Risk & Reward

Thirty-Five

"Hey! Hey!" Calum half panics, hurrying from the doorway he just entered to the bed, scooping Shi into his lap and hugging her tightly. Her body shakes slightly in his arms but no tears are falling this time. "Talk to me, baby. What's going through your head?"

"I hate not knowing where he is. I feel exposed and vulnerable." She whispers, her hands rolling over each other in a nervous fidget.

"You're safe here, Shi. I promise nothing is going to happen to you tonight. He doesn't know where I live, and I have alarm systems in place if he somehow found it. Nothing's going to happen, and tomorrow morning we will go together back to Bakersfield and file for a restraining order for you, okay? I would never let anything happen to you, baby. Not when I can help it."

"I'm sorry, Caleb sounded so worried. It freaked me out. And then Paul, he was truly in his protective dad mode on the phone, it didn't help anything."

"What did Paul say?"

"Caleb stopped by their house this evening and briefed him on some of what's been going on, mostly to put him on alert for the little girls and everything. Caleb and he agreed we should all meet at the house tomorrow and go to the police together."

"Then that's what we'll do. I'd drive you home tonight but there's no way I'm putting you in a car in the dark when you're already this anxious." Calum offers softly, pressing kisses along her hairline as he rubs his hand slowly up and down her arm, protectively hugging her to him.

"Thank you." It's all she can muster, but feeling seen, and loved, and wanted, despite all this, and especially not feeling like a burden, it's too much to explain, so thank you will have to do. After a moment of silence she shifts, burying herself into his neck, wanting to hide from the world. To be lost in the coconut and nicotine musk that lingers on Calum's skin.

"How can I help you right now, Shi? For tonight." Calum asks gently after a minute, never releasing his hold on her.

"Distractions, I guess. But I feel bad. I can't even imagine how jet lag you feel right now." She pulls off his neck to meet his eyes, making sure she hasn't muffled her entire sentence into gibberish.

"I'm okay, I promise. It's early afternoon in Sydney right now. I'm not tired yet, and you are my priority, always, but especially now." He offers her a soft smile of adoration. "I do have an idea though, so why don't we change into more comfortable clothes and I'll show you something special I've been working on."

"Calum Hood solo music?" Her eyes light up just a little bit at the idea, that glimmer exactly what Calum had been hoping for.

"I had some downtime in Sydney a couple of the days and a few guitars and studio options. I've pieced together a few bits of some songs I'd love for you to hear." He nods. "Songs inspired by you."

"More than one?" Her eyebrows raise sharply at that knowledge, but she does finally unravel herself from him and stand.

"More than one. How could there not be more than one song inspired by the woman who took my whole world, a good world, and flipped it upside down and inside out to make it even greater than I could have imagined?" He chuckles, letting her drag him by the hand to his in-home studio she'd, as far as he knew, never entered. "So that's a no on comfortable clothes first?" He smirks, releasing her hand from his as he takes a seat at the desk, booting up his system.

"I'm not convinced I won't be pulling clothes off you by the time we're done here, so I didn't see a point yet." She shrugs, attempting but failing to sound nonchalant about the comment.

"No pressure." He full body laughs, "I wasn't exactly going for sex music when I wrote these, baby."

"I know. You're too respectful for that." She smiles softly, curling herself into the small couch and pulling a throw blanket over her. The compliment hits Calum harder than he'd expected, touched by her assurance and trust in him. Turning back to the system he hits the power button again, closing out of the added production options he'd worked on last week. Instead he crosses the room and grabs an old acoustic Gibson he'd purchased years ago, joining Shi on the couch and beginning to tune it.