CHAPTER:7 GETTING CLOSE TO THE TRUTH " Alright then, what do you want to know?" Callum asked perfectly relaxed with a glass of whiskey in his hand, he couldn't have anticipated what Lindsey was about to ask him. " There was one question I asked you after you proposed, it was the only one you didn't get the chance to answer" Lindsey began as she took a drink of her bacardi and coke as Callum spoke " And what was that?" Callum asked still feeling comfortable with Lindsey asking questions. " Why did Rose and Alasdair die?" Lindsey asked her actual nervousness not showing in her voice. Her stomach though was churning as Callum turned so that he was no longer facing her. He slowly placed his glass on the table and dropped his head into his hands. Lindsey was panicking deep down but was determined not to show it. When Callum lifted his head he was laughing slightly, the same reaction he had gave in the warehouse when she had asked. After a few minutes of ominous silence Callum spoke. " You don't want to know" " Why because you'll have to kill me to make sure I don't talk?" Lindsey replied surprised at how well she was keeping her cool. " No, because its very personal for me and you'd probably be in hospital for a month recovering from shock. Anything else I'll answer, but not that" Callum sat back happy that she was going to leave the subject alone, but Lindsey was more determined than ever. " That’s the only thing I'm interested in" Lindsey told him. After a sigh Callum sat forward again. " I thought you wanted to know about what you called the 'new me'?" " And like you said there is no new you, just a side that I've never met" Lindsey was challenging Callum and he knew it, there was a time he would have rose to the challenge but not now, especially not when she was asking about Rose and Alasdair. He believed that Lindsey wouldn't want to be alone with him so he gave her another, more reasonable excuse for why he wouldn't discuss the subject. " Lindsey, maybe if we were somewhere else, but we're in the middle of a club and anyone could be listening, or even worse there could be taps anywhere in this room" he was right and Lindsey knew he was right it had happened to a lot of people. " Okay, I can understand that, is there nowhere we can go where there won't be taps and where people won't be listening?" Callum shook his head in disbelief. " You want to go somewhere quiet, alone with me" " Why shouldn't I?" Lindsey said calmly, deep down she was questioning herself, she was questioning her own sanity. How could she be sure he wouldn't do something to keep her quiet? How could she be sure he wouldn't try it on once he had her alone? " Okay, okay. I'll tell you what since I know how much you don't trust me, we can talk in the car park, its not too secluded" They both finished their drinks and made their way to the front entrance. As they walked people kept on stopping Callum to congratulate him on the party, some were just stopping him for the sake of shaking his hand and saying 'Hi'. Lindsey tried dash past Shelley so that she wouldn't see her walking out with a man. " I take it that was Shelley" Callum commented once they got outside. " How'd you guess?" " You nearly threw me across the room, you just grabbed me and....." he stopped when he looked at Lindsey " Things that bad with her?" Lindsey gave a deep sigh and nodded " How long have things been like that?" Callum asked propping himself against the wall which Lindsey had sat on. " Come on Callum we haven't came out here to discuss my love life" " No, we've came to discuss mine" Callum replied. " What do you mean?" she looked at him and saw the expression on his face " Do you mind talking about this?" Lindsey wondered what it was that could make Callum look so depressed. " Well we've came all the way out here, I might as well" Callum sighed. He hitched himself up onto the wall and began to speak " It was...it was years ago, Alasdair introduced me to Rose at a sort of welcome home party after he'd been away on business. Its stupid isn't it, I hated every minute of that party, they never had one for me, huh, then again Alasdair always was the favorite...." he was cut of by one of the doormen shouting. " Callum, you'd better get in here now! Something’s up!" " Damn" Callum dropped from the wall and sprinted back to the club. It was only a couple of seconds before Lindsey saw two of the doormen dragging a man out closely followed by Callum. For a second she thought he was dead as he was been dragged on his knees, but she was wrong and realized this when they threw him to the ground, they had broken both of his legs. Callum stood a few paces away emptying a colt revolver of its bullets. Lindsey soon realized what he was doing. She crept closer in an attempt to hear what was been said. " How'd you get this inside?" he