by Ellis Marie
Then, suddenly, a thunderous noise echoes around me. There’s shouting as people run down the stairs, their laughter bouncing off the tall walls around me. I spin around, trying to figure out which set of stairs they’re coming from.
Skidding into the room, the three boys don’t even seem to notice me as they fly to the kitchen with their eyes set on the fridge. I watch them as they all struggle to get into it first. I try to figure out if I know them or not. In a blink, all three of them freeze, their backs straightening as they slowly turn around. To face me.
They all seem to be a little younger than me, their faces haven’t completely lost the pubescent baby fat that everyone gets, and their bodies aren’t bulked out like the older boys, but they still stand tall and confident, smirks evident on their lips.
“And who might you be?” one of them asks, seeming to have forgotten about why they have come downstairs. “You look a little lost.”
I let out a nervous laugh as they begin to make their way over to me. Sure, they didn’t look very intimidating, but I couldn’t help but be a little afraid—there are three of them and only one of me.
“Well, I haven’t been given a proper tour yet,” I joke, taking a step back as they make their way forward with curious expressions watching me. My heart starts beating loudly.
The one that spoke before seems to be the most confident. He continues to move towards me, his eyes taking in everything from my head to toe.
“Maybe I can give you a tour.” He winks, throwing a look back to the other boys who hoot at his flirtatious words. “I think you’d grow to like me.”
The closer he gets, the more I realise how young he is. My nerves die down slightly; he couldn’t have been more than fifteen.
“Maybe, but I think it’s a bit past your bedtime,” I shoot back, making him halt. His friends now laugh at him and not with him, their yells making me chuckle a little.
“Ouch,” the boy says, seeming to recover from the embarrassment as he walks right up to me. His face is only a little distance from my own and I try to contain my laughter. “That hurts.”
His hair flops on to his forehead in a way that tells me there is zero product in it. His skin is littered with small freckles, but it’s his eyes that catch my attention the most. That and the familiar nose that sits in the middle of his face.
“Your eyes are really green,” I state, still trying to figure out why they look so familiar.
“Thanks.” He grins smugly. “You can just get lost in them, right?”
I barely pay attention to his words as my mind clicks into place and I gasp. “Do you have a sister?”
Immediately, the charming look drops from his face. He lets out a groan, stepping away from me. His friends laugh at his reaction, confirming my theory.
“Scarlette is your sister, isn’t she?” I ask, a grin breaking out. He rolls his eyes but nods, disappointment evident. “I’m her friend, Anna.”
As soon as I’ve said it, I want to punch myself. I don’t have to introduce myself like that anymore; I’m allowed to be called the name I actually liked. I am allowed to let Anna die.
“Well, Anna,” he says, sidling back up to me. I open my mouth to correct him, but his finger shushes me, pressing against my lips. I try not to laugh at the forced smoulder that he’s trying to produce. “My name is Lee, and how about we become friends?”
I giggle at his voice, trying not to hurt his feelings, but he seems to take it as encouragement and steps closer. His small frame is much shorter than my own, and I look down at him in amusement, trying not to laugh.
“I can be a pretty good friend, I’m very . . . friendly.”
“You’re going to be very dead in a minute if you don’t take your finger off her.”
In an instant, the entire atmosphere in the room disappears and is replaced by a serious one. The boys all straighten up and take at least two steps back from me with their eyes wide.
Trent walks into the room, barely paying attention to them as he makes his way over with a soft smile directed at me as he does. I can feel my toes wiggling when he reaches me, his arm going around my waist and pulling me into his side.
“Tom’s passed out, Kristie almost is too. I’ve set up a blanket and such for you through there as well,” he tells me. I melt at the sweetness of him.
He’s so thoughtful.
“Thank you.” I smile before motioning to the boys who are looking at us in confusion. “Lee and his friends were just introducing themselves.”
