“I’m sorry,” I tell her.
“They’ve just…” I pause.
“None of us have ever really been around...”
“Someone who’s pregnant,” she says
I give her a slow nod
Her lips begin to curl up in a tight little smile.
“I’m sorry.
It’s okay, really.
I’m just…” She pauses.
“Hormonal, I guess.
I shouldn’t be upset with any of you.”
“I think after a while, we’ll all adjust.”
She gives me a nod as she reaches into her pocket.
I immediately shake my head and yank out my wallet to shove a credit card toward the cashier
“I can’t let you do that,” she says, now trying to give the cashier a handful of twenties
I shake my head and nod toward the credit card.
“You won’t win this.”
She sighs and slides her money into her pocket as I sign the small slip of paper.
I take her bags and Red thanks them
“You don’t have to do that, you know,” she says as we trail back into the mall to find Aaron and Ian both sitting on the benches outside the store
“I want to,” I tell her.
“Besides, we’re the ones who asked you to get new clothes.”
She gives me a little nod as we head down the hallway to Victoria’s Secret.
It’s difficult being in such a store with her.
It’s filled with women, their partners, and more than enough teenage girls that are loud and giggling by the body sprays and make-up.
The vibes are enough to make Aaron, Ian, and me jittery.
Red’s cheeks flush as she grabs a few things which include some PINK yoga pants and tank tops.
I can’t keep my eyes from flitting over a few things in the store, and I have to make myself look away
She passes Ian on her way to the checkout lines and quickly snatches a light pink thong from him.
Something tells me this will be half traumatizing for us all.
“Get anything for Ethan?” he asks
Her head drops as her cheeks turn a fiery pink.
I make an attempt to laugh it off, but the man and wolf in me feel as though I could go mad any second.
My brain finds the memory of our night together.
Following her from the cabin and pushing her against the tree.
I nearly have to force myself to slide my credit card on the machine and sign my name.
I allow Red to take the bag as I breathe a sigh of relief coming out of the store
I feel Aaron’s hand on my shoulder.
“You need to breathe, man.”
Red’s eyes glance at me for a moment and then quickly away again.
Aaron laughs softly.
“Not easy, is it?”
I fight the urge to hit him as we make our way to my Jeep.
At least the cool air is enough to calm me, though I can’t help but to take a better look at her and remember that night in the woods
When Ian finally gets Trent on the phone, it’s a relief to hear that they’ve already gotten us all hotel rooms.
I hear Aaron and Red both sigh.
Ian mutters that we’ll meet them there, ends the call, and tells me directions
The hotel is surprisingly, and luckily, close to the mall and the hospital.
It’s kind of a relief to see the building, knowing that we can all sleep in beds as soon as we get inside.
A nice change of pace from what James and I had been sleeping on for the past month
Trent, Colt, and Eli are all in the lobby waiting for us.
Trent conceals a laugh as his eyes shift to the bright pink and red Victoria’s Secret bag, and he no doubt picks up on my uneasiness.
“We have the rooms,” he chokes.
“Three of us in one, two in another, and we got you and Red a room together.” He clears his throat
Eli extends a card key to me, and I snatch it away immediately.
“You guys don’t have to be assholes.
I get it!” I yell
“We’re all on the top floor,” Colt tells us
I give him a nod as I begin walking to the elevator.
I feel Red just behind me and with my brothers trailing her I finally let my guard down.
As we all step in, I have to fight the urge not to kick some of my brothers.
They may be in their thirties, but that certainly doesn’t keep them from making fun of me
I hear Trent laugh softly as Aaron elbows him.
“Think you can make it to the room, Ethan?” Trent asks
“You couldn’t make it back to the cabin,” Aaron adds
I bite my tongue and sigh.
I feel Red’s mortification as she shifts uneasily
“You know,” I say, “you guys could really be more like gentleman.”
“We’re not the ones who couldn’t wait.” Aaron laughs
“Look!” I hear Red’s voice boom.
“It happened, okay? I admit it! I had sex with your brother in the woods!” Her cheeks are bright red, and it’s almost as though her eyes are watery as we all stand there, mouths gaping open.
She’s angry and certainly not afraid to show it.
The quick change in her has done more than shock us.
I’m at a complete loss for words and the only thing I can manage is to stare
“You forgot the tree,” Ian adds with a chuckle
“Against a tree,” she yells.
“But, you don’t have to spend every single waking moment making him feel like shit about it.
Or me for that matter.”
My brothers all hang their heads in shame.
“Sorry,” I hear them all mutter
She turns away from them and crosses her arms firmly in front of her body.