asked indicating the revolver in his hand. " In my pants" the man replied quietly, he was crying, clearly in sheer pain with his legs. " You didn't check!" Callum turned sharply to one of the men at his side. " I-I just didn't think Callum, I mean he looks harmless enough" " How many harmless looking people have you let in tonight without checking?" Callum was angry, very angry Lindsey could tell by the way he moved, she must have seen him like that a thousand times. Maybe he was right, he hadn't changed he was just been the other Callum, the nasty Callum, the Callum Lindsey hated, and when he came back to her he would be a different Callum, he would be the Callum Lindsey was growing to like. " None, I checked everyone Callum I swear" " Alright, alright Marshall I believe you" with that he turned back to the crippled man " Who hired you?" he asked spinning the chamber on the revolver and closing it. " I can't...." " Who hired you?" Callum asked just as coolly as the first time, but this time moving closer to the man. " Look maybe....." This time Callum didn't ask he put the gun to the man's forehead " Oh sweet Jesus please don't kill me" " Do you know who I am?" Callum asked calmly as he cocked the trigger. " Yes" the man whispered. " Right well you should know that I don't give in to pleading, in fact it makes me worse, it irritates me and do you know how many times I've heard it? So tell me" " I can't he'll kill me" ' Click' Callum pulled the trigger, it was an empty chamber. " You were lucky, now we know it’s a man. Care to tell more?" Callum cocked the trigger again. " No please" 'Click' another empty chamber. " I'm really losing my patience here, you know what I'm going to do" Callum opened the chamber and put all the bullets in " Right now you can't put your faith in Lady Luck anymore can you?" " Emichio!" the man suddenly cried. " Emichio, bloody Emichio! We should've known! Could've saved us a lot of trouble" Callum turned and ' bang' Lindsey saw the silhouetted man drop to the ground. She jumped with the gunshot, she hadn't expected it. When Callum came back Lindsey was back on the wall waiting for him. " Sorry about that" Callum was back to being the 'nice' him. But Lindsey was having none of it. " Why did you kill that man?" Callum stopped moving and looked at her. " Ha, I didn't know you'd seen" Callum walked to her and stopped a little distance from her. " Yeah and I wish I hadn't" Lindsey looked away from him. " I killed him because he was trying to assassinate our guest of honour and I couldn't let that happen. The guest of honour is a very important man his name is Richie East, he's a big Gangster and I promised him he would be safe in my club and I wasn't going to break that promise. Now there’s only a few very trusted men know that he’s here tonight so obviously either me or Richie have a traitor in our midst and its going to be hard finding out who, but I have my suspicions. Anyway Richie’s here tonight because me and him are planning to strike a deal...." " Why are you telling me this?" Lindsey stopped him. He looked up at her as he was leaning against the wall looking out onto the main street. " Because I trust you....." Callum was again interrupted by a cry. " You bitch!" it was Shelley she was looking for Lindsey and had found her outside with Callum. Shelley ran for the car, Lindsey quickly followed her. Callum turned and watched her go. " Shelley! Wait please!" Callum knew it was hopeless, Shelley would probably let Lindsey in the car they would be silent on the way back to the hotel and once in their room all hell would break loose and there was nothing he could do to prevent Lindsey from going through that hell, he wished he could, he wished he could talk her into going home with him tonight even if she did sleep in one of the spare rooms, he'd sleep on the couch if it meant preventing Lindsey from suffering another screaming match with Shelley. He sighed and walked back to the club, there was nothing he could say now that would get Lindsey to stay the night at his. CHAPTER: 8 THE TRUTH Callum made his way back to the club, now in a very depressed mood. He went straight to the bar and ordered a double. It was Sam James who served him, Sam was Callum's most trusted friend and colleague, he worked behind the bar and also worked as Callum's bodyguard, he had known Callum since he was 15 and Callum was always there to help him when he needs it; they trust each other immensely. When Callum finished his drink he sat with the empty glass in his hand debating. " You want me to refill that for you? You look like you need it" Sam asked. " No I'm going in a minute" Callum rose from his seat handing the empty glass to Sam. " Going where?" Sam queried, he could see that his friend wasn't his usual self. " Haven't decided yet" Callum replied