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Broken Bond 30
VANESSA Smoke. Leather. Juniper. Spice. Callum’s signature scent barely lingers on this t-shirt anymore, but if I pull the collar up over my nose and breathe in deep, I can still smell it. And yeah, I’m that pathetic girl right now lying in bed wearing my ex-boyfriend’s shirt. I wish I could say this is the first time, but that’d be a lie. I threw this t-shirt on to leave his place once, and when I rediscovered it lying in a crumpled heap under my bed a week after he left, I clung to this damn shirt like a lifeline. I’d put it on to drown myself in the illusion that he was with me; that he never left. Flipping through Callum’s sketchbook has become like a compulsion over the past few days since he gave it to me, and as I paged through it again today, I put on his shirt to feel closer to him. My emotions have been all over the place since that day at the cabin. Seeing him was hard enough, but these drawings… they’re all done with such detail, such care. In handing over the sketch
Broken Bond 31
CALLUM The tip of my pencil moves against the page in quick, sure, strokes as a Nine Inch Nails song blasts through my earbuds, a heavy guitar rift drilling into my skull. The eyes I’m currently drawing are etched into my memory; surrounded in a fan of long, dark lashes and brimming with sadness. I wish I’d never seen that sorrowful look in her eyes. I wish even more that I wasn’t the one who put it there. And I wish I wasn’t stuck in a masochistic loop of drawing her eyes like this over and over again, forcing myself to confront the cruel consequences of my actions. Sketching used to be my escape. Now, it’s my penance. I’m so in the zone that I’ve tuned out everything around me- I don’t even realize someone is knocking on my apartment door until the pounding grows more insistent, rattling the door on its hinges and causing ripples to form in my water glass beside me. I yank out one of my earbuds, jerking my head up to stare warily in the direction of the door. Whoever’s banging th
Broken Bond 32
VANESSA “You’re really not going to tell me where we’re going?” I laugh as Vienna pulls me by the hand down a well-worn forest trail. Half an hour ago, she busted into my room and told me to put on a bikini, all cloak and dagger about giving me any details as to where she was taking me. All she said was that it’d been too long since I’d had any real fun, and since I couldn’t disagree with that, I humored her. I put on my favorite white crochet bikini and my second favorite pair of cutoff jean shorts- since my favorites were a casualty of my hasty shift to run away from Callum last week- and hopped into Vee’s Jeep with her. I thought it was safe to assume we were going swimming, so imagine my surprise when she pulled into the parking lot of the squad complex in Goldenleaf. Then my confusion only multiplied after we got out of the car and she bypassed the entry gate for the complex to head for this trail instead. “You’ll see,” Vee answers conspiratorially, shooting me a devious smirk
Broken Bond 33
VANESSAWhen Vienna brought me out here today, I underestimated her commitment to making sure I let loose and have fun. She pulled me into a game of beer pong against Fallon and Serena, talked me into partnering up with Alec for chicken fights in the water against her and Chase, and has replenished my beer every time it started to get low. I’m not a big drinker but I’m rolling on a solid buzz at this point, and I can tell that my girl Vee is past her threshold by the way she’s glassy-eyed and hanging off Chase.Having endured more than enough of their PDA, I announce that I’m going swimming, kicking off my flip-flops and shorts and heading for the water’s edge. This place is a complete contrast to the hot springs by the lodge- while that water is always piping hot, this water seems to be perpetually cold. It stings my skin like tiny needle points as I wade into the pool, my breath catching from the shock in temperature change. I flop backwards once I’m waist-deep, spreading my arms an
Broken Bond 34
CALLUM A gust of warm air whooshes into my face as I push through the door to exit the squad complex, the summer sun beating down relentlessly overhead. We’re in the middle of what feels like an endless heat wave. The grass of the practice field is crunchy underfoot as I step out onto it, dying of thirst and begging for rain, and despite the fact that I just showered off the sweat I worked up while training, my t-shirt is already clinging to my body like a second skin by the time I reach the outer gate to head for the parking lot. “Yo Cal, wait up!” a voice calls from behind me, and I swivel to see Logan jogging my way, his clunky motorcycle boots thudding against the ground. I pause to wait for him, idly twirling the keys to my Corvette around a finger. He flashes me a smile as he approaches, two rows of straight white teeth gleaming and a pair of dimples sinking into his cheeks. Handsome fucker. “Think you can find some time this week to finish my chest piece?” he asks, fingers t
Broken Bond 35
VANESSAI glance over at Callum as he drives, the shadows dancing ominously across his profile.He really is beautiful. His face is seared into my memory, but I still get caught up in looking at him sometimes, admiring his sharp jawline and impeccable bone structure. The symmetry of his features is almost too perfect to be real- like he was cut from stone, some sculptor’s fantasy brought to life.It’s not his face that gets me, though. Or even his body, stacked with mouth-watering lean muscle that ripples with every movement. It’s the way he sets me ablaze with a single glance. The way he puts on a hard front with other people but softens all of his sharp edges for me. The way he lets me see the real him, and the way he really sees me.It’s the sweet words and the gentle touches and the all-consuming intensity of his presence. Every time I’m with him, I’m reminded why I fell for him in the first place- and why even after everything he put me through, I’m still hopelessly, crazily, irr
Broken Bond 36
CALLUMIt’s going to storm.I can smell it in the air even before I hear the faint echo of thunder in the distance, a warning of what’s coming.We need the rain. The blistering summer sun has made the grass brittle, the forest foliage withering with thirst. Even the river is lower than I’ve seen it in years, in desperate need of a top-up. Sitting outside on the patio behind the packhouse, there’s an unmistakable energy in the air, almost like the parched landscape is quivering in anticipation for the storm to roll in.Within myself, the storm is already raging. It has been for a long time, born in a dark room in a basement, fed by anger and resentment. Until I found the one person who could calm it: Vanessa Diaz, my muse, my light.“You good?” Chase asks, his eyes still bloodshot from the joint we smoked.I grunt in affirmation, nodding. My own high is already gone, but the weed calmed me down as it worked its way through my system, tempering my agitation. Pulling the skeletons out of
Broken Bond 37
VANESSA“Callum,” I whine, squirming atop the soft cotton sheets. Bright sunlight pours in through the window across from my bed, illuminating him in all his naked glory.He only grunts in response.I bury my hands in his hair, tugging on the strands. “C’mon, we have to leave this room,” I pant, a little tremor wracking my body as he hits a particularly sensitive spot. “We at least have to eat…”He lifts his head with an arched brow, licking his lips and hitting me with a panty-melting smirk. “What do you think I’m trying to do down here?” He lowers his head between my thighs again before I can respond, his tongue lashing against my clit, earning a hoarse moan from my lips.“I… I… oh god, right there…” I babble, my back arching off the bed as he screws a finger into my tight hole again, curving it upwards to press against that same spot inside that has me falling to pieces against his face.I’ve lost count of how many orgasms he’s wrung out of me since we locked ourselves in here last
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