Forever Together Read online

  For all I know, they could have been really happy with those men. Erin snorted, remembering the way that Callum had pursued her as if it were sport. He had a practiced way about him, as if he was pulling the strings when he pursued a new woman, and just waiting for her to realize that he ran the game.

  Erin stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around her waist. She pressed her elbow across her breasts, and stepped into the hallway. Erin peeked into her bedroom and realized that Callum was still resting, he’d rolled over onto his side since she’d slid out of bed.

  Erin’s cell phone dinged and she strolled into the livingroom. She pulled her phone out of her purse.

  “Shit,” she whispered. ‘ANDREA’ was flashing across the screen, while the phone buzzed inside of her palm. Erin whipped her head back and peered at the bedroom, she slowed her breathing and put on her most convincing voice as she held her phone to her ear.

  “Hey, Andrea, what’s up?”

  “Erin! Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry. Andrew just texted me this morning and told me that he had an emergency with his kid and completely forgot to call you and ask you to reschedule. I wish I had known that you were stood up last night, I would have stopped by to keep you company.”

  Erin shuffled into the kitchen and opened the fridge. “It’s fine, Andrea. I went home, put on my sweatpants and watched a couple of good movies.”

  “Well, you don’t sound too mad at me.”

  “Not going to lie, knowing that his kid had an emergency makes me a little less peeved,” Erin scooped a water bottle out of the fridge and held it to her lips. “I’m fine.”

  “That’s great, I wanted to let you know that I’m around the corner and I’ve got a couple of coffees for us. I should be there in about five minutes.”

  The water bottle slipped through her fingers and fell to the floor. Water spilled onto the wood floors in the kitchen and Erin fumbled with a roll of paper towel. She pressed it against the floor and said, “Shit!”

  “Shit?” Andrea repeated.

  “Sorry, I dropped a water bottle. Uh, Andrea, I’m going to be a little tied up. I just got back from a run a little bit ago and I’m going to hop in the shower.”

  “Oh, it’s no problem. I’ll just use my key.”

  Erin set the water bottle onto the counter and hustled into her bedroom. She hovered over Callum’s sleeping form and said, “Um, okay, that’s great, could you pick up a breakfast sandwich for me? Something with spinach?”

  Andrea chuckled and said, “You’re really lucky that I feel so awful about last night. Okay, fine. I’ll be about fifteen minutes depending on how long the line is at the cafe.”

  “Great!” Erin chirped and hung up. She tossed her phone onto the bed and turned towards Callum, “Get up! Get up, right now!”

  Callum groaned and rolled over to his side. Erin sighed and pushed her hand against him, she rocked him until he lifted his head. The sunlight bounced off of his eyes and Erin narrowed her eyes.

  Are his eyes…. yellow? I could have sworn that they were green.

  Erin shook her head and said, “God, I wouldn’t have pegged you for such a heavy sleeper! You’ve got to get going!”

  Callum blinked and dragged his knuckles across his face. “Why? What’s going on?”

  “You need to go,” Erin stepped to the side and pointed at the open door, “Andrea is going to be here in less than twenty minutes, I can’t let her find out about us!”

  Erin moved towards the foot of the bed and grabbed Callum’s pants and underwear off of the ground. She tossed it towards him and said, “Come on, get moving!”

  Callum sighed, “You’re really going to make me run out of here like a teenager in trouble? Andrea is an adult, she’ll understand.”

  Erin found Callum’s discarded shirt on the side of the bed, she scooped it off of the ground and tossed it at him. “You don’t get it, I need to be taken seriously at work, Andrea is going to have a million questions and I’m in no place to answer them right now!”

  “Should I give you a call later tonight?”

  Erin’s eyes lingered on Callum’s defined pectorals. What does he do to exercise? Run twelve miles a day? She shook her head and jerked her thumb towards the door, “No, you can’t call me later. This will not happen again, I just acted on impulse because it’d been a long time since I had sex.”

  Callum pulled on his pants and smirked, “You won’t have to wait very long if you change your mind about this.”

  Erin turned around and dropped her towel. She pulled a pair of underwear out of her dresser and stepped into her panties. Erin pulled an old t-shirt over her head and turned around. “You need to get-Callum?”

  Erin frowned and peered around the room, she moved to the bedroom door and looked down the hall.

  “Callum?” she called, stepped into the bathroom and frowned. “What the hell?”

  Erin shuffled back into her bedroom and pulled on a pair of jeans. Why didn’t I hear him leave? She shrugged and moved into the living room in just enough time to hear Andrea’s fist pounding against the door.

  “Are you still in the shower?” she asked.

  Please tell me that she didn’t see him leave. Erin hurried to the door and pulled it open, she wore a bright smile as she stepped aside to let Andrea in.

  “I just got finished getting dressed, I didn’t want to leave you out here for too long.” Erin fell back onto the couch and pried her breakfast sandwich out of Andrea’s hands. She held it up towards her and said, “Thanks for this.”

