Red

Chapter Four

After bringing 7 boxes from the van to the backroom, I said bye to everybody and headed home for a well-deserved sleep. As soon as I made it home, I practically ran inside and flopped down on the couch and landed with a thud.

'Miss me that much Alana?' A smug voice asked me as I flopped down onto something hard. A leg to be exact. My whole body tensed up and I sprang up and off the couch. My breathing was irregular, coming out in short sharp pants. 'Calm down there love, I'm not that scary.' He said again.

'Tanner, one day I will murder you.' I cursed at him through gritted teeth. 'What are you doing here?' I asked impatiently but a small part of me was glad I wasn't left alone in the house. He chuckled at my tone of annoyance. My brother Blake was still at work, so he had no reason to be here.

'I got bored and thought I'd come chill with you and your boof-head of a brother when he gets home. That, and I ran out of food.' He said with a huge grin and nodded towards the coffee table. Sitting on the coffee table in a huge pile of mess was a can of coke; empty and knocked over, a plate with what looked like tomato sauce and bread crumbs, a bowl with white stuff in it (which I'm assuming to be yoghurt), a spoon and knife lying on the table and a half empty bag of chicken chips with half the contents lying on the coffee table.

'You owe us like $700 worth of food.' I muttered to myself but purposely loud enough for him to hear me. Being the pain he is, his grin spread even wider and he leant over and ruffled my hair making it frizz like an afro. 'You love me, so you secretly don't mind.' He winked at me and plopped back down on the couch.

'How the hell can you eat so much and not get fat?' I asked him, genuinely interested in how he can manage to keep a fit body like his but eat anything and everything. 'And most of it is crap. I mean, I get you work out and stuff but you should not be ripped and eat like you do.' I stated to him.

'You've checked me out?' He asked with a smug smirk playing on his lips. He not-so-subtly reached down to 'scratch' his stomach and 'accidently' lifted up the bottom of his shirt, exposing his toned lower torso. 'Oops,' he said innocently as I stared at him with a blank expression.

'That's what you got from what I said?' I asked in disbelief.

'You wanna touch my abs?' He asked with a small smile. 'I won't tell your brother.' He added in a whispered quietly with a cheeky wink. I scoffed at him which made him burst out laughing and lean over and pull me down onto the couch with him. 'I'm only teasing you kiddo,' He jokes ruffling my hair once again.'

'Gym twice a day and 3 out of 7 days in the week are 100% clean eating and cardio workout. The other 3 days I eat clean with one slack meal a day while doing cardio and weights and the last day of the week is free for all, but a harder workout to make up for the crap food I eat. Those are the days I just eat everything in sight.' He explained. 'Being a personal trainer and practically living at the gym to help clients or going to the beach to help you is one of my trainings since I always join in.

'You don't join in for my program. You just yell at me.' I stated with the tiniest bit of hurt in my voice, subtly hinting that he shouldn't yell as much at me. I didn't mind the yelling, but he makes me go deaf sometimes and it's plain annoying.

'Well, maybe I don't do yours because it's my day off work. And it's great fun sitting back once in a while.' He grinned with a cheeky glint in his eyes.

I didn't need to answer to him, so I slumped against his shoulder and turned my head to watch whatever crap he was watching before I came home. Tanner threw his arm over my shoulder and snuggled me into his side, before yelling at the umpire for all the bad calls they made in the game of footy.

By the time I got to bed that night, I was deaf in one ear from all of Tanners yelling. So really, I was tired and worn out. That night, I had one of the best sleeps I had ever had.

***

When I woke up the next morning, I went straight to the kitchen to settle down the hunger in my stomach. I was deep in thought while pouring my cereal and milk about yesterday's events, and I just couldn't make sense of any of it.

Werewolves can't exist. A person cannot go from a huge dog to a person and vice versa in mere seconds. I remember reading on the internet one day this fan-fiction about a werewolf but had to stop reading it about a chapter in to go to work, and I never resumed reading it.

I surprised myself for being this calm last night and tonight though. I saw with my own two eyes a wolf turn into human, and I think I'm just too confused about everything to let the panic set in again. But then again I didn't actually see him go from a wolf to a person. I just saw a wolf and ran away, and then a person behind me that had identical eyes as the wolf and growled like one. But hey, it could all just be a coincidence.

Bullshit, I coughed in my head and made myself chuckle.

'What's so funny Lani?' A sleepy Tanner walked into the kitchen, shirtless and in a pair of red trackie shorts he was wearing yesterday hanging lowly on his hips, and was rubbing his eyes.

'Just me, I'm a hilarious person believe it or not.' I said with a smile and scooped a mouthful of cereal into my mouth.

'A penny for your thoughts?' He said, his voice groggy from just waking up. I watched his back muscles flex as he reached up to grab a bowl from the shelf. As he made his way around the kitchen, he grabbed the yogurt from the fridge and about 5 different pieces of fruit.

'Were not American dumbass,' I said. 'You don't have a penny.' I scoffed in an amused way which caused him to chuckle.

'Then I'll be a mind reader, and read your mind,' He said while still chopping fruit with his back to me and I kept on gazing at his flexing muscles. 'And I think- no. I know you're thinking 'Dear Lord, isn't Tanner just the most amazing and ripped guy I have ever seen.'' He said and turned around and caught me red handed checking him out.

My cheeks flushed red and I looked down and shoved a mouthful of cereal into my mouth and told him in a not-so-polite way to shut up.