Branded

Chapter 8

His car is old, but its in good condition. He obviously takes very good care of it. I start to open the door to get in, but he stops me.

"What?" I ask confused. Calum pulls me to the other side of the car and opens his door. He slides into the driver's seat, but then pulls me on his lap.

"No, Calum, this is dangerous." I say trying to get up.

"Don't worry. I've done this a hundred times before. You know how to steer, right? I'll control the gas, you control the rest. It's simple."

"But I.. its stupid, Calum, no." I insist. He laughs and starts the car up. I grip the steering wheel so tight that my knuckles turn white.

"And one more thing. You have to relax. If you are uptight your driving will be impaired. I'm not going to go too fast. Just turn when I tell you to." he says. His lips tickle the back of my neck as he talks. Goosebumps erupt all over my skin. I know Calum notices.

The car starts to move and I ease into my driving mode. I haven't driven in three months, but its something you don't easily forget. Occasionally, Calum would give me directions, but other than that, we ride in silence.

We eventually arrive at a beach. Its the middle of the night, the air is cold, the water is freezing, and yet, he brings us here. Great.

"Good job, babe" he whispers in my ear. He opens the door and I get out. I didn't realize how tight he'd been holding onto me until I no longer have his arms around me.

Calum walks around the back of the car and opens the trunk. He shuffles through stuff for a while and eventually pulls out a couple of bottles of booze. He gestures for me to come near and hands me a bottle, "Hold this, will you?"

I read the label: Vodka. Calum holds two more bottles of the stuff before shutting the trunk and walking towards the beach. He also has two big blankets slung over his shoulder. He walks down to the beach and lays one of them out.

When I make it over to him, he's opening the first bottle of Vodka. He looks up at me, "You cold?"

"Only a little," I say.

Calum gets up and walks to the fire pit that'a only about four feet away. He pours some liquor on the wood and pulls out his lighter. After a few tries, he's able to light it and build up a fire. He pulls the blanket a little closer to the fire. He sits and pats the ground next to him. I sit.

Calum takes a swig from the bottle. It doesn't seem to affect him. He hands it to me and watches me expectantly. I take a sip and swallow. It burns as it goes down, but its kind of a pleasant feeling. Calum smiles approvingly at me.

We start to drink more and talk shit about the world. I open up to him about how screwed up my family is. He seems to understand about that kind of stuff and doesn't judge me at all.

"The world sucks." He says finishing the second bottle of Vodka. Shadows from the fire dance across his face and makes him look darker. At the same time, though, he looks wickedly attractive.

"Why did you kiss me?" I blurt out without even realizing it.

He looks over at me, "When?"

"At the police station."

He shrugs, "Seemed like a good thing to do. Plus, I wanted to see your reaction."

"Oh" I say softly.

I stand up and act like I'm irritated. He looks up at me and raises and eyebrow. I sit on his lap facing him and wrap my arms around his neck. He smirks a little as I twirl some of his hair around a finger.

"C'mon, babe, kiss me already." he says.

I can't take it anymore. Our lips meet and fit together perfectly. We start out slow with long kisses that become more heated. Soon, my bottom lip is in my mouth and I feel him bite down on it. I groan, and in turn, he smirks. He does it again and again just to hear the little noises that escape my mouth. His tongue soon makes its way into my mouth and I absolutely die. He draws mine out and into his.

He lays me down on the ground before laying on top of me. We kiss for what seems like an hour before he finally pulls away. The fire has died down to glowing embers. He smiles and kisses me softly once more before rolling off of me. He pulls me into his arms and I lay my head on his chest. I wrap an arm around his torso to bring us closer together.

"Good night, babe." He says as he pulls the second blanket over us.

"Good night, Calum." I say before drifting off to sleep.