Wolf (A Little Red Riding Hood Retelling) (Brother's best friend romance)

by J. A. Wynters

  Hunter pauses the game and looks at me with a quirked eyebrow, “What’s up with you tonight, you’re all twitchy.”

  “My mum is being all up my grill about uni.”

  “Since when does she give a shit?”

  I give him a half shrug, “Plus, fucking Angela won’t get off my case.”

  Hunter bites down the edge of a smile, a futile attempt to keep his creeping grin at bay. “Fuck, she’s got it bad. Just put her out of her misery.”

  “I would, except I’m worried it’s not the only thing she’s got.”

  Hunter falls back laughing, “Oh come on Wolfy,” he mocks me, “Just give it to her, stick her with your big, fat–”

  “Fuck off,” I snap at him.

  Hunter doubles over, his laughter ripples through the house and I resist the urge to punch him. I can’t stand Angela. I wish she’d just get the hint and leave me alone, but she hasn’t and she won’t.

  “So, do you have anything to drink or what?”

  His breath comes in quick gasps, “You know where everything is.” Hunter’s laughter settles down, and he returns his attention back to his game. I don’t mind, it gives me something to do and get out from under Hunter’s watch. I know he notices more than he says, I keep telling him he should be a detective. But he has a thing for justice, and that doesn’t always happen when you do the right thing and follow the rules.

  I open the cupboard where Hunter used to hide bottles from his grandmother in case she confuses them for something else. Nothing there. The fridge is empty too.

  I slam it shut and swear at the white door, wondering who the fuck Red is out with, and where she might be, and why Hunter would even allow it. My stomach knots at the thought of another guy’s lips on her, any guy’s anything on her.

  I bristle and go back to the lounge where blood splatters across the TV screen as Hunter takes out another troupe of zombies.

  “You’re out of everything.”

  Hunter pauses the game again and sighs. “So, go get some.”

  “Why don’t you go?”

  “Cause I’m busy.” He signals toward the paused game.

  “With a game I brought over.”

  He shoots me a look and I know it was a low blow. I don’t care. I pull out my car keys and suddenly he’s far more interested.

  “You can stop by at Lacey’s.” I wink at him and notice how his body shifts at the mention of her name. He’s definitely been enjoying quality time with her on her knees, and I know she’s asked him to wait till they get to know each other before they go all the way. He’s hanging on by a very loose thread, and I just threw him a lifeline.

  He grips the back of his neck and sighs, “I need to wait for Red.”

  “I’ll wait.” I pretend like I don’t give a shit.

  “I don’t know how long she’ll be.”

  “Where the fuck did she go? Oxfordshire?”

  “Don’t be an idiot, she’s just gone to the movies down the road.”

  “And you didn’t give her a curfew?”

  “First of all, she’s fifteen, and anyway, you know Red, she’ll be home before ten.”

  I peek at my clock, half an hour to go. I shrug, “She’ll be here soon. You come back with beer, a smile, and all the details.”

  A salacious grin crosses his face. “You sure?”

  “How many of these opportunities do you think you’ll get out of me?”

  He grabs the dangling keys from my hand and runs upstairs. He’s down two minutes later with a washed face, a fresh shirt and enough cologne to drown six virgins.

  “If I swing by Lacey’s, I don’t know how long I’ll be.”

  I smirk, “Three extra minutes?”

  “Fuck you!”

  “No, go fuck Lacey, and bring me back some fucking beer.”

  He scoffs then bolts out the door like he’s been bitten by lightning.

  With Hunter gone, the house feels abandoned. When his grandmother was moved to the hospice two months ago the house lost some of its light.

  Red used to go visit almost every day, till her grandmother forgot her face and her name, and it cut her too deeply. I hated to see her cry. Her beautiful green eyes bloodshot and swollen, and her small body tense with anxiety.

  She’s accepted that she’s gone, but I still catch her looking out the window any time a car lingers for too long outside.

