sakura
After I texted my parents and told them I was staying over Ichika’s place tonight, I stepped out of Callan’s car and into his garage. My stomach twisted at the thought of staying with him tonight. I didn’t know what to expect.
While we had just gotten into our first fight, I hadn’t wanted to leave him. There was a possibility that what he had said to me was all a lie, all some fabricated story so he could keep sleeping with me.
But then why would he invite me back to his place? Why would he buy lunch for me?
Deep down, I knew he was serious, but I was scared. Scared of the other side of him, the side he hid from me, the side that had a gun and talked to Poison. Scared that my gut feeling was so, so wrong.
“Come,” he said, holding out his hand for me.
I set my hand in his and followed him into the house, kicking off my shoes at the door. He headed straight for his bedroom, released my hand, and walked to a couple of drawers. He picked out some sweatpants and an oversize T-shirt, then handed them to me.
“Something for you to wear tonight,” he said.
Once I took the clothing from him, I swallowed hard and gazed at the bed. “I expected you’d want me to wear something sexy or just sleep naked tonight,” I said quickly, trying to lighten the conversation.
“I want you to be comfortable,” he said, smirk tugging at his lips. “But if you want to sleep naked, be my guest.”
For some damn reason, I blushed. It wasn’t like he hadn’t seen me naked before, but he was flirting. Usually, he just took what he wanted from me whenever he wanted it and didn’t give me much of a choice.
After deciding to be comfy, I pulled off my clothes and tugged on the ones he had given me. He disappeared into his closet while I walked around his bedroom. Instead of snooping, like I usually did, I sat on his bed and curled up against one of his oversize pillows.
My heart pounded inside my chest, nerves zipping up and down my arms.
What if I said something wrong tonight? What if I fucked this all up? If everything he had told me was true, then he felt the same exact way about me that I felt about him. And I didn’t want to let him go. I couldn’t.
A couple of moments later, he walked out of his closet in a pair of gray sweatpants and nothing else. My cheeks flamed at the sight of him, my eyes widening. Most of the time that I was around him, he had been dressed for work or to go out.
Now …
Fuck.
Sweats hanging low off his hips, muscles swollen underneath the dim light, and tattoos.
Tattoos!
I swallowed hard and glanced away from him, trying to calm my racing heart. Since when does Callan have tattoos?! Has he been hiding them underneath his nice clothes since I met him?!
“You look flushed,” Callan said, crawling into the bed with me.
“What?!” I squealed, laughing nervously. “N-no, I’m not!”
“Do you need any—”
“When did you get those?” I asked, staring at the tattoos through wide eyes.
There you go again, Sakura. Can’t keep your mouth shut!
“What?” Callan asked, leaning against the headboard.
He followed my gaze to the black tattoo across the left side of his ribs. I moved closer to him and drew my fingers across it, sucking in a sharp breath.
“These tattoos?” he asked.
“Yes,” I whispered in a breath.
He chuckled. “I got this one when I was nineteen. It’s faded a little. But I’ve got a couple of others since then.”
My eyes widened. “More?”
Callan has more tattoos? What else does he have? What other little secrets is this man keeping from me? I wasn’t sure, but I planned to find out.