With the mention of his name, I seem to remind Trent that the boys are standing there and my attempts to play down what is happening previously completely fail, but he doesn’t look mad; he just looks amused.
“Oh, were they?” he asks with a raised eyebrow. They all nod quickly. “Well, that’s good. You guys better make Elle feel right at home.”
As soon as he says my name, their faces change from ones of confusion to ones of panic. Lee looks like he is about to pass out or run away, his skin turning a strange pale shade.
“Y-you said your name was Anna?”
I wince and shrug, embarrassment washing over me at how I’m meant to explain the two names. “I, uh . . . I recently started going by Elle,” I lie, clearing my throat. Trent’s hand squeezes my side in encouragement. “Apologies, it’s a bad habit.”
Lee shakes his head, stepping forward. is hands come up as if to tell me to stop. “No, there’s no need to apologise. I should be apologising. I didn’t mean to be disrespectful or anything, if I had known that it was you, then I would never have—”
Trent clears his throat and cuts off the boys erratic rambling with a wave of his hand, his unimpressed expression a stark contrast to his previous one. The boys all immediately shut up, their heads bowed low.
Am I missing something?
“Really, it’s fine,” I assure, stepping towards Lee who looks up at me with wide eyes as I take his hand in mine and shake it. “Lee, it’s nice to meet you. I’m Elle.”
It takes a second for him to respond, but when he does, his eyes flick to Trent first, almost for confirmation before he shakes it back, a small timid smile now visible.
“Nice to meet you,” he replies. “This is Jake and Rory.” The two boys behind him nod at me with smiles now gracing their faces. I smile warmly back, enjoying the relaxed feeling that moves through the room after that moment of tenseness.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you all.” I nod back before smirking and heading to the fridge. “Now, correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe you guys were about to make a 3AM snack?”
As I open the door, I’m amazed at the sheer volume of food that is inside. It’s as if the place has been catering for a school and not a house of boys.
Exactly how many people live here?
“I was kind of in the mood for grilled cheese sandwiches. What’s your thoughts?”
In an instant, the boys are moving around the kitchen, grabbing cutlery and plates from different cupboards as they eagerly agree to my idea and sit by the island, ready to watch me make them.
They’re extremely helpful by helping me find everything I need in a blink of an eye, and so I begin, making conversation with them as I do. I learn that they’re all actually fifteen and all live part-time in the house with the other boys. Apparently, when they’re sixteen, they’ll move in more permanently, but they don’t tell me why.
Throughout the entire cooking process, Trent barely says a word. He just stands at the side of the island with his arms folded and resting on the countertop as he watches me. I have to stop looking at him because when I do, I fumble and almost burn myself.
Much to everyone’s amusement.
The look he gives me is one I haven’t seen before.
Once the snacks are prepared, I dish them out to the three awaiting boys who grab them with enthusiasm and dig in, not caring about the temperature, it seems.
I pass Trent his, and he takes it with a grin and plants a kiss on my cheek, making m
e flustered and my insides feel as though they melt. I feel like the grilled cheese.
The three teenagers smirk at us. I quickly clear my throat, grabbing my own dish before turning back to Lee who is indulging in the melted goodness.
“So, Lee, where is Scarlette?” I ask, realising how long it has been since I’ve actually seen her, not since that day she dropped me off.
Lee smirks and swallows a bite of his food. “She was stupid and took on more than she could handle, so she’s recovering at Grandma’s.”
I frown at his answer and glance at Trent who isn’t paying attention to me and is instead glaring at Lee.
“What do you mean?”
Lee looks between Trent and me, his smirk dropping off his face when he notices his expression. I can visibly see his throat bob as he gulps down the bite.
“Um . . . she, uh . . . she got carried away with weightlifting and hurt her back.”
I give the boy a look that tells him I clearly don’t believe him, but he doesn’t make eye contact with me for long and quickly devours the rest of his food. He stands up with his mouth still full and brushes his hands on his trousers as his two friends follow suit.
