Wolf Bound

Chapter 38: Gratitude Pt. 2

"Happy birthday, Genesis," he said.

"Thank you," I said, adding teasingly, "hmm, where's my present?"

"Your present is anything you want."

I stopped. "Anything I want?"

"Yep."

"You're serious?" I was only kidding.

He nodded and inched towards the cot but I held out my arm to stop him.

"Wait!" I yelled. He paused. I tore the quilt off the cot and doubled it on the floor. "Now sit."

"Really? Back to the floor?" He lifted an eyebrow, amused.

"What? Can't break tradition so soon!" I lowered myself to the quilt, patting the open space beside me. This felt like his birthday all over again. "Sit with me."

"I suppose not." He laughed. Nonetheless, he joined me on the floor.

My chest fluttered. "Vincent, you said for my birthday, I can have anything I want, right?"

"Yes. I did."

"Well, I want more of that."

"Huh?" He frowned.

"Your laugh. And your smile. I like both of them a lot. Maybe a little too much," I whispered. I must have caught him off guard because he choked and pounded his chest. A bright shade of red crept up the back of his neck, then colored his cheeks. He set the cupcake aside so as to not let it fall. I swiped some of the frosting from the top, licking my finger. When he finally sobered, I nudged his arm as though he hadn't just been choking because of me.

"Did you bring napkins?"

"Damn you," he muttered, covering his face. "Check the bag." I snorted and crawled to the bag a few feet away. As long as I looked, I didn't see any napkins.

"I don't see any."

"Just dump the bag," said Vincent.

I did so with no complaints. Our cloaks hit the floor followed by a few other items, including his wallet. His wallet landed upside down. A few cards slid across the floor, and a small silver packet. Shit. I tried to properly store everything back into his wallet. The cards went first. Then, the packet. However, I paused when I noticed the front of the packet. My breath hitched.

"So, uh"—I cleared my throat awkwardly—"do you always casually carry around condoms?"

"What?" The bewildered state of Vincent's voice caused me to look at him.

"Condoms." I lifted the small packet. His eyes widened.

"That asshole!" Vincent hissed. "Shit, don't mind that. I'm sorry. I spoke with Claudia and Bennett before I left, so they'd know I'd be gone. Bennett is a jackass." I didn't know whether to be baffled or amused that Bennett assumed something was going to happen here. It made one thing clear though. Bennett, Mariah, Dylan, and whoever else, knew about Vincent and I. I threw my head back and laughed—my amusement won in the end.

"For the love of the Moon Goddess." Vincent forced his fingers through his curls and groaned. "I'm sorry about that. I didn't. . . I wasn't. . . I hope you know. . . Fuck," he rambled.

After slipping the condom back into his wallet, I crawled back onto the quilt.

"I know." I silenced him with another kiss.

Once again, I thought: Would it be so bad if I stayed?

"Eat your cupcake," he mumbled, his eyes on my lips.