Page 20 of Marked by the Pack (Crooked Point #2)

Tuesday

Emma

I painted one last stroke and stepped away from the wall. There were several paint color options and I was really leaning toward the second one.

Callum walked back inside, bringing the cool autumn air into the house with him.

I shivered.

“Sorry,” he said and quickly closed the door.

I knew he couldn’t feel the cold. But he tried his best to always make sure I was comfortable. I still shivered when we stepped outside on an autumn day. I never shivered when I was in his arms though. “I’m actually getting quite used to the cold.”

“You are, huh?” He tried to pull me into his arms, but I stepped back.

“Callum, you’re covered in grime.”

He laughed and looked down at his dirty t-shirt. After I tried to help with demo for a few days, we realized it was not my forte. He put me on design duty while he got his hands dirty. He was currently gutting the downstairs powder room.

“What do you think of these options?” I gestured to the wall with the different paint samples.

“I think…this is a trick question? ”

I looked over at him. “How? I really want your opinion.” Sure, I preferred number two, but I liked all of them. Except number three. That one looked awful in here. Please don’t pick number three.

“Baby, they’re all the same color.”

“No they’re not.”

“They’re all white.”

I laughed. “Yeah, but they’re all a little different. The second one looks brighter, right? Homier?”

“Um…yes?” He was staring at the options, but he clearly wasn’t getting it.

“Do we need a brighter light in here or something?”

“I think there’s plenty of light.”

Honestly…there wasn’t. It wasn’t sunny out right this moment, but the forecast said it would be soon and the curtains were drawn closed.

I knew opening them wasn’t an option. Not today when I was too distracted by paint to notice the sun coming out from behind a cloud.

Callum could only go outside when it was cloudy.

I pulled one of the work lights closer to the wall. “Better?”

“Hmm.” He stepped closer to the wall, finally studying it.

I hoped he’d pick number two. I really did like that one.

“I can see the difference now,” he said. “And I know which one I like best.”

“Which color?”

“Well, which one is on your face?”

“Huh?” I turned to him and he smeared a glob of paint over my cheek with his thumb.

“Callum!” I pushed on his chest and he pulled me into his arms .

He silenced my protests with a kiss. “And you said I was too dirty to hold you.”

I shook my head but I couldn’t hide my smile. “Now I’m filthy and covered in paint. And I’m supposed to meet up with Zoey in a few minutes for lunch.” Zoey had gotten in a bad habit of texting me a million times whenever I didn’t respond to her right away.

“I’ll love whatever color you choose.” He kissed my cheek that wasn’t covered in paint. “I trust you.”

I swallowed hard. I wasn’t sure I deserved his trust. Callum had specifically asked me not to hang out with the guys at the local bank. And I was making a quick stop there before lunch. “Mhm.” My voice came out squeaky and weird.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I just need to go or I’ll be late.

” I stood up on my tiptoes and kissed him before he could ask me any more questions.

I’d tell him about talking to Bennett after I did it.

It was always easier to explain things after.

If I had another option, I wouldn’t be doing it at all.

But I needed to get to the bottom of this stupid blood oath I took. It was driving me crazy.

“Well, tell Zoey I said hi. And that I haven’t killed you.”

I laughed. “She’s not worried about that.” Another lie. Why did I keep lying to him?

“She’s definitely worried about that. She texts you dozens of times whenever I’m alone with you.”

“I was hoping that you hadn’t noticed that. Zoey’s just having some adjustment issues. She’ll come around. I know she will. I mean…she has to. You and I are forever, right? ”

He nodded. But he’d lowered his eyebrows in that way that made it feel like he could peer into my soul.

I grabbed my coat, gave him a wave, and hurried out the door.

I’d been tiptoeing around questions I had for Callum.

We needed to just sit down and talk. I wanted to know if he wanted to be human again.

If it was even possible. And if he couldn’t…

would he really never turn me into a vampire?

And what did that look like if we just stayed the same?

Could we have kids? Because now that we had a home… my mind had started wandering.

For so long I’d just been obsessed with seeing him again.

And now that we’d found our way back to each other…

I was finally able to think about what else I wanted from life.

I wanted kids. With him. And I wasn’t even sure it was possible.

It was one of the reasons why I hadn’t brought it up. I was scared of the answer.

