by Belle Harper
We stood there, holding hands. He was breathing deeply and watching our hands. I didn’t know what had happened in his past or what was going on right now. But I think for Raff, right now, this, just holding his hand was big. And I didn’t want to let go.
The sexual tension was thick in the air, even my breathing sped up. I could hear the men all talking loudly. They tried to follow us, but Grayson told them to leave us alone.
Our breathing was in sync. My heart beat at a racing pace. I looked up into his eyes and noticed he wasn’t much taller than me. Those amazing eyes now held mine. My chest was raising high with each breath, my nipples rubbing against the fabric of my black lace bra.
He took a deep inhale and my skin prickled, I felt so alive. I wanted him to touch me, I wanted to feel his rough hand on my skin.
We just stood there, like time had frozen. When a loud banging came from my door, we both jumped and snapped out of it.
“Hey, you can’t be in there together with the door locked,” Grayson called out. Raff let go of my hand and unlocked the door. Grayson put a lot of force when he opened it, slamming against the wall and just stood there staring at us. He gave us a once over, then straightened up. “Door open, at all times.” He nodded once and turned to leave.
The moment I just had with Raff was now gone as he walked out of my room.
Chapter Fourteen
Lexi
I didn’t lock my room that night—I was worried Joshua might come to me because of his nightmares. I had another nightmare again, waking up in a pool of sweat around two in the morning. I was hot and thirsty, so I quietly went to the kitchen to get a glass of water. I looked out the window to the backyard and saw it was raining. Not hard but enough that you could feel the chill of the outside air coming through the cold glass. It was a dark night, the clouds blocking out the moon’s light, but I could see something in the forest. It was moving. My breath caught.
I moved closer to the window and out of nowhere, a coyote came running toward the house. The sensor lights flicked on and I could see it fully. It wasn’t a coyote, it was a red wolf. Holy shit! My glass dropped from my hand and into the sink. It made a loud clanging sound that had the wolf outside stop in its tracks. It was raining harder now and its wet fur hung limply on his body. When it saw me, I froze.
The light flicked on in the kitchen and all I could see was my refection in the glass. I gasped as my hand flew to my chest.
“Lexi, are you okay?” My heart pounded from the fright of Jack turning the light on.
I spun around, my hands still visibly shaking so I tucked it under my armpits.
“I… I saw a wolf. A red one. In the backyard.” I didn’t think Jack would believe me since there were no red wolves here in Washington, well I had been told that. And even if there were, they were like almost extinct, so to see one at all would be one in a million chance. Maybe it was a coyote after all?
“We get a lot of wolves around here, mostly gray. But somehow, we are lucky enough to have a red one live among us.” I turned and looked out the window again. The outside light had turned off and it was dark again. No movement of the wolf. I nodded to Jack and left the kitchen back to my room. I couldn’t sleep after that. The eyes of that wolf staring right at me, like he knew I was there. He sensed me.
I heard the sound of a door open and close, and I held my breath, trying to hear better. Was it Raff? Footsteps padded along the hallway, and I heard the sound of a light switch being turned on and the bathroom door close. And it wasn’t long before the shower started and the sound of it lulled me to sleep.
Ada was waiting for me outside of class. “Hey, I was wondering if it would be okay that I asked Mrs. Jeffery if we could do our English Lit project together? I don’t really have many friends and none in her class. So, um… is it okay?”
We were told yesterday that we had to pair up ourselves like adults or she would pair us up today like children. Ada would be my choice as my partner as I didn’t know anyone else in that class, even though she talked way too much. But I had come to learn that was just who she was. I nodded.
“Oh, this will be great! Did you want to meet after school today? We could go to my place or yours.” I nodded. Maybe it would be nice to make a friend… a real one.
