Chapter Three | Fretful Four
"What a great idea it was for us to watch a movie that the two of you aren't even watching. The amount of genius is just amazing." I quip sarcastically as I bring both of my hands together to give the two women on the far end of the light grey C-shaped couch a thunderous round of applause.
Kaylee and Archer — Kaylee's mate and the very woman whom my twin sister used to dislike greatly but miraculously came to love due to the pull of the mate bond — glance over at me with irritation written all over their faces. Kaylee simply rolls her eyes at me and cuddles deeper into Archer's embrace while Archer gives me a smirk and blesses me with the presence of her middle finger.
They resume their cuddle, flirt, and kissing sesh which was disturbing to watch to say the least. It would've been equally weird to witness my sister snog another person right in front of me as it would be to see her kiss her pillow; I have had the misfortune of seeing both things and I would surely need to seek a therapist soon because of the traumatic experience.
I just didn't understand the fucking point of bringing me down here to watch 'the greatest movie of all time' if they were planning to force me to do so with gross sounds of love in the background. I could've been spending my time watching reruns of Judge Judy or reading heinous murder cases. That would've been a thousand times much more interesting than what I was currently doing and I actually enjoyed doing that.
Instead, I was here in this relatively dark room with two horny females who were whispering the grossest things to each other. If it was possible to bleach my mind, I would gladly do so. I would pay to actually.
Without being able to help it, my eyes began to wander around and I was able to fully take in this new movie/screening room that was larger than life itself — at least, larger than my life. There was dark brown wood flooring that enveloped the circumference of the room itself, and a large light grey C-shaped couch that I currently sat on and felt like falling sleeping on because it was that comfy.
Within the center of the C-shaped couch is a fire pit that was currently in use as wood is being burnt which created a good sized fire and allowed for their to be considerable warmth that engulfed my entire being. On top of the fire pit was an industrial looking air vent that helped regulate the gas that was in constant production and matched the overall aesthetic of the room.
Scattered around the couch are light and dark grey throw pillows that match the common theme of the room with the walls being a neutral grey and their being an accented rich brown wall that matched the deep brown color on the floor.
To my immediate right side, you can see a spiral staircase with the illusion of floating stairs due to its intricate design and silver railings that had expensive glass lining the entirety of the staircase. The stairs were the exact same brown as the floors as well as the accent wall, well actually, it was a bit darker but it still looked the same to me.
The biggest thing inside this room, and most grand part as well as what was probably the most expensive thing is this massive television in front of me. It took up the entire wall and it was clear as day that there was a built in speaker as you could hear the vibrations of the actors speaking to one another throughout the room.
The lights were built into the ceiling and scattered everywhere, although they were currently dim right now and providing a scarce amount of lighting inside the room. It wasn't dark enough to conceal the fact that Archer was pressing her lips against Kaylee's neck and my sister — I gagged — was fully enjoying it, but it was dark enough to get the full movie experience.
I won't even get into what lies beyond the main part of this room as there was a whole bar a few feet away, followed by an entire section for popcorn and snacks. There was much more that I thought was extra as hell but, again, what did I expect from May, my mother, Kaylee, and Hazel who were in control of the massive renovations that have been done to the Blue Moon Pack.
Although, I have a feeling that Xavier had a lot to do with this new addition. The guy would hole his ass in the old movie room for hours instead of doing his homework back in high school. I swear he was an airhead because he consumed more bullshit on a TV screen then intellectual shit from books. I snickered to myself. Fucking idiot.
Speak of the devil.
The pungent smell of the six foot five giant that is Xavier Shiftman wafts up my nose before I can comprehend what's happening, followed by footsteps rapidly descending downwards and I arch my neck just a little to see Xavier, Aiden, and Gnashton's faces for the first time in three years. Xavier is at the bottom of the staircase with his eyes blown wide and at the top of the staircase is Gnashton and Aiden who look equally surprised to see me but Xavier's face is way more comical.
"I fucking knew it." Xavier whispers to himself.
With the widest white smile blossoming onto his healthy tanned skin, the muscles on his arm simultaneously contracting, and his legs moving much faster than what my brain was able to register as it all happened way too quick, Xavier dashes over to me and before I can fully stand up to ward off the impending attack I fall back onto the couch as the larger man envelops me in a hug that was actually capable of breaking my bones.
His large arms that are composed of nothing but muscle and his sleeves that are decorated endlessly with tattoos that trickle up his neck and embrace his right pectus never once falter even for a second. The fact that he was far taller than I was was a pain in the fucking neck, literally and figuratively. My neck was aching due to the fact that his ogre height meant that my neck was forced to crane upwards which gave me the delightful view of the damn cieling.
I could smell nothing but whatever he used to shampoo his hair with which smelled vaguely similar to cinnamon and the outdoors as his black hair occasionally tickled my noise. The desire to shove his ass off of me was silenced by the fact that I missed him way more than I expected. I missed all of them but if I ever actually said that shit to them I would never be able to live it down so I settled for allowing a smile to graze my lips as I was trying my best to hide it.
