Read Online Callum: Trillionaire Shifter Club Book Four by Rosette Bolter - Free Book Online Page B

then?”
    “My friend
Ruby. She’s going through a shifter phase. I personally don’t see what the big
deal is though. I’m sure shifters can be just as big of assholes as regular
men.”
    “I won’t deny
that,” Callum grinned.
    “So why now
then?” Ava pressed. “If you haven’t been here before, why are you here now?”
    “Why is
anyone?” he replied. “Recent breakup. Thought she was the one and all that.”
    “How recent?”
    “Three days.”
    “Well, don’t
you think you should take some space? Instead of using someone here as a
rebound?”
    “I’m not
using anyone,” Callum stated. “I have no interest in flings or casual sex. I
believe only in the finest, purest of loves, and I believe no one is complete
until they find it.”
    “But what
about –?”
    “She’s
already wasted enough of my life,” Callum interrupted. “I won’t have her waste
anymore.”
    His eyes
moved past Ava as two figures approached from behind.
    She glanced
over her shoulder.
    “Good evening
Ms. Armadale, Mr. Ren,” a young man greeted them. “My name’s Declan, and I’m
overseeing things here tonight. Sorry we weren’t able to speak sooner, there’s
just so many people.”
    “I was told
Bane was in charge of things here these days,” Callum replied.
    “Oh, I’m
sorry, forgive me,” Declan gushed. “Of course, Bane is in charge of things.
He’s upstairs if you need to speak with him. I’m just overseeing couples in
this area, which is strictly a dating zone. So … can our waiter offer you more
champagne?”
    “Yes please,”
Callum said.
    The waiter
refilled their glasses.
    “How is my
friend getting on?” Ava asked Declan. “Do you know?”
    “That’s … Ms.
Wittrock? Yes, she’s … oh yes, she’s mingling with a few of our guests over
there.”
    Ava stood up
to check.
    Ruby was
surrounded by an array of suitors.
    “If anything
happens to her, you report to me at once,” Ava said. “And… Don’t let her go
home with any of them.”
    “I’ll do my
best to keep you up to speed,” Declan said. “Now would you like anything else?”
    “Yes,” Callum
replied. “Some privacy.”
    “Well, we
have many varieties of suites and bedrooms, if that is –”
    “I just meant
from you,” Callum said.
    “Oh,” Declan
exclaimed. “Of course, of course. Back to it then.”
    He bowed his
head and moved away.
    Ava took
another look at Ruby. She seemed fine for now.
    “How is this
going then?” Callum asked.
    She turned
back to him. “Excuse me?”
    “How are we
doing?”
    “Fine,” she
said picking up her glass. She sipped it.
    “So are you
enjoying my company so far? Or are you just pretending to because you don’t
want to hurt my feelings?”
    Ava put down
the glass slowly.
    As he said
these words to her, she felt something move in the air. A pathway opened. A
door was unlocked. She was looking at him now, not as just another stranger in
the room, but as the true man he had revealed to her. An honest, caring, and
kind individual.
    It was the
first time all night she’d been truly afraid.
    Of losing the
moment.
    “I’m not
pretending,” Ava said. “Are you?”

 
    CHAPTER FOUR
     
     
    Eight pm. Ruby had not returned.
    Ava stepped
out into the cold, eerie night, locking the factory’s entrance behind her.
Surveying the car park, the only vehicle still standing was her own. No sign of
Ruby or Kirsten. No sign of…
    Ava shook her
head. It was just stupid to think about him now.
    And, as
horrible as it seemed going out with her friends tonight on a desperate mission
to find the man who had left her stranded, now she was looking at a New Years
spent in her lonesome apartment, eating non-fat ice cream in the glare of her
computer screen.
    She’d said
she’d be back. She’d said to wait.
    But Ruby
hadn’t even texted her. Ava was annoyed.
    She opened
the car door and stepped into the driver’s seat putting the keys in the
ignition but failing to turn it. She leaned over the