by C. J. Snyder
Letting out a sigh of irritation, Gage rolls his eyes, “Let’s get out of the sun. I’ll show you around.” He stands up and extends his hand to help me out of the chair. Grasping his hand, using his strength to haul my ass out of the chair, the connection between us sparks back to life at the touch.
He quickly lets go and does a quick look around the backyard, he looks awfully nervous. “come with me,” he tilts his head as to show which direction he will be walking.
“Gage, slow down. I have little legs.” As I am taking one and a half steps in attempt to keep up with his long strides. We reach the side of the garage and I reach out to grab ahold of his elbow to slow him down. “what is the hurry?”
Stopping and looking around for a moment, he grabs my hand and pulls me inside the garage. He seems agitated and nervous at the same time, when he looks at me, his eyes have a tiny speck of orange illuminating through his normal golden brown.
My hands are sweating, and my heart is pounding inside my chest, “Gage. What’s going on?” he looks at me like he is in a trance and tugs on my hand to bring me close to him. His eyes have more orange showing now and he is so close, I can smell the mixed scent of pool water and sandalwood radiating off him.
“You’re driving me crazy, Red” and his mouth is suddenly on mine. My world starts to spin, and I wrap my arms around his shoulders to hold on. His kiss is soft and yet firm at first, like he’s testing the waters.
He reaches a hand down to the small of my back and pulls me closer and deepens the kiss. His mouth becomes hungry on mine, like he is starving for my touch. Nibbling at my bottom lip with his teeth before running his tongue over it.
CRASH.
The side door to the garage slams open and Gage quickly tosses me aside with enough force that I stumble. Throwing my hand out to catch my fall, “The hell, Gage?”
In the garage door, stands Kangee, eyes sparkling with amusement and mischief. In a singsong voice, “Oh, what were you guys doing?” he walks over to Gage and purses up his lips and makes kissing noises, “Did I interrupt something?”
Gage walks over to the door and slams it shut. His irritation very apparent in his tone “No, we weren’t doing anything, I was just giving her a tour.” Kangee lets out an amused laugh, “A tour of your dusty old garage?” He holds out his hand and does a little spin, “behold, the garage,” he spins to the other side, “ Full of dusty rags, one old car, some spiders and their webs.” He points up to the corner where there is an actual spider in a huge web that seems to be staring down at us in shared irritation at the disruption.
Gage starts after him and I reach out and grab ahold of his arm, “You know he’s just playing with you.” Looking at me through narrowed, agitated eyes, he takes a calming breath and I remove my hand from him.
“Dude, did you need us for something?” Gage asks through his teeth.
Kangee winks at me and then walks in a half skip over to the door and opens it, “Yah man, it’s cake and ice cream time.” Going through the door he yells, “Found him!”
Gage looks over at me and extended his hand, “Come on, we better get out there.” Reaching out, I take his hand just so he can pull me in for a quick kiss. He releases me and lets me through the door and then leads the way back into the backyard where the rest of the group is standing in a circle around the main table.
Gage doesn’t look thrilled about being the center of attention. His stance is stoic, not even a hint of a smile. He needed to lighten up some. The cake is a delicious chocolate with a fudge center and cream cheese icing. It was sex on a plate for your mouth.
Walking over to where he was sitting and not touching his cake, “Don’t you wanna have some of your birthday cake?”
He is pushing the fork around on the plate and the cake in front of him hasn’t even been touched, “No, I’m really not a sweets and candy type of man.” he slides the plate over to me, “but you can have mine if you want.”
The cream cheese icing smells so sweet, “I probably shouldn’t.” but I do anyhow, I can’t pass it up. Between bites of cake, “What’s up, Gage?” pointing my fork at him, “Why so broody?”
He laughs a little and pushes a water my way, “I’m 18, I am now expected to do certain things within the family.” Shaking his head as to clear his thoughts, “Things that I really don’t want to do.”
Putting the fork down on my now empty plate, I take a sip of water, “Like what, run a family business?” He looks at me with a serious scowl and a small shrug, “Something like that.”