“Thanks for the food!” he says through a mouthful of it, his cheeks packed to the brim. “We’re just gonna go upstairs now.”
They scamper off without another word, their dirty dishes left behind. I frown at their retreating forms as they escape up the stairs and out of sight.
That was weird.
I finish my own food without a word and reach forward, collecting the used plates in a pile but Trent is quickly beside me, taking them from me.
“You don’t have to clean up after them,” he says, placing them back down before looking at me. He raises his hand to cup the side of my cheek. “You deserve to be treated like a queen.”
I roll my eyes at his words while biting my lip. It’s a habit; my father never allowed mess. Or at least any mess that he hadn’t made.
“You also didn’t need to cook for them, they’re more than capable.”
His finger trails down my neck, setting fireworks across my skin before it heads down my arm and links with my fingers, his eyes not moving from my own.
“I don’t mind looking after people,” I reply timidly, not able to look in his eyes for very long. “I like caring for people.”
His free hand lifts my chin to look at him and his lips curve into a smile as he watches my mouth part with a breath.
“Let me take care of you.” His words are a whisper, a breath fanning across my cheeks, but I feel them, all the way down to my core; they rock me, and I know that he means it. He truly means it.
I don’t have words to respond. I can only stand and stare at him for a second before rising up and pressing my lips to his. My heart almost flies out of my throat as I do, my hands clutching his shirt when his own curl around my neck and hold me to him.
His lips are soft and gentle, a way of showing me how he cares, and I believe him. I believe every touch and every taste that he gives me without a second thought. I just let myself become wrapped up in him; I just feel him around me and allow myself to fall headfirst into the pit.
Goose bumps rise on my skin as his hand splays across my back, and the material of my top moves up, making flesh touch flesh. It causes a river of tingles to crash over me and shake my knees.
“Alpha.”
Trent pulls away with a growl, his body not moving further than an inch from me. When I open my eyes, I see Cole standing behind him at the doors with a hesitant but determined look on his face.
“Elle,” he greets. I smile, attempting to pull myself out of Trent’s hold, but he doesn’t budge, and I quickly give up.
“What?” Trent hisses, his eyes unopened. I glance nervously between the two of them.
“We need you down at the beach, there’s a couple—” His eyes shift to me. “Uninvited guests that don’t seem to be leaving anytime soon.”
Trent lets a sigh leave his lips and his jaw clenches, his eyes snapping open as he takes a step away from me, sending Cole a nod over his shoulder. The boy disappears back outside without another word.
“You should head to bed,” Trent informs me sternly, furrowing his brows, and it makes my own do the same.
“Do you want me to come with you?” I ask, he quickly shakes his head, grabbing both of my hands in his.
“No, mi vida, you stay here. We’ve dealt with them before,” he says, softly combing his hand through my hair before he lets out another breath and leans forward, pressing a kiss against my forehead that makes my stomach flop. “It won’t take long, I’ll see you in the morning.”
Without so much as waiting for me to respond, he turns and walks out the door, leaving me standing in the kitchen alone and wondering what has just happened.
***
I know as soon as I wake up that it’s far too early and I should go back to sleep, but for some reason, I can’t.
I slowly open my eyes, blinking away the fuzziness before I turn and glare at the person beside me who is snoring so loudly in my ear that it’s hard to even hear my own thoughts.
Tom.
I roll my eyes at his scrunched-up face as I watch drool slip from his lips. I quickly cover my mouth with my hand, trying not to laugh at the sight before me. A sleeping angel.
I roll over to my other side and want to groan when I see Kristie passed out too, her face scrunched up in the exact same way and the same noise echoing from her.
So much for more sleep.
I shake my head at the two of them while I carefully sit up, making sure not to wake them as I shuffle my way to the end of the bed. I’m grateful that the bed is big enough for me to manoeuvre an escape. In a few seconds, I’m standing back on the wooden floor, my legs a little shaky from the process.