I tried to shake the thought away as I made my way down Main Street. Callum and I would figure out a solution. He just wanted me to be happy. As long as that meant me staying human.

I only had a few minutes before I was meeting up with Zoey. But this wouldn’t take long. I walked up the steps of the bank and opened the door.

There was one older gentleman talking to Otto at the counter, but otherwise the bank was empty.

Otto handed the guy a slip of paper, told him to have a nice day, and waved me over. “Hey, Emma. Skeet skeet.” He winked at me.

What?

“What’s up? ”

“Oh. Um. Is Bennett here? I really need to speak with him.” Zoey had mentioned that Bennett was back in town. I hoped he was back at work too.

Otto put his elbows on the counter and leaned forward. “Why? I thought the two of you called it quits.”

I had actually never seen Otto look so serious. Unless you counted when he was purposely pushing Callum’s buttons. And even then he’d been joking around. I think. “It’s not about us. I just have a question for him.”

“Ah. Well, good.” He tapped on the counter. “He’s in his office. You can go right in. But just to warn you…he’s in a shit mood. No idea why.”

Great. I walked over to Bennett’s office and knocked on the door.

“Come in,” his muffled voice came through the door.

I walked into his office.

Bennett was sitting at his desk. His arms were folded across his chest and a frown was etched onto his face. He looked up at me and his frown only intensified. “Emma.”

Why was he looking at me like that? “Hey, Bennett. I have a question for you.”

“I have one for you too. Is that…” he shook his head. “What is on your face?”

Huh? I reached up and touched my cheek. I felt the dried paint under my fingertips. Oh my God. Otto had said “skeet skeet” to me. Did he think that was semen on my face?! “It’s paint,” I said way too defensively.

“Oh.” He nodded. “I didn’t realize you painted too. ”

“I don’t. Photography is definitely my only artistic outlet. I’m actually painting a house. A house Callum and I bought together,” I added. I don’t know why. It was like I was rubbing it in his face.

“Oh,” he said again.

I really wasn’t good at having guy friends. I cleared my throat. “I have a huge problem.”

“With Callum?”

“No.” Again, it came out way too defensively.

Especially since I was here to get answers from Bennett.

It was just…the last time I was in Bennett’s office he was going down on me.

And Titan was watching. And now I knew my face was flushing.

Stop thinking about that! “Zoey knows your secret. The guys showed her. And for some reason I still can’t talk to her about it.

I thought once she knew I’d be able to speak freely about it like I do with Callum. What are the rules for this thing?”

I lifted my hand and pointed to the cut on my palm. They’d really cut me with that blood oath. It was like it was never going to heal. “Because I keep choking whenever I want to have a serious discussion with Zoey about you guys.”

Bennett finally smiled.

“What? It’s not funny. That shit hurts. I can barely breathe.”

His smile grew.

Not funny! “Zoey is really caught up with Otto, Huxley, and Ace. And honestly, I’m a little surprised you didn’t tell me that you’re into orgies.”

He laughed. “Emma, you let me finger you on a Ferris wheel. In front of the whole town. And you didn’t seem to mind when Titan watched as I ate you out right on this desk. ”

I opened my mouth and then closed it again. “I did not like that.”

“I think you kind of liked that.”

“I’m not into threesomes. Or…sixsomes? I don’t even think there’s a term for that. And I want to be able to talk to Zoey about more than just her wild sex life. But it’s all she wants to talk about. Even when I bring up your secret, she changes the topic to gangbangs.”

Bennett’s smile was growing by the second. “See? You do have a word for it.”

“Bennett!”

He just kept smiling. “And I know she keeps talking about that.”

“She’s talking about it with you too?”

“A bit. This morning. You can’t talk to her about my secret because she thinks it’s the sex thing. She doesn’t know about the other thing.”

“Oh.” Oooooh. Oh my God. That made so much sense. I laughed, remembering how insulted she was that I said Bennett and his friends were barely even human. Wow. Okay. Yeah.

“Yeah. A little bit of a misunderstanding. But I know I put you in a bad spot. I’m going to show her tonight.”

“You are?” I remembered standing in this bank seeing it. And now Zoey was going to witness it too. “Do you still have the pocket watch?”

Bennett pulled it out of his desk. “It’ll be fine.”

I pressed my lips together. Would it though? I knew he insisted that the pocket watch helped control them, but they didn’t seem at all in control when I saw them. Otto had tried to kill me.