  Andrea nodded and sipped on her coffee. “No problem, I felt so bad about Andrew. You must have felt awful while you were waiting.”

  Erin shrugged her shoulders and took note of the ravenous feeling in her belly. She took a big bite of her breakfast sandwich and said, “I got through it.”

  ***

  Erin groaned and stomped behind Andrea. The boutique was crawling with shoppers, Erin bumped elbows with young women as she headed towards the dressing rooms.

  Andrea grinned and asked, “You okay? I know that you prefer to buy all of your clothes online but not all of us are stick thin. I have to try things on in person!”

  Erin leaned against the door of an empty dressing room and said, “It’s not like you’re unable to fit into half of my clothes. I hate that you always pick the most crowded places, I hate crowds.”

  Andrea rolled her eyes and tugged Erin into a dressing room. She slid her hands underneath her shoulder length blonde hair and twisted it into a bun.

  “I need your opinion on this dress,” Andrea requested as she shimmied her body into a violet, skin-tight dress.

  Erin chuckled and said, “You know that I’m going to think that you look great either way. I can’t believe that I let you talk me into this.”

  After breakfast earlier that morning, Andrea suggested that she and Erin should go shopping to get her mind off of being stood up the night before. While Erin was entirely more concerned with having slept with Callum instead of taking some handsome accountant home, she figured that it couldn’t hurt to keep up the appearance of being a little disappointed.

  I’m strangely unbothered by the whole thing. I haven’t stopped to obsess over what could happen yet. Erin sighed and pulled Andrea’s zipper up. She stepped back then. “Well? What do you think?”

  “It looks awful,” Andrea said, “I should just start wearing paper bags over my head when I go on dates.”

  “Stop it.”

  Erin unzipped Andrea and stepped back while her friend shimmied out of the dress. Andrea bent over and picked it up from the floor. “Erin, this dress would look great on you. You should try it on.”

  Erin looked down at her acid wash blue jeans and old t-shirt. “Um, I’m pretty comfortable like this.”

  “Of course you’re comfortable, who cares how comfortable you are if this dress makes you look great.” Andrea shoved the dress into Erin’s chest and said, “Come
on, live a little. Try it on!”

  Erin sighed and kicked off her sneakers. She slid out of her jeans and pulled her t-shirt over her head. She snatched the dress out of Andrea’s hands and stuck one of her legs inside.

  Andrea walked around her and said, “This would probably make your legs look great.”

  Erin watched Andrea’s eyes drop in the mirror and the brief look of horror that passed across her face. Erin craned her neck.“What? Does it look bad?”

  Andrea wiped her face clean and asked, “Erin? Did you get bitten by anything recently? Maybe a dog or-” Andrea paused and pressed her finger against the sensitive patch of skin on Erin’s lowerback.

  Erin hissed with pain and whipped around. “What are you talking about?”

  Andrea placed her hands on Erin’s shoulders and steered her around. “Look.”

  Erin’s eyes ran over the cream colored skin on her back and a horrified gasp escaped her lips when she noticed the red, angry looking bite mark on the small of her back.

  A nervous giggle fell past Andrea’s lips, “Did you get bitten by something?”

  Erin eye’s widened and she quickly stepped out of the dress. It fell to the floor and she yanked her blue jeans on.

  Andrea scooped Erin’s shirt off of the ground and handed it to her, “Are you alright?”

  Erin shook her head, “I’m fine, I’m completely fine, I just need to go, you know? I’d be crazy to not get this looked at.”

  Andrea pulled her own jeans on and started buttoning her blouse. “Well, let me give you a ride to the hospital, you might not be in any condition to driv-”

  “I’m fine!” Erin yelled and burst out of the dressing room doors, she ignored the curious glances of the women that waited for an open room. She burst out of the front doors of the boutique and reached into her purse. Erin steadied her trembling fingers long enough to pull out her phone and unlock it. She started walking the two blocks towards her apartment building.

  The phone rang and rang until a man’s voice came through the speakers, “This is Callum, are you hoping to price your house today?”

  Erin scowled and cupped her hand over the receiver. “Callum, it’s Erin. Get to my apartment now.”

  There was a thick silence that sat on the other end before Callum replied, “Uh, I thought that you didn’t want to meet again.”

  “Callum, this isn’t about fucking romance, this is about the bite mark that you left on my back. Be here in fifteen minutes.” She ended the call and pumped her legs towards her apartment. Erin breezed past people that were lingering along the sidewalks and she fell into a sprint with ease.

  It felt as if her blood had been lit on fire by the time that she neared the apartment. Erin ran one more lap around the block before she stopped just outside of the building.

  What the hell is going on? She pressed her hand against the small of her back and hurried towards the elevator. Her skin burned underneath her palm and she rushed inside of the box once the doors opened.

