Protecting Hope: A Reverse Harem Paranormal Romance (Bloodmoon Series Book 1)

by Briana Alisandra

  “Not too busy for you though.”

  I smiled at her. “Gemma, you have to work. I get it. You’re a doctor and that’s really amazing. Really, I’m good on my own. You don’t have to worry about me. I know how to take care of myself. I’ve been doing it for a while now.”

  It was true. That was the one good thing about growing up in the system. It taught me to be independent. Really independent. Short of being able to pay rent, I knew how to do everything for myself.

  Gemma put her bag down. She looked at me sadly. “I’m sorry that you had to go through that.”

  “It’s fine.”

  “It’s not. I want you to know that if I knew what happened to your mom I would have been there for you right away.”

  Now was as good a time as ever to ask her.

  “Can I ask you a question?”

  “Of course.” She sat down on the couch and patted the spot next to her for me to join her. I sat down next to her and placed my hands in my lap.

  “Did something happen between you and Mom? Or did something happen here in town? It’s just that she never mentioned you or anything about her life here. I’m trying to understand why.”

  She bit her lower lip. Talking about the past seemed to make her nervous. “Our parents could be difficult. Your grandparents. As soon as she could, she got out of Salem Point and never looked back. We lost touch.” She looked hurt by her own words. “I don’t think she wanted any reminders of her past.”

  My grandparents sounded like bad people. Maybe their lives weren’t as picture perfect as I thought. I wanted to know more about what happened, but I didn’t want to press Gemma. She was already struggling with what she was saying.

  “I wish I tried harder now. I didn’t even know she died until a few days ago.”

  She was mourning her sister. I had years to get to where I was. For her, it was like she just died. She was so good at holding it together. I think she was doing that for me. It made me want to cry. I had someone in my life that was looking out for me. Someone that cared about me.

  But it could go both ways. I could be there for Gemma too.

  I held her hand in mine and squeezed it. She looked shocked by the gesture, but smiled at me. Up until now I hadn’t even given her a hug.

  It wasn’t easy for me to open up to people, but I was going to try. I think it’s what Mom would have wanted.

  Hopefully anyway.

  Chapter 18: Hope

  I woke up around seven. It was Saturday so technically I didn’t have to get up yet. I had too much insomnia to be able to sleep in.

  The problem was my mind. I never seemed able to shut it off.

  After the talk I had with Gemma last night, it was even worse. My mind was going miles a minute. What could have happened with their parents that would make my mother leave and not even want contact with her sister?

  I went to the bathroom to brush my teeth and wash up. Then I got changed into my jogging clothes.

  I was standing at the top of the steps when I heard something downstairs. I heard Gemma in the bathroom in her room, so I knew it wasn’t her.

  I walked downstairs and went straight to the kitchen. I couldn’t do anything against an intruder, so I wasn’t planning on confronting whoever was in our kitchen. I just wanted to make sure it was warranted before I called the police.

  I peeked into the kitchen and scratched my head at what I saw. Dr. Drake was sitting at the kitchen table.

  I walked into the kitchen. “Dr. Drake?”

  He jumped from his seat and looked at me like a deer caught in headlights. “Hope.”

  He looked different in his casual clothes. I liked him better without the tie. The dress shirt didn’t do his abs justice. The tight t-shirt he wore made his biceps and his chest pop.

  “What are you doing here?”

  “I am so sorry Hope.”

  “Why are you in my aunt’s house?”

  He looked like he didn’t know what to say. I was so confused as to what I just walked in on. He wasn’t helping at all by just standing there staring at me.

  “Hope.” Gemma came from behind me and froze at the entrance of the kitchen. She looked at me and then at Dr. Drake. She had the same look he had on his face. Like she’d been caught with her hand in a cookie jar. Or however that saying went. “I didn’t think you’d be up so early. I thought teenagers usually sleep in on Saturday’s.”

  “I’m not much of a sleeper.” And I wasn’t most teenagers.

