by Macy Farmer
Pulling out my credit card I said, “I have to go pay the bill.”
“I did already. And I returned your key.” Gently he pulled me into his arms. “Can we go home now?”
“Fine,” I said pulling away. Not wanting to touch him I grabbed my things. “I’ll meet you at the house.”
“You’re not going home?”
“Bradley,” I sighed, “I won’t be far behind you. I passed a Home Depot the other day. I need a few more things to finish up planting the flowers.”
“Okay.” I could tell he wasn’t okay with it but he knew he didn’t have a choice.
I let him hug me, I even hugged him back a little but when he went to kiss me, I turned away. My reaction hurt but he didn’t push me.
“Drive safe,” I said before leaving him standing there in the parking lot.
After stopping at the store I wasn’t eager to rush home so I drove around a bit. But then I decided there’s still plenty of time for yard work. Planting flowers had always been something my mom and I did together; I had forgotten how much I enjoyed it.
When I got home we had company, Jess and Colleen. I said hello to them and excused myself to get changed and put my hair up. As I returned to the living room I asked Colleen to come keep me company outside while I finished planting the rest of the flowers.
I didn’t even look at Bradley.
We talked about the flowers for a bit but Colleen couldn’t handle it. She had to know what was going on.
“Nat, are you and Brad getting a divorce?”
Her question threw me. “Not that I’m aware of. Did he do something today that I should know about?”
“Natalia…” Bradley said after he and Jess had discreetly joined us.
“Come on, Colleen, it’s time to go.” Jess took Colleen by the arm, pulling her to their truck. Without taking my eyes from the flowers, I said goodbye and hoped we’d see them soon.
I could tell he wanted to say something but was hesitant. I just ignored him and continued planting the flowers.
“Natalia, Margaret was here.” My heart started to race. “Jess and Colleen were here the entire time. She left right before you got home.”
“Great, so what did she want this time? You in our bed?” I’ve never been so rude to him, but I just couldn’t get over the fact that he went to her house, he is the reason she showed up.
“She wanted to know why I changed my cell number.” I looked up at him confused. Ignoring the look on my face he continued, “I told her to leave and made it very clear that I wasn’t interested.”
I grabbed my cell from the ground and looked at his number. It had already been changed. With my eyes narrowed I looked at him. If I had been talking to him I’d ask how he did it, but I’m not so I put my phone back down.
“Since you went shopping I thought it best to go and change my phone number so that she couldn’t call me anymore. I also made both our numbers private.” He started helping me by moving the heavy bags of dirt and wood chips around.
“When she didn’t do as I requested, Colleen tried to force her into leaving. I stopped her because I wanted to be sure that Margaret knew that I wanted her to leave. She made a few advances after Coll and Jess went into the house. Again I told her I wasn’t interested, that you are my soul mate, my true soul mate.” I could feel him staring at me. “She left after that.”
Still hurt by what he did last time, I could only thank him for what he did today, “Thanks for setting her straight. However I don’t think it’s over.”
“Neither do I, but I thought you should know.”
After putting the new soil around the flowers, I stood up to view them from a short distance. Satisfied, I nodded my head and started dumping the wood chips around the flowers.
“Why don’t you use your magic to do this?” He moved the bag to make it easier for me to scoop the chips out.
“I like gardening. It’s good for relieving stress.” Shrugging my shoulders I said, “What else is there to do?”
“I can think of one thing.” From the corner of my eye I saw his smile. My entire body reacted to it. I had to stop myself from jumping into his arms.
Doing my best to ignore him, I started to drag the bag of wood chips to the front yard. He chuckled as he took the bag from me.
“I love you, Natalia.”
Still hurt by his actions but unable to resist responding to his words… words that I longed to say and he longed to hear I whispered, “I love you, too, Bradley.” Then I continued with the flowers.
We finished the flowers in silence.
After cleaning up and putting things away I grabbed a change of clothes and headed towards the bathroom to get in the shower.
“Would you like some company?” he asked hopefully.
I looked at him for the second time since I’d been home, I tried to hide the hurt but my eyes deceived me as tears started to fill them. I was about to say no but he saved me the trouble,
“It’s too soon, I understand. How about I feed Seager? After you’re finished with your shower we can go get you something to eat at Lee’s?”
“Thanks,” I managed to say before shutting the bathroom door.
As I stood in the shower letting the hot water sooth my aching muscles I thought about going out to dinner alone with him. His eyes looked black, like he was hungry. Maybe I’ll suggest that he go out to feed while I whip up myself something to eat. But then I don’t like it when he goes alone; I worry.
After doing my hair and getting dressed, I went to talk Bradley into going hunting and leaving me behind. It’s amazing how I forget that he can feel my emotions. He’s learning how to read them too well.
Dave and Bill were waiting for him to go hunting with them. Not waiting for me to look at him, the moment I stepped into the living room, he took me in his arms. He lifted my face by placing his finger under my chin and said, “We won’t be far. Even though I don’t agree with this, I’ll respect your wishes. Will you please put your shield down so that I can hear you?”
Panicked, “Bradley…” I touched his chest and felt for his protection gems. He was wearing them. I ran into our room and put on mine. I heard him tell the guys he’d be right out.
“Natalia, don’t be frightened.” He grazed my cheek with the back of his hand, leaving a trail of warmth. It’s been too long since we’ve touched each other. “I can stay here with you, if you wish.”