  She stepped inside and fell back against the paneled walls. Erin slammed her teeth down onto her bottom lip and clenched the metal bar that ran along the elevator.

  Erin sighed with relief when the elevator opened up on her floor and she walked quickly into the hall. She snatched her keys out of her purse and unlocked the door.

  Erin’s chest rose and fell rapidly, she fell back against the wall by the door. Andrea might come looking for me. And Callum is already on his way here.

  “Shit, shit, shit.” she swore while rushing into the bathroom where she put her back towards the mirror. Erin winced, the bite mark seemed even redder than before.

  There was a knock on the door and Erin let her shirt slip down her back, she hurried to the front door and yanked it open. Callum stood on the other side. He wore a pair of running shorts and an athletic shirt that highlighted the defined muscles on his chest and arms.

  Erin wrapped her arm around Callum’s wrist and pulled him inside. “Callum,” she hissed, “what the hell is going on?!”

  She expected a sly, playboy reply but instead was met with, “Can I see it?”

  Erin sighed and turned around. She pushed her shirt up her back and said, “Look. This is from when you bit me yesterday, and it’s only getting worse.” Erin turned around and her eyes connected with Callum’s. “What the hell is going on?”

  Callum’s eyes widened and he raised his hand to his mouth. “Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry.”

  “What?” Erin’s heart pounded against her rib cage and she held her hands out in front of her. “You’re sorry? Could you just tell me if I’m going to be spending the weekend in the hospital?”

  Callum’s eyes fell to the floor and he took a deep breath before he said, “Things got a little wild, last night.”

  “Yeah, no, shit.”

  “No, you don’t understand.” Callum moved over to the couch and collapsed into the sofa. He dragged his hand across his face before he said, “I’ve been trying to figure out what happened all morning and I remember everything now. I was so in the moment and I just let go... And I bit you.”

  Erin scoffed and crossed her arms over her chest. “Yes, you did. Callum, focus. What’s going on? Do you have some… disease or something?”

  Callum raised his eyes towards her and said, “You’re going to turn into a werewolf.”

  Erin blinked and pressed her lips into a thin line. “Excuse me?”

  “I know that it sounds insane, but look,” he held his hand out to her and his fingernails extended from the small, human nubs at his fingertips. They expanded into long claws, and he said, “I’m the last one in my family.”

  Erin’s head swirled with thoughts, she moved over to the couch and sat down beside him. She put her head in between her hands and turned towards him. “W-werewolves are real? Callum, this is the worst joke ever if this is the office prank for new hires.”

  Callum groaned and said, “No, seriously. There used to be werewolf packs all over Boston, and over the last few decades, werewolves have died out. Finally, my father, who was a werewolf, was the last one left until I was born. I’ve never bitten anyone until yesterday.”

  “So what does this mean? I’m going to sprout fangs and grow fur?”

  Callum shook his head. “No, that’s just the crap that they feed you from the movies. You’re already starting to grow fangs,” he said.

  Erin gasped and opened her mouth, she ran her fingertip along her teeth and yelped. Her index finger had been pricked and a small droplet of blood oozed over the tip.

  “Oh my God.”

  Callum turned towards her and placed his hands over her smaller ones. “I can lead you through this.”

  “Callum, I just found out that I’m going to turn into what I thought was a completely fictional beast. I’m going to need a second.” Erin fell back against the couch and said, “I wouldn’t have ever known that you were a werewolf unless you told me. Or bit me. How have you been able to keep your secret?”

  Callum squeezed her hand and said, “Well, I don’t usually have one night stands, despite what you might think. I hunt on the outskirts of town, human-regular food will start to taste like cardboard soon. I’ll make this as easy for you as possible.”

  Erin frowned and said, “But what about the bite mark? Does it heal?”

  Callum shook his head, “That mark bonds you to me. Any werewolf that wasn’t born one keeps their scar.”

  “Bonded?” Erin shifted on the couch and turned towards Callum. Her hands relaxed underneath Callum’s grip and she said, “Does that mean… that we have to be together?”

  Callum chuckled and said, “Only if we want to be. You probably won’t be as fulfilled with anyone else though.”

  “It’s funny that you say that because I don’t think that I could ever be with anyone else now that I’ve been turned into a werewolf,” Erin spat. Her nostrils flared and tears welled up on the corners of her eyes.<
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  Callum hooked his finger underneath her chin and pulled her towards him. “Erin, I’m serious. It doesn’t have to be miserable, I’m not saying that we should start seeing each other but-”

  “But even without this werewolf business, this would still be pretty extraordinary.” Erin scooted closer to Callum on the couch and leaned into him. The scar on her back burned faintly and she said, “I just- I didn’t think I’d be able to give myself an excuse as good as this one to feel it.”

  Callum smirked and circled his arms around her waist. He pressed his lips against hers and pulled away. “It’s a pretty good excuse, isn’t it?”