Page 30 of The Deviation

“What does it say?”

I open the text and read aloud. “Sorry about last night. I need a few days to sort out my shit. Talk soon.” My heart races as I lift my gaze back to his.

Calum licks his lips, his chest rising and falling with shallow breaths. “Do you think he might…”

“I don’t know.” Even as I voice my doubts, hope is there stamping them underfoot. “Maybe.”

I stand up, leaving the phone behind. There’s more staring. His body is tense, like mine. His hands are restless at his sides, like mine. Every instinct urges me to wrap this man up in my arms and celebrate the renewed possibility of a future we both want. But getting one thing requires the absence of the other, and we both remain where we are.

“I should leave,” he says suddenly, before disappearing into the bedroom. He returns in under a minute, shoes on and belongings tucked away inside pockets. “Let me know if anything changes?”

With a mute nod, I follow him to the door.

We almost make it.

My back slams against the wall. His mouth crushes mine. I rake my hands through his hair, down his chest, over his arse.Our tongues fight for access to each other’s mouths, and when he growls low in his throat I can’t help but grind against him in response.

Finally, haltingly, we manage to drag our lips apart. Our bodies are still plastered together, each breath combining between us. The green of Calum’s eyes is barely visible around his dilated pupils. “We can’t,” he rasps.

“I know.”

“We have to—”

“Keep our distance.” I touch my forehead to his as I say the words, stealing myself for a reality that has to be. “Thank you,” I whisper.

He cants his head to one side. “For what?”

“For coming here. For giving me what I needed.”

A smile quirks the corners of his mouth. “Johnny.” Releasing my name on a whisper of a sigh, he runs the tip of his tongue between my parted lips. “I needed you, too.”

His head lowers to my shoulder, and our arms come around each other in a fierce hug. “One way or another, I’ll see you soon.”

“Yeah.” Nodding, I force myself to let him go.

In a rush of movement, he’s out the door and striding down the footpath towards his car. I close the door, so I don’t have to watch him leave.

FIFTEEN

______

CALUM

I’m running out of time. Every tick of the clock on the kitchen wall is a stark reminder. It’s Tuesday morning and I’m no closer to my goal than I was when Genevieve put the deadline in place. If I don’t have a contract with Fifth Circle—including all four signatures at the bottom—by Friday afternoon, I’ll be looking at a long weekend. The kind that never ends.

“What’s wrong?”

My head snaps up. Hannah stands at the end of the hallway. She’s only half-awake and her ginger hair is a tangled mess, but she’s conscious enough to glare at me in suspicion.

“Nothing’s wrong.” Straightening from my lean against the counter, I pour what’s left of my lukewarm coffee into the sink. “Just trying to figure out how to get Ned Corbyn to talk to me.”

Hannah knows I’m trying to sign Fifth Circle; she’s as excited by their music as I am. But she doesn’t know the stakes involved. I don’t want her to worry.

“Maybe I should talk to him.” She grabs a bowl and pours an obscene amount of Corn Flakes into it. “I could convince him for you.”

“You’re offering to talk to someone? Who are you and what have you done with my sister?”

“Ha, ha,” she deadpans. “He’s messing with my brother. That’s not okay with me.”