Chapter 21 #3
I headed outside to the side yard. There were chairs all around the small fire pit. Quinn and Nash were standing at the grill cooking, and everyone else was sitting around the fire. I took the open seat between Callie and Kai.
“So, you’re from Townsend?” Kai asked.
“I am. Have you been there before?” I asked.
“Oh yeah. When Quinn moved there, he would come here for one month, and I’d go there for the other month in the summer. Well, until we turned nineteen, then we got busy,” he said.
“The longest month of my life, too,” Callie said.
He rolled his eyes. “So, how did y’all meet?”
“We hang out with the same group of friends,” I said.
“He doesn’t have friends… so you must mean Daxyn and Benji… his dreadful cousins,” he said.
“Yeah… through them,” I said.
“Hey. Hey. My cousins, too,” Callie said.
I sipped on my drink some more. Everyone around was engaging in conversations, either with the person next to them or butting in and yelling across the fire.
Kai made a little cough, and I turned my head toward him.
“A girl like you shouldn't be stuck in a cabin in the bayou. I could fix that,” he whispered. Callie coughed on her drink.
“I’m not stuck in a cabin,” I said, narrowing my eyes.
“Hmm… well, I sure haven’t seen you around town,” he said.
“Yeah… I was under the weather, and I didn’t leave the house much,” I said.
Callie had gotten up and gone into the house. Part of my stomach turned.
“So… are you and Quinn really just friends?” he whispered.
“Yep,” I said, nodding my head.
“Too bad for him,” he said. Then he smiled and leaned back in the chair, kicking his legs out.
Callie rejoined us, a full glass in hand. “Quinn made the blue stuff inside. Help yourselves. There is also beer or wine spritz in the fridge,” she called out.
“Supper is almost done, too,” Quinn announced.
Within several minutes, we all followed him inside, piling our plates with food, before going back outside to eat.
Scarlett and Beau were sitting close, chatting and giggling every few minutes.
Julie grabbed the open seat next to Quinn.
I went back to the seat I had been sitting in, between Callie and Kai.
After two cups of Blue Lagoon, I was quite tipsy.
Several of them were way more drunk than I was.
Neither Graham nor Minnie drank anything; both of them said it wasn’t for them.
Nobody pressured them either. Back home, saying no felt like a crime.
Everyone would badger you until you finally gave in.
It felt nice to know that I could choose to drink or not, as well as choose how much.
“How long are you here?” Kai asked once I got back to my chair from taking my dishes inside. His chair seemed closer to mine, but being tipsy, I wasn’t sure.
“Um… I’m not sure,” I said.
He wrapped his arm around the back of my chair. “Maybe I could show you a couple of the hidey spots.”
“Maybe,” I said. Yeah. Definitely not. It wasn’t that he wasn’t attractive.
He was. Honestly, if I didn’t know otherwise, I’d have thought he was Quinn’s brother, except that he had darker brown eyes.
They both had golden brown skin with gold flecks in their eyes.
Both of them were tall and fit, Quinn being a smidge taller.
“Wanna dance?” he asked.
“I’m a horrible dancer,” I said.
“Impossible, it looks like you would spin me right around,” he said.
“Actually, she’s a horrible dancer. Sorry, Zay,” Quinn cut in. I wasn’t sure when he got behind us.
“It’s only the truth,” I said, then laughed.
Quinn leaned down close to my ear, away from Kai, and whispered, “he does this with every girl. Just so you know.”
I turned my head to look at him, narrowing my eyes.
“Fixin’ to get another drink. Another?” Quinn asked me.
“Yeah… just one more,” I said, then I turned back to Kai, smiling at him.
“He seems pretty protective of someone who is just a friend,” he muttered.
I squinted my eyes at him. “We’ve been through some things together.”
“We can go through some things together,” he said, smiling at me. Dimples showing on both sides. Shit.
Quinn handed me my cup back and sat back down in his seat.
Graham started to ask Kai questions, grabbing his attention from me. I leaned back, staring at the fire, taking everything in.
“Remember that one time… you and I … in New Orleans…” Julie said to Quinn, her hand landing on his knee.
“Nope,” he said.
“Oh, of course you do… You and I went skinny dipping and—”
“What have you been enjoying down here?” Kai asked, grabbing my attention from Julie and Quinn.
My throat went tight. “Running on the riverbank and watching the eagle nest upstream.”
“Running, huh?”
“Yeah.”
“Must have been his idea,” he said.
“Actually, no, but um… I’m gonna go use the bathroom,” I said.
I slid out of my chair and headed inside the house and into the bathroom.
I splashed some cold water onto my face before using the bathroom.
Then I headed to the counter and poured my drink down the sink.
