Matters of the Heart

Chapter 0.21

|| Madison ||

"Psst! Cal, Madison! Wake up!" A voice whispered loudly, stirring me from a peaceful slumber.

I heard Calum groan in protest as he wrapped his arms tighter around me.

"Guys, seriously, wake up!" The voice urged again.

Very reluctantly I opened my eyes and the first thing they saw was the writing inked on Calum's chest. Turning my head awkwardly because I couldn't move my body in Calum's grasp, I saw Camilla standing on my side of the bed with a mischievous smile.

"Morning," She grinned at me.

"Um, morning," I rasped, my voice not fully used to being awake yet.

"Cami, for the love of a little brother and his girlfriend, please leave," Calum groaned as he opened his eyes.

"Hey, be grateful that it's me waking you guys up and not mom," She said and then snickered.

"Why are you waking us up?" Calum questioned as he untangled his arms from around me, allowing me to abandon my starfish position on top of him and roll onto what was my side of the bed.

"Mom wants to take Madison out to the nail salon for a lil bonding time and dad and Colt wanna go to the gym with you so you guys need to get your asses up," Camilla said to us.

"Mom wants to bond with Mads? Why?" Calum questioned.

Camilla rolled her eyes. "Ask me questions I can actually answer. Anyways, Madison, are you keen? My mom really wants to spend some one on one time with you."

"Um ya, I guess that's okay," I said, lowkey freaking out at the idea of spending time with Calum's mother outside his presence.

I mean, I don't think she's gonna tell me she hates me or anything but like, you never know.

"Awesome," She beamed. "Mom booked the appointment for twelve but she wants to go out for breakfast first so can you be ready in about ninety minutes?"

"Sure," I nodded.

"Great. Now you two should probably part ways before mom comes up here and finds you in the same room."

Before Calum could shoot out the retort that I knew was on the tip of his tongue Camilla had made her way out of the room.

"Morning, sweetheart," He said to me and then kissed my cheek. "Sleep okay?"

"Yeah," I nodded and then buried my face in his chest as the memory of last night came flooding back to me.

That was...wow.

It was the last thing I had expected to happen but...I'm kinda glad it did because it was nice. Really nice.

"You know you don't have to go out with my mom this morning. We could just stay here and waste the day away," He said as he wrapped his arms around me.

"As tempting as that sounds," I giggled, "I don't mind going with her. Won't lie and say I'm not slightly terrified but I think it'll be fine."

"If you're having any thoughts of mom telling you that she hates you or whatever then banish them now," He said with a laugh. "She probably just wants to get to know you better. See if you're good enough for her pride and joy," He teased.

"Wow, you're really on that, huh?" I laughed.

"It's true!" He said adamantly. "Why do you think she and dad never had any more kids after me? Third time's a lucky charm. They finally made the perfect kid and didn't need anymore."