Page 5 of Marked by the Pack (Crooked Point #2)

Tuesday

Emma

Zoey had been thinking the exact same thing as me tonight. That it just made sense for Callum to turn me into a vampire. So that we could be together forever. For eternity.

“Oh my God, you are a vampire now, aren’t you?” Zoey asked.

I was tired of talking about this for one night. And I realized that maybe I was trying to focus on finding problems in Zoey’s life because maybe…just maybe…not everything was as perfect in mine as I’d hoped.

I cleared my throat. “Zoey, I’m sorry I said anything about the cam girl thing.

If that’s what makes you happy, you should keep doing it.

Always if that’s what you want.” Honestly, she was probably great at it.

All she ever did on a normal day was flirt with hot men.

She said she was making bank and I believed her.

“Okay…” she said. But it didn’t look like she trusted what I was saying. Her eyes kept darting back and forth between mine.

“Really. I just want you to be happy.” Besides, who was I to tell her what her future should look like when I was so scared of mine? Or my lack of one. I touched the side of my neck where Callum had bitten me .

Zoey grabbed my hand away from my neck and stared at the bite. “I knew it. You’re a vampire.”

I laughed.

“It’s not funny, Emma.” She dropped my hand. “What does this mean? How does it work? Are you okay? We can still hang out just the two of us, right?”

Actually, it was kind of funny how freaked out she was.

It was a little fun delaying answering her questions.

And she’d seemed fine with this whole thing a few hours ago.

“Zoey, you literally were screaming at me to go get my man earlier tonight. And reminding me to not ask so many questions because I might ruin it. Which was great advice, by the way.” I hadn’t completely stuck with it.

I’d asked too many questions. Pushed too much.

Not about his past though. More about our future.

“Well…I had wine courage.”

“Yeah, I could tell. I thought that was why you deep throated a banana in front of Bennett’s friends, but now I know you do that on the regular.” I smiled.

She just stared at me.

Why was she being so weird right now? “Speaking of wine, I may have broken a wine bottle in the kitchen. Luckily it was empty or that would have been a major party foul.”

Zoey didn’t laugh. She always laughed at party foul jokes.

“Really, Zoey. I’m happy for you. So how many followers do you have on there?”

“They’re subscribers technically. And I’m done talking about this.”

I knew I’d been a little judgy when she first told me.

But I was just surprised when I’d seen her go off every day for her personal fitness sessions.

It was just really out of the blue. Especially because she announced it right after tackling me half-naked with a mask on.

I was just on edge. But I probably shouldn’t have told her she needed to settle down. That was completely her choice.

And Callum and I still had a lot to talk about before we were ready to go on double dates. “Zoey, I’m sorry. What else do I need to do to make you forgive me?”

“I’m not upset with you.” Her words didn’t match the expression on her face.

“You should be upset…”

“I’m freaking out because you’re not answering my question!”

“What question?”

“Did Callum turn you?” she asked.

It was probably time to stop messing with her. But I was a little sad that my answer wasn’t different. “Oh. Um. No.”

She just kept staring at me. “How am I supposed to know if you’re telling the truth?”

“Because we’re friends.”

“I don’t think that’s good enough. You need to eat some of this.” She grabbed her abandoned container of garlic powder off the ground.

“I’m not eating that.”

Her eyes narrowed at me.

“I’m trustworthy. I wasn’t the one hiding the fact that I was a cam girl for… Wait, how long have you been doing this?”

Zoey shrugged. “A while.”

“How long is a while?”

“Like ten years or whatever.”

“Ten years? You started this when we were in college? ”

“Mhm. I would have dropped out but we were having so much fun.”

I remembered after I met Callum, Zoey had always been there for me. Like…always. Whenever I needed her. Almost like she had been skipping classes during that time. Because she didn’t care about school anymore because she was making so much money. “You could have told me, you know.”

“You were a little busy being heartbroken over Callum.”

That was true. I’d been so obsessed with my own problems that I’d been in my head too much. I hadn’t realized what was going on right in front of me. “I’m really sorry.”

“About what? Like I said. I’m killing it.” Zoey gestured to her house again.

“I know, but I should have been there for you like you were there for me.”

For just a second Zoey looked sad. But it was gone in a flash. “I was fine. You needed me. That’s what friends are for.”

“So we’re good?”

“Of course we’re good. As long as you eat this.” She handed me the bottle of garlic powder again.

“I’m not a vampire, Zoey. I told Callum I wanted to be with him forever. I asked him to change me. Begged him, practically. He refused.”

“Oh.”

I shook my head. “He wants to be with me forever.” I pointed to myself. “This me. The real one.”

“Well, that’s romantic.”

“But I’m going to get old and gray. And he’s not going to change at all. ”

“That doesn’t mean he’ll stop loving you.”

“I’m going to die and he’s going to keep living…”

“Whoa. You’re not going to die for a really long time. We are still young and hot and we shouldn’t be thinking about our mortality right now.”

“Yeah.” I knew that. I did. I tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear. But it didn’t just suddenly turn off the thoughts.

Zoey inched the garlic powder closer to my face.

