Branded

Chapter 13

Calum didn't specify if he wanted me to look nice or be comfortable. I choose an in between outfit and hurry out. I can't even describe how happy I am that Calum came. I've been dying since he and I argued. He hadn't even come into the police station all that time. I soon found out that I missed him a lot.

I hurry out and run into Nikki and Michael. Nikki smiles and hugs me before congratulating me on a job well done. Michael cracks a smile for me and nods approvingly.

"Are you coming to get ice cream with us?" Nikki asks

I shake my head, "No, umm, you'll never guess who was here."

Nikki raises an eyebrow, "Who?"

"Calum, of all people," I laugh a little out of embarrassment "He's going to take me out to dinner to make up for everything."

"Oh, really? That's amazing! Have fun!" She smiles mischievously and pulls Michael along. I ask Michael 'Did she bring him?' through a glance and he simply nods. I blush before hurrying on.

Cal is waiting by his car for me when I come. He leans against the passenger side door with his arms crossed. A smile spreads across his wonderful face. I start to wonder to myself how his jawline can be so defined and yet still have the squishiest face on the planet. As I approach him he opens his arms and I run into the. He holds me for a moment, stroking my hair calmly, and I stand in his embrace remembering the feeling.

"I'm going to drop my car off at home and then we'll knock around town on foot for a while. How does that sound?" he speaks softly against my neck.

"I think that'll be fine" I reply giving him a little nuzzle.

Cal pulls away and smiles at me before opening the car door for me. I slide in and watch Calum as he closes my door and walks around the car. Before he can get in, someone stops him and starts a conversation. They speak in hushed tones, so I cannot hear what is being said. Calum checks his watch and shakes his head. The other guy seems to be pleading with him. He eventually nods and says something else before the guy leaves. Cal gets into the car and starts to drive.

"Who was that?" I ask.

"Someone asking for directions. They were lost." Cal says as he stares straight ahead. His body language says he's calm, but his knuckles turning white from gripping the steering wheel tells me other wise.

We drive for about fifteen minutes before ending up at a high-class apartment building. He stops the car and looks over to me, "Hey babe, I gotta run up for something I forgot. Would you like to come?"

"Oh, sure, if you think you'll take a while." I say

"I'm all the way at the top in the far one. I think you should just come. That way you're not all alone down here."

He holds my hand as we walk into the building and towards the elevator. People don't say hello to him, but they all acknowledge his presence. Confused eyes follow me and people begin to whisper. His grip on my hand tightens as we approach the elevator doors. The people who were waiting to get on glance at us and walk away. When the doors open, no one is getting off, and we're the only two on.

As the doors close and the button is pressed, Cal starts to rub tiny circles with his thumb on my hand. It's calming, but it also gives me goosebumps. I watch as the floor numbers go up and I feel the tiny room rising. I get a little anxious after the fifth floor because I'm slightly claustrophobic. Calum, the little mastermind he is, figures out a way to distract me.

He lets go of my hand and slowly traces his fingers up my arm. I don't move at first, but when his hands reach my neck and his fingers brush lightly over my skin, I turn to look at him. That's when he pushes me against the elevator wall and presses his lips to mine.

Our lips move in sync as his hands tease two different parts of me. One hand is on my throat, keeping my pressed against the wall as the other is running down my side and stopping on my hip. He squeezes my hipbone and I jump a little. He smirks against my lips and nips at them softly.

He continues his hand down and then just softly rubs my leg. I break our kiss to gasp and Calum takes the opportunity to get hold of my bottom lip. He sucks on it before biting. My arms go around his neck and I play with his hair. I tug on it a bit and Cal growls excitedly before pressing his body against mine. I can feel his heart beating against my chest and I know he can feel mine. The sound of our breathing and our lips pushing and pulling at each other fills the elevator. Then, everything slows down and Calum pulls away. He smooths over his hair and fixes himself as the doors open and we arrive on his floor.

There are four apartments on this level. Cal takes my hand again and leads me through the short hallway to his: Number 9696. He opens the door like a gentleman and lets me in. Its a breathtaking view. The wall opposite of me is just one large window that overlooks the city. His whole apartment is beautiful, if you can even call it that. Its more of a mansion than anything.

I laugh, "You said apartment."

"What else would it be called?" He asks

"It's technically a penthouse." I say as I sit on his couch.

Calum undoes his die and throws its along with his suit jacket next to me. He walks to his room for a few minutes and comes back with his wonderful smirk spread across his face. He hovers over me for a second before straddling me. I smirk and try not to squirm. His arms are on either side on my head and he's lowering his face to mine.

"You know I really have missed you" he said in a low, quiet voice.

"I missed you, too. I'm sorry for overreacting. I shou-"

"Sh, baby boo... shhh" He presses his lips to mine. I raise my arms to wrap around him, but he pulls away, "No. No touching."

I try to kiss him, but he laughs and stands up. He offers his hand and I take it. Cal pulls me up and leads me out of the apartment. To my disappointment, we don't repeat our actions in the elevator on the way down.

We leave the building and walk together around the town. We hold hands and chat about what we'd done in the time we hadn't spoken. Mostly we both were just miserable. We eat dinner at a semi-classy place and decide to walk around in the part after.

Near the end of our evening, Cal was walking me home when some random guy runs up to us and stops Calum. He looks desperate.

"There you are, I've been looking everywhere for you! Here, here is the money. Enough for last time and this time. I'm sorry its late just please... please" says the guy holding out a stack of money to Cal.

Cal takes his hand out of his pocket and shakes the man's hand, "It's alright, Joey. It's alright. Just take care of yourself."

"Thank you, thank you so much" the guy said looking into his hand. He ran off and disappeared into the night.

"What was that all about?" I ask confused and slightly shaken.

"Oh, nothing, baby boo. I did him a favor a while back and he owed me a quite a bit of money. He was just paying me back. I guess he needs me to do it again soon, so he paid me a bit." Cal says smirking to himself.

"What did you do? Kill a man?" I ask jokingly.

He stops me and looks at me deadly serious, "With this thumb." He holds up his thumb.

We laugh together and finish up the walk to my place. He places a small kiss on my lips before I open the door and walk in alone. I watch as he walks down the street and smile. Its so good to have him back in my life.