I felt quite tipsy and didn’t feel like I wanted more.
Hangovers sucked. Plus, I’d need to care for Lucy.
The door opened, and I spun around. Kai walked in and shut the door behind him.
“Oh, hey,” I said.
“Whatcha doing?” he asked.
“I’m done drinking, plus I gotta prepare Lucy a bottle soon,” I said.
“Lucy? There’s a baby here?” he said.
“No. No. It’s a bobcat kitten,” I said.
He walked closer to me, closing the gap between us. I was already leaning against the counter.
“Oh, good,” he said.
“And if there was a baby?” I asked.
He was within a foot of me now. I wanted to run out the door. My brain kept saying to run, but my feet weren’t moving.
“Instant turn-off,” he said.
He closed the gap, his hands cupped the sides of my neck, and pulled me in. I immediately pulled back and spun toward the counter.
“Even better,” he growled.
“What in the fuck are you doing?” Quinn said.
“We were just kissing,” Kai said.
I pushed past him and came to the other side of the counter. I stared at the ground. My heart was beating faster and faster by the second.
“You were trying to kiss her,” Quinn said. He turned toward me. “Are you okay, Zay?”
“Yeah… nothing I couldn’t handle,” I said.
“Why do you care? Just a friend, remember?” Kai shot out.
“Because friend or not a friend, consent matters. Take your drunk ass outside,” Quinn said.
Kai lifted the cup in his hand, swallowing it all in one gulp, before heading back outside. Quinn turned toward me and stepped closer to me. He brushed my hair behind my ear.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” he asked.
“Yeah… he only tried to kiss me. I didn’t let him,” I said, dropping my eyes to the ground.
“Look here,” he whispered. I looked up, locking my eyes with his. “Don’t feel ashamed.”
We both went back outside. This time, Quinn swapped seats with Kai, sitting next to me.
Kai and Bellamy started chatting and laughing.
After a bit, Kai stumbled into the house and didn’t come back out.
Graham whispered something into Quinn’s ear.
Quinn gave him a nod, then Graham and Minnie started rounding everybody up.
Everyone stumbled to the vehicles. Graham was helping them either in the cab or the bed of the truck, all except Kai.
I needed to feed Lucy before bed, and when I walked inside, Kai was on his stomach, sleeping on the floor.
His legs and arms spread wide. I shook my head, went to the kitchen, and made a bottle before going into the bedroom.
She’d been crawling all around the little blanket.
I scooped her into my arms, went to the bed, and climbed in.
Leaning against the wall, Lucy drank from her bottle.
Just as she was done, the doorknob turned, and my entire body tensed up. My stomach knotted. The door slowly opened. Quinn poked his head in before he walked in and shut the door. He leaned against the doorway, looking up at the ceiling.
“What are you doing?” I finally asked.
“Things are spinning, just a bit,” he said.
“Oh… I see,” I said.
He slid down the door and sat on the floor.
Lucy finished her bottle and was fast asleep again. I rolled the blanket back up into a little circular bed and placed her inside. I walked over to him and knelt. He stared at me and gave me a big smile, flashing his dimples. Damn it Quinn. I was also tipsy, but I couldn’t leave him on the floor.
“Come on, get in the bed,” I said.
“Whatttttt? Nooooooo,” he said.
“Yes, you’re quite drunk, and I can’t leave you on the floor, in front of the door,” I said.
“Hmmmm… I don’t think that’s a gooooood ideaaaaaaaa,” he stammered.
“It’s just a bed to sleep in. Used to share a bed with Aspen,” I said.
“But… I… would want more than… than… that,” he said.
“Don’t we all, but you’re a little drunk for that,” I said. Wait, what the hell did I say out loud? Maybe he wouldn’t remember.
“I like you… you know?” he said.
“I like… you… too,” I said. Once I started, I couldn’t stop. I grabbed his wrist, pulling him to his feet.
We stood inches from each other, staring into each other's eyes. I swallowed the lump in my throat and turned away. I walked him to the other side of the bed and helped him get into bed.
I turned the light off and climbed into my side. I stared at the ceiling. What was I doing? What did I want? Did I really like him like that? Was it because he held me captive? No, because he was doing that under direct orders.
“Your heart is beating really fast… and you smellllll… well, really good,” he said.
“Sleep, Quinn,” I said, rolling away from him on my side.
I knew what he smelled. I felt it, that pull toward him.
I wanted him, but I didn’t want to complicate things.
I didn’t want to ruin whatever this was that we had.
We both had so many bigger things happening.
I needed to go back to my family. He had wolf pack things to deal with.
He was a wolf. I couldn’t be with a werewolf.