  “Right.”

  No one was saying anything and it was making me nervous. “Did I do something wrong? I mean I’ve never gotten a house call before.”

  “Oh, no,” Dr. Drake said. He looked taken back by the suggestion. “You’re an amazing student Hope. You’re doing absolutely phenomenal.” He smiled at me before looking at Gemma again. He scratched his neck awkwardly.

  Then, it hit me.

  I raised an eyebrow and looked between the two adults when I realized what was going on. “Oh.”

  Dr. Drake turned so red that he resembled ketchup. Gemma looked like she was absolutely mortified.

  I don’t know why. It was no big deal. It was kind of funny though. I smirked. “Wow.”

  “I should be going,” Dr. Drake said. “Enjoy the donuts and coffee. I’ll talk to you when I talk to you. Hope. Gemma.”

  “Drake,” Gemma said, waving at him as he passed by her.

  Gemma looked everywhere but at me. When we heard the front door close, her eyes finally met mine.

  I grinned. “Go Aunt Gemma.”

  “Not a word.”

  I put my hands up in the air. “I didn’t say anything.”

  “I’m sorry you had to find out about us like this.”

  I waved her off. “Don’t worry about it. I think it’s great. And now I can totally do whatever I want in school and not get in trouble.”

  She scoffed. “I don’t think so, young lady.”

  I rolled my eyes at the young lady remark.

  “Any plans today?” she asked me, quickly changing the subject of conversation and getting the spotlight off of herself.

  “Nope. Just going to catch up on some work. First going for a jog.”

  “Okay. Well, be careful. You have your cell phone right?”

  “Yup. See you in thirty minutes.”

  I left the house and stepped out onto the porch. I did some stretches before walking down the steps. I looked next door and Knight was sitting on the steps in front of his house.

  I guess I wasn’t the only insomniac on the block.

  I walked over to him. When he saw me, he smiled. “Morning Hope.”

  I grinned. “Good morning.”

  He tilted his head as he looked up at me. “You’re chipper this morning.”

  I was chipper. A little too chipper. Seeing Knight put me in a good mood. My life was putting me in a good mood. Things were so different from a week ago. If I could go back and tell my past self that I would end up here in a quiet town with friends and family, I’d have told myself I was full of shit.

  I kept pinching myself to make sure this was real and not some dream I was going to wake up from. That would be so cruel.

  I sat down next to him on the step. “Yeah. How was your night?”

  “It was okay. Dad went to bed early, so I did too. What about you?”

  “It was good. I hung out with my aunt for a bit after she got home from work. She’s pretty cool.”

  “Oh, yeah, Gemma’s the best.”

  We sat in silence for a moment. Not an uncomfortable one. It was a peaceful silence.

  I looked at him. “Want to go for a jog with me?” What the heck, why not? I usually liked to jog by myself so I could think, but I liked hanging out with Knight. He seemed to get me in a way that most people didn’t.

  “Sure.”

  Chapter 19: Hope

  After we jogged for about a half hour, we stopped at the diner to get a coffee. Knight did a good job keeping up with me. I’ve
been running since I was twelve, so most people I came across weren’t on my level. Not to toot my own horn or anything.

  When we walked into the diner, I saw Hayden and the girls right away. Ugh, great.

  I was in a good mood this morning. I didn’t want to let Hayden and her minions ruin it.

  Knight and I sat down at a table on the opposite side of the room. He looked at me and got closer. “I think someone needs to put Hayden on happy pills.”

  I laughed. “Yeah, if I’d advocate for anyone being on drugs it would definitely be her.”

  The waiter came to take our order. I recognized him from school. His name was Bryce. Knight was friends with him.

  “Hey bro,” Bryce said. He fistbumped Knight.

  “Hey man.”

  Bryce smirked at me and raised his eyebrows at Knight. Knight gave him a look that kind of looked like he was telling him to knock if off. Bryce seemed to take it seriously, because his face went straight right away.

