by Serena Lyons
The front door slams against the wall, bringing a cool breeze and I jump back from Callum.
Standing in the open doorway is Chris Carter, the front man of The Gremlins, Callum and Nina’s father and Britain’s most infamous rocker. I gasp, hating myself for the thrill that jolts my body.
He doesn’t look old enough to have fully grown children. It’s not really his features—his eyes are fringed with wrinkles, his chin-length hair is flecked with grey—it’s more his leather jacket, the dark tattoos creeping over his neck and the somewhat spaced out expression in his eyes.
“Dad,” Callum’s voice is clipped. “Didn’t expect to see you.”
“My boy needed me, I couldn’t just send the lawyer.” Chris Carter’s smile, the one that launched five platinum albums in the UK and the US, falters at his son’s cool reception.
“Why change the habit of a lifetime.” Callum’s body has stiffened and I see the pain in his eyes.
Nina coughs, “Enough of that.” She flushes red.
“Now, now, Cal, you’ve got to forgive a man eventually.” His father’s words are smooth, but his cheek twitches.
“When you’ve earned my forgiveness, I will.”
“So getting you out of jail isn’t worth saying thank you?”
“I didn’t do anything illegal.”
“This time.”
The tension between Cal and his father is making my skin crawl, I shouldn’t be here.
“I should go.” The calm I felt in Callum’s arms has evaporated. I just want to curl up into a ball and sleep for a thousand years.
“Don’t go.” Callum says the right words, but he’s looking at his father, not me and I know I need to leave.
“I’m exhausted.” I move closer to the door.
“I’ll walk you then, it’s not safe you going alone.” This time his eyes find mine and I see the concern in them.
“Don’t worry, son,” Callum’s father smiles magnanimously at us both. “Trevor will see her home safely, and he knows a bit more about security than you.”
At his words a six-foot six colossus of a man pushes through the front door, his broad shoulders and suit marking him out as a security guard.
“Can you take this young lady home?” Chris frames his order as a question in that polite, but authoritative way that people accustomed to having helpers for their every whim have. “Make sure she’s totally safe.”
“Of course.” Trevor nods.
“I don’t—” Callum starts, but his father cuts him off.
“It’s sorted, Trevor’s the best.” Chris puts an arm around Callum. “And we need to do some damage control.”
“But—” Callum turns back to me, his eyes flashing with worry.
“It’s fine, I’m exhausted.” I say, only omitting the part of the truth that is I don’t want to leave him. “We can talk later.”
“See, it’s fine.” His father slaps his shoulder.
Callum grimaces and I hope I’m not imagining the disappointment in his eyes as I turn to leave. I wish he was the one walking me home.
3: Faith
I lied. I don’t have an early lecture, but I still wake up long before my alarm is due to go off.
I lied because I knew Callum didn’t want me staying at his house, not because I wanted him to walk me home. I’m glad he did walk me home, though.
Goose-pimples prickle my skin as I remember the way he looked at me as he opened the door to college. The hunger in his eyes. How every fibre of my body wanted to rub against him. Everything loosens deep in my stomach, and a warm heat spreads out to my core. What if that drunken idiot hadn’t interrupted us last night? Would we have stumbled up to this room, where he’d have shown me exactly what he wanted to do to me that first night…
What the hell is going on? Twenty-four hours ago I was sure that he was after me. Now, I’m lying in bed, fantasizing about him.
I may have been wrong about him being involved with her death, but he still treated Millie like a dickhead.
A hard rap on my door breaks me from my social media stalking.
“Come in.”
It’s Nina, stooped over from the weight of a backpack. “Callum’s let me escape.” She rolls her eyes.
“I’m surprised he kept you there for so long. Thought you were made of stronger stuff?”
She smiles. “It was actually quite fun hanging out just the two of us. We were super close until he went off to boarding school. I’d forgotten what he’s like when he’s not trying to impress everyone.”
