Chapter 13 Hayden #2
“It’s gorgeous, just like you.” He smiles down at her, and then I remember that they finally fucked yesterday. Gave it to her so hard you could hear her scream from downstairs, and I was stuck jacking off in the bathroom like a teenager.
No wonder he’s being so…soft with her.
“I’m gonna head out now,” Mabel appears in the doorway, shuffling nervously from foot-to-foot. “For real this time.” There’s now an inch of space between her shoulders and her hair, and damn, maybe after all this murder-y business is done, Fireball should open her own hair salon.
“Can I walk you back?” Jo asks as Mabel takes a few tentative steps away from the bathroom.
“No,” she shakes her head, “you don’t got much time, and I can manage.”
“Well, alright then…” Jo frowns as Mabel gets closer to the door.
There’s something about Mabel. Something that reminds me of a little rabbit that’s been kicked around. She kind of makes me feel the same way Adela does, but…more. Like she needs extra protection and confidence.
So, being the great big brother that I am, I raise my hand for a high five as she gets close. “The haircut looks great, Mab—” I cut off when she flinches back, and dammit, if my heart doesn’t break just a little. I look up at my hand, still raised in the air, realizing what it must look like.
“Oh, Mabel…” Jo starts to go to Mabel, but I want to fix what I did. How do I make her not afraid of me?
Think, think…well, if you want bears to be afraid of you, you try to make yourself as big as possible. But Mabel isn’t a bear, she’s a rabbit. So the opposite must be true, right?
Mabel is the opposite of a bear, and I want to do the opposite of scare her.
I drop to my knees, trying to make myself as small as possible. “Look! Look, I’m not dangerous or scary. I’m just a little guy—not a threat at all.”
Jo has frozen in place, staring at me with a shocked expression. “Hayden, what are you doin’?”
“Mabel is a rabbit—not a bear,” I state the obvious, glancing up at her from my spot on the floor. “And I want to do the opposite of scare her.”
“I…” She shakes her head. “What?”
“Wait, I think I know where he was trying to go with this,” Sam speaks up, crossing his arms. “In the forest, if you see a bear, you’re supposed to make yourself seem as big as possible to scare them off. The opposite of making yourself big is—”
“Small.” I roll my eyes. “That’s what I said.”
I turn back to Mabel, ready to convince her yet again that I’m as docile as a baby lamb, but when I look at her face, her hand is thrown over her mouth, and she’s holding in a gasping sound…oh, fuck, did I make her cry?
Shit, shit!
Dammit, if making myself small made her cry, do I…do I need to make myself…big? That’s… counter-intuitive.
But…maybe the fact that Mabel is the opposite of a bear is enough to change the equation, and making myself the opposite of big was like multiplying two negatives together to get the same result.
That’s math, right?
A weird sound leaves Mabel, and I fucking panic. With my heart pounding in my ears and a noise of distress, I leap onto the bed and lift my hands up as high as I can. “No! I’m big! So, so, big!”
“Hayden!” Jo lets out a shocked laugh. “Now what are you doin’?”
My eyes dart to Mabel, who is now doubled over, and I fall to the nest in defeat. “I don’t fucking know, Fireball. It’s been years since I’ve done math.”
But then…I look back to Mabel and realize she’s not crying. She’s…laughing.
There may be tears running down her face now, but the sound that’s leaving her is pure laughter.
I sit, dumbstruck, as the little omega laughs her ass off, and Jo giggles while Sam sighs, shaking his head.
“I’m so sorry,” Mabel chokes out between gasps. “The shock of you droppin’ to the floor…after the adrenaline of your raised hand…holy moly. Plus, I haven’t been sleepin’ well the last couple of nights…” She stands, wiping the tears from her eyes. “I needed that laugh, Hayden, thank you.”
I wasn’t trying to make her laugh, I was trying to make her not afraid.
“The flinchin’...I don’t know when it’ll go away, but it’s a reflex at this point.” She gives me a sad smile. “It’s not a reflection on what I think of you.”
I suppose I can’t complain about that. “Well, whenever you need a laugh, I’m here. One of my self-appointed duties as your newly-acquired big brother.”
A small smile tilts at her lips. “I s’pose I got quite a few of those now, don’t I?”
“And we won’t let anyone—no matter who it is—take your decisions away again.” Sam’s voice is surprisingly solemn as he gives her a nod, and Jo looks up at him with hearts for eyes. I wonder if he’s referring to Declan’s pack when he says that.
“That’s right.” Jo agrees, then turns to me. “What’s with the scowl, Darlin’?”
I give a dramatic sigh as I get off the bed and head for the door. “Just remembering when you used to look at me like that.” One of my feet ends up in the hallway before a petite hand grabs mine.
Looking back at Jo, I shoot her a wink. “I’m just playing, Fireball.”
“I know.” She squeezes my hand. “Which is why I have Sam’s hand too.” I look up behind her to see Daddy-O himself, his eyes on our girl, looking at her like she hung the moon. “Come on, Mabel-cakes! I’ll walk you to the front door!”
I look around Sam to make sure Mabel is following us, and she is, with a small smile on her face.
Maybe I am cut out for this whole big brother thing after all.