My morning was great, and when lunch rolled around, I ran straight to the cafeteria and grabbed a slice of pizza and a bottle of water. I made it out before it filled with students I didn’t want to see—like Ranger, because I seemed to have been lucky so far today and avoided him. I walked to Galen’s office. Argh… I just couldn’t bring myself to call him Mr. Donovani when I thought of him. I didn’t think I ever would be able to. I knocked on his door and he called out to me.
I actually felt nervous for the first time, I guess it was because I wish I wasn’t his student right about now.
“I’m glad you are here. Come, take a seat.” He spun on his chair and looked out his window again. I picked up my slice of pepperoni, the cheese was a melty gooey dream as I took a bite. Oh God, that tasted good. I took another bite, wanting to eat it while it was still hot; the pepperoni was spicy and so good. When I finished, I downed the water, my tongue a little on fire. But it was worth it for a hot meal in my belly.
“Good pizza, I take it?” I looked up and Galen was smiling at me. I quickly wiped my sleeve across my face, trying to wipe off the mess I knew I had made of myself. It was almost like I forgot he was there while I ate.
“It was.” I sat there, not knowing what to do with myself. Was this something he did for new students regularly? Or was I the first one?
“I will return, I just need to break something up.” He stood abruptly and left, closing the door behind him.
“Okay…” I didn’t know what else to say, and he had left so quickly I didn’t get a chance to even really respond. I relaxed into the chair and took a real good look around the office, the shelves were filled to the top with books. Some were stacked on the floor in a corner, his office wasn’t dirty. It was clean but also felt cluttered.
I reached over and pulled a book out from the shelf. It was old and beautiful. I pressed it too my nose, it had that old book smell that I loved to smell when I was in the library. But the title wasn’t in English. I carefully opened it realized it was a Bible. It had a hand-written name in there, it said Galen Donovani 1726. Wow, was this like, his great-great-grandfather’s or something, passed down to him. No wonder he liked history. That was so cool.
The office door slammed opened and I jumped at the unexpected sound, I could hear the sound of Ranger as he entered the room.
“Bullshit is what I tell you, he… Well, hello there, Lex.”
I rolled my eyes as I carefully closed the Bible and placed it on Galen’s desk. I turned and realized Galen had seen that. He tilted his head and I shrugged. I didn’t damage it, I was always careful with books. I just loved books, and old ones were special. They had been loved and some held memories, like this one did.
“My name is not Lex.” I gave Ranger a look that said, “come on, challenge me.” I was up for a fight. When I spun a little more around to see Ranger, I saw the arm with colorful tattoos and all black attire. Maverick was here, too. He didn’t look at me.
“Okay, I think for lunch today you can sit in here and think about what your father said about fighting.” Galen took the Bible from his desk and took a seat. Maverick hovered by the door after he closed it, and Ranger took it upon himself to sit on the armrest of the chair I was in. He was too close for comfort. I inched away and I could see the smirk on Galen’s face. Was amused by my discomfort, or the fact that Ranger really was not my type. And that made him happy? Oh, I think I was overreading things here.
“Okay, Dad, I will think about it. But you know as soon as I’m finished here, I’m gonna go back out there and I will do it again. I don’t take orders from you.”
Galen’s smirk twitched and turned more into a “you challenging me?” thing. It was intense and I could feel the
change in the room immediately. Ranger must have too because he dropped it and attention was back on me again.
“So, I am having a party this weekend. Actually, we have one like every weekend. But yeah, Saturday, I want you to come. It will be fun. We have a heated pool. You can wear a bikini or not—” There was a loud slap sound and my chair moved slightly. I looked up and Ranger was holding the back of his head and glaring daggers towards his brother. “Hey! That hurt, asshole. I was just saying that if she doesn’t want to wear one, she could go naked. I wasn’t saying—” The chair moved fully and Ranger was on the floor. Galen just rolled his eyes at the twins like this was nothing new. Holy shit, Maverick was so not what I expected him to be. But it did shut Ranger up.
