Alejandra was biting back a smile. “I want that, too.”
His lips crashed into hers, arms wrapping around her like he never wanted to let go.
“Then, it’s settled. Road trip,” and he fist pumped into the sky too, like a fifteen-year-old, as Alejandra giggled next to him.
43
CALLUM
Days Go By - Ferester
Before headingto Aberystwyth on a last-minute, impromptu road trip, he needed to have a chat with Asma and Leif.
“Are you sure you want me to stay?” Alejandra asked, legs crossed on the big couch, fingers fidgeting lightly over the fabric of her jeans. “I can go on a walk, grab a bite somewhere, let you explain to them whatever you have to explain, which sounds important.”
He hadn’t properly told her what he meant to say to Leif and Asma, mainly because he didn’t know what he was going to say in the first place. He just knew where he stood mentally—that burnout had become his closest companion lately, that Lamina didn’t feel fun anymore, didn’t feel likehisanymore.
He wanted Alejandra there because he needed her to understand that he was taking this sabbatical not because he was so obsessed with her—which he was—but notjustbecause of that. Not because he wanted to drop everything for her. But because Lamina was slowly draining the life out of him. And somehow, being with Alejandra made that contrast impossible to ignore.
“I’d like for you to hear what I want to say to them, so you can better understand what’s going on in my life besides spending my days thinking about a very gorgeous Spanish woman.” He winked at her. She blushed, right on cue.
The intercom rang.
When he opened the door, the energy between his best friends hit him immediately—cold, tense, sharp. Like the Arctic ocean he had once plunged into with Leif when visiting his family in Sweden. And considering he had darted out of it and sunk into the hot tub within seconds—
Yeah. It wasreallycold.
“Hello,” he greeted.
No reply.
Leif just patted his shoulder on the way in, his expression unreadable, while Asma walked past him with a grunt, jaw tight, eyes already stormy.
Fucking fantastic.
Why was she always in a good mood, except for the one time he actually needed her to be? She looked like someone had just killed her dog.
“Hi, Alejandra,” Asma said, at least summoning the decency to smile.
The two women exchanged a quick hug. Asma slumped next to her on the couch, while Leif grabbed a stool from the kitchen island.
Callum offered them beers. Leif took one immediately. Asma declined without even looking at him.
“So?” Asma asked. “What’s going on?”
“You are in a terrible mood,” Callum stated, leaning back slightly against the counter.
Asma scoffed. “That’s an understatement.”
“What happened?”
He didn’t really want to get into it, but ignoring it would make things worse.
“Nothing.” She shrugged, clearly meaningeverything. “Just tell us what you want to tell us and let me go home. Today has been a day.”
He exchanged a look with Leif, who simply shook his head. Then he glanced at Alejandra. She was studying the room the same way he had seen her study an incoming wave—alert, focused, reading every shift in energy.
Yeah. Not good.
