The Alpha's Pen

Chapter 41

    I sighed,  loudly. Not on purpose or to make it known, it just happened.

Adrian had amazing hearing, as did the rest of the pack. Obviously.

"What's wrong?" He stepped put of the bathroom, toothbrush dangling from his lips, a white towel dangling dangerously low on his hips.

I couldn't help but stare. My eyes traveled from his smooth chest down to his smooth abs- at least it seemed that way. I had never seen Adrian shirtless.  I've felt him shirtless. Laying beneath me when we slept, I've felt the scars that lay across his chest- a brief moment before pulling my hands away. I wasnt sure how he would feel about me touching them.

Beneath my (Adrian's) own shirt I sported my own secrets. Always hidden beneath fabric. I'd never shown Adrian or told him. Or anyone that wasn't already aware of their existence. I couldn't say why exactly. I trusted him, Adrian. I trusted Luke and Damine aswell. Maybe it had something to do with getting half naked or maybe it had something to do with the shame that dug itself deep beneath each one. I wasnt sure.

"Oh!" He realised his nakedness. "I'm sorry, I forgot. I can put on a shi-"

I shook my head. "No, it's fine." I almost forgot his question too. "I'm fine."

He remembered my words I'd told him days ago. That I didnt want to rush anything with him. That I'd have to take things slow because, well, he knew. And he agreed and understood. Now, worried I cared about him being shirtless in his own room? He may be overdoing his caution.  I suppressed a smile.

A few moments later he came back from the bathroom with basketball shorts on.

My eyes stayed on him. I watched the muscles in his back as he dried his hair. The soft light made it look like he were modeling for some fancy Magazine that used hot muscled men. I faintly seen the scars that laid on his back, just as faint as the ones in his torso. I swallowed hard. But I wanted to see more of them, up close, I wanted to touch them, to know the story behind them.

I didnt know when I decided to sit up from the bed and crawl to the end of it. Or when I decided to prop up on my knees, two feet away from him, and stare more intensely than before. I must've looked like a creep. If I did, Adrian didn't seem to care.

He turned around,  slowly. The corner of his mouth turned upward. "Yes?"

"Can I see them?" I asked. I felt like a child, bouncing up and down as if he had a new toy and I'm repeating "Can I see it? Can I see it?" Happy and giddy. But I wasn't happy and giddy. I was nervous and excited at the same time.

He must've known what I meant, because his smile dropped. He stared for a moment. A long moment. Awhile. I almost told him never mind, that it was stupid to ask, and to forget about it. But then he sighed- or sucked in a breath-and nodded, taking a step closer.

I could reach him now. He was so tall and I was so small that my face was perfectly lined with his torso, I sat on the bed still. First, I lifted myself slightly from my knees to stare at the ones on his chest. One stretched two inches on his collar bone. Another across his left bicep, five inches long. As it stretched across his flesh it got smaller in size, starting an inch or inch and a half thick until it grew smaller and smaller and disappeared at the five inch mark. Small ones scattered his other bicep and collar, some a centimeter long, some smaller, and some an inch. I lowered myself. On each rib were larger scars than the ones that scattered his left bicep, four, two, or three inches long and an inch or a half an inch wide. His washboard abs had scattered ones aswell. Various at size. Some three inches long and a centimeter wide. Others only centimeters. But they (the scattered ones) each laid in groups, side by side and spaced apart. Claws. You could hardly tell, since some are bigger and deeper than the others. The largest one he had was on almost eight inches long. It started from the start of his rips, under his left bicep. I brushed my fingertips against it. I felt him shiver as I did so. I glided my hand at an angle, following the scar. It didnt stop until it reached his side, on his ribs.