He is in a serious broody mood, eyes pinched in irritation, mouth a firm line across his face and shoulders stiff. The music stops abruptly, and his Dad grabs the microphone from the DJ.
Tapping on the microphone to test if it was on, it lets out a loud squeal which not only kills your ears but makes the entire group of people groan. “Thank you everyone for showing my one and only boy some love on this very special day. It’s not everyday that you turn 18. Pretty soon he will be married and having pups of his own,” My eyes feel like they are going to pop out of my head and my mouth falls open just a little, did he say married and pups? “He has a lot of responsibilities now and soon we are all going to see changes. But until then, enjoy the food, drink, dancing and fun. Happy Birthday Gage,” he raises the beer that he has in his right hand in a toast position, “Here’s to many many more, son.” Handing the mic back to the DJ, he walks back over to the cornhole game. Music picks back up and so does the rest of the conversations around us.
Marriage, pups, responsibility what in the world is going on? Is this why the Squad was warning me away from Gage? Was he engaged or did he have a girlfriend? No, that couldn’t be it, he’s either been alone or with me all night. Biting on my thumb nail, I sneak a look at him. Gage is watching me with intense eyes, “I guess you have some questions, huh?”
Chapter 7
Gage
She looks awfully spooked after my Dad gave his oh so wonderful speech. My heart is thumping loudly in my chest as I wait to see what she is going to say.
Watching her with my heart in my throat and nervously tapping my foot, she finally opens her beautiful mouth, “I do have questions, but I don’t think this is the place or the time to actually ask them.”
Surprise washes over me and slyly reach over and place my hand on top of hers, “I’m an open book with you,” I wanted to tell her that I was hers. She smiles at me and wiggles her hand out from under mine. “Thank you, Gage. I’ll keep that in mind.”
Feeling like the aura around her has changed and I take a deep breath to try and smell a change in her pheromones. Nothing has changed, she still smells like her sweet self, but I can tell that something is different. “Red, I like you – I probably shouldn’t get close to you, but I can’t seem to stop wanting to be.”
That surprised her, her took in a shortened breath and her eyes went wide, “Seems like that feeling is quite mutual.” Her foot runs up and down my calf under the table, making my heart pound and my palms itch with wanting to touch her again. Great, I’ve taken one kiss and I’m an addict.
Watching her move as she stands up and walks over to me, my body is tense in anticipation at to what she is about to do. Leaning over the table with her one arm, right in front of me, she gets close to my left ear and whispers, “I have a gift for you.” And she saunters towards the front of the house.
Well, color me intrigued. Quickly getting up and following her around the corner to the front of the house, I run straight into the Cheer Squad. Not the surprise I was hoping for.
“Well there you are, Birthday boy.” Mandie says with a giggle and pats me on my arm.
Brandie and Andie hand me cards and kiss me on the cheek. All three girls have their cheer outfits on like a damn rom-com movie. Claire sashays up and wraps her arms around my neck and leans her body into mine. The feeling of violation washes over me as she stands on her tip toes to reach my ear, “Have you missed me?” she nips at my earlobe, “I sure have missed
you.” Just as I put my hands on her waist to remove her from my personal space, Presley comes walking around the corner.
“Gage, are you com…” disappointment washes over her face when she sees the scene in front of her, “Oh, guess you got distracted.” Her face is flushed with embarrassment and her breasts are rising and falling quickly as she tries to control herself.
Claire turns around and makes a pouty face and this horribly whiney voice escapes her over contoured face, “Gage, aren’t you going to introduce me to your little friend here?” I feel sick, like I am about to ralph up all the food I have eaten in the past 4 hours at the look of distraught on Red’s face. She thinks I’ve betrayed her, that I’ve lied. Irritation lacing my voice, “Clair, what are you doing?”
She looks like a child caught with their hands in the cookie jar, wide eyed, “I just thought you’d like to introduce your girlfriend to your new buddy.” GIRLFRIEND?! Since when? There is not enough alcohol in the New Orleans for Claire to be that, not anymore. She was at one point.