She looks at me for a moment.
“I’m sorry; it’s true.
We can’t hide what we did.”
“Yeah,” I say, using her rant to cover my own ass
I hear them all repeat that they’re sorry as Red turns away from them to face me.
She looks at me shyly, then a look of horror washes over her face as she turns redder than Colt’s tee shirt before crossing her arms in front of her body.
She lets out a deep breath that it seemed she was holding in and catches my gaze again.
This time I see her relax as she drops her arms and looks down briefly
It’s a relief for all of us to feel the elevator stop at the top floor.
Red follows behind my brothers but avoids eye contact.
I stop in front of our room door and slide the key in
I notice Trent, Eli, and Colt standing behind me and looking ashamed as I push open the door.
I shake my head at all three.
There’s no mistaking the honeymoon suite with the bowl of fresh fruit, large open whirlpool tub, and enormous bed
Their eyes stay planted toward the ground as they all three mutter their apologies again and quickly head down the hall.
I can hear Aaron’s maniacal laughter.
“You three are in trouble.”
I glance at Red.
“I’m so sorry.”
“It’s just a room,” she says.
“They’re your brothers.
It’s what brothers do.
I’m sorry for the elevator; I just feel nuts right now.”
I smile at her understanding
“Besides a warm bath wouldn’t be too bad, or a hot shower at the very least.”
I allow her to step inside, and I lock the door behind us.
She glances around and laughs.
“Fresh fruit.
They went all out, huh?�
�� She finally lets out a long, hard laugh, and then plops on the bed.
“The honeymoon suite and everyone knows what we’ve done.” She drops her head, laughing.
“Against a tree.”
“How many people actually have - ” I stop, now feeling as embarrassed as before.
“I shouldn’t have done that to you.
I should have taken you back inside.
Stopped myself, done something, anything different,” I say.
“You deserve candles and flower petals on the bed.
Not some hard tree in the middle of nowhere.”
She looks at me, completely surprised with the softest expression I’ve ever seen on her face.
She smiles, gets up, and walks to me.
I feel her hand on my face as she pulls me in for a soft kiss.
It’s brief, but enough to make my knees knock as she pulls away.
I smile, unable to speak
“That’s the sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me,” she breathes
“I only said it because it’s true.”
She smiles and leans in to kiss my cheek.
“I think I’m going to shower,” she says, reaching for one of the bags
I look toward the rather large whirlpool tub.
“The tub looks pretty amazing.
I could run a bath for you, and then I could go to Trent’s room,” I tell her
“I can’t kick you out of our room,” she says.
“Besides they might torment you.” She laughs
“I can sit on the balcony,” I suggest
“I’m not going to let you freeze,” she says.
“That’s just mean.”
“How about I just sit on the floor and watch TV,” I say.
“I just think the bath would feel better.
We all need to relax.”
She finally smiles and nods.
“Okay, but only because I’ve never been in a tub that big before in my life and I have to try it.”
I head over and begin running the water until it reaches a relaxing warm temperature.
I add a few squeezes of bubble bath from the bottle next to the tub.
I turn to her, smiling.
“It’s all yours.” I grab the remote and plop in front of the TV.
I lean my back against the foot of the bed and make myself comfortable by kicking off my shoes.
I hear the sound of sloshing water finally, as I can only assume that she’s slid into the tub
“Have you really never been with anyone?” I hear her ask
I look down briefly before I flip the TV on.
“I’ve tried but it never works out.
Moon rage is hard to fight.”
“How did you do so well around me?”
“I’m not sure I did so well,” I say.
“You do remember what happened.”
I hear her laugh.
“I’m pretty sure I couldn’t forget that.”
“I don’t think I will either.”
“I have to say, I am really impressed with you,” she mumbles softly.
“Not only are you really not looking, but you’ve been really…” she pauses.
“You’re really sweet to me, given the circumstances.”
“How else would I be?” I ask, fighting the urge to turn and look at her
“I’ve just,” she takes a breath.
“I’ve seen things like this happen and not end up so nicely.
I mean, how many people get some fairytale ending?”
“I’d say you deserve one,” I tell her
“You too,” I hear back.
“Do you regret it?” She asks suddenly
“What we did?” I ask
“More like the outcome.”
I shake my head.
“I could never regret it.”
“It just seems as though your family is frightened of women and children.”
“It’s the curse they’re afraid of.
They don’t want to harm their wife in the middle of a moon rage, and they certainly don’t want to pass it to their children,” I explain
“But you can break it?”
I think, and then nod.
“I can’t have any blood on my hands.
An innocent life.”
