Page 35 of Worth the Wait

“No,” he admitted.

Callum hung up the phone. Then he called back.

“Callum,” Jack said in way of answering.

“I’m sorry for hanging up on you. I’m just… I’m not taking this well.”

“I know, baby. It’s okay,” Jack assured him.

“I think I need to take a step back.”

“What do you mean?” He sounded as scared as Callum felt.

“I don’t know. I just feel really overwhelmed. And I’m mad that my boss is there and not me, and I’m mad that you know my boss in the first place. And I hate that I didn’t even know something was wrong with you. I’m sad that no one knew about me and I had no way of finding out anything was wrong with you. I feel like a pinball right now.”

“Talk through it with me, kitten.” Jack’s voice sounded calmer now, still tired but more assuring, moreDaddy.

Callum bit his lips between his teeth.

“Are you going to tell Landon about us?”

Silence.

That was the answer.

“He’s dealing with some shit of his own right now. It’s not a good time.”

“If I was someone you met in a bar, would you have told him about me?”

“That’s not a fair question,” Jack countered. “I don’t talk about my private life with other people.”

Callum scoffed. “So you haven’t told anyone about me?”

“I told my friends Joseph and Bowie. They know about you, with the most minimal level of detail because it’s not their business.”

That eased the smallest corner of Callum’s tension, but not enough to chip away at the wall his heart had thrown up when he heard Jack’s voice for the first time in a week.

“Let me come take care of you now. Send Landon home, and let me come.”

“Absolutely not.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t want you to see me like this,” Jack answered with a self-deprecating laugh. “I have bags under my eyes and bruises on my arms from the IVs. I haven’t slept well in a week. This isn’t the way I want you to know me.”

“I want to know all of you, though!” Callum protested. “I don’t just want the pretty online parts. That’s stupid. That’s not a relationship.”

“You arenotthe Daddy here,” Jack said, an edge of finality in his voice that sent new tears to the front of Callum’s eyes. “And I can’t be the Daddy you need until I’m better. So all the more reason now to look forward to August.”

Callum huffed. “August.”

“I will come to you, and I will make you mine,” Jack whispered to him. “Just like we’ve talked about.”

“I am yours,” Callum grumbled, resolve and anger weakening.

“I’m not going to be around as much the next couple weeks, kitten, but it’s not you, okay? Landon is in town and I’m just not ready to share you with him yet.”

“Fine.”