My fingers grip on to the pen. “Fun in what way?”
Ugh, why do I need to know anything more about him?
“Oh, we just goof about. Have piano offs, watch silly eighties movies, eat junk food…” She falls silent.
Because she’s embarrassed about eating, or because she’s lying about it?
I should change the subject. “Did you guys chat any more about the plan?”
“Callum said he’d swing by after lunch to discuss going ‘oop north’” She attempts a Northern accent.
“Christ, what was that meant to be?” I stick my tongue out. “Is that really what I sound like?”
“Ouch, I guess I better stick to music over acting. See you later.” She waves and I’m alone again, but now I have a friend it doesn’t seem so bad.
I race through lunch and am knocking on Nina’s door far too early.
“Hey!” She smiles widely as she lets me in. “Sorry you caught me working out.” She wipes sweat off her face. There’s a gym mat in the middle of her room.
“What were you doing?” I resist the temptation to say that she shouldn’t be skipping lunch to exercise.
“Just a dance workout from YouTube, I’d been bent over my desk all morning.”
Yeah, right, that’s why she’s exercising.
“If you’re into dancing, you should join the cheer squad. They need someone to replace me after Callum got me chucked off.”
“He didn’t?!”
“I promise you he most certainly did.” I sit down on her desk chair. “Even Callum wouldn’t deny that.”
The door opens as I’m speaking. “What wouldn’t I deny?” Callum raises an eyebrow as he enters the room.
Nina puts her hands on her hips. “Did you really get Faith thrown off the cheerleading squad?”
“Well, I may have had a word with Jess,” he prods the carpet with his toe then quickly straightens up. “To be fair, she was going around accusing me of having attacked her at that point.”
“And you were trying to make my life such a living hell that I’d leave college.”
“Can you blame me?” He rolls his eyes.
“Yes!” I huff, even though, given what I know now, I have no idea what I would have expected Callum to do. “You made my life hell.”
“You tried to get me arrested.”
“Children!” Nina stands between us and holds out her hands like an umpire. “Let’s focus on what we’re here for; finding out who really hurt Millie. Okay?”
“Yeah.” Callum sits down on her bed so hard one of her cushions falls off.
“Fine.” I can’t keep the annoyance from my voice. I can’t believe I kissed him last night. More fool me. His still the same arrogant know-it-all from before. “So we need to plan when we’ll go up north. I assume a weekend.”
“This weekend.” Callum’s voice is unwavering.
“I can’t do this weekend.” Nina says. “I have a recital on Saturday afternoon.”
“It’s fine, you’re not coming, anyway.” Callum looks at Nina like she’s crazy.
“What? Of course, I am.”
“No way.”
“I am coming, I—”
“No chance. I’m not putting you in danger.”
“I’m a grown-up Cal, you can’t just—”
“I’m the one driving and there’s no way I’m taking you. Plus it ruins our story for going up there.”
“Which is what exactly?”
“
That Faith and I are dating and I want to meet her family,” his eyes dart towards me as he says this and something sparks in my chest.
“Like anyone would believe she’d be stupid enough to go out with you.”
“When do you want to go?”
“This Friday after your morning lectures?” Callum Carter-Wright knows my class schedule? “Otherwise I don’t have another weekend without a match until term ends.”
“Sure,” I nod, trying to ignore the delight building inside of me at the thought of spending the whole weekend alone with Callum.
“Take you. I’ll pick you up outside of the lecture theatre.” He leaves the room before I can ask any more questions,
[***]
There’s barely any point in me attending my lecture on Friday morning. The professor could have had a troupe of dancing monkeys on stage and I wouldn’t have noticed. My stomach twists as I think about our trip north.
The first guy I’ve ever brought home. Gran is going to go ape-shit. I haven’t even told her we’re coming yet. I won’t believe we really are until he pulls up outside.
I start packing up my blank notepad before the lecture comes to a close. The professor’s final comments seem to go on for an age, but I’m jammed in the center of a row, so I can’t escape.