Presley is trying to control her emotions; I can literally feel her distress. Presley turns around and starts walking towards the road, “Great party, Gage. Hope you get everything you wanted.” Giving me a pointed look, she turns back around heads down the street towards her house. Disengaging Claire’s grasp on me, I start after Presley, “Red! Wait!”
Waves of guilt wash over me as I catch up to Presley and catch her by her arm, “Wait, wait. Claire's not my girlfriend,” letting go of her arm, “I mean, well she was at one point, but we ended it about 3 weeks ago.” I’m rambling, but I want her to understand that there is no one else that I’m interested in.
Her mouth is agape in apparent disbelief and disappointment. “I want to believe you, I do. But she was all over you and you were not in a hurry to get away.” She throws both arms out wide and practically yells, “Not that any of this matters!”
In shock that she would even say that after our moment in the garage, “What do you mean by that?” now my voice is raising in panic. She rolls her eyes and blows out a huff like she is inconvenienced to have to explain to me what she means by that statement. “I was warned to leave you alone. I didn’t want to leave you alone, now I guess I’m going to have to.” Her face was flushed with anger.
Murmuring got my attention and I glance back up towards the house and a crowd is starting to form on the driveway. Great. Half of the party is now standing out here watching this go down. This is shit show and I am the main attraction.
Looking backs towards Presley, she is wide eyed and watching the crowd. “Red, can we talk about this somewhere else?” as I tilt my head towards the group of people spectating.
Then she does something that totally caught me off guard, she throws her arms around my neck and hugs me. As she is releasing me from the hug, she squeezes my bicep, “It’s getting late, I’m going to go home. We can talk later, and I’ll save my gift for you until then.” With a little wink, she walks away.
The crowd erupts in cheers and hollering, arms all up in the air and loud claps. Hanging my head in irritation over this whole ordeal, I push my way past the group on the driveway, “Shows over. Go back to the party.” My mood is now back to be the normal broody and my bullshit tolerance is at an all time low.
Finally, the party is starting to die down and people are saying final Happy Birthdays and goodbyes before leaving. All the clan women walked up long enough to say the same and slip me their numbers in hopes that I pick one of them and not the red-haired human. Elders telling me that I’m going to be a great leader one day and that my choice of mate will solidify that.
As if I didn’t have enough problems, here comes Claire. She looks like a proud hunter house cat. Big smile on her face like she has won the best prize at the fair. Don’t let her pretty face fool you, she’s a vicious bitch.
“Are you mad at me, Gage?”, there’s that whiney baby voice again. Like a teenager when you ask them to clean their room, do I have to, mom? Annoying like nails on a chalkboard.
I’m not mad, I’m furious. “Yes, I’m mad with you. That was uncalled for and you know it.” Voice is rising again in anger and I start pacing around the backyard in a wide circle. “You had absolutely no right acting like that,” swinging my arm wide to empathize, “are you 10? Because that’s how jealous little girls act.”
Her eyes flash yellow and her iris’s narrow like a cat’s, “I am not jealous. She’s Human, Gage. You can’t be seen with her, let alone fall for her.” Walking closer to me, she flashes her cat like grin and runs her nails down my arm, “But you can be with me, in anyway you want.”
Roughly taking her hand off my arm, “Been there, done that. Don’t want to do it again, thanks.” She narrows her eyes at me, and a small hiss escapes her lips.
“You used to call me your pussycat, Gage.” Her lower lip pouts out and she takes another step closer, “Don’t you wanna play?”
My patience is running very thin with this woman. She is also a shifter, a Lynx. Doesn’t belong to any clan, she is a loner. Most Cat shifters are, they prefer to hunt and live alone until they find a mate. This one happens to think that I am her mate and she has been trying to dig her claws into me since the middle of our Sophomore year.
Growling low in my throat, my jaw is clenched in mounting anger, “Claire, go home. I have no interest in anything to do with you or your pussycat ways.”