  “What can I get for you?”

  “Two coffees,” Knight said. He looked at me. “You sure you don’t want anything to eat?”

  “I’m okay. My aunt has donuts back at the house.”

  I smiled to myself, still surprised by this morning. Dr. Drake seemed like a nice guy. It was good that Gemma was with someone nice like that. He was totally her type. She deserved someone like him.

  I sighed. Somehow I could sense that Hayden was glaring at me. I looked to my right and my eyes caught hers right away. She didn’t look away either. It was like I was staring down a tiger that was about to attack.

  After a moment, I couldn’t take it anymore. She was wigging me out. I looked back at Knight. “I’m gonna run to the bathroom.”

  “Okay.”

  “Be right back.”

  He nodded his head before I walked away to the bathrooms.

  I didn’t have to go. I was just trying to get away from Hayden. I didn’t like conflict, but I wasn’t some victim. I wasn’t going to let Hayden get the better of me.

  I washed my hands and wet some paper towels to wash off some of the sweat from my face and arms.

  I paused when the door opened and Tegan came in. She smiled at me. “Hey Hope.”

  “Hey Tegan.”

  “Having a nice Saturday?”

  “So far.” I smiled the fakest smile I ever smiled in my life. And I grew up with some questionable foster families that I had to fake smiles for all the time.

  “Me too. You should hang out with us some time. We have a lot of fun together.”

  “Thanks, but I don’t think Hayden likes me.”

  She sighed and leaned against the wall. “Look, Hayden can be difficult to get along with. But once you get to know her, she lightens up.”

  “I’m not interested in trying to get someone to like me. I’m not desperate to be friends with someone that keeps giving me dirty looks.”

  “Hayden was cool with you. But she’s mad at you.”

  That didn’t make any sense. I didn’t do a thing to her. I barely interacted with her. “Why would she be mad at me?”

  “Knight.”

  “Knight?”

  “Yeah. If I were you I’d keep my distance from Knight. Hayden had something going on with him. Sort of.”

  I furrowed my eyebrows. He didn’t seem to know anything about this. He didn’t even like her. “Does he know that?”

  She smiled. “They go way back. Good friends. Their families spend a lot of time together. Those two are practically already married.”

  “He didn’t mention any of that.” She was totally lying to me to get between me and Knight. Not that there was a me and Knight to get between anyway. “Anyway, there’s nothing going on between us. We’re just friends really.”

  “Good! She and him are so meant to be.”

  She sounded crazy. It made sense why Hayden was pissed now. She liked Knight, but based off of how he talked about her, he didn’t feel the same. I hate to break it to Hayden, but I don’t think it was going to happen.

  “Meant to be?”

  “Oh, yeah. It’s like fate.” She tilted her head and looked me up and down. “You do believe in fate don’t you Hope?”

  I pursed my lips and shook my head. “Not really. I better get back to the table. I don’t want to keep Knight waiting.”

  I glared at her before leaving the bathroom.

  Hayden and her little minions weren’t going to stop me from being friends with Knight.

  I felt weirdly connected to Knight. I wasn’t sure what it meant yet. But I knew I wasn’t going to let some mean girls dissuade me from pursuing whatever it was.

  Chapter 20: Hope

  After the run and coffee with Knight I went home and took a shower. As I was getting back into my room my cell phone rang.

  I didn’t recognize the number and not many people even had my number yet, but I answered anyway.

  “Hello?”

  “Hello Hope. How are you?”

  “Elizabeth?”

  “Yes.”

  I wouldn’t have given her my number. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to be friends with her yet. Her brother creeped me out a bit with his broodiness.

  “How did you get my number?”

  “I asked around. Small town.”

  “Right.”

  “Anyway, I wanted to invite you to our home for dinner tonight.”

  She was serious about that? I hoped she’d forget about the whole thing. I hadn’t even had dinner at Jade’s house yet and I was more friends with her than I was with Elizabeth.