Finally everyone starts moving. I push my way to the exit, then race down the marble staircase that leads outside.
He’s really here. In a brand new Porsche. He waves and a beguiling smile takes over his face making him look even hotter than usual
Out of the corner of my eye, Eloise the glossy girl from my tutorials is staring at us, standing stock still as she rifles in her handbag. Presumably for her mobile so she can update her coven about what she’s seen.
I stop looking at her and pull open the passenger door. “You’re not some boy racer are you?”
“Nice to see you too,” Callum glances over at me, then swerves out into the street. A horn blares.
“If you’re a crappy driver I’m getting out, I -.”
“Faith, relax already. I did that on purpose.” He stops accelerating. “I drive fast, but safely. I’m not an idiot you know.”
I know he’s not. And yet… “So why were you such a twat to Millie?”
“Has anyone ever told you that you’re incredibly rude?”
“Sorry would you prefer I said player, or man whore?” I turn to face him and smirk. “I don’t think you’d have won any boyfriend of the year awards.”
“I was only eighteen, I know that sounds like a cop out, but Millie wanted much more than I could give her. I hadn’t grown-up yet, I was still a kid.”
“And you’re all grown up now? You would treat a woman right these days?”
“The right woman, yes.” Callum looks at me, really looks like his gaze holds the answer to the universe and I can’t breathe.
“Are you okay if I change the music?” I fiddle with the console, even though it’s clearly playing from his phone. I need to do something.
“Sure,” Callum smirks then tosses me his phone. “The passcode is 8802. Nina’s birthday.”
It works. “You’re okay with me knowing your phone password?”
“We trust each other now, don’t we?” He raises his eyebrow.
I can’t answer—do I trust him?—so I find the first cheesy driving song I can think of on spotify. The opening beats of ‘I would walk 500 miles’ fills the car—the sound system is better than most of the clubs I’ve been to. “You might regret trusting me.”
“My ears!” He yells taking both hands off the steering wheel.
“Cal!” I reach over and grab the wheel. We’re already on the motorway. “Fucking keep your hands on the wheel!”
“Relax.” His hands drop back down, grazing mine. “I was steering with my knees.”
His knees are clasping the steering wheel, but I’m pretty sure that isn’t a regulation maneuver. Although I only managed to pay for five driving lessons—I decided to redirect my cheerleading funds towards my makeover—so I’m not one hundred percent definite. “Forgive me if that doesn’t overwhelm me with confidence.”
“Stop making my ears bleed, and then I won’t need to use my hands to cover my ears.”
“Drama queen. I guess I can change the music if that’ll keep you driving safely.”
I find some synthetic electronica and start humming to the chilled-out beats.
“Nice choice.” Callum turns to smile at me and the admiration in his eyes means I’m no longer concerned about his concentrating on the road. and we both start singing
“So can you direct me from here?” Callum asks.
“Yup.” Something close to apprehension bubbles up in my chest. I hadn’t thought through to this bit of the journey.
“I always knew you were a charity case.” He leans over and squeezes my thigh.
I freeze beneath his hand. Of course he still sees me as the poor trash, the servant’s kid, a completely different level to him.
“Fuck you.”
4: Callum
Why the hell did I call her a charity case? I don’t know what I was thinking. It was meant to be a joke, but she stiffened up like I’d electrocuted her. Thank God, I stopped Nina coming with us, or else I’d never hear the end of it.
“It’s the third house on the right.” Faith stares dead ahead as she speaks, like I’m a taxi driver she’s never met before.
Everything on this street is grey. The small houses are covered in a dull pebble-dash that blends into the concrete pavement and the cloudy sky. I’ve seen photos of streets like this, but never been on one.
I park up, then follow Faith to a front door. My electric blue car sparkles like a precious jewel in this downtrodden street. Thank God, it’s got good insurance.