That got her to back up, flip her long brown hair back and straighten out her shoulders. “Fine. Suit yourself. Where’s the Raven? I want to take him for a ride.” I point to the pool where Kangee is lounging on a raft. Payback for the disruption earlier in the garage.
She saunters off, as she gets closer to the pool, she pulls her shirt off over her head and tosses it to the side. Her body is damn near perfect. Just slightly tanned with no tan lines, perfect rounded breasts, hair now neatly in a loose bun at the top of her head. She’s beautiful and she knows it. When she gets to the edge of the pool, she pulls her low-rise jeans off one leg at a time. She puts on a show everywhere she goes. Loud hoots and hollers are emanating from the pool where some of the shifter men are relaxing.
Sitting and watching for a minute to see if Kangee is going to take the bait, I take a sip of a soda and try to relax. About five minutes later, Kangee took the bait and he is getting out of the pool with Ms. Kitty. He will probably tell me later that he took one for the team. I will call his bullshit.
It’s close to midnight, everyone has either gone home or passed out by the pool and across the backyard. Standing up, I stretch my entire body and crack as many bones as I can. Heading into the house, voices are coming from the kitchen area. I quietly make my way towards the stairs and begin my climb up when I hear my Dad.
“Gage, you know we have ultra-hearing, yah? Come here.” Dad says from the kitchen. Anxiety picks up as I walk into that room and see both my parents sitting at the table drinking a cup of coffee. Walking over to the coffee pot, I stall for time by pouring a cup for myself, “Anyone need a refill?” while holding up the pot for a visual. They respond by shaking their heads no. slowly walking over to the fridge and pulling out creamer, I add it to my cup, stirring it so slowly.
Irritation coats my Dad’s voice, “Son, stop stalling and get over here.” Putting my head down in anticipation of what is to come, I sit down at the table with my parents. Dad takes a sip of his coffee and looks at me with concern, “You spent little to no time with any of the Clan women. You have responsibilities now that you’re a man. You have to make a decision within the next couple of months.” He looks at Mom for reassurance.
Irritation sparks within and I try to squash it down, “Dad, all due respect to my upcoming position with the Clan, I have no interest in a Clan woman. They are all so meek and compliant,” I toss my hands up in irritation, “I need someone who will challenge me to be a better man, a better leader.”
Dad’s face turns a slight red with anger, “It’s that human girl, isn’t it? That you wer
e fighting with at the party?” when I didn’t answer him quick enough, he slammed his palm on the table and stood up. “You cannot get involved with a human girl, Son. It will cause nothing but problems.” He is now pacing in the kitchen with blatant irritation. Mom is sipping her coffee and watching us silently.
Dad continues pacing, “furthermore, even though you are of age now, I am going to forbid that you have any further contact with her.”
I am infuriated, how can he forbid me from seeing Presley? “Forbid? I am 18, you can’t forbid me from seeing someone.” Standing up with force, the chair goes flying backwards and slams into the wall. I look at Mom and fling my hand towards my father, “Why is he doing this?” she shrugs and continues her drink.
Anger and frustration overwhelm me, and I lose all remaining portions of my self-control. I need to leave before I say something I regret. Grabbing my hoodie, I start to leave the kitchen and out the front door.
Chapter 8
Presley
Sunday 1 am
Thankfully, my Dad wasn’t home when I got here. There was a note on the fridge dry erase board that he had an emergency at a lighthouse, and he was going to be gone for a few days. Coast Guard Life he said. Well, if we didn’t have to move again anytime soon, I’m cool with that life.
In the distance, I swear I hear a wolf call out. Do we even have wolves in New Orleans? Maybe someone was watching a movie with the sound up to a deafening level. The howl sounded like the poor thing was in pain, just very mournful and full of sorrow. The sudden loud knocking on my front door startled me enough that I let out a little squeal.
Peeking through the peephole, I see Gage standing there. Looks like he is pissed about something. “Hey, Gage. Do you know what time it is?”