While I Breathe: The Veiðimenn Mob, Book One

Six

Closing her door, she turned on her radio and sat on her bed. Counting down the minutes until her father would come to check on her, she plotted her next move. Right on time, the rapid taps on her door echoed over the noise of the radio. Opening the barrier between them, she looked innocently at her father. “What’s up?”

“Cindy and I are leaving to go to Corner Brook for our anniversary. I already gave that little bastard his warning not to cross any lines with you.” Justin said as he gently stroked her face.

‘A warning, alright,’ Ambrosia thought as she fought a shiver of repulsion. It disgusted her that those same hands had recently abused another teen. Lately, she’d been daydreaming about strangling the man with the same weapon of choice he used on Callum. She forced a smile, “Oh, okay. When will you be back?”

“Sunday night. I got work the next morning,” he replied as he picked up his bag and walked down the stairs.

Watching as Cindy followed him, she waited until she heard the front door slam before running over the stairs to check all the rooms. When that was done, she made sure to lock all the windows and set the security locks on the doors. Getting to the kitchen, she pulled the tray of food she’d hidden from the oven and walked into Callum’s room.

He looked like he'd been put through the wringer again as he turned from the window to look at her, and it made her hatred climb to a whole new level. Though he winced with each move he made, the same powerful determination from day one still shone in his eyes. He tried to force a smile when he saw her, “Hey.”

“They left for the weekend, so it’s just us for a while,” she said softly.

“Thanks,” Callum wordlessly took the tray from her, and set it on the nightstand.

Amber bit back a sob as his shirt rose a few inches to reveal the ravaged skin of his back. It was still healing from his last beating, and she could see that some of the older lacerations had reopened. She sat down on the bed next to him as he uncovered the tray. His groan of satisfaction made her giggle as he savoured the food she’d cooked just for him.

He turned to her with a grin, "You actually pulled through for me."

“Of course, I did," she replied. "I'm only sorry I couldn’t get you anything else."

“This is more than anyone else gave me over the last few years.” Callum said. He dug into the food enthusiastically, eating his fill before he pushed the tray away.

Her hands found the hem of his shirt and gave a light tug on the fabric. “Take it off.”

Snickering, he retorted, “My pants, too?”

“Callum! Just take off your shirt so I can look at your back,” she demanded impatiently.

“Fine,” he groaned. Obediently, he removed the shirt and turned his back to her. Pain ripped through him as she probed the raised marks.

Ambrosia stifled her tears at the sight of his wounds. “I, um… I need to treat this. Do you mind?”

He shook his head. “Whether or not I consent, you’re going to do it anyway.”

As she left the room, a chill washed over his skin. He was treading a dangerous path, and he knew it. She came back with her first aid kit and a wet cloth to begin tending him. Through gritted teeth, he asked, “How old are you now?”

“Did you want me to add to your bruises?" She asked hotly, "You know my seventeenth birthday was a month ago.”

He laughed, “True. So, are you almost done fixing me up, Nurse Amber?”

Shaking her head at his resolute, yet somewhat dark humour, she finished dressing the wounds and put the items back in the kit, “Yes, I’m all done now."

Sitting next to him, she preened as she told him her dream. "Someday, I'm going to be Doctor Ambrosia Reyes."

Callum grabbed her hand, his face a mask of hope and desperation. "Can you promise me something, Ambrosia?"

She tilted her head to the side, intrigued at his behaviour that was always so different around her. "That depends on the promise.”

He thumb drew circles over the back of her hand as he stared directly into the forest green of her eyes. "I want you to go through with it, Amber. Please promise me that you’re never going to give up on your dream?"

Biting her lip, she nodded. The request was far from impossible, and she felt her heart jump as he begged her to live her dream. "That’s a promise I can keep, Callum. So, yes, I'll stay true to my dream and become a doctor."

“Amber,” he breathed. He twisted, pinning her beneath him on the bed. He watched the fear flash in her eyes as he kept the bulk of his weight off of her body. As he toyed with a strand of her hair. “I won’t hurt you, Ambrosia. You know me better than anyone else.”

She smirked up at him. “Then explain the erection.”

His cheeks darkened as a blush crept across them, tinting his brown cheeks and ears an adorable shade of red. Not really knowing what to say to her, he gave her the first excuse he could think of. "Teenage hormones?"

Laughing, she slapped his arm before biting her lip. Staring up at him, she whispered, “Callum, what if I told you I wanted to sleep with you?”

"For real?" He questioned. “I mean, I know that’s not something to offer up so…”

She pulled him toward her, silencing him with a scorching kiss as her hands fisted in his blond waves. One of his hands sank into her hair while the other came to rest on her waist.

With no move to tell him that she objected, he slipped his hand under her shirt. He ghosted his fingers over her stomach, hearing her gasp as his hand covered one breasts. He scowled at her before pulling the shirt over her head and tossing it to the floor.

“Callum,” she whimpered quietly.

Her back arched off the bed as he gently teased her. She moaned as he kissed a trail from her cheeks to her hips and back again. The bed dipped as he settled next to her.

“Are you sure that you’re sure?” He didn't want to overstep, yet he had been craving her for weeks, but he kept his hands to himself and took icy-cold showers to try to kill his libido.

Through half-lidded eyes, she met his questioning stare. She nodded silently."

As if he could sense her humiliation, he trailed his fingertips over her pale flesh with a look of admiration on his face. "You are so beautiful, Amber."

“Callum, it’s okay," she reached up, brushing the hair from his eyes. "I want this. I want to be more than fiends, Callum.”

“So do I,” he murmured. Kissing her, he murmured a breathy, “I love you.”

When it was over, she lay in his arms, his chin resting on her shoulder as his fingers trailed her soft skin. “Why didn’t you tell me that you were a virgin?”

Blinking at him sleepily, she seemed confused at first. Then, she said, “I was. Don’t think anything of it, though.”

“Still, I would have liked to of known that bit of information, Amber.” He exchanged the duvet for a clean one, then got back in bed with her, pulling her close as he kissing her head gently.

******

The next morning, Callum woke to an unfamiliar feeling. Confusion settled in until he remembered that he had fallen asleep with Ambrosia after they had s*x. She was still sleeping soundly in his arms. His heart fluttered slightly as he gazed down at her innocent-looking face.

Her dark auburn hair was a tangled mess that fanned behind her as she lay curled on her side. Knowing he was her first made him rethink a lot as he held her last night. He no longer wanted to hurt her just to get back at Justin. Now he simply wanted her.

“Did you mean it?”

Grimacing, he said, “I sort of blurted the words in the heat of passion, Ambrosia. I will tell you one thing, though. I am falling for you. Deeply. Actually, I’m not sure I ever want to stop falling. You’re a gorgeous and graceful Queen who uses truth and sarcasm as weapons of verbal destruction with an arsenal of deadly, witty comebacks.”

“Are you trying to flatter me?” She twisted her body to face him, questioning him with a coy smile.

“What will you do if I am?” He asked as he got up and grabbed her discarded clothes and handed them over. “In all seriousness, please don’t turn on me. Please don’t tell your father about this.”

Frowning, she realized that he’d probably been blamed in the past for giving a girl what she asked for. “Callum, I would never do that to you. We are definitely hiding this from my father, though. He’d kill you for sure if he knew.”