“So it’s, er, just you, your mum and grandma you said?” I ask Faith as she reaches the door.
She stops and turns around, her eyes narrow, “No, it’s just me and my gran.” There is a finality in her voice that tells me I shouldn’t ask any more questions.
But I don’t respond well to orders. “Where’s your mum?”
Her posture stiffens, then she spins around and carries on walking. Interesting.
She doesn’t bother with a key, just presses down on the handle, it’s more like an internal door than an outdoor one.
“Darling!” A short, red-headed woman runs and almost rugby tackles Faith. The woman pulls back, her arms still wrapped around Faith’s waist like she’s a precious jewel she can’t risk losing, and looks straight at her.
That’s her Grandma? She only looks a couple of years older than my mum.
“My darling,” she says in a thick Geordie accent, pulling her into a big bear hug again. “And who is this you brought with you?” She opens her eyes and looks straight at me.
“Callum Carter-Wright, delighted to meet you.” I am delighted to meet her. Faith’s intrigued me ever since I met her, and something tells me she won’t be able to hide the real her now that I’m in her home. “Sorry, we drove straight up from Oxford this afternoon. I didn’t think any flowers would survive the journey, so I hope you like wine.” I reach into my weekend bag and pull out a nice bottle of red that I pilfered from Dad’s collection. He’s not supposed be drinking wine, anyway.
“Now isn’t that a lovely treat,” Faith’s Grandma has a broad, Northern accent and there’s a few seconds delay as I tune in to it. “So to what do I owe this nice surprise?”
“Er…” Faith goes pale. I’m a little surprised that lying seems to be an issue for her—she never had any problems lying to me.
“Well, I’ve got a rugby match against Newcastle Uni, and I demanded Faith let me come and visit her home.” I walk towards her and put my arm around her shoulder. She’s stiff at first, but then she leans into me. This play acting is going to be lots of fun.
“And this is the first I’ve heard of you, fancy that.” Faith’s gran has a sneaky expression on her face.
Faith kicks i
nto action and strokes my cheek. “I didn’t want to jinx anything.” She says, gazing deep into my eyes, and for a second I forget that this is all an act.
“We both know if anyone screws this up it’ll be me.”
Her grandma chuckles, “Someone’s got a way with words. Now, you can call me Gwen. Let’s get you both a hot drink, you must be parched after that long journey.” She opens the door to a kitchen as small as the ones at college, barely a foot of workbench available. The fridge is covered with pictures of Faith from baby to toothless toddler all the way up to a surprisingly geeky looking teenager.
“When was this from?” I point to what looks like the most recent picture. A sixteen or seventeen-year-old Faith with long, dark brown hair pulled back into a severe ponytail and not a trace of make-up. If it wasn’t in her house, I’m not sure I’d have realised it was her. “You look so different.”
“That’s exactly what’s got me so confused,” Gwen interjects. “That was August, the day she got her A-level results. And she left for Oxford looking exactly like that. What happened?”
Faith reddens. “I fancied doing something a bit different.” She stares out of the back window, not looking at either of us.
Even more interesting.
“So how come I haven’t heard of Callum before?” Gwen asks as she turns the kettle on.
“Oh, well, sorry Gran, it’s just early days and I didn’t want you to… worry.” Faith stumbles over her words while her Gran’s eyes narrow.
“Because I’m so old-fashioned?” The diamante embellishments on Gwen’s top dance as she puts her hands on her hips.
I laugh without meaning to and Faith glares at me again. “Sorry,” I put my hands up. “It’s just I was expecting someone much older, with white hair and, well, you’d give my mother a run for her money.”
“Well, I can certainly see how you charmed my granddaughter.” There’s a smile on Gwen’s lips, but her eyes narrow like charming someone isn’t a good thing.
“I live in hope of charming her, she’s got high standards.”
“Well, I taught her well.” She seems to relax as she passes me a cup of tea so milky it’s white. “Now sit down and tell me more about yourself.”
