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Broken Bond 7
VANESSA“I’ll be out of your hair in a few days,” Vienna explains to my mom as she takes a dish of green beans from her hands.“Oh, stop,” Mom scolds, swatting Vee on the butt with a kitchen towel. “You know you’re welcome to stay as long as you like. We love having you here!”I pick up a basket of rolls, shooting my friend a wide grin. “Yeah, just think of it as an extended sleepover!”She smiles wryly, following me to the kitchen table to deposit the food. The whole house smells amazing- my mom always cooks hearty dinners, but she pulls out all the stops when we have company. Although Vienna can hardly be considered ‘company’- she’s practically family. This isn’t the first time Vee has crashed at my house, but it’s the first time she’s arrived with a duffel bag in tow and expressed her intention of staying for longer than a single night. I’m glad she did. When she called me early this morning, I could tell by the tone of her voice that something was wrong, and when she showed up a
Broken Bond 8
CALLUM The sound of a fist rapping loudly against my apartment door rouses me from a dead sleep. I’m a little disoriented as I lift my head from the pillow, swiping drool from the corner of my mouth with a forearm while using my other elbow to push myself up against the scratchy cotton sheets. What time is it? The knocking continues. Whoever’s there isn’t giving up, so I pry myself from bed with a groan, the rusty old springs of my mattress answering with a groan of their own. Finding my feet and blinking against the harsh sunlight streaming in through the blinds in my bedroom, I swipe a pair of sweatpants off the floor and stumble into them as the pounding on my front door continues. “I’m coming!” I growl out, not even attempting to mask my annoyance. A quick glance at the clock on my nightstand tells me it’s 10:30 a.m., which is about typical for my fucked-up sleep pattern. Still, with how deeply I was sleeping, I could’ve gotten another hour in if this prick wasn’t pounding on m
Broken Bond 9
VANESSALike always, I feel him before I see him. The energy in the air shifts somehow, almost crackling, and I know he’s nearby. I glance toward the tall rocks that line the outer edge of the natural hot springs, listening to the sound of crunching snow as he strides closer, still out of sight. I blow out a slow breath that fogs the air in front of me, mingling with the steam rising from the pool of warm water.Callum finally comes into view as he rounds the rocks, brows lifting as he takes in the sight of the crystal-clear water and my state of partial undress. “Well… this is a surprise,” he drawls, stalking closer.I sent him the location by dropping a pin so he could use the maps feature on his phone to find his way here. This place is technically off-territory, located on the grounds of the Cedar Ridge ski resort. It’s easy to get turned around in these woods, so the resort offers guided trips out here for guests who want to take a dip in the natural hot springs- but since I work
Broken Bond 10
CALLUMI leave the hot springs with the worst blue balls of my fucking life. I go straight home, hop in the shower, and jack my dick to get the poison out, but then I start thinking about the sounds Nessa made when she was falling apart on my fingers and I’m instantly hard again.So I jerk off twice.Even then, it’s not enough- not when I can still picture the flush of her cheeks right after she came, how swollen and puffy her lips were as she fought to catch her breath.I’ve never been a giver. When I’ve hooked up with girls in the past, it was always about my own pleasure, not theirs. I didn’t kiss them if I could help it, and I sure as hell didn’t rub them out without getting anything in return. I grew bored with hookups quickly, and then it got to a point where I stopped even bothering because it was easier to just jerk off to relieve the tension rather than hassling with the neediness of another human being.But this is different because of the bet, right? Nessa isn’t easy prey;
Broken Bond 11
CALLUMMy heart’s pounding as I stick the key in the lock of my apartment door, twisting it to hear the heavy click of the deadbolt unlocking.What the fuck am I doing?This is my safe space; my sanctuary. It isn’t somewhere that I bring girls for hookups. Hell, I rarely even let my own friends come inside.We could’ve stayed at the packhouse. There are plenty of guest rooms to go around, and that’s where I usually crash after a party anyways. I bet I could’ve gotten Nessa to follow me into one of them, just like she followed me into my apartment building from the truck. The thought crossed my mind.Still, I invited her here. It didn’t feel right to ask her to steal away to a room in the packhouse with me like a cheap hookup. She deserves better. So, she’ll be the first woman to enter my space, and I’m choosing to ignore the significance of that right now because I’ve had a hard-on for this girl since the first time I laid eyes on her, and I’m pretty sure we’re about to seal the deal.
Broken Bond 12
VANESSAI was a lot like my little sister Mia when I was her age. I was obsessed with princess movies- the kind where a handsome prince or a white knight would rush in and sweep the princess off her feet, then they’d ride off into the sunset together and live happily ever after. As I got older, I recognized that life wasn’t a fairytale, but that didn’t stop me from daydreaming about falling madly in love someday and finding my own happy ending. My parents did. Their relationship is like a real-life fairytale, so it didn’t seem far-fetched to dream of one day having something like that for myself.Turns out, relationships are far more complicated than I imagined, especially with a dark knight bent on pushing away anyone who gets too close. I took a chance on Callum because he made me feel things that nobody else ever has. He ignited something in me that made me want to take a leap of faith and see where the spark between us could go. Mates or not, he’s the first man I’ve had real feeli
Broken Bond 13
CALLUM“Of course,” I mutter under my breath as I look up at the house in front of me, my navigation app confirming that I’ve reached my destination. I mean, it comes as no surprise that Nessa’s family home is picture perfect, but the literal white picket fence out front is a little over the top. Everything about the setting screams that a happy family resides here, and even from my spot at the curb, I feel uncomfortably out of place; like my mere presence will somehow darken the vibe. I curl my fingers around the leather steering wheel of Levi’s truck- my borrowed ride for the evening- and look expectantly toward the front door as it swings open and Nessa steps out. I swear, every time I see this fuckin’ girl, it’s like the first time. She’s effortlessly gorgeous, the wintry breeze catching strands of her glossy dark hair like she’s a model on a photoshoot. She smooths it away from her face with a hand and starts down the front walk, my eyes lingering on the exposed skin of her bro
Broken Bond 14
VANESSAThe ride home is tortuously void of conversation. As soon as we get in the truck, Cal cranks the stereo so loud that I can barely hear myself think. I elect to give him time to cool down, nibbling my lip nervously while I try to think of something, anything to say to alleviate the tension hanging thick in the cab of the truck. I come up empty, so I just stare out the windshield, sliding him occasional side-eyed glances.His clenched jaw twitches. His fingers flex and tighten around the steering wheel, his knuckles going white. His throat bobs with every hard swallow, and his posture is so rigid that his muscles must be aching. Still, he says nothing.My mind wanders, images of the gruesome scene in the band’s dressing room flashing through my brain.Was it my fault?Violence is never the answer, but then again, I was the first one to throw an elbow into someone’s gut. Maybe if I hadn’t, things wouldn’t have escalated the way they did. Maybe we could’ve laughed it off as a misu
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