sighing. " You going to tell me who that girl was then?" Sam didn't want Callum going off on his own when he was clearly in an irritable mood. " That was...." Callum tipped his head back and sighed. " You okay Callum?" Sam asked genuinely concerned. " Nah. Will you do me a favor and keep your eye on this place, if anyone needs me I'll be in my office okay" " No problem" Sam nodded. He genuinely liked Callum. He had known him for 16 years and would do anything for him. But he couldn't do anything until he found out who the woman was that Callum had been dancing with. " Excuse me" Sam looked up, it was the woman Callum had been dancing with. " Yes?" " Could you tell me where Callum is please?" Lindsey asked a little nervously. " He's in his office, just up there" Sam pointed to the stairs Callum had came down earlier. " Thank you" Lindsey made her way to the stairs, pausing for a second at the bottom. She was terrified, she had no idea what might happen once she was in his office, she had seen his face before she had ran after Shelley. 'A week ago I wouldn’t have gone within a hundred mile of this man let alone ask him for help' Lindsey thought to herself as she slowly made her way up the stairs. Callum was sitting resting his head on his arms which were folded across his desk. For a moment Lindsey thought he was asleep. Then he looked up, he couldn't focus at first and the room was very dark. He reached out and switched on his desk lamp. " Lindsey!" he exclaimed jumping to his feet " Eh come in please, sit down" " Thanks" she suddenly found herself relaxed now that she was in his presence. " I thought you'd gone" Callum said as he sat down. He hadn't gone back round his desk, he had sat in the seat to the side of Lindsey. Lindsey noticed how they were sitting in the same positions they had been the night he had proposed to her. Callum too had noticed this and wondered if Lindsey had. He decided against moving though. " Shelley left me, she just drove off and left me" Lindsey said, not sounding very regretful though Callum noticed. Ideas were beginning to fly around his head, she had came to him now two nights in a row of her own accord, maybe she was beginning to see a different side to him, a side that maybe, 'hopefully' he thought, that she liked. 'Never' he added to himself, ‘this is Lindsey Corkhill, she always has some plan or some idea, or if not she can be very resourceful’ " Oh so you came back here" Callum said a little sharply, then regretted it as Lindsey stood up. " Yeah and I knew I shouldn't have" Callum made his decision quickly as Lindsey made her way for the door, he didn't want to let her get away so easily again, in fact he didn't ever want to let her go again. " I was Rose's lover" Callum suddenly called after her. Lindsey froze. " What!?" she turned to face him. " You heard" Lindsey walked back to her seat where she had a better view of Callum's face. She could see that this was no lie to make her stay. " For how long?" Lindsey asked him quietly. " A long time. I-I loved her and I know she loved me, but she loved Alasdair's success and money more than anything" Callum explained. " Well your not exactly poor, for that matter you're just as rich as Alasdair was" Lindsey wanted him to explain, she wanted to understand, he said that he had loved, this was not the cold killer he made himself out to be. Maybe this was what Lindsey had been searching for, the reason behind why he was so cold and bitter. " Yeah well Alasdair at the time looked set to be the most successful, he had the family behind him, of course they didn't know the details of what he was doing. Anyway he had the family as his driving force, I had my own determination and that worked out better, I wanted to show them that I could do better, that I could be successful and what do you know here I am" " And Rose?" Lindsey queried. " Me and Rose went on for a long time, but......she would never leave Alasdair, it was too dangerous she thought and maybe she was right. Neither of us could end it, hah I was crazy about her from the moment I met her and.... she felt the same. That was something... new to me" Callum sighed, a deep, almost sorrowful sigh. " What was new?" Lindsey found herself whispering and wondered why. " Love" Callum replied looking round at her " To be loved, it was all very new, I'd never been loved and I'd never loved before and now I wonder if I really did love her, I mean yes I had feelings for her but love I don't know" Lindsey could tell by his face that he was asking himself as he said it. " You had her killed" Lindsey shook her head " How could you have loved her?" " You don't know the situation" Callum replied almost sharply as he turned away from her. " So tell me" Lindsey challenged leaning close to him. He looked at her, just the closeness of her made him catch