  The sound of a rumbling engine pulls me from my reverie, and I look out the window to see a beat-up Nissan. There is only one fucker I know that drives that car. Oliver Brown. That slick fucker. I can’t believe Hunter let Red go out with him.

  The car remains idle and I see two figures sitting in the front seats. The movement is bleary and it’s too dark to make anything out. My body twitches and knots, and my fists clench and tighten by my side.

  They don’t move, the sound of the engine drilling a hole into my brain. Images play in my mind, and I suddenly regret sending Hunter away with my car. I should be rinsing them away with alcohol and pretending all these feelings I have don’t exist.

  I tear my eyes away and I’m about to retreat from the window when I think I hear a faint scream. The truth is, it didn’t matter whether I did or not, I wasn’t going to wait for a second one—and maybe I was just looking for an excuse to get out there.

  I run outside and rush to the car where I rip the door open and grip Oliver by the shoulder. He’s on the ground before he has time to blink and my fist connects with his face. His nose exploded in a spewing fountain of blood. He shrieks like a stuck pig.

  It all happens so fast, and yet I’m moving in slow motion; sounds have fallen away, and my fists feel slow and heavy instead of lightning fast.

  “Wolf!” Red leaps at me, “Wolf!’ My name is like an insect flying around me, I’m just aware of its being there, but I flick it away.

  “Shaw!” My heart squeezes and her shrill cries stills my fists, “What the hell are you doing?”

  I look at her horrified face and follow her gaze, Olive’s pulverised face looks back at me, he’s whimpering as blood leaks from everywhere, his complexion ashen.

  “I heard you cry for help.”

  “I didn’t, I…” she looks at me—a strange, wonderous look—then shakes her head, “help me.”

  We reach for Oliver. He snatches his hand out of mine and tumbles upwards, swaying slightly off balance.

  “What the fuck is wrong with you, Wolf?” Oliver spits a mouth full of blood and staggers to his car, wiping a hand across his mouth, it comes back stained a dark red.

  Red follows him tentatively, “I’m so sorry Oli—”

  He shots Red a scathing look, “Yeah, whatever.”

  “Oli—”

  “Just stay away from me,” his eyes shoot to me before they flick back to Red, whose hands are folded like a protective barrier across herself. “Not like you were gonna let me do anything anyway.”

  My fists tighten and I suck in an agitated breath.

  He climbs into the car and throws her a final look, “Virgin.” He grates it out like it’s a swear word, and Red’s face twitches.

  He drives off with screeching tyres, and I make a mental note to pay him another visit later.

  When I turn around, Red is already halfway to the house.

  “Red,” I call after her, but she doubles her speed and ignores me. I catch up easily as we reach the front door, and I block her way, “Red?”

  “What the hell Wolf? You totally ruined my date.”

  “I thought you were in trouble,” I say again as her gaze drops to my hand where blood drips from my fingers and splashes silently on the floor.

  “You’re hurt.” It’s a mixture of anger and compassion.

  “It’s probably all his.”

  “Just… come on.” She takes my hand in hers, the touch is so gentle it sparks electricity under my skin. Sensations I have no right to feel.

  She leads me silently to the kitchen and holds my hand under the tap. Blood drips into
the basin and disappears along with her touch. I turn the water off and swivel around to find her sitting at the table with a bag of frozen peas.

  She gestures for me to sit down, and I do. She takes my hand in hers; it’s cold from the peas but oh so soft as she examines my hand. It’s swollen and sore, but the skin is intact.

  She takes the peas and places them over my knuckles.

  Our eyes collide. The brown flecks that swim inside her mesmerising green swirl around like my emotions.

  “Why did you do that?” Her voice is as soft as her touch and sends a shiver down my spine.

  “Like I said—”

  “—tell me the truth,” she doesn’t shout or scream, but her demand is silent and loud enough to rattle my insides.

  I tear a hand through my hair and exhale a long, anguished breath, “Because,” I shift on my chair, “the thought of someone else touching you makes me go a little insane.”

  She sucks in a sharp gasp and her eyes narrow, “It does?”