“Stop it,” I said with a laugh. “I’m exhausted. I’m going to try to get some sleep.” I stood up, being careful not to step on any of the broken glass.

“Are you going back to Callum’s place?”

“Um…no. I think I just need to be alone tonight.”

“Okay. For the record, I’m glad you’re still you. I kind of get what Callum is saying. You don’t need to change, Emma.”

“You don’t either.” I lifted up her black wig and tossed it at her.

She laughed. “I’m still me online. Just a little saucier.”

“I can’t picture you any saucier than you already are. Do you want me to clean any of this up?” I stepped over some of the broken vase.

“I’ve got it,” Zoey said. “I’m used to being up this late. Night, Emma.”

“Goodnight, Zoey.”

I made my way up the stairs. It was nice that Callum and Zoey said I didn’t need to change. But I still wanted to. Desperately. And I couldn’t make Callum understand. I thought telling him I loved him would somehow make him less infuriating. But that certainly wasn’t the case .

I closed my bedroom door behind me and started to undress.

I pulled on the old sweatshirt I’d stolen from Callum’s house.

For just a second, I grabbed a fistful of the material and brought it to my nose.

God, even when I was apart from him, I needed to feel close to him.

I’d been obsessed with him for ten years.

And it was like my obsession kept growing and growing.

“I should probably get you a new one,” Callum said.

I jumped and let go of the fabric. Callum was sitting on the edge of my bed staring at me.

“What are you doing here?” I shook my head. “How did you even get up here?”

He didn’t respond. He just beckoned me forward with his index finger.

I closed the distance between us, stopping only a few inches in front of him. “Callum. Seriously, what are you doing here?”

“I don’t like when you run away from me.” He grabbed my waist, pulling me one top of him.

I couldn’t help the smile that spread across my face as I straddled him. “I didn’t run away. I told you I got an S.O.S. text from Zoey.”

“I thought you were just trying to get away from me.”

I shook my head. “No.”

He reached up, cupping the side of my face in his hand. “I didn’t mean to upset you.”

I swallowed hard. I didn’t want to lie to him and tell him he hadn’t.

But after he didn’t bite me tonight…my head had gotten scrambled with doubt.

I knew he didn’t want me to feel the pain of changing.

I understood that. But wasn’t watching me slowly inch closer to death ev ery day more painful? Wasn’t living without me worse?

“This is what I’ve always hoped for.” His hand slid to the side of my neck. “What I’ve always dreamed of. This right now. Us.”

He kept saying stuff like that. And it was so sweet. But also so frustrating. “You know where I’m coming from too though. I want this forever.”

He nodded. “But a lifetime was never supposed to be forever.”

“I’m just asking you to put me first, Callum.”

He lowered his eyebrows. “I am putting you first.”

“You’re not listening to me.”

“It’s late.” His hand fell from the side of my neck. “Let’s get some rest and we can talk about it from a fresh perspective in the morning.”

“You don’t sleep.”

He leaned backward on the mattress, pulling me with him.

I laughed as he caught me in his arms.

“Hmm.” His nose brushed against mine. “Maybe you just need to wear me out first.”

“Are you implying that you’d be able to sleep for the first time in centuries if I give you head?”

“I mean…it’s certainly a theory worth testing.”

God, he was so good at distracting me. “If handcuffing me to your bed and having your way with me for the past hour wasn’t enough to wear you out…I don’t see how on earth giving you a blowjob will do it.”

I could feel him growing hard beneath me.

“Maybe if you do a really good job.”

I stared down at him .

He brushed his thumb along my lower lip. “I’m going to tell you exactly what I want. And how I want it.”

Yeah, I wasn’t sleepy anymore either. I was seconds away from grinding against his length. It was like he had this power over me. I couldn’t get enough of him.

“Get on your knees, baby.” His hand fell from my face.

I wanted to know exactly what he liked. And how to give him that. I climbed off his lap and off the bed. I got on my knees on the floor and stared up at him.

He took his time standing up. He touched the bottom of my chin so I’d stare up at him. “Why does everything I own look better on you?”

I smiled up at him. I was pretty sure it only looked good because my thighs were exposed.

“Undo my pants.” He kept his fingers under my chin so I’d keep staring into his eyes.

I reached out and unbuttoned and unzipped his jeans. I pushed his boxers and his jeans down.

He nodded. “Lick me. From my base all the way to my tip. Slow.”

I stared down at his erection.

“Keep looking at me, baby.”

I moved my eyes back up to his as I shifted forward on my knees. I kept staring into his golden eyes as I slowly licked him. Fuck, why was him staring at me like that so hot?

“Again,” he said. “Slower.”

I spread my legs wider to get a better angle.

His chest rose and fell as he stared down at me. “I want to feel you lips,” he said, his voice tight. “Now.”

I opened my mouth and wrapped my lips around him .

He nodded at me and I moved my lips lower.

“A little tighter…” he groaned as I followed his instructions.

God, I’d do whatever he wanted when his golden eyes were on me.

He reached behind my head, fisting my hair in his hand. “Now I’m going to show you exactly what I like.”