Chapter 22

Kalista

Griff is out. He didn’t say how long he’d be—or where, for that matter—but right now, that’s fine with me.

Because if he was around…

I think about the previous night.

Holy fuck, that really happened.

I shake my head. I can’t think about Griff and his amazing body, or that ridiculously hot accent of his. I can’t think about how much I really wish he was still lying beside me, twirling his fingers through my hair while whispering into my ear how much he wants me.

I can’t—which means it’s all I think about.

I go and grab myself a glass of water in the hopes that it will clear my head because I have something important to do. So important that even filthy thoughts about Griff will have to wait.

Life is so unfair sometimes.

I sit back on the bed, attempting desperately to act as if I’m totally fine—as if I’m not waiting for something to happen.

But my constant glances over at the phone and the incessant tapping of my feet betray me.

It feels like ages before the phone finally rings. When it does, it takes me a few seconds of blankly staring at the damn thing for it to register that the annoying buzzing sound was coming from it.

I take in a sharp breath to steady myself as I bolt over to the phone before the ringing stops. I place the receiver to my ear, my hand shaking slightly and the deep breaths not helping—and then I hear his voice.

“Kali? Kalista, please tell me that’s you,” my father’s voice says, quiet and unsure.

To my surprise, I feel tears stinging my eyes almost as soon as I hear him say my name.

“Yeah. It’s me, dad,” I reply, smiling even though he can’t see it. “It’s your little girl. My note said I was safe and sound, didn’t it?”

My dad lets out a sigh of relief.

“Honey, I’m so glad to hear your voice.” There’s a pause, as if he’s considering what to say next. “But honey, if you’re so sure you’re safe, then where are you? I’ve been worried sick. And don’t even get me started on your mother.”

Oh, I laugh at that.

More at the thought of my mom’s face when she actually gets to see me again rather than about her currently worrying for me.

Gotta think about the positives, right? She’ll be ecstatic.

“Dad, honestly, I’m completely fine,” I reply soothingly. “More than fine, really. I think this time away has been good for me.”

I hear my dad barely suppress a sigh.

Oh no. Not a good sign. I’ve heard that sound before.

“Kalista, honey, you’re not safe. Not really. You’re in a foreign country with only god knows who, with a ten million dollar ring in tow. Do the people you’re with know about the ring? Do they know who you are?”

I bite my lip a little too hard and brace myself. This is when the lying truly begins.

“No, dad, they don’t. I’ve been keeping that to myself. You didn’t raise an idiot, you know.”

I glance at the open window. The sun has started creeping its way into the room, illuminating the lush, elaborately woven rug that lies beneath the windowsill in a disheveled mess.

I think about what happened on top of that rug that resulted in it becoming such a mess, and I probably truly am the idiot I’m pretending not to be.

But right now, I can’t find it in me to care.

“Kali?” my dad murmurs into my ear questioningly, snapping me out of my Griff-centric reverie.

“Sorry, dad, I was just thinking about what you said. Why do you think I’m so unsafe right now?”

“Damn it, Kalista, you can’t be that stupid,” my dad suddenly explodes, causing me to recoil from the phone receiver.

“Dad, I—”

“No, you listen to me, young lady! Do you think it’s all fun and games causing your parents this much grief? You could have been dead for all we knew. And you want to make it out like you’ve been safe and sound this whole time, without contacting us once? Even you must realize how ridiculous that sounds.”

“But I really am safe, Dad! I swear it!”

“Then tell me where you are! Please, Kali. I don’t think your mother and I can take this much longer. You’re not safe out there with people you barely know, with a multi-million dollar fortune on your finger. How do you know these people aren’t just using you? Or trying to scam you?”

I’m frowning at the phone now. My dad isn’t being fair.

But when I think about it, how can I blame him? He’s not wrong, technically.

“Dad, you know I’d never be so stupid as to flaunt the ring on my finger,” I say to placate him. “And I’m okay. Really, I am. And these are good people. Really. I’ll be home soon, I promise. Just give me some time.”

I can hear my dad sputter in disbelief at my outright refusal to cooperate, but it’s not as if I can tell him everything that’s really been going on, can I?

No, that would just make things worse.

“Kalista, honey, just tell me where you are,” he pleads.

I shake my head even though my father can’t see it.

“I can’t, Dad. I love you. So much. I’ll speak to you soon.”

“Kali, don’t you dare—”

Too late. I hang up.

I fling myself across the room to land on the sun-warmed rug and find myself burying my head into the folds of the fabric.

It smells of me and Griff—and sex. It’s wonderful.

And really, what better way to mask the overwhelming guilt over lying to my father than by thinking about Griff instead?

It’s full-on midday now and the sun feels glorious on my skin—just not quite as glorious as Griff’s fingers. I’d trade the sun for that in a hot second, no questions asked.

I’d live in darkness for all my days.

“Ha! Listen to how ridiculous you sound, Kali,” I scold myself.

Griffin is just a man, after all. An incredibly sexy and unbearably interesting man—but a man, nonetheless.

But damn, if there’s nothing more there than simply carnal attraction…

Though the very notion of that feeling spreads a warmth between my legs that could rival the heat from the sun.

I want him. Again.

I roll onto my back and sigh. I close my eyes against the golden light emanating through the window.

I wish things could be less complicated. But honestly, the more I think about it…

Do I really want that?

I would have never met someone like Griff, had my life remained simple.

Complicated is interesting. Complicated is thrilling.

I just wish my parents could stop their worrying.

I open my eyes to throw a sidelong glance at the bedside cabinet where the Canary ring is stowed away in a safe.

I grow more resolute than ever that I won’t lose it to anyone, just so I can throw it in my dad’s face that I’m not the silly girl he seems to think I am.

Not even to Griff, I swear silently.

He’s been teaching me all of his tricks, after all. I won’t be so easily swindled.

I push my thighs together to try and distract myself from the gnawing hunger that lingers within me, one that, most definitely, isn’t food related.

Unsurprisingly, it doesn’t work.

“Griff, Griff, Griff,” I murmur, enjoying the sound of his name in the air and the feel of the syllables on my lips.

I didn’t care what time he came back before, but now, I oh-so-achingly do.

I wonder if we’ll continue where we left off from the night before—before we ended up sprawled unconscious on the bed, and exhausted from exploring each other.

I’ve never wanted anything more in my life.

As I feel myself slowly dozing off under the sun, wrapped up in the smell of Griff, I decide that it’s not really an unreasonable desire to have.

And if I get to fulfill that desire when Griffin returns, it’d be best to save my strength.

I smirk mischievously for the heavens to see.

A faint breeze rolls through the window, and finally lulls me off to sleep, my head full of thoughts of Griff—and my dad forgotten.