“I’ll have a penthouse like that someday,” Callum had said. When I snorted, he challenged me. “Wanna bet I will?”
“Sure.”
“What do you want to bet?”
I didn’t actually doubt that he’d become rich on his own and buy a penthouse someday, but the reality seemed so far away that I just smirked and said, “Infinite dares.”
His eyes had lit up like he’d won the jackpot in Vegas. “I’m holding you to that.”
“Go ahead.”
I wanted to smile when I thought about how long ago that was. His voice hadn’t even changed yet and he was the same height as me, our eyes at the same exact level. Riding the elevator in silence, indeed to the penthouse floor, I studied Callum. He was still rigid, drying blood off his knuckles. He was decided about avoiding my gaze. I couldn’t help wondering what was about to happen. Whether he remembered that conversation we had in seventh grade and how much of us he had really managed to forget.
I didn’t stop wondering, especially as he led me out of the elevator and directly into his sprawling apartment. It screamed of his taste – spacious, neat and modern with dark hardwood floors as polished and shiny as the floor-to-ceiling windows that made up most of the wall space. He clicked a button on a remote to bring the blinds down. My breath shortened as I watched him lift his chin and pinch the knot of his tie. His eyes finally settled on me as he loosened the black silk. A chill licked over my skin when he yanked it off his neck with the sound of a whip.
“You’re not staying at Isabel’s anymore,” he broke the silence evenly. “You’re staying here from now on.”
I wasn’t going to argue. I just wanted to know why. “And the reason for that is?”
“It’s not a good idea for you to be there. I know Nick and Theo and they’re both going to want to talk to you after tonight, whether it’s to harass you or apologize, and they have all the access they want to you if you’re there. They’ll waltz right into that apartment with their dad living there, so to keep you out of the line of fire, you’re staying here.”
I nodded, watching him lay the tie out on the back of a leather chair. “I take it we’re nixing this whole forgetting that we ever existed thing.”
Callum’s eyes were none too amused as he looked at me. “Yes.”
I waited for him to elaborate but he didn’t. I took time to muster up the courage for what I was about to say. “You know I want to be near you, Callum. All the time. But I won’t stay here if you’re not actively trying.”
“Trying what?”
“To forgive me. I don’t want to stay and be a burden that’ll make you increasingly bitter. I want to know that while I’m here, you’ll be trying to give me a second chance. I’m still me, Callum. I’m still the same girl you grew up with and I know it’s going to take time for us to be us again but it’s better than giving up before we start. We’ll just have to work on it. Actively.” My tone was steady despite the nerves ravaging my stomach throughout my speech. I was confident in what I had to say – it was just the way Callum looked that was making my heart pound. His blue eyes burned through me as I stood in the very middle of his sprawling apartment, smack dab in between the foyer, the kitchen and the living room. The longer the silence went on, the more I felt like I was stranded at sea, floating farther away from him, losing more and more hope.
But then his voice echoed through the room. “And what do you suggest we actively do?”
I sucked my bottom lip in as I thought about it. I wasn’t sure if he was mocking me but I was in too deep to be self-conscious. So I went for it. “We can play the game.”
“The game,” he repeated as if I were a child. I refused to lose confidence.
“Yes. It’s the epitome of us. And it’s obviously going to take time before we can just talk to each other the way we used to. But at least this’ll help us slowly chip away at whatever’s between us right now. Whatever it is, I know I put it there, Callum. I take responsibility for that. So I’m telling you right now that I will do whatever it takes for you to trust me again. But that requires you to try, too.”
“Fine.” He agreed all too easily. “Truth or dare.”
“Dare.”
The hollows of his cheeks flexed. “Tell me everything that happened between the day you left and the day you came back.”
I paused, almost too afraid to correct him. It was silent for a moment. “First rule, Callum,” I murmured. “No daring out truths. You know that. But I’ll do everything else.”
He was silent. Livid. I locked my knees as flames burst behind his eyes and I waited for him to tell me to get out – that he had tried to give me my second chance but I’d made it impossible for him by choosing to keep the biggest wall up. I waited to hear that he was done with me. Truly and officially done with me. But then he spoke again.
“Fine.” He kept his frosty glare pinned tight on me. There was no expression on his face, no tone in his voice, but I could almost feel the spite fill the air as his lips parted to speak. “Then you’re going to take your clothes off for me.”
I blinked. “What?”
“That’s your dare. You said you were still the same Lake. Take your clothes off and let me see.”
I stared at him. It was my turn for silence. But he stood there resolute, waiting for me with intimidating patience. I refused to let myself hesitate for more than another second, so reaching behind my back, I found the zipper of my strapless dress. I kept my eyes on him as I pulled it down, sucking in a sharp breath as I felt the cold air of his apartment blast the skin on my back. His eyes dipped to the tan lace of my bra as my bodice fell forward, crumpling to my waist. I pushed the rest of it down my hips and my thighs till it fell around my nude heels. Stepping out, I lightly kicked my dress aside. My heart was slamming in my chest as I looked back up at Callum, standing for him in just my bra and panties as he leaned back on his heels. His expression was controlled but his glinting eyes devoured me. He slid his hands in his pockets with a short demand.
“Go on.”
I wasn’t naked enough for his liking. Reaching behind my back for my bra, I tried not to look turned on for fear that Callum would be sick enough to cut this short if he knew I didn’t hate it. Because I didn’t. I went as far as to enjoy it because I could see the flickering in Callum’s eyes and it reminded me of how we grew up answering our questions by exploring each other’s bodies. It started with innocence but ended with anything but. We bared our skin and souls for each other. It was what we always did.
His patience wore thin as my fingers caught on the hooks of my bra. “Faster.” His tone awakened my attitude.
“You do it then.”
He came right to me. I held my breath as he stood in front of me, eyes locked on mine as he circled a hand behind my back and unsnapped the clasp with ease. He made no contact with my skin. I barely felt him but I felt my breasts tighten as my bra fell to my feet. Callum’s stare remained on mine as I pushed my panties down and stepped out of them too.
“Shoes?”
“Keep them on,” he said, holding his stare for a moment. Then, finally, he took a step back to take me in. I breathed jaggedly as his hungry eyes traveled unblinkingly across my shoulders and down to my breasts. My hair covered them and I waited for him to tell me to move it but he didn’t. Instead, his gaze moved slowly down the line of my stomach before settling on my right hipbone.
My scar. I blushed as he came forward to study it. It was faint but it was still there and I felt my lip quiver as I watched Callum remember how I got it.