“It’ll be fine,” he said again .

“Okay.” It’s not like I could tell him not to show Zoey.

Zoey needed to know. I needed to be able to talk to her about all this.

But God, it all made sense now. Why she kept insisting Callum was dangerous and Otto wasn’t.

I was pretty sure I had been telling her for days that foursomes were dangerous.

She probably thought I was a judgmental bitch. I owed her an apology.

“Okay,” Bennett said.

We both just awkwardly stared at each other for a moment.

Bennett cleared his throat. “So…how have you been?”

“I’m good.” I smiled. Yeah, this was awkward. “How was your trip? Was it like a work thing? Or…for fun?”

“Work.”

I nodded. “Cool.”

He smiled. “I don’t want this to be weird, Emma. I really hope we can be friends.”

“I want that too,” I said.

“Well, as your friend…can I ask you a question? And I need you to answer honestly.”

“Yeah, of course.”

“When I first met Zoey, she said she wasn’t looking for a relationship. But this morning she said the opposite.”

“She said that to you ?” Oh, right. Callum said they all share one woman. Bennett was a part of that. “I’m sorry, what exactly are you asking me?”

“Trust me, I’m not really looking for a relationship right now. After what just happened with us.”

“Are you asking for my blessing or something? Because you have it. ”

He smiled. “Thanks. But actually I just…” his voice trailed off. “I don’t know if Zoey’s being serious or not. Do you think she’s honestly ready to settle down?”

Honestly? It was Zoey. I’d only just found out she was a freaking sensation on MyFanatics. And she was currently dating three men. I guess it was about to become five. And she hadn’t said one word to me about giving up camming.

But she also seemed really happy. Like rubbing it in my face that she could actually be with a set of twins and Otto.

“I mean, if she was ever going to settle down…this arrangement makes a lot of sense for her. And I think she likes you. A lot. She only set me up with you because you turned her down.”

“I didn’t turn her down. I just told her I was looking for something serious.”

“Isn’t that the same thing?” My phone started buzzing. “I’m actually late meeting her for lunch. Thank you for everything. And I’m relieved that I’ll finally be able to talk to her about all this.”

“Well don’t poison her against us.”

I think I’d already been doing that. And standing here with Bennett?

I remembered how kind he was. And sweet.

And…not a monster. It was easy to forget when I’d seen the other side of him.

“I won’t,” I said. I meant it. I wanted Zoey to be happy.

“And maybe give that watch to Otto when he visits her at night?”

“Yeah. Don’t worry. I’ll figure out a solution for that.”

I breathed a sigh of relief. Everything was going to be fine. I just needed to get through one more lunch with Zoey without choking to death over this secret. I said goodbye to Bennett, waved goodbye to Otto, and headed out of the bank.

But when I opened the door, I ran right into someone.

“I am so sorry,” she said and grabbed my arms to steady herself.

For some reason I felt a chill run down my spine. I looked down at her hands. She had tons of rings on her fingers. And I was pretty sure there were some tattoos too.

She let go of my arms. “I’m new to town and was just browsing all the shops. I didn’t even realize this was a bank. I was turning around and wasn’t looking where I was going.” She had long jet black hair and was wearing tight ripped jeans, a leather jacket, and matching high heeled leather boots.

It looked like an outfit I’d try to wear and not be able to pull off at all. But she looked effortlessly cool. Her hair actually reminded me of the wig Zoey wore on MyFanatics. Zoey would probably love swapping clothes with her. Ah! I just had the best idea!

“You’re new to town?” I asked.

“Yeah. Well, kind of. I’m staying at the little bed and breakfast on the other side of the park while I search for a home of my own. So I can’t really say I’m living here until I find a place.”

“My boyfriend is a realtor. He can definitely help you find what you’re looking for.”

“Really? I mean…that would be amazing.”

“I can introduce you, but first I’m meeting a friend for lunch.

You should come.” A stranger was the perfect distraction so I wouldn’t have to gag and cough and choke while trying to talk to Zoey.

This was seriously perfect. And she looked about our age.

Maybe Zoey could text her SOS messages sometimes in the middle of the night instead of me.

“Oh. Um…are you sure?” she asked. “I don’t want to impose.”

“Of course. Come on, it’ll be fun.” I patted her shoulder and shivered again. I needed to start wearing a warmer jacket around Crooked Point.