I let my shield down, “No. I can tell you haven’t eaten in a while.” Unable to take my eyes from his, “You won’t be far?”
A smile of relief spread across his face, “Right out back, I won’t go further than our boundaries. I promise.” Hearing the word promise had me pulling away from him.
“No more promises. Please don’t go too far and don’t let Bill out of your sight.”
“I won’t. Natalia, I will get you to trust me again. I won’t ever break another promise I make to you, ever. Please give me the chance to prove it.”
Heartbroken I whispered, “Okay.”
“I promise I’ll be in hearing distance and back within two hours.” I was about to tell him no more promises but he tenderly placed his fingers over my lips, “May I kiss you?”
Forgetting I put my shield down I thought my answer, not on my lips. When I saw the hurt in his eyes I said, “Yes,” and lifted my lips to his.
He kissed my forehead, “I love you. I’ll be back shortly.”
A pain far worse than what I felt when I saw him kiss her squeezed my heart. I can’t hurt him like this, “I’m sorry, Bradley. I didn’t mean to hurt you, I do love you.”
Again he placed his fingers over my lips. The moment his fingers touched my lips electricity shocked through me making me jump. He smiled and slowly moved his eyes from my lips to gaze and grab hold of mine. “As long as you still love me I know that one day you’ll let me kiss you again.” He looked at me like he’d just realized he loved me. “I’ll wait all of eternity for you.” His smile softened me. I even f
elt my facial muscles relax a little. He chuckled. “I’ll be back within two hours.”
Dave waited patiently for us to come out. Bill on the other hand, you can tell he was a newborn. He had no patience. When we walked into the living room he looked at me like I was dinner. Bradley saw it too, letting out a low dominating growl. “Watch it, Bill. If your mouth ever goes near her again, I will kill you.” As if to second the notion, Dave stood next to Bradley, ready to fight.
I felt myself smiling at Dave. It’s his friendship -- no they’re more brothers than friends -- it’s how he respects my Bradley that I appreciated most. Bradley deserved to have a good, loyal friend or two. Dave is definitely one of them. It wasn’t until I heard Dave and Bradley laughing, that I realized they were watching me. Blushing I looked over at Bill. He was just staring at the floor.
Turning towards Bradley I said, “Have a good time and be safe.”
They all piled out of the front door. “Lock the door, Natalia.”
I did as he requested. I also put up a shield to protect us.
Not only did Bradley get his phone number changed, he also did a little food shopping. After eating and cleaning up I went to watch a movie. I couldn’t stop myself from checking the time. From the moment he shut the door until now I kept an eye on the time. For some strange reason even though I knew he was hunting, if he breaks his promise it’s going to hurt. He’s been gone for a little over an hour. I tried to concentrate on watching a ‘Friends’ repeat. I flipped between that and ‘NCIS.’
I started to worry after an hour and thirty minutes had passed. Fortunately five minutes later they walked in the front door. The black stars that surrounded his pupils were now a yellow gold. They looked even better. The yellow gold was mesmerizing surrounded by the bluish green of his eye color. Before they fed, Dave’s eyes were brown and Bill’s a sky blue, they’re almost red now. Actually they’re quite scary looking. Within an hour they shouldn’t be as red. The first time I noticed their eyes being red I asked Bradley about it. He thinks it’s because they were bitten. Adding that they weren’t born vampires like he was.
“Nat, I’m sorry about the other day. I should have had better control.” When I looked at Bill he looked sincere, but I still didn’t trust him. Once Bradley took his rightful spot beside me I felt better, more secure.
“He thinks he bit you.”
“You didn’t bite me but you did scare me.”
The way Bill looked at me was frightful. “I know I did, I tasted you.”
Bradley growled in response his remark.
“I think you just imagined it. Where is it you think you bit me?”
“The inside of your left arm.”
I lifted my sleeve and showed him, from a distance, that there was no bite mark. “Bill, please don’t worry yourself, you didn’t bite me. I think you just tasted the blood from my head wound.” I lifted my hair to expose a cut big enough to cause severe bleeding.
“Natalia, you didn’t show me that.” Bradley was all over me wanting to clean it up.
“It’s fine. I just put it there.” I backed away from him and noticed that Bill seemed to like that we were still being distant. Even though I wasn’t ready for this, I felt it more important to send a message to Bill. “Well I don’t mean to be rude but I’m tired. I’m going to bed. Feel free to hang out with Bradley.” I hugged Dave goodbye and thanked him for stopping by. Turning toward Bill, I nodded and thanked him as well. Now it was time to send Bill the message. But before I could Bradley swept me up off my feet and laughed.
“I’ll be right back. I’m going to tuck my wife in.” He gently placed me in our bed. “When you kiss me, it’ll be because you trust me again, not because you’re sending a message to someone. Have only sweet dreams, my love.” Then he kissed my forehead.
“Thanks for keeping your promise,” I mentioned as he walked out the door. He turned and looked down at me, his smile said it all.
My shield slowly went up, blocking everything and everyone from my thoughts, especially Bradley. Although he kept his promise tonight, I wasn’t sure if I was ready to forgive him for what he did, or if I could trust him ever again, especially when it came to the Queen of Manipulation… Margaret.
Thoughts of just disappearing crossed my mind but I wasn’t sure where to go. I couldn’t go home, he’d check there.
No… until I can come up with a plan, I couldn’t go anywhere.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17