  “You have no idea what it does to me.” I let the peas drop from my hand and reach for hers. My frozen fingers seek her warmth.

  “You can’t say things like that if you don’t mean them,” she says in a shaky voice, her gaze drops to the ground.

  My fingers travel up along her arm, rounding her delicate shoulder and my knuckles lift her chin. She’s too fucking beautiful and innocent and young, but I can’t help it. “But I do.”

  “Shaw?”

  My heart squeezes as she uses my name, it drips with raw emotion and twists inside me. No one else uses my name. I don’t know if anyone ever remembers it.

  “I want you so badly it’s eating at me, but—”

  “—please don’t let there be a but, not yet.”

  My mouth falls open and her hand delicately, tentatively pushes my mussy locks out of my face, it lands on my neck and her cheeks flush with pink, and I’m done.

  I rip away from the chair, which smashes into the ground with a loud bang as my lips fuse around hers. She’s so fucking sweet and her lips are so fucking soft, and everything I’m doing is so fucking wrong, but I can’t help myself.

  My tongue sweeps by her lips and clashes with hers. Everything about her is so delicate and fragile, and I’m reminded that she’s still fifteen.

  I pull away from her, breathless and trail kisses down the length of her neck. I want her so badly it hurts.

  “Shaw,” the name falls from her lips on a shaky breath, “I’ve wanted this for so long,”

  “Me too.” I find her lips, take her sweet words and make them mine.

  I want to kiss her forever, to take her upstairs and make her mine in all the ways that I know I can. But she’s still too young, and I’m eighteen and I can’t. I wrench myself from her and look at her face. Flushed pink cheeks and eyes dilated by desire.

  “We need to stop.”

  She nods and her face drops. I lift her chin and graze my lips with hers, “I don’t want to Red, but we have to because if we don’t, I’ll take you upstairs and…”

  “I want you too,” she whispers and my breath falters as the words tumble from her mouth, and every nerve in my body comes alive. “I want you to be my first.”

  I swallow the lump in my throat, “You’re fifteen.”

  “My birthday is next month.” The heat of her breath whispers across my skin, and I feel it everywhere.

  “Then we’ll wait until your birthday and then…” It’s a choked response as my dick jerks against my pants, straining with the images that flood my mind.

  The sound of an engine ripples through the house, it idles outside for a few seconds before turning off. A car door slams outside. Our eyes lock for a split second, then Red slips from my touch and runs upstairs just as Hunter walks inside.

  “You got hungry?” he eyes the pea packet on the table, and his gaze flickers over me.

  I shrug and go over to the counter where he’s unloaded a six pack.

  “Lacey didn’t want you?”

  “Her parents were home.”

  “That’s never stopped you before.” I chuckle as I grab a beer and hide my massive erection behind the table. I gulp on the beer and try to fill my mind with anything other than how Red felt against me.

  “She was good for a quick blowie,” he chuckles and swipes his palms over his jeans, “Want to tell me what’s going on with you?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean you’re home alone with my sister and have a raging fucking hard on.”

  I grimace and try to cover up.

  “Don’t bother, if you want to cover that shit up wear looser jeans.”

  I jut out my chin and take another swig off my beer. He grabs his own, twists the cap off, chucks it into the sink then takes a long sip.

  “Look Wolf, you know you’re like a brother to me, and you know I appreciate everything you’ve ever done for us,” he gives me a long-pointed look, and I wait for the ‘but’.

  “I didn’t think the day would ever come when I had to tell you that Red is off limits.”

  “Hunter–”

  “Don’t bullshit me. I see the way the two of you look at each other, how every time she walks into a room you stop breathing, and any time in the last year that the two of you are together, you’re suddenly awkward and weird. Whatever you think you feel for her, don’t. She’s off the menu—permanently.”

  “We’re not awkward.” My hand tightens around the cold bottle in my hand.

  “If you can’t see how much she wants you, you’re as stupid as you are blind. But it doesn’t matter, because you will never touch a hair on my sister’s body. You will never kiss her or touch her or think about her in any way, shape, or form.”