  “You don’t have to do that.”

  “I insist. It’s no trouble if that’s what you’re thinking. Christian is looking forward to it.”

  I found that hard to believe. Christian didn’t want anything to do with me. He and Hayden should really talk. They’d love each other. They both shared a common hatred of me.

  “I don’t know.”

  “I’ll take it as a personal insult if you decline my invitation.”

  I didn’t want to insult her. I just didn’t want to have to have dinner with her brother.

  I sighed. “Fine. What time?”

  “How’s seven?”

  “Perfect.”

  “Excellent. I can hardly wait.”

  I can. “Me either.”

  * * *

  I went with Gemma to do some grocery shopping at the market. I figured I’d tag along since I was ditching her for dinner tonight.

  “You should invite Dr. D over for dinner tonight. You know since you’ll have the house to yourself for a couple of hours. I’m sure I’ve been getting in the way of you two…”

  “Please don’t finish that sentence.” Gemma blushed.

  I laughed. I think Gemma was a bit of a prude. That or she was just that innocent. “I’m just saying. You don’t spend much time with him. I’m sure it’s hard with your work schedule and now I’ve infiltrated your house.”

  She stopped me. “It’s your house too. And you haven’t infiltrated anything. I love having you here Hope.”

  I smiled as we continued walking through the produce section. “How long have you two been seeing each other?”

  “A couple months.”

  “He seems nice.”

  She smiled, but it was more to herself. “He is. He’s a really great guy.”

  “It sounds like you love him.”

  She blushed again. “I don’t know. Maybe. We haven’t said so yet. Like you said, I work a lot so it does get in the way of us moving forward.”

  “Hence inviting him to dinner tonight.”

  She eyes me. “We’ll see. I’ll text him and see what he’s doing.”

  “I’m sure there’s nothing he’d rather be doing than having dinner with you.”

  I came to an abrupt stop when I saw who was coming towards us. It was Hayden. Only she wasn’t with her usual company. She was with an older man. Her father I assumed.

  Gemma smiled at the man. “Hi Caleb.”

/>   “Hello Gemma.” The man smiled at Gemma and then down at me. He was very good looking. He had brown eyes and dark brown hair. His smile was what really drew me in. He looked so friendly. Not at all like Hayden. “And you must be Hope.”

  I nodded my head.

  “I’m Caleb, Hayden’s father. It’s very nice to meet you.”

  “You too.”

  He was looking at me oddly. After a moment he realized a few seconds had gone by and he was still staring at me. “I’m sorry. I just… you look so much like your mother.”

  I felt the color drain from my face. “You knew my mom too.” Of course he did.

  “Yes. We used to hang out in the same circle once upon a time. That feels like a lifetime ago.”

  Gemma smiled sadly. “It does.”

  Hayden rolled her eyes and looked down at her phone. She looked like she wanted to be anywhere but here.

  “Dad, I have to meet Tegan at two.”

  “Right. Sorry, we should be going. Again it was good to meet you Hope and it was good seeing you Gemma.”

  “You too,” Gemma said.

  After they walked away, Gemma looked at me. “You okay?”

  “Yeah, yeah I’m good. Are you?”

  “I’m fine. That Hayden is really something huh?”

  I laughed. “You have no idea.”

  “Oh I do. That girl was born with a scowl on her face. She’s a lot like her mother.”

  “The mayor.”

  “Yes, major bitch.”

  I looked taken back by her words. “Gemma.”

  “What? She’s insufferable.”

  I guess the apple didn’t fall too far from the tree.

  Being compared to my mother was bittersweet. She was beautiful and I loved that I looked like her, but looking in the mirror was a constant reminder of her. I had yet to get to the day when being reminded of her didn’t bring tears to my eyes.

  I don’t know if that day was ever going to come.

  Chapter 21: Hope

  I arrived at the house exactly at seven. The sooner I got in there, the sooner I could get out of there.