“I’m going to go now… Thank you, Galen.” I picked my bag up and walked past them both on the floor. Maverick had his knee on Ranger’s chest, pinning him to the floor.
“Are you coming?” I heard Ranger call out as I closed the door behind me and went looking for Ada so we could go to class together.
“Did you seriously get invited to a Lovell party? By Ranger personally? Oh my God, can we go together? Like, can you take someone? Like me? They usually allow a friend to come.” I didn’t know why she was so interested in these dumbass twins. Well, one was a dumbass, the other was a moody artistic type, which was exactly why I needed to stay away from him.
“No, I am not going. I… I have a curfew,” I lied. And for the first time, I felt bad that I did. I could see her visibly deflate. Shit, I was not doing a good job of having a friend for the first time. I just didn’t want to go to some party, especially one that the Lovell twins would be at. Not to mention their scary dad, too.
“Do you still want to hang out and do our assignment tonight? I can take you to my place? I just have to ask Grayson first.” I had never invited someone over before, never had a real friend before Ada so this was all new to me. I avoided making any since I was forever moving around. No point, but now… it was time to try.
But now I had a place, I had my own room, and Grayson would have muffins or cupcakes to eat.
I shot him a quick text asking if it was okay, and he replied almost instantly that he was excited to meet my new friend. I felt that warm feeling in my chest again. When I nodded at her, she squealed.
“Oh wow, yes. I can drive us there so you don’t need to catch no stinky ass bus.” I nodded but didn’t correct her by telling her that I walked home with Raff every day.
“Can we give Raff a lift?” Her eyebrows wiggled as she gave me a wicked grin, I just rolled my eyes and smiled. “Come on.”
Chapter Fifteen
Lexi
It was Friday. How I survived a whole week was beyond me. Poor Josh had a nightmare last night and came into my room. I held and comforted him. I wish that helped me with my nightmares, but it didn’t. I woke from one and scared him. I didn’t want to do that to him, I wanted to protect him. Grayson was taking him to speak to his therapist today and told me that I should wake them next time he comes to my room. Grayson also told me that if I had a bad dream and wanted to talk to someone, that I could come wake them. They wanted to help me, too. I told them that wasn’t going to happen, that I was fine.
They asked if I wanted to go speak to the therapist all the boys go to. Yeah, no thanks. Done that before, it doesn’t help. Nothing helps.
School was alive with the excitement of who was going to Ranger’s party tomorrow night. Ada found and cornered me in the cafeteria while I was getting my lunch before I made my escape to Galen’s office. I had been going every day since he offered. It was not that I needed somewhere really, but more like I wanted to be in there with him. Spend time with him. He didn’t speak much, but when he did, you listened. He was also very nice on the eyes.
“Are you sure Grayson won’t let you out to go even for a few hours? Please. Oh please. And I know if you’re invited you get a plus one… I am your one.” Ada jumped up and down in front of me, her blonde hair bouncing around and her big chocolate colored eyes begging me to change my mind.
“How do you know that?” She smiled and cocked her hip, a playful grin on her face.
“I asked one of the younger Kiba boys earlier, he told me that it was fine to bring one friend.” I rolled my eyes and shook my head but kept a smile. This was what I had learnt was very Ada.
When Ada said she didn’t have many close friends, I thought it was because she was shy. I had started to realize there were just some traits that made her… well, her. She was a little pushy, talked a lot. She was on the debate team, which was perfect for her. But I liked her because she wasn’t a wallflower. She spoke up when she saw something not right, like bullying, but also anyone breaking rules—which I think made most wary of her.
Ranger had been much better toward me the last few days. He didn’t say more than a hello, which was a complete change from what he had been like at the start of the week. And everyone else kept ignoring me like they had that second day. I still had a large number of eyes on me, just no one spoke to me and so far, no huge prank had happened. Avoiding this party was for the best, just in case they were planning something.
“No, sorry, Ada.”
Her smile dropped a little as she nodded. “That’s okay. We can maybe do something, just you and me?”
