Chicago • Callum Jones

Chapter 8

In that moment, nothing else seemed to matter. Nothing and no one but the two of them existed.

Nothing could have possibly meant more to them both as her fingertips roamed over his shoulders and down his back, leaving callum's skin tingling and hot to the touch: the way her eyes fluttered closed as his lips left her own and met the tender skin of her jaw, and then the nape of her neck before reconnecting his lips against her own.

The feeling of this. The harmony and peace they both brought each other felt right. Neither had felt so intensely for somebody they had met mere days prior and what was scary to Callum was that he could feel himself falling. And he was falling fast, he craved her scent and the feel of her so close to him, unsure where he ended and she began. He had never been more grateful to have sight until now, her entrancing eyes, her captivating smile against his lips, her laugh when he did something stupid, her hair and how it fell over her shoulder when she looked at him, her raspy voice in the mornings, and her hands, those tiny hands, conforming and loosening to his calloused fingers in perfect rhythm with him.

Their hands entwined above Val's head as a myriad of synchronic moans escaped past her covered lips, the friction of their bodies melding together, moving in synchronization created a euphoric feeling that ereupted through both of their bodies.

Callum ran his fingertips along her skin from the side of her torso to her hips, bunching the silken fabric of her shorts in his palm with his lips still attached to hers and her fingertips still roaming every available inch of his body.

After what felt like hours, they breathlessly pulled away, maintaining the same intense eye contact as before but with a different meaning. Valentina bit her lip with a wide smile and nodded.

"How do you think today will go?"

Ovie sighed and lifted the covers up and off of his head to look at whoever was attempting to talk to him. His gaze met Anton's as he wore a worried expressions for Valentina.

"Good. I think it'll be fine, Val isn't really a malicious person so I can't imagine her wanting to carry on whatever Georgia started." The man finished and pushed himself up from the bed with a heavy sigh as his skin left the warmth of the covers and met the chilly morning breeze. Everybody had woken up and gotten ready but Ovie has decided to hang back and lounge under the covers for a while since he had a late night.

"The only problem now is the awkward tension. The last thing Val will want is for everyone to walk on eggshells around her."

"Yeah exactly I think we need to let everyone know that they just need to act normally you know?" Anton finished smoothing out his duvet and sighed in satisfaction.

"You know considering your age, I thought you would've been a whizz in the kitchen." Demi blurted out as Hannah haphazardly cracked another egg into the mixing bowl, small fragments of eggshell shattering into the slimy mixture. She sighed in exasperation and frantically scrambled to pick out each fragment with her manicured fingers.

"Oi, you little shit." Hannah joked and pointed an egg coated finger in the laughing redhead's direction.

"Do I sense a damsel in distress?" Ovie exclaimed, almost appearing out of nowhere wearing a wide smile on his face.

"I think you've got a radar for these things. You're always popping up when in need." The blonde joked which caused Ovie to let out a deep chuckle.

"Maybe I do — so what are we doing here?" He asked and looked down at the bowl with furrowed eyebrows. "This is about twenty eggs." He deadpanned.

"Well we're making breakfast for everyone today to lift their spirits, it's supposed to be pancakes." Demi interjected with a wary smile.

Ovie gasped in return and clasped his hand over his chest in genuine shock.

"And are we trying to feed Sixty people or something?" He chuckled.

"I told you I'm not made for the kitchen!!" Hannah exclaimed with a defeated tone.

"Val!" Kaz yelled as Valentina and Callum made their way into the main villa with fresh clothes on.

They made their way over to the small crowd of people in the kitchen and took a seat next to each other. The atmosphere was hardly awkward but the constant side eye from Georgia S made Molly want to lunge out of her seat and drag the redhead through the villa kicking and screaming.

"So how was your night?" Mitch quipped with an unusually chirpy tone.

"It was nice to be away from you to be honest." Val countered with a smug smile on her face. "I am joking." She deadpanned with a slight grin. She was only half joking. Being away from them all really highlighted who the islanders she could tolerate were and who she wouldn't be upset about it they were to leave at that very minute. And Mitch was unfortunately a part of the latter. He disrespects liberty on the daily and then tries to cover his tracks with more lies.

"It was well nice to be honest." Cal announced as he shoved a fork full of bacon into his mouth with a smile.

Val shot a knowing smile in his direction but her features hardened as her gaze met Georgia's. Being the bigger person, Val decided to send her a warm smile. More like a tepid smile, but she tried nevertheless.

"We need to do something fun today, there needs to be a fun challenge or something." Val exclaimed with a grape in her hand.

"Message!" Ovie squeaked through the pain as he almost inhaled half of a protein pancake.

"I think Val is secretly a psychic." Liberty huffed.

"Fuck sake lib, don't out my profession like that!" Val exclaimed in fake offense and glared playfully at the blonde."