Devil On Both Shoulders [Calum Hood]

Chapter 3

I hadn't realized that Calum had been planning this 'trip' for quite a while now, and had food and miscellaneous resources in the back of his car. He left me locked in the penthouse and went to retrieve them, so I decided to explore.

I embarked on my expedition by starting in the living room which was huge. The walls painted white with two brown couches pushed into the middle of the room, and standing before it, a majestic fireplace with a flat screen TV above it.

I continued to the rest of the house which included a terrace, three bathrooms, a kitchen, dining room, a screening room, a Jacuzzi one master bedroom and three spare bedrooms.

Jesus fucking Christ.

By the time I had finished nosing around Calum had returned, his muscular arms (although I couldn't see them through the black hoodie he was wearing) upholding several boxes; there must've been about ten, yet he handled them with ease.

"Do you want some help with that?" I offered, even though I was sure he would decline it. I had already gathered that Calum prefered to work alone.

"I'll manage."

I nodded, sitting down on the couch playing with my nails awkwardly. I was annoyed that I couldn't have been of any service, because that's what he kidnapped me for, wasn't it?

"I've gotta meet up with some people, I'll back soon." The sound of Calum's voice interrupted my thoughts.

"I'm coming with you." I declared, slinging my bag over my shoulder and striding towards the door with him.

"No you're not." His brown eyes turned into slits as he glared at me.

"Yes I am. I refuse to be locked up in here for ages until you come back. I'm coming." I told him firmly, a heavy sigh escaped his lips, he shoved the door open angrily and stormed out.

I followed him out of the building and into his car. He drove horrendously, mowing over mailboxes and fences, he didn't usually drive like this so I supposed it was because he was frustrated with me.

He suddenly pulled up at a dimly lit building. The harsh stop made my body jolt forward and if it weren't for the seatbelt I would've flew through the window.

I remembered the child locks were unlocked so I slid out of the car and walked with Calum to this tall, enigmatic building. Just as his finger was about to touch the doorbell he hesitated, he swiftly turned to me and cornered me.

I was frightened, I knew he was cross with me but I didn't know how he dealt with his anger.

"Listen, when we get in there, don't leave my side. The people in there are so dangerous." Calum whispered, bringing his face nearer to mine.

"Okay." I breathed against his lips, feeling weak. I didn't want a bodyguard.

Calum draped his arm around my shoulders and brought me closer to his chest so he had enough arm left to lace our fingers together.

Before I could protest, Calum spoke. "If they think we're together they'll leave you alone." He pressed the doorbell and seconds later a blue eyed man with a lip ring and tattoos littered up and down his arms answered the door.

"Calum. Who is this?" The man said, his narrowed eyes focused on me.

"Max." Calum replied, pulling me closer to him. Calum glared at the blue eyed man before us. He stepped aside, allowing me and Calum to enter, although I wasn't too sure I wanted to anymore.

Inside of the room was a couch with two boys sat on it, a coffee table lay in front of it and on the table was a packet with an oddly familiar image of a leaf on it.

I eyed the packet trying to figure out why I recognized it, but I had strayed away from Calum's touch although he was no less than a meter away, and the two boys were smirking at me, amused at my confusion.

I felt fingers curl round my arm and yank me back to my previous position - pressed up against Calum's chest.

"Max, this is Luke." He said, gesturing to the blue eyed boy stood by the door. "Ashton and Michael."

I didn't want to say hi to them, because the identity of the mysterious packet finally became clear to me, it was marijuana.

"What is this place?" I asked Calum, but Luke answered.

"This is the place where criminals like to lay low, the higher you get in the building the more dangerous the people are. Calum here, is right at the top." He explained.

"Yeah, when I said that there's dangerous people here, I didn't mean these three." Calum smiled smugly at them. "That's why I'm leaving you with them."

I sighed, it wasn't that I didn't want to hang out with these guys, which I definitely didn't. It was that he was treating me like a baby, and I knew exactly why - because I was a girl.

Calum stepped into the elevator and didn't give us a second glance as it progressed upwards.

"Are you Calum's girlfriend?" Ashton asked, resting the weight of his temple on his forefinger.

I didn't know how to answer that, I didn't trust them at all so I decided to go along with the act Calum wrote. "Yeah." I nodded.

"Wow..." Michael's eyes widened.

"Sorry?" I questioned to allow him to explain why he was so surprised that Calum had a girlfriend, or at least that's what I gathered.

"Calum can't really...love." Luke twists his mouth into a solemn look. "We know Calum because we're the ones he turns to when he hates himself, which is all the time. He's never really been able to form any emotional connection with anyone."

"Why?"

"There was one person, one person who he managed to bond with. Hannah, he dated her for quite a while but there was a rivalry between Calum and some gangster, Ray,  I think he was called. Anyway, yeah, then one day Ray set fire to Hannah's house, Calum tried to save her but..." Luke trailed off.

"Shit." I breathed.

They all gave me some silence to soak in the information but it didn't last long. Police sirens blared, getting louder as they were surely coming towards us.

"Fuck!" Luke shouted, flinging open the window and hauling us both out.