Hunting the Fairy Tale

Chapter 28 - Fun in a Ball Pit

Hunter

Frankie is growing antsy in the baby chair set up on the short end of the table, placing him between Willow and me. It's convenient, allowing both of us to take care of him.

My brother has been enjoying himself, happily eating the bite-sized pieces we intermittently put on his plate. He's had enough now.

At first, he made some plaster pictures with the remainder of his food, but now he is doing his best to escape from captivity. I pull him from the seat, taking him into my lap. He isn't entirely happy with his new seat either, he clearly wants to do something more fun than mess around with my food. I'm about to get up to take him to the play area when Willow pushes her chair back and stands up.

"I'll take him," she offers.

"It's okay, you can eat-"

"I've had enough for now. Let me take him to the play area."

"Admit it, Prissy, you just want to play in the ball pit," Tanner teases and laughs when Willow bites her lower lip, grinning like a little kid.

"Am I allowed to?" she asks, nearly killing me with the sweet way in which she's peeking at Tanner.

Come on! Show some mercy, please!

I don't know if she means it or not, but it's enough to convince me to let her take my brother and leave the table. Mainly, I just want her the hell away from Tanner.

I follow her with my eyes when she weaves through people and chairs to reach the entrance to the play area. Most of my so-called friends are giving me speculative looks when I stop staring after her. I can tell that they are going to be annoying.

"What?" I demand, glaring when they all put on innocent wide-eyed expressions, shaking their heads as if they hadn't been watching me, watch Willow. I ignore them, paying attention to my food instead. I wolf it down despite having no appetite at all tonight.

I look up when Paisley lightly kicks at my feet. "You should just go for it, Hunny, if that's what you want," she smiles. She's not teasing me. She should just tease me; I can handle being teased. I don't like her looking at me all seriously, saying stupid things. She said a lot of stupid things over the phone last night too.

"Go for what?" I feign ignorance, looking away guiltily when she clicks her tongue at me.

"Well, you know you can cry on my shoulder when you regret losing your chance," she states simply, nodding toward the play area.

Forgetting that I'm playing ignorant and am trying to ignore her, I swivel my eyes to see what she's trying to tell me and my heart jolts in my chest. Declan has joined Willow in the ball pit.

He's encouraging Frankie to help him pile balls on her head. The little boy is shrieking with joy and Willow is docilely allowing the playful abuse, until she suddenly turns him against Declan. Now he is the target and not just hers and Frankie's, but some of the other small children's as well.

I can feel my nostrils flaring; I'm suddenly finding it very difficult to breathe. I didn't expect to feel like this. I clench my teeth and swallow my emotions down. This is good, this is really good.

Yesterday, I told Dex how great I thought it would be if he managed to win her trust and become friends with her and I'd meant it. One stupid kiss changed nothing. Earlier today, I reminded him of my request.

He's the perfect person to help her feel more at home. He has that effect on people. He'd been keeping his distance, partially because he had a lot on his mind, but mainly because I'd asked all the guys to give Willow some space to settle in. I didn't really include him in that request, though. I was actually only speaking to Tanner and the guys outside of the clan. She needs someone like Dex... and Jake and Ash.