his breath, he felt himself weakening to her. " Rose never forgave me for ending it, I think thats why she was so bitter to me, especially after....after she found out about the bomb, I think it made even worse when she found out that I had actually warned you before it went off, I hadn't warned her" Callum continued " Anyway, I knew it couldn't go on, not after she fell pregnant with Chloe" Callum looked up at Lindsey and she knew by his face what he was telling her but still she needed him to elaborate, she couldn't take it all in. " And" she prompted him to go on. " While Alasdair was away on business Rose took Chloe for a blood test, I obviously went with her. The test showed that.......that Chloe was mine. My daughter." Callum tipped his head back and sighed " You know how much it hurts? when I used to go to theirs and watch her run to Alasdair and call him daddy while I'm sitting there thinking he's not your daddy, I am. It eats away at you deeper and deeper. It killed me. Why do you think I was always such a bad tempered son of a bitch" Lindsey found herself feeling sorry for him and she could see that he was going to cry, but she couldn't let him stop now, she had to know what drove him to eventually kill both of them. " But kill them, was it so you could get custody?" " No" Callum shook his head " Alasdair found out, one of my contacts told me that Alasdair wanted me dead, I had to kill him first" " But Rose, was she not meant to be there or something?" " No she was meant to go. She was.....jealous, she found out that I had fell for someone else and that it was serious and that I was planning to propose. She found out who it was" Callum looked at Lindsey and she didn't look away she looked right back at him, right into his eyes " She was going to kill you Lindsey, I couldn't let that happen" his eyes were full but he refused to cry. Lindsey felt the sudden intensity of his gaze, he was staring deep into her and she could feel it, she could feel his eyes searching her. 'Searching for what?' Lindsey asked herself. She had came close to kissing him once and that was before she knew anything about him and his life, maybe now he thought he had a chance. 'No' Lindsey checked herself, 'Not Callum, never Callum' " I think I'd better leave now Callum" she jumped up and made her way for the door again. This time Callum followed her, he grabbed her arm and she turned to face him. " Why? tell me why you have to go, what’s the rush, what is it that’s so important you have to go running back. What’s waiting for you, a screaming match with Shelley, a lecture from Jackie about screwing the relationship up, or imagine what Jimmy will have to say if he discovers that your and Shelley's latest fight is because you were dancing with me. So tell me what you find so desirable about any of that" he was right, every word of it was right, that’s all she had to run back to. " What’s so desirable about staying here?" she challenged. " Well your not going to get screamed at for a start. Stay with me for tonight, if you're lucky and you go back tomorrow Shelley might have cooled down" " Spend the night with you?" Lindsey exclaimed. " Yeah why not, have you seen how many spare rooms I've got, god take your pick, Lindsey nothing'll happen if you don't want it to. I'm offering you a free room, free breakfast and a free lift to anywhere you want in a BMW convertible. No strings" " Yeah and you'll really be able to keep your hands to yourself, you want to remember I've seen how good you are at that" Lindsey's words stung him and she knew it as he let go of her arm. " Like I said, if anything happens, it'll be up to you, I won't try anything on, I won't touch you if you don't want me to" he stepped back a pace from her as if to prove it, but there was still barely any space between them. " Callum I can't..." Lindsey started. " What’s stopping you?" " Callum if I spend the night with you can you just imagine what my Dad would be thinking, he’s already suspicious about the other night when I came to see you. Callum if anything ever did happen between us my Dad would go berserk, he'd never understand let alone approve and my Mam wouldn't be much better" " For gods sake Lindsey do something for yourself for once will you! That’s your problem you know, you spend all your time worrying about everyone else you forget about yourself. That’s why you'll never be really happy, you're so busy worrying about what other people will think that you don't think about yourself. I mean come on, when was the last time you done what you really wanted to do. You were always wrapped up in keeping everyone else happy that you didn't keep yourself happy. You always worried about what Jimmy would think didn't you, when you were choosing who was going to be your bloke, you didn't think about which one would please