I smiled and nodded. “Text me and we can arrange something.” And with that, I took my pizza slice and bottle of water and made my way as fast as I could to Galen’s office.
“You really like the pizza here?” I turned to see Galen had entered his office. I was so preoccupied with thinking about my piece in art that I didn’t even hear him come into the room.
My hand flew up to my chest. “You scared me.” I giggled a little when he dazzled me with that smile. God, he had to stop the smiling… I had to stop thinking of him like this. He was hot, there was no denying it. All the girls in school had crushes on him, and now I was one of them. It wasn’t hard not to have a crush on Mr. Donovani.
“I didn’t mean to scare you, sorry. I was in a small meeting.”
I nodded. He had been here most the week, leaving here and there. This was the first time he wasn’t here before me. I enjoyed the quiet, giving me a chance to really think about what I was doing with my life right now. Not that we spoke much when I was in here, so I did spend a lot of time in my thoughts.
“You should try the pizza, it’s really good,” I said, trying to make conversation. He never had lunch when I was in here. He did drink his coffee in a steel travel mug—he sure loved his coffee. He took it with him to class sometimes. Maybe I should bring him a coffee one time. To say thanks and everything.
“No, I don’t really like pizza.”
I shrugged, at least it was one tick against his hotness. How didn’t he like pizza? Everyone loves pizza. His loss. I loved it. So filling and that cheese… God, the cheese was amazing.
He sat in his chair and took a sip of his coffee as he spun and looked out the window—the same thing he did every day. I pulled my book out of my bag. Mr. Darcy, here I come. Nothing better than a romance where letters were written to you and you were courted by a gentleman. Nothing would ever happen like that again, a text message was not the same as a hand written letter. And nothing like that would happen at Ranger’s party this weekend.
“Are you going to the Lovells’ for the party tomorrow?”
I looked up. Galen was looking right at me. Did he know I was just thinking about that? His smile was tipped to one side, like he was smirking. It was boyish and cute with his head full of beautiful, dark loose curls. He could pass for a young Mr. Darcy. My Mr. Darcy. My breathing became quicker as he flashed his perfect white teeth in a smile.
I shook my head. “No, I don’t even like the guy. He is a douche, and his brother is an asshole.”
He chuckled just as I heard a throat being cleared. I froze, I didn’t realize the office door was still open.
“You wanted to see me.” It was almost a growl more th
an words. I turned to see the dark green eyes of Maverick were glaring right at me. The air in the room felt like it had been used up. I looked away to stare out the window. I didn’t care if he heard what I just said. He can run to his brother and tell him for all I cared. Fuck them both. Why the fuck was he so hot. Why did I wish he didn’t hate me? Ugh… this was just too much for me. I needed to shut these feelings down. At least until art class where I really needed them to work on my piece.
Just being in this room with Galen and Maverick was making me feel things I shouldn’t be feeling. Maybe I needed to go to this party… No. No way. They were both assholes. Only Maverick wore his asshole card on his sleeve, Ranger hid it under false smiles and flirty teasing. As soon as you fell for it, then you would see the asshole inside.
The bell rang, my cue to leave, and I quickly grabbed my stuff. Maverick wouldn’t move from the doorway; instead, he tracked my every step as he watched me and I glared right back.
“Move,” I snapped and his eyes lit up for a moment before he stepped aside. I wasn’t going to back down from him; I would match him, blow for blow. I could feel him burning holes into my back as I left the office. He really hated me. Good, I didn’t like him, either.
If only I can convince myself that.
I looked up and saw Raff walking toward me. His eyes held my gaze and we didn’t look away as we walked towards each other. I stopped suddenly. He took a few steps closer, his eyes held mine, never once glancing away. The energy bouncing between us was charged, my fingers itched to touch him. My heart sped up and so did my breathing. I needed to get away from him or I would do something I would regret. So, I ran…
