Push Me Away : Book 2 of the Teeth Series

Prologue

AN: If you have triggers please check the trigger warnings included in the Info Chapter of this book and then proceed with caution with your mental health in mind. I will try to place a trigger warning on each applicable chapter beginning with this one.

This book will also contain sexually explicit content and this will serve as the smut warning for the entire book.

______________

The outside of Michael Clifford's house practically glowed thanks to the sheer number of landscape lights that had been set up as Calum Hood parked his black Range Rover SUV and headed inside. He had only been back from his holiday in Australia for two days, just long enough to shake the jet lag and when Michael had invited him over to hang out he hadn't been able to think up a proper excuse to get out of it. That was the reason that he found himself standing just outside the front door of the ridiculous mansion Micheal had bought the year before.

Calum wasn't particularly feeling up to socialization but he couldn't hide from his friends or the world forever. One day he would have to face the facts that his life as he knew it had been a lie, every part that had included Fallon Harding at least.

Even just the thought of her name made him cringe. It had been only a few weeks since he, along with the entire world, had learned that the girl he loved was apparently the most skilled liar he had ever met. Thinking of her was too fucking painful, being anywhere near her, for instance the same continent, had seemed unbearable and so he had run off to Australia. He had spent weeks with her number blocked and pretending that she didn't exist but they ran with the same crowd, and it would only be a matter of time before he had to face her again.

The door swung open and Calum forced a smile to his face as Michael wrapped him in a hug. "Calum! Feel like I haven't seen you in forever."

"It's only been a few weeks mate." Calum released himself from the embrace and held up the twelve pack of White Claws he had brought with him. "Got somewhere I can put these?"

"Um, yeah. You can just shove them in the fridge listen, there's something I wanna tell you be—"

"Michael! Can you come help me and Fal open this bottle of wine? The cork is stuck!"

A flicker of realization and sheer fucking rage flashed through his eyes. He set his jaw and pointed his gaze as he looked to Michael for an explanation.

"Are you fucking joking?"

"Cal, it wasn't on purpose okay? Hear me out." The blonde said quickly, obviously stressed as he raked his hands through his hair.

"This better be good." He retorted, rolling his eyes, shoving the hand that didn't have his beer in it, deep into his pockets.

"Crystal and I each planned to have people over. I invited you, Ash, and Luke. She invited Sierra, KayKay, and Fal. We got our dates mixed up, I thought the girls were supposed to come tomorrow and by the time we realized what it meant it was too late to ask you all to switch. I'm sorry."

Calum pursed his lips and shifted on his feet. His free hand left his pocket and raised to run through his hair, he tugged on the ends and groaned. "Fuck, mate. You could have at least given me a warning. I knew I would see her eventually, I just... I didn't expect it to be tonight."

"I'm sorry. I knew if I told you that you wouldn't come and I missed you."

"Yeah, yeah. Don't try to suck up now. Move so I can get at least three of these in me quickly." He gestured down to the box of beverages.

Micheal took a step back and allowed him to pass the sound of the door closing behind them drawing the attention of everyone that waited in the living room and open kitchen at the other end of the short hallway. Everyone, including Fallon.

*

No one talked at first.

A whole minute of awkward silence and uncomfortable shifting from everyone that filled the room passed. Calum didn't notice it at first, he was too busy focusing his attention on getting to the refrigerator, depositing his drinks and draining one with lightning speed. It wasn't until he had chucked that first can in the bin and cracked open his second, shutting the fridge door, that he realized no one was speaking.

"Um...hey?"

"Hey, Cal! It's good to see you." Crystal said, approaching him to give a hug, followed by Sierra and KayKay. He glanced around the room, hating himself a little bit for searching for her but he couldn't help it. His mind did it on reflex.

She was sitting on the corner of the L-shaped sofa. His face fell as he saw the obvious panic shown by her body. When she got uncomfortable she did this thing like she was trying to make herself as small as possible and he knew she was doing it then. It shouldn't have mattered to him, she had taken his heart, ripped it right out of his chest and stomped on it. So he shouldn't have felt like an asshole seeing her like that. But he did. 

For a brief moment he considered going over to her, offering her the comfort he could tell she needed but Michael called him from the door that led out to the patio. "Ladies, we'll be outside if you need us." He said over his shoulder as he waved Calum forward.

*

Hours later Calum found himself cross-faded staring blankly up at the sky. He had so many thoughts and questions rambling through his mind and no real strategies to express or ask them. Ashton was rambling something about how the moon affects the human mind and the stench of weed still clung to the patio. It was a bit of a sensory overload for him and his empty drink gave him an excuse to slip away for a moment to gain his bearings.

He stood and a feeling of lightheadedness overwhelmed him so that he had to reach out and steady himself on the back of the couch.

"You good mate?" Luke asked, interrupting Ashton who was still carrying on, his ocean blue eyes assessing Calum as he steadied himself and resumed his march towards the door to the house.

"Yeah, I just need another drink."

Calum pushed open the door and stared straight ahead as he made the short walk to the kitchen. His thought process was that if he didn't see her he wouldn't think about her. Well, he wouldn't think about her anymore than he already did. All of his efforts were for not though because as he moved into the kitchen he practically collided with her as she grabbed a bottle of wine from the refrigerator. Seeing her with her freshly dyed blue hair in person was a bit of a shock to his system. He had been too busy earlier dealing with the shock of seeing her at all to notice her hair change. It had been speculated for over a week that her hair color change had been an homage to him. Calum knew her though, knew that her hair color usually matched her emotions. The pink had been an expression of her femininity and representative of her creativity, probably a reflection of the celebration of their last album. The blue wasn't for him, no the blue just meant that she was probably feeling somber and well, that fit.

"Hi." She squeaked out, obviously caught off guard being so close in proximity to him.

He didn't know what to say. The thoughts in his brain were all fuzzy and disoriented. It was like her perfume, jasmine and vanilla like always, was a stronger hit than any he had taken from the blunt the boys had passed around earlier and he could no longer think straight. Somehow in just a few short weeks he had forgotten what it was like to be in her presence. She was so damn beautiful. So fucking perfect He lost control of his body, it moved on autopilot until she was pressed against the counter and he was kissing her.

Fallon's lips tasted like cherries and they moved so effortlessly against his that it took him a full moment to realize what the fuck he was doing and push himself away from her. He could feel the angry scowl on his face, could see the hurt in her eyes as he huffed in annoyance and spun on his heel, storming out of the house.

An: chapter updates will still begin tomorrow but I couldn't resist!

How is this going to play out?

What do you want for Fallon & Calum?

Let me know!

I love you!
Sav 🖤