Sorry for the long wait, I've been crazy busy lately. I know these uploads don't come as often as my other story but I promise there's only three or four more chapters left of Rightfully His and then this story will be uploaded more often.
I've been thinking of changing the guy that's supposed to be James (Paige's mate) so if you have any ideas, please let me know by messaging or commenting. It would be a big help. I envision him with black hair, tan skin, and let's just say, very good looking (:
LostLilGurl, I tried my best to put your idea in there while fitting it to the story. I hope you enjoy the kitchen ;)
Thank you to everyone who votes and comments and fans even though I take forever and a day to upload. I really do apologize
(Sorry for any spelling/grammar mistakes)
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Chapter 16
Paige’s POV:
I stood, rooted to the spot, and watched as my mate continued to chat with his friends. A loud burst of laughter erupted from the group and reached my ears. I wondered idly which laugh belonged to him. The light, musical one? The loud, confident hoot? Perhaps the deep chuckle. My curiosity on what they were talking about spiked when two of the guys suddenly tumbled to the ground and started wrestling. Concern grew in me as one of the guys was slammed onto the grass while the other one remained on top of him, pinning him to the ground. In the next second, the guy on the ground had flipped over and thrown the other guy off of him. I watched, fascinated, as the two wrestled around before standing up to allow to different guys to have a go at it.
I leaned closer when the black haired god stepped forward to grapple with a sandy haired boy. The rest of the guys crowded around them and watched eagerly as sandy haired guy made the first move and lunged. I gasped as the two of them flew to the ground, landing hard on the floor. My wolf whined when the other guy landed a blow to my mate’s stomach causing me to wince. That, however, proved to be the only punch the sandy haired guy landed. Over the next few minutes, I watched as my mate proved himself to be quite a warrior. I almost felt bad for his opponent as he landed blow after blow, his movements quick and fluid. There was almost a gracefulness to the way he fought, like he knew exactly what he was going to do and was sure of himself. The two stood from their position on the floor after my mate successfully pinned the sandy haired boy to the ground for at least a minute. Good naturedly, they shook hands and slapped each other on the back in that man-hug thing guys do. What they did next, well that had my eyes widening in shock.
“Oh my.” I gasped, staring heatedly at my now shirtless mate.
He’d taken off his white shirt to reveal a tanned and toned body underneath. Even from my rather far distance I could see the muscles he had. He was muscular, but not in the overly muscular bodybuilder way. He had just enough muscle to suggest he spent a fair amount of time at the gym. My eyes widened even more when the rest of the guys followed suit and threw their shirts to the ground, none of them bothered by the fact that they were standing around half naked. Although, I will admit, I wasn’t exactly complaining.
A light breeze drifted through the air and I was once again slammed with his heavenly scent. He stiffened and cocked his head to the side, almost as if he were sniffing the air. I quickly ducked out of sight when he turned in my direction. Pressing my back to the wall, I remained out of sight and bit my lip. Had he seen me? My heart raced in my chest as I tried to steady my heartbeat. I didn’t want him to think I was weird or something for standing there like a complete idiot watching him and his friends. Now that I play it back, it does sound sort of creepy. Taking a deep breath, I carefully peeked around the wall and looked out the open window. He’d turned back to his friends but there was still a slight stiffening in his shoulders. I returned back to my original place and continued to watch him. As much as my wolf begged me to run to him, my nerves got the better of me so I kept still and remained invisible.
Voices caught my attention and I forced my eyes to look away from my deliciously handsome mate. The group I had run into this morning had returned and were making their way towards the group of guys. Two other girls followed behind Chrissy, their loud and high pitched voices reaching my ears. Wow, these girls were loud. The guys greeted each other loudly and a sudden sense of longing shot through me. I watched how normal they all were, how they were all comfortable with one another. I wondered idly if I had never been captured, would that have been me? Would I have been blissfully happy with my friends and family? Would I have been someone worthy of having a mate?
Question’s flitted through my mind as I tried to push away the pang of longing away. I wished desperately that that was me. That I had friends and that I was happily dating my mate. All these things that seemed to come so naturally to all of them seemed foreign to me. The random bursts of laughter coming from the group had me jumping each time while everyone else carried on like it was nothing new. The easy going grins they shared with each other had me wishing that my life had turned out differently, had turned out normally. Unable to listen to them much longer, I gave one last look at my mate before quietly shutting my window and throwing myself onto my feather soft bed.
I’d accepted long ago that you can’t change the past. I’d learned that wishes don’t come true and dreams are only a brief escape from reality. When I was rotting away in confinement I’d learned that accepting the present is the only way to leave your past behind and get to your future. I think that if I had dwelled on my past the whole time that I’d been held captive then I wouldn’t be here today. I would’ve gone mad or perhaps I would have drowned in depression. Either way, it was best not to think about my past and about things that could or should have happened. It was too hard to imagine myself living like a normal teenager while I was being held in captivity. Now that the opportunity is here, now that I can actually be a somewhat normal teenager, I’m not going to think about what could have happened if I’d never left Sutton’s wedding reception.
With my mind made up, I stood from my reclining position and headed towards the door. I hadn’t eaten in since this morning and I needed to find the kitchen. Sleep evaded me and I knew it would be awhile before it came back. The hall was silent when I stepped out. I walked down the hall cautiously, my nerves on edge. I’m guessing that not many people knew who I was and I didn’t want someone to run into me and accuse me of being an intruder. The embarrassment I would feel