”

“He has it with him all the time. He’s been using you, Emma.”

I shook my head. “No. That can’t be.” Bennett was a good guy. I’d felt it in my gut.

“He tried to make you terrified of me. But did he really say nothing about himself? I’m not the monster, Emma. He is. He and his friends.”

“What do you mean?”

“Did they promise to grow your savings beyond your wildest dreams?”

“They said they’d…take care of it.” But I’d had a bad feeling. I’d immediately regretted signing on the line.

Callum sighed. “All those vaults filled with artifacts and cash? None of that belongs to them.” He stared at me.

Oh shit.

“They’re bank robbers, Emma. Art thieves.

They take what’s not theirs. I changed my name for a fresh start.

But also to get away from them. Because that pocket watch isn’t the only artifact I have that could be used for no good.

I couldn’t risk them taking anything else.

That watch in their hands is more dangerous than you could possible imagine.

I need to get it back. Not to use it. I’m not that man anymore.

But I know what that artifact does. It’s my fault that it was unearthed in the first place.

So I need to prevent them from using it to manipulate innocent people. ”

I thought about the Ferris wheel. And the way I’d behaved when Titan walked in on Bennett going down on me. That wasn’t… That couldn’t have been…

I felt tears welling in my eyes. I’d told Bennett about how Callum had treated me ten years ago.

Bennett had seemed sympathetic. He’d even seemed infuriated by the thought of someone taking advantage of me.

But it was all an act. Bennett had been taking advantage of me the whole time.

It was like he knew I was an easy target.

Almost like he was doing it just to piss Callum off.

“I’m so sorry, Emma. But someone needed to tell you the truth.”

“I trusted him.” I knew Callum was sorry. I knew it, but the past still hurt. Especially when it collided so fiercely with the present. Tears started to stream down my cheeks. “I’m such an idiot.”

“Hey.” He pulled me closer on the couch, wrapping his arm protectively around me. “You’re not an idiot, Emma. You’re strong. And brave. And beautiful.” He wiped my tears away with his fingertips. “It wasn’t anything you did. It was impossible not to trust him when he had that watch.”

I had a sinking feeling in my stomach. “Did you use the watch on me?” I asked, even though I didn’t think it was possible, given what Bennett had told me about the night he stole it. I just had to know for sure. “At that party ten years ago?”

Callum shook his head. “No. Actually, I think I was probably with you when it was taken. For a minute when I saw the two of you together at the Fall Festival…I thought maybe you were in on all of it. But I’m pretty good at reading people. And I knew you weren’t lying to me.”

“But you used the watch on other women? In that way?”

“I told you I wasn’t a good man. I can’t change the past. But like I said…

that night with you was a wakeup call for me.

You made me realize I didn’t want it. That I didn’t need it.

I just wanted you. But I needed time. To turn my life around.

And to try and steal back that stupid watch.

I’m so sorry he used it on you. I’m just so sorry about everything. ”

It was the apology I’d been waiting for. I thought it would sound sour to my ears because it was ten years too late. But it didn’t actually feel too late. It felt like it was the perfect time. Because he’d spent our time apart trying to be better. For me. How could I find fault with that?

Callum smiled at me. “You have no idea how many times I pictured you on my couch. Not just on your back like that night. But like this.” For the first time ever he looked almost…shy. Uncertain. Waiting to hear what I’d say.

All my doubts about him disappeared. This was what I’d wanted. He was who I wanted. “It feels like I’ve waited ten thousand years for you to say that instead of just ten.”

He laughed.

I rested my head against his shoulder as I stared at the flames.

I wanted to pinch myself. But I was scared I might wake up from another dream of him.

And even though we’d been apart for years, it somehow felt like no time had passed at all.

It was like we’d been together forever. I’d never felt this comfortable around someone before. Like we just fit.

But this dream felt a little like a nightmare too. I’d let Bennett mess with my head. Manipulate me. Control me. I just wanted to forget about this whole thing. But I wasn’t exactly great at moving on. “Bennett touched the pen. Why didn’t it burn him?”

“It must not work. Some artifacts are just tricks of the mind. Others actually trick your mind.”

“He said it burned you ten years ago.”

“And you remember what I told you when we first met. Once a snake, always a snake. You can’t believe a word out of that thief’s mouth.”

He had warned me. I was a sucker for falling into traps. I’d gone from one lying asshole to the next. And I really hoped that Callum wouldn’t lie to me again. “You made me feel crazy the past few days.”

“I was going to tell you the truth as soon as I got the watch back. I just wanted it to be done. All of it.”

“But you don’t have to do it alone. I can help.”

“Emma…”

I sat back up straight and stared into his golden eyes. “I don’t want Bennett to use it on anyone else ever again. Let me help get it back. And before you tell me that he’s dangerous…trust me, I know.”

But Callum wasn’t staring at me, trying to protest me helping him. He was staring over my shoulder.

My heartbeat caught in my throat as his eyes locked on something behind me. He lowered his eyebrows and I swear his golden eyes grew just a shade darker.