After a solid hour of watching Orange Is The New Black, we are interrupted by a loud knock. Natalie turns off the TV before jumping up and going to answer the front door. I awkwardly stay sitting for a second before deciding to follow her lead.
"Hey guys!" I hear her cheery voice greet.
"Hey Nat," two voices say at the same time, right as I turn the corner into the entryway.
When I do, I see two attractive guys in the doorway. One has blond hair, styled up in a quiff, and sparkling blue eyes. He literally looks like he could be a member of a boy band. The other guy has a bit more of a rugged look to him. With his dark brown hair and eyes, he looks dangerous. I have to hold in a giggle at how the two look like polar opposites.
"Hey Luna!" the blond one says, sending me a cute grin.
The brown haired guy sends him a glare and then elbows him in the stomach. Natalie's eyes widen and she looks over at me with worry.
Before anyone can say anything, I speak up. "Um, my name's Brynlee. But you can call me Brynn."
The blond clears his throat before grinning again. "Sorry 'bout that, Brynn. I'm Noah!" he holds out his hand.
I send him a smile in return as I take a few steps forward and shake his hand. I notice the other guy holding out his hand too, so I move towards him as well.
"I'm Garrett," he says in a deep voice, as we shake.
"Nice to meet you two," I say, retreating back a few feet to stand by Natalie.
"Okay, okay, enough with the introductions, let's go!" she says, excitedly. Just one look at her cute outfit tells me that Natalie's favorite hobby is shopping. "Do you have his card?"
"Yep," Noah replies, reaching into his back pocket and pulling out a gold credit card.
"Sweet!" Natalie grabs the card out of his grasp and then loops her arm around one of mine before pulling me passed the boys and through the front door. "Let's go!" she repeats when Noah and Garrett don't immediately follow us.
There is a black SUV parked outside. Its dark tinted windows remind me of FBI vehicles in television shows. Natalie opens one of the back doors and motions for me to get in. I slide across the back seat and she hops in beside me. Garrett gets in the drivers seat and once Noah is in, he starts the car and hits the gas.
As we drive, I discreetly watch our surroundings, trying get used to the area, so I can figure out how to get out of here in the future. I don't know how good of an idea it will be to try to escape while at the mall. With three people watching me, I don't think that it is going to be possible. Plus, it would be smarter to gain their trust and escape later, once their guards are down. I smile silently, content with my plan. For now, I'll try my best to act comfortable around these people.
"Why do you look so excited, Nat?" Garrett's voice cuts me out of my thoughts.
I look over at Natalie and see her practically jumping up and down in her seat.
"Cause we're going shopping!" Natalie says excitedly. "And you guys know how much I love shopping!"
Both boys laugh at her words. "Trust me, we know. Asher doesn't shut up about how much money you waste on shoes," Garrett replies.
I smile at his words. It's unnatural how comfortable I feel around these people, like they are literally so similar to my friends back home. I shake the thought from my mind quickly, not wanting to get emotional right now.
"But the real question is: did the Alpha even give you permission to buy stuff? I thought this trip was for Brynn," Noah says, turning around in his seat to look back at us.
Natalie is about to respond, but I cut her off. "Why does everyone call Braxton 'Alpha'?"
It's silent in the car as everyone mulls over my question. Then, Natalie speaks up. "Okay, so, you know how he's like super controlling and demanding and stuff?"
"Yeah," I nod; I've definitely noticed that.
"Well, he's also a really good leader. And those qualities are those of an Alpha male, you know?" Natalie continues,
"Uh huh," I reply, starting to see where this is going.
"So, yeah, we say it more sarcastically than anything. But calling him 'Alpha' is kind of like a really long running inside joke we all have," she explains.
"Okay. I guess that makes sense," I say. I still think it's weird that Nathaniel, who is a grown man, called him that. Not to mention, Noah just referred to him as 'Alpha,' even though Braxton is nowhere in sight.
"Cool," Natalie says before quickly changing the subject. "Anyways, Noah, I'm sure that Braxton could care less if I spend his money as long as Brynn just flashes him some puppy eyes. He'll be all over her in no time and completely forget about the cash I spent! And you've got my back right, Brynn?"
I laugh at her reasoning. "Sure," I tell her.
Natalie grins at me before holding up a fist. I bump it with my own as the car comes to a stop. I glance out the window to see that we're in a parking lot. It's small, with only about twenty other cars already parked. Garrett and Noah hop out quickly, and Natalie and I soon follow suit.
It's a pretty tiny building, completely different from the mall that we have at home. There are only four stores that I can see, none of which have a familiar name.
"Where do you want to go first?" Natalie asks me.
I glance at the stores again and shrug. "I have no idea. You can pick," I tell her.
Natalie grins widely. "Sweet! Follow me!"
She drags me towards the mall and I have to speed walk in order to keep up with her.
"Hold on a second," Garrett says as he and Noah suddenly appear in front of us.
"What?" Natalie groans, folding her arms over her chest.
"We're hungry," Noah states.
"So?" Natalie asks. "Why does that concern us? Go eat."
Garrett rolled his eyes. "Our orders are to watch and protect the L- Brynn. And in order to do that, you two need to stay by us."
I furrow my eyebrows. "What on earth would you need to protect me from?" I question.
Garrett sighs. "We can't tell you that right now. Just know that you are very important to Braxton, and there are a lot of people who want to hurt you in order to hurt him."
"So you guys are like my baby sitters?" I ask.
Noah laughs. "I guess you could look at it that way."
"Why on earth would you want to spend your day watching me?" It doesn't make sense; I'm not the most exciting person ever.
"First of all, you're not half bad, Brynn," Noah says with a grin and I can help but smile and blush a tiny bit.
"Second," Garrett starts, "It's an honor to be assigned to protect you."
I can't help but laugh at the way that they finish each other's ideas. "Thanks, I guess."
"So, pizza?" Noah asks, pointing over towards a restaurant near some of the shops.
"Okay," Natalie says, clearly not super happy about it. "Then, we are shopping, okay?"
"Deal," Garrett and Noah say at the same time.
Natalie and I follow the boys into the pizza shop, and get a table while they order us some food. I'm watching the two until I noticed Natalie's annoyed expression.
"What's up?" I ask her, leaning back in the booth.
"This is going to take forever. Braxton wants you back in a few hours, and this is cutting into out shopping time!"
I laugh. "Eating doesn't take very long, Nat."
The blonde sighs, resting her arms on the table. "For normal people, yeah, but Noah and Garrett? They eat so much food, it's ridiculous."
"I'm sure that they don't eat-" I'm cut off by the boys getting back to the table.
Natalie and I chose to share a small pepperoni pizza, which Garrett sets down in between us. But then I see that Natalie isn't wrong. Both of the boys have their own medium pizza, with plenty of meaty topping. I make eye contact with Natalie and raise my eyebrows.
"I told you," she mumbles, before digging in.
~*~
Picture above is Tristan Evans, who plays Noah.
So we met Noah and Garrett in this chapter, but overall, nothing major happened. But I promise that there will be some action in the next part! Thanks for reading! Vote and comment!
-Nina