After fixing the blanket over the two of them again and making sure they’ve both got water on either side of the bed, I walk over to the door, careful not to make a sound. I’m still in a bit of shock at how gorgeous the house is and the room we are in too. It’s a gorgeous plum colour with dark grey beddings that has swirls of colour over it that make it look like a tropical ocean. The dark wood around us brings it all together as if it had been designed by an interior home magazine. Plus, it’s big—big enough, in fact, to probably fit about ten more people in it, but it had just been us three. I hadn’t heard anything else in the house before I fell asleep.
Which kind of worried me.
Didn’t they come back?
I tiptoe out the bedroom door, slowly closing it behind me. When I’m standing in the foyer, I listen for the sound of other people, but there’s nothing. It’s silent.
Deciding to go somewhere that I know, in my attempts to not get lost, I follow the hallway back to the main part of the building. On my way, I can’t help but notice all the pictures and paintings on the walls. There’s not much lighting, but I can make out most things and they’re all so beautiful.
The one that really catches my attention is a large painting of a wolf, but as I look closer, I realise that the wolf itself is made up of other wolves like a mosaic—a very big one at that. It stands way taller than me, and I’m sure that if I stretch my arms out, I won’t be able to touch both sides.
It’s a masterpiece.
Trent definitely has a thing for wolves. The wolf itself is strange. It’s not that it looks strange or is abnormal, but it feels strange. Like it’s alive. When I look at it, the eyes don’t seem flat; they almost seem like they’re glowing.
And I’m most definitely still half asleep.
I rub my face and scoff at myself before I continue to the kitchen, rolling my eyes at my nervous laughter. It’s just a painting.
My feet hit the cold tile of the room and shivers run up my body as I look around, waiting to see someone, but there’s still only silence, as if no one else has arisen yet. I head to the coffee pot that’s sitting on the counter and start it up, eager to wake myself up properly and look
a little more presentable by the time I see someone else.
I glance at the clock on the oven and groan when I see the time.
7:18AM.
I haven’t even slept for very long.
My fingers twirl around the chain hanging from my neck as I stand and stare at the coffee, my mind drifting to last night and the kiss I shared with Trent.
Make that kisses.
The smile that flickers on to my lips is one that I can’t stop. My stomach flips a little at the memory, goose bumps rising on my skin. I shake them away, knocking myself out of the daze I’ve started to get trapped in.
It’s strange to be in Trent’s house and him not to be here. Better yet, it’s strange that no one is here, especially when it seems like so many people stayed here.
Maybe they’re just all asleep.
I pour the hot coffee into a mug that I find in one of the many cupboards. I wrap my cold hands around it, only now realising how cold it seems to be in the house. Outside, I can see the sun beginning to peek through the top of the hills, and I realise that it’s sunrise. It’s been a long time since I’ve gotten to sit and watch one of these.
Heading towards the back doors that I had watched Trent leave through a few hours before, I notice his jacket hanging from one of the chairs and quickly pull it on. For a moment, I’m concerned that it might belong to someone else, but as soon as the material envelopes my body, I relax, breathing in his aftershave that lingers.
The air hits me as soon as I step outside. I inhale the freshness of it, letting it run all over my body. I can’t control the grin that overtakes my face as I step onto the patio and pull up one of the lounge chairs while easing myself into it, careful not to spill my drink. The view is breathtaking.
The patio is like a balcony, which has stairs on either side leading down below where a beautiful archway stands at the edge of the grass. I can now see that there is a drop down to the rest of the greenery, which leads to the forest beyond that, but behind the line of forestry, standing high above it, is the mountains. Its stature is like a giant among men, towering over all of us and gracing us with their beauty. There’s a slight breeze rustling the trees and far off, I can hear the calls of birds waking up and bringing the earth to life, but at that moment, I think of nothing; I feel nothing but ease.