The idiot finally releases me as he stands back up but still keeps his eyes on me. It looked like he still thought that my presence in itself was a dream and that made me chuckle a bit. I didn't have much time to make fun of him despite the fact that my throat was bubbling with a witty remark that would surely wipe the smile off his face and in its place allow for an exasperated expression to blossom — oh, how nice that would've been — before I saw Aiden and Gnashton begin to walk closer to us.
"Woah." Aiden whispered under his breath.
Xavier whips his head around to look at the shocked pair. "I fucking told you! I told you I smelt Jaylin!"
"Well fuck me." Aiden says in the same hushed tone, incredulously.
"No thanks, I'll have to pass on that one but thanks for the offer." I give him a charming smile.
Aiden manages to roll his eyes at my smart comment through the shock and walks up to me even faster as he smiles again whilst shoving Xavier out of his way.
The caramel skinned boy with bright green eyes that are a replica of his three quadruplet siblings, and tight brown curls atop his head with his heart shaped lips pulled into a bright smile revealing his white teeth, raises his hand for me to dap him up. I do so gleefully as a smile that matches his graces my face and I laugh heartily when he firmly pulls me up to embrace me in a hug that was much more relaxed than Xavier's but still equally conveyed just how much he missed me.
"I thought you were going insane, Xavier." Aiden confessed, pulling away from me to take a seat on my left side.
I fall back onto the couch just as Gnashton comes up and simply raises his right arm with his hand clenched into a fist. I lift my clenched left hand to connect our fists together in a side fist bump.
Unlike the other two guys, Gnashton is drastically less expressive but that didn't mean that the violent bastard didn't miss me, it just meant that he was too 'good' to show it. The smile on Gnashton's face revealed exactly how he felt. Only Nicklaus, his mate, received even an ounce of affection from the cold hearted man that I had the misfortune of calling my friend. Not like I wanted to be shown any affection anyways, I am perfectly content without it whether it was coming from my friends...or a certain someone.
It's when Xavier and Gnashton have taken their individual seats leaving Aiden by my side as the other two opted to lounge on different parts of the C-shaped couch that I realized that Kaylee and Archer had left, the movie had ended, and the lights were back on. I guess I was too focused on these three oafs that I didn't notice any of that happening, but I was fairly grateful for these guys appearance for two reasons.
One, I missed them — barf, even saying it in my own head makes me cringe and want to throw myself out of a fucking window because I wasn't a sappy person by any means. And two, I have the luxury of no longer being forced to see my sister and her reckless, fight-a-holic mate kiss and hump each other like they were sex starved. Ew.
"Why didn't you tell us that you were coming back?" Aiden asks, giving me his full attention as he reclined on the couch which gave everyone a full view of his provocative black shirt that had the silhouette of a woman's ass. He paired his shirt with black jeans that had rips in them at the knees followed by his beat up black old skool vans.
I shrug. "I didn't think it was that important."
Aiden and Xavier wear the same 'what the fuck,' expression on their face, meanwhile Gnashton looked like he wasn't surprised to hear me say that; he probably wasn't surprised.
"You didn't think that it was important? You're fucking kidding." Xavier deadpans.
I didn't know what to say. I didn't really think that it was that big of a deal, I understand that I hadn't seen them in three years but I didn't think that it warranted a big announcement beforehand nor did I want any kind of celebration to mark my arrival back. Knowing the kind of people that I have around me, especially the women in my life, I was fully of aware of what would happen had I announced that I was coming back.
The pack house would've been on full welcome-back-party-mode and instead of coming back to the relaxed environment that I came back home to, I would be seeing a massive 'welcome home' banner outside of the house and inside it would be much worse.
There would be a large cake — I didn't like cake — and decorations everywhere with music drifting into every corner of every wall. There would be a party with food and everyone in the pack, even the people I didn't actually fuck with, wanting to hug and smother me with love and their 'I missed you,' even though half of them probably wouldn't have even recognized that I had been gone in the first place.
The only part of the entire ensemble that would be remotely bearable is the fact that I'd actually be seeing the people I love again but that could easily be done without a grandiose celebration to mark my return like I was the queen of fucking England. I know that it would be coming from a good place but I didn't want it.
Alongside the fictional but very much realistic scenario was the prospect of Xander being informed as well and that would make everything worse. If the entire pack knew that I was coming back, Xander would too and that meant that he would be looking for me.
Despite the fact that I'm aware that he will inevitably find out, I didn't want it to happen so soon. I mentally prepared myself for three years but as soon as I stepped through those two large entrance doors that were way fancier than needed, a tsunami of anxiety began to slowly wash over me and the desire to leave crept up again.
I don't feel ready to see him again.