Devil On Both Shoulders [Calum Hood]

Chapter 2

When I woke up the fear that I kept bottled up last night leaked out.

"Shit." I whispered, my voice trembled as I slid off the couch. The solid exterior I'd wore the night before had melted under the flame of my own fear. I was scared.

Calum jogged down the stairs and across the hallway, already fully dressed. I was fully dressed too, considering I'd slept in my jeans and shirt. I slept in my day clothes a lot if I were too tired to change.

"When are you going to let me go?" I asked nervously; dreading the answer.

"Why would I do that?"

My heart sank. Was I trapped here forever? No, I told myself. I convinced myself that I was smarter than this man: that I'd find a way out. Besides, Renee would've be at home now, telling everyone where I am and they would have called the police and come and get me and arrest the lunatic that stood before me.

"Are you hungry?"  He questioned. For a criminal he was very attentive, not that I was complaining as I was starving.

"Yeah, I guess." I mumbled, following Calum as he ventured into his kitchen. I leaned timidly against the peeled wallpaper and observed my surroudings I sat myself down and ate them hastily. I decided not to mention that I was a vegetarian.

"What do you want with me?" Tears brimmed my eyes, Calum didn't give me a plate to eat the meat on so I wiped the excess grease off my hands and onto my wrinkled jeans

"You traded places with your sister. A life for a life, yeah?" Calum said, chewing his bacon.

I freezed. "What?"

"I took your sister because I need a partner." He briefly explained.

"What kind of partner?" I asked, hoping he doesn't mean a girlfriend. A guy who has to kidnap a girl and force her to be his girlfriend is extremely sad and desperate.

"A partner in crime."

Of course. In a way, I was relieved, but then again I didn't know what degree of crime this guy worked in. He could've been a murderer, I wouldn't like to steal anything but I'd rather that than kill someone.

"I'm not a criminal."

"Not yet." He smirked.

***

"Just do it." Calum encouraged, nudging me with his elbow, his hands clenched around the steering wheel although the car was parked.

"I don't want to."

"All you have to do is go in, grab the first thing you see and run out." He instructed for the seventh time, he was training me to steal.

"Whatever." I huffed, pushing open the car door and walking towards the store entrance. I had to beg him not to make me rob the supermarket because Pat would've certainly told my mother.

But then she would know where I am...God dammit, Max why are you so fucking stupid?

I pulled my hood up so it masked my face. "Here we go." I mumbled to myself as I entered the store. The first thing I saw was a pack of nuts, so I grabbed that and bolted.

"Come back!" A man shouted, making me run faster. Jesus, they're only nuts, it's not like anyone is going to miss them.

A grip on my wrist told me I was doomed. The man had hold of me and now I was going to jail, great. Until Calum got out of the car and strode towards us.

"Let her go." Calum growled, fire burning in his eyes. The man tightened his grip on my wrist, I let a small whimper escape my lips in response. A fist collided with his face, he let go of my wrist to fall back and it didn't take me long to suss that the fist was Calum's.

The display of violence obviously attracted attention from the people inside of the store. Calum scooped me up sideways so I looked like a toddler sitting on his hips, and raced towards the car rapidly. He snatched the packet of nuts out of my hands and threw it across the car park.

"Wha- Why did you do that?" I asked, offended that he just threw away the evidence of my first crime.

"I'm allergic." He growled, pushing me into the car and speeding off. After a long period of silence Calum finally spoke up. "How was that?"

"That was kind of fun." I admitted, Calum' s chocolate eyes lit up as a smile spread across his face. I glanced out of the window and noticed that I didn't know where we were. "Where are we going?"

"I can't risk people finding you as easily as you found your sister so we're going to a hotel down south." He told me.

"No. I'm not going with you." I glared at him.

"Yes so-."

"No! Let me out of this fucking car!" I shouted. Calum clicked a button calmly without taking his eyes from the road.

"Okay. The locks are off, get out." He said simply while he sped across the highway, he didn't stop the car. I sighed and shut up, knowing that trying to reason with him wouldn't work.

Calum let a heavy sigh escape his lips as he made a U-turn and parked next to what I supposed was the hotel. It wasn't hideous, but if I were to judge a book by it's cover, it wasn't exactly a five star resort either.

The child locks were off, but I didn't run away (a) because Calum had proved he was faster than me and (b) I had nowhere to run to, so I'd be better off with Calum.

"C'mon." He beckoned me over, reaching his hand out for me to grasp, I ignored his gesture and pushed past him into the hotel. I was no longer scared of this man, over the long car  journey I had learnt to develop a stronger hatred for him to mask my fear.

"Have you already booked a room?" I asked him as we enter the hotel.

"Yeah." Calum replied, tugging me into the  lift  obnoxiously, I reckoned he was annoyed by the way I was treating him and the fact that he was not controlling over me anymore.

The elevator went up as we stood in silence, side by side.

"Why?" I broke the peaceful quietness.

"Why what?"

"Why crime?"

"I'm not good at anything else." He said rather angrily. I wished I could've testify against that but I simply didn't know him well enough to. Heaven knew why I was trying to make him, out of all people, feel better about himself.

The elevator rung as we were lifted directly to our room. My jaw dropped open. It wasn't a room, it was a fucking penthouse.

"How can you afford this?" I questioned, not sure if I wanted to hear the answer.

"Well, baby girl, selling crack gets you money." Calum sighed. I let my chest drop in disappointment. Drugs, too?