Burning Desire

Chapter Twenty-One

{ A/N – Here's the part we've all been waiting for! Please vote, comment and enjoy. }

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No one spoke on the way home. Bitter, pitiful silence and the whir of the heating turned up to maximum temperature filled the car as Callum drove me straight back to our apartment block. Holly was walking Brenna back by hand – it had taken nearly five minutes for one of the stewards to catch her and thankfully she was unharmed, though shaken. I'd stood by numbly, soaking wet and discouraged, as the disaster unravelled itself before me.

"Sorry for making your car wet," I said blankly, puncturing the silence. I didn't think Callum would let me into his precious car in my state, but surprisingly he made an exception – after laying out several picnic blankets to protect the seat first.

"I could hardly let you walk home like that. You'd catch pneumonia," he said, making no effort to disguise the concern in his voice.

"And people would laugh at me," I said bitterly.

He managed a small laugh. "No. Only me."

I didn't reply, my mood too foul to indulge in banter.

"Not such a good show, huh?" he said softly.

I scowled at the window. "That's an understatement. It was disastrous."

"Don't lose faith though, Madison," he tried to console me. But, right now, no amount of uplifting words could heal the ache in my heart and my body – only a warm shower, clean clothes and my bed held that power.

He pulled the car into a vacant parking space in front of the apartment block, and I raced out of the car before he'd even killed the engine. I left a puddle of water behind me as I darted towards the lift, each footstep squelching against the clean tiles of the floor. The elevator seemed to take three times longer than usual ascending, and I hobbled straight towards the welcome warmth of my apartment and grabbed a towel.

"Callum?" I raised an eyebrow at him when I noticed he'd trailed into my apartment as well. I jutted one leg out, hand on my hip pointedly. "What are you doing here?"

"We need to talk," he replied.

I rolled my eyes, biting back a sigh. "Callum, I'm really not in the mood."

"It's important," he persisted.

"I just had an unimaginably disastrous show with the horse that's supposed to take me to Kentucky Horse Trials in less than a year. I'm exhausted and stressed and upset and I could really do without a lecture from you right now," I snapped. "And what could you possibly have to say to me, anyway? It's no secret that there's a feeling of mutual dislike between us. Have you just come to snide?"

"What?" his faded cobalt orbs widened with shock, like this was news to him.

I gritted my teeth, folding my arms over my chest. I hadn't intended for the words to escape quite so bluntly - exhaustion and stress had pushed them off my tongue - but they were true. "We hate each, Callum. It's not exactly a secret."

He chuckled dryly. "Oh, I'm certain about the dislike. But I'm going to reject the fact that it's 'mutual'."

"What?" now it was my turn to look shocked.

"What makes you think that I hate you, Madison?" his lips twisted into his infuriatingly attractive smirk.

"Really?" I rolled my eyes at him.

"Yeah, really. Tell me. I'm curious."

I sighed. "With everyone else you act all charming and cheerful and compassionate, yet whenever you're with me you act all hostile and impatient. You never say more than necessary either. It's clear you just don't like being around me."