you, instead you worried about what Jimmy and Jackie would think!" he was right and Lindsey knew it deep down. Jimmy and Jackie had loved Pete, and look how he worked out. But even though she knew Callum was right she wasn't about to admit it. " That is not true, I mean look at Barry, my Dad didn't approve of him but that didn't stop me now did it?" " No but you didn't bring the relationship out in the open until Jimmy finally gave in and said he wouldn't stop you from seeing him anymore, am I right?" Callum went quiet as Lindsey looked as though she was going to cry. When he did continue his voice was surprisingly soft " Come on Lindsey, do something for yourself for a change. Forget about what everyone else will say. Look at yourself, you're not happy, not with Shelley" Lindsey gave a little under her breath " You're not happy living at home with Mum and Dad where they can watch your every little move, are you? Come on Lindsey, think about yourself" " I can't Callum, it's not cos of my Mam and Dad, not even Shelley, but everyone. There’s not one person who knows us who would approve and you know it. We, we just can't Callum. I can't even be sure that it's what I want, I won't ever be able to forget what you've done" Callum dropped his head and sighed. When he looked up again Lindsey thought he was going to cry. " I'm not asking you to forget" he spoke slowly and quietly " I'm asking you to forgive" Lindsey found herself on the verge of crying, could it be possible that she really wanted to give Callum the chance. She looked at him, her anger and hatred now mingled with uncertainty. Did she want him? Could she? " Callum even if I could forgive you, what about everyone else who knows what’s happened between us in the past, they'd never understand Callum, never and all they would do is try and remind me of what you did to me and......" " Forget about it, forget about everything Lindsey. Forget that anyone exists, just for a couple of minutes Lindsey. Forget that anyone or anything exists, there’s just this room nothing else. Just me and you in this room, then what would you do?" Callum was desperate now, he knew he loved her, but still hadn't admitted it. " Please Callum don't......" Lindsey was very close to tears now and still didn't know why. " Please Lindsey even if its only for a minute" Callum's desperation was beginning to show. Lindsey looked at him and nodded, what harm could a minute do?. He came forward closing what little space there was between them. He put a hand to her face and brushed her hair back very softly, he wanted this moment to last. Lindsey knew this but she wasn't sure that she felt the same. She put an arm round his neck and went forward to kiss him. But she got a shock as Callum suddenly jumped back from her before their lips managed to meet. Lindsey spun round to see what was wrong. " Oh God no!" she exclaimed as she was greeted by the sight of Jimmy and Jackie standing in shock outside of the office. " Come on" Callum showed her out the fire exit as Jimmy recovered himself and made his way to the office door. Callum and Lindsey were down the fire escape in seconds and soon made it to his car. Callum jumped straight in but Lindsey stopped herself. " What’s wrong?" Callum asked as she backed away from the car. " Callum I can't not now" Callum jumped out of the car, luckily the top was down so he could jump over the side in a second instead of using the door. He went round to her and she backed away from him. " What’s going on with you? You know one minute you're away with me and the next you won't let me come near you" Jimmy stood at a distance watching the scene. " Callum please just try and understand...." " I'm trying but you're not making it very easy for me. Come on I opened up for you now its your turn, tell me what’s going on in your head?" " Callum why are you doing this to me?" Lindsey had stumped him. " What do you mean? What am I doing to you? As far as I can see I've done nothing. I'll tell you what my problem is, I'm turning into a too easy target for you!" with that he turned away from her and walked back to the drivers side of the car. " What do you mean? What is it that I'm doing to you?" Lindsey hadn't thought about the way that Callum would see her reactions. " You're playing with fire Lindsey that’s what your doing. One minute you're hot, then when something’s about to happen you're cold again. Think about it" with that he got in the car and sped off. He knew Jimmy had been watching, he wasn't that stupid. He had said what he said for two reasons, one was to make Lindsey look at what was going on from his point of view and the other to make Jimmy realize that nothing had happened between them. 'At least not yet' he thought hopefully. Continued Next week.......

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