Page 144 of To Have and to Stalk
“What are you doing here?” he asked.
He spoke with the trademark Calder stillness. The inherent calm that had always settled my nerves. Only now it was all the more impressive, as if there wasn’t a literal impaled man next to us.
And as if on cue, the man screamed.
“I’ll go. I’ll fucking go!” He yanked his hand off the wall, stuttering backward down the hallway, eyes wide. Then he sprinted and disappeared out the church doors.
“Sorry!” I called after him.
The slamming of the doors echoed down the hallway.
And then it was silent.
Stiff.
Calder’s presence was a black heat. I refused to look at him, focusing on the blue tweed church carpet.
“Is that guy going to be okay?” I asked, still keeping my gaze to the floor. Why did every church use the same ultra-thin carpet? It was barely more than hardwood.
Hardwood would bebetter.
“Trust me, that’s the least that guy deserves.”
At his cold, apathetic tone, I shot him a look. Calder glanced at my phone—Eames’sphone—then back to me.
“Does Eames have your phone?” he asked, tugging down the beard I forgot I was wearing.
I rolled my lips, nodding.
He nodded to himself, like I’d just answered a long-standing question. “I thought it was strange how many times you complimented Eames.”
Another silence settled, then:
“What are you doing here, Shay?” Calder asked.
“You dropped a bomb and then left. I’m figuring out the truth.”
A smile quirked the corner of his lips, but he quickly wiped it away with his hand. “So you were stalking me?” His hand lingered on his face, rubbing his jaw.
I shrugged, like,yeah.
“I think rule number one of stalking is to put your phone on ‘do not disturb,’” he said.
“You would know.”
This time when Calder smiled, he didn’t wipe it off. His dimple popped and his sharp white teeth flashed.
And my gut melted.
WasI a chaotic sexual ball?
No.
Whatever was happening between Calder and me was about so much more than sex. I think it wasalwaysabout more than sex.
Fuck.
I think I love him.