  “Or else?”

  “Or else I will end you.” He says it with such finality that it’s hard not to laugh at his face.

  I know I could take him in a fight—I could break anyone—but Hunter has never threatened me before and has never really asked me for anything at all. I know deep down it’s not about violence for either of us. It will be the end of our friendship, and it will cut me in ways that would be hard to recover from. Having Hunter as my family has been the only thing that’s gotten me through the last few years. Every downward spiral, every painful moment, every time my parents never showed. Hunter was there.

  “What about what she wants?”

  “She’s fifteen, what the fuck does she know about what she wants? She only thinks she likes you cause you hang around here all the time and give her some attention.”

  “And yet she went out with Oliver fucking Brown tonight.”

  “And she’ll keep going out with other guys until you’re nothing but the man standing next to her brother on her wedding day.”

  He swings the beer back and sips again. Our eyes lock and his burn into mine till I nod once and he does the same—as if it’s settled, as if everything I feel for her, think about her, need from her can get erased with a few sentences and a pathetic threat.

  “Have you told her yet? About our plans?” I redirect the conversation and he knows he’s made himself clear.

  He shakes his head, “I figured I’ll tell her after her birthday.”

  Her birthday, fuck.

  “She needs to know.”

  “I said I’ll tell her.”

  “My mum is still happy to let her stay at the house.”

  “She’ll make up her own mind.”

  I nod, knowing neither of us knows what Red will do once she finds out. I sip my beer hoping the cold will freeze her taste on my lips forever.

  28

  Present Day

  Wolf

  The night already feels too long, and it’s only just begun. I sit on the chair like a rookie wondering why I agreed to fill in on this gig when I should be at home, pretending I’m not watching Red. I bat the thought away. knowing it was a bad idea to keep scratching that same raw wound that won’t let go, and look at the growing line of desperados wanting to get i
n.

  On the upside, I’d only have to be at the door for another couple hours. Once Hunter and Rob get here with the client, Rob can take over and I can sit inside and watch the rich prick drinking and treating everyone else like trash.

  If I’m being honest, I didn’t want to take this guy on. We have a long list of good clients that have been loyal and satisfied, and have made us more than comfortable with our retainers.

  This one just smelled off, like he was broken on the inside but tried to patch it up with too much silicone and makeup so no one would notice. But I deal with evil on a daily basis, I could smell it on him, so I don’t know why Hunter insisted we take this fucker on.

  I only agreed because I couldn’t spend another minute arguing with him, when all I wanted to do was think about Red and how being close to her makes me unnerved, excited, aggravated. How feeling her soft skin under my touch makes me want to run my lips over every inch of her body, to feel that smooth skin glide beneath my lips and tongue.

  Knowing she’s dating some other guy has me frazzled. I scan the crowd for a potential code twenty-two that could help ease some of my tension later on.

  I grind my teeth again as Dylan lets a few girls inside. They shriek and squeal like teenagers, but if you scrap their makeup off, they’ll probably age ten years in front of your eyes.

  They’re all the same; bottle blondes with tight dresses that should be at least one size bigger, stupid uncomfortable shoes that make their legs look longer in their too short skirts, and inflated, plastic lips covered with fuck me red lipstick that stains everything.

  The place starts filling up and music blares from inside. My gut churns with unease. Like I know a storm is coming but the sky is perfectly clear. I wipe my palms over my thighs and tap Dylan, we’ve filled out the quota of randoms and hopefuls, the only ones that will be allowed in from now on will be on the list.

  I hate that fucking list—like we’ve put a price tag on having fun and being human.

  They give me their names, and Dylan lets them in if I nod.

  It’s a perfect system, just not for anyone who gets left standing out in the cold.

  The girls in the line start hustling us—as they always do. They huff and puff and threaten to give me the best blow job in town if I let the red rope down and let them in. But I’m no fucking piggy, I’m the fucking Wolf and I’m already inside.