“But you already have that,” she says
“I have to hold my first born child,” I stammer finally.
“That breaks the curse.”
“So, if you remain normal until this child is born, you break the curse for your entire family?”
I think it over and nod.
“If it’s true to stories I’ve heard, then yes.
My brothers, as murderers, have blood on their hands.
That’s why the moon damned us.
They will pass the curse on to their children.
Their punishment for what they did is to live with this and pass it on for as long as we Parkers are around.
I’m the only innocent one.
Stories say that if I can hold my first born child with clean hands the curse will be broken.”
“Then that’s what you’ll do,” she says.
I can hear the smile and the confidence in her voice.
It seems funny that she’s saying that to the man who has six murderers for brothers
I let out a small laugh.
“You know, to be the guy who did what he did to you - ”
She stops me.
“You can say it.
You got me pregnant.”
“Well, to be the man who got you pregnant, you’re being pretty sweet and understanding yourself,” I tell her
I hear her gasp a moment and her voice crackles.
“That’s the easy part.
I mean, the minute I left you, you were all I could think about.
It was like this force was pulling me to you.” She pauses.
“I missed you.”
I fight the urge to turn and look at her.
“You know the entire time you were gone, all I could think about was you; strange, since we’d only known one another a day.” I look at my feet.
“Eli swears that when you find your mate, it’s just like a smack in the face.
When he met Maggie, he married her a few months later.”
“Really?” I hear the smile in her voice
“Yeah,” I say.
“He changed.
He was like Aaron, if you can believe it.
Then he met Maggie, and it was all over.”
She laughs, “Women do have that effect sometimes.”
“The night I ran into you.” I laugh.
“I was in full moon rage.”
“Is that what you call it?” she asks.
“The affect the full moon has on you?”
I nod.
“Yeah, we like to keep it simple.
That night, despite feeling that rage and having to fight it, you…” I trail off.
“It was like something hit me hard.
I wanted you, every piece of you, and I had to fight myself to be normal.
Then you told me about Josh,” I say.
“Then it became about protecting you, keeping you safe.
I’ve never felt any of this before.” I hear the water in the tub slosh around slightly
“What exactly are you trying to say?”
“That you might be stuck with me for the long haul.”
I hear a relaxed sigh escape from her lips.
“Can two people really meet and decide after one night that they need to be together?”
“Of course they can.”
“I don’t believe in fairytales, though.”
“When you’re talking to one of the big bad wolves, I think it’s okay to belie
ve in fairytales.”
I hear her giggle softly in such a way that I have to fight my own urges a little harder
“I’m not so sure you’re bad, though, Ethan,” she says.
“I know the moon does what it does, but I just feel like you’re not as bad as you think.”
I smile.
Feels nice to hear someone tell me I’m not a complete ass.
“Hey,” I say softly, staring at the bowl of fresh fruit.
“Are you still hungry?”
“The fruit?”
“Yeah,” I say.
“I mean, they paid for it.” I laugh.
“We might as well eat it.” I lean towards the small table and yank the large glass bowl down to me.
Strawberries, blueberries, grapes, a special fruit dip, even a few assorted chocolate covered berries are mixed among each other.
“They look really good,” I tell her, refraining from popping a grape into my own mouth
“Sounds like you’re still hungry.” She laughs, as I hear the tub swish.
“Just give me a second.”
“Do you have a favorite?” I ask.
“I won’t eat any of those.”
She laughs.
“I’m not telling.
I’ll share.”
“It’s grapes, isn’t it?” I ask.
Forgetting that I’m not supposed to look, I look up at her.
By now she’s completely wrapped in a towel and rubbing a second one through her damp hair.
“Sorry,” I say and let my eyes jolt toward the ceiling.
“I wasn’t thinking.”
She swallows, and I can see her cheeks are beginning to grow pink.
“It’s okay.” She laughs slightly.
“I mean, this thing could be a dress on me, anyway.”
I stand up slowly and begin to fight what I’m about to do.
I beg myself to sit down, look away, anything, but instead I trail up to her.
She doesn’t flinch, doesn’t shudder; strangely, her eyes stay locked onto mine.
I take the extra towel from her and draw her body to mine.
I hear her left out a small gasp, and I can tell her heart rate has quickened.
I bring a hand to her face, letting it trail from her cheek to her neck, all the way to the back of her head.
I pull her in for a kiss.
A proper one.
That feeling I felt before returns as something inside me nearly loses control.
My legs begin to feel weak as I realize that she’s kissing me back.
It’s as soon as my tongue flickers over hers that I really feel I may lose it.
Little Red Page 10
