In Between Two Alphas

Chapter 15

“Weak,” he muttered in between fake coughs.

“I’ll show you weak,” I said, narrowing my eyes at him.

“You are showing me weak,” he told me, his voice full of humor.

“Whatever,” I snapped, and walked to the bed without him.

I heard him chuckle lowly, before he followed after me.

I woke up Sunday morning feeling well rested. The night before I’d gone to bed early and it had paid off. When I opened my eyes, I found Layton staring at me with an expression I couldn’t describe. I waited for him to explain why he was awake, staring at me, with a weird look.

“You look really innocent when you’re sleeping.” Layton caressed my cheek with the outside of his hand. It felt strange to have him act like that. He wasn’t usually sweet or anything like it, and I didn’t know how to react.

“Are my mom and dad here?”

Layton reluctantly moved away from me so that I could sit up.

“Yeah, they’re here. They haven’t woken up yet.”

He was still looking at me funny.

“I’m gonna shower. You can leave if you want. They aren’t working today so they’ll be coming into my room soon enough.”

I grabbed a pair of jean shorts and a nice dark green tank top. My eyes were emerald green, and my mom usually convinced me to buy clothes that matched my eyes. It was something crazy about her, but I had to admit it gave us good times.

“Maybe I should stick around and meet them,” Layton muttered.

My heightened hearing allow me to catch every single word of his comment. I turned to face him, hoping he was joking.  

He wasn’t. His face was serious and he was looking at me expectantly.

“You can’t just stay here and go downstairs. They’ll know you slept over,” I told him, high fiving myself for my brilliant excuse.

“I could come back later,” Layton said, shrugging.

“Today… just isn’t a good day. I’m going to be busy all day and I haven’t seen my parents too much lately. Since we moved, they work most of the day and hardly have any free time.” I lowered my voice and might have even pouted.

I was trying to play any card I had to keep him from meeting my parents. Having them know Zev, who was my friend, was one thing. But having Layton meet them was something else. I didn’t know what to call him, and I wasn’t sure what our relationship was.

Was he my friend? Was he more than that?  

“Okay. I could come over to meet them next weekend then. And while we’re at it, I could take you home to meet my parents,” Layton suggested, but there was an affirmation in his tone.

“Yeah, another time sounds great,” I said, leaving the date open for discussion.

Layton nodded at me and closed the distance between us. Right after he wrapped his arms around my waist, his lips came down on mine. When I noticed he started getting more into the kiss, I lightly pushed him away.

“I need to shower,” I said, and held up my clothes.

When I got out of the shower, Layton was already gone.

I was downstairs having cereal when my parents showed up. Since they had been out all week, my mom and I spent most of the day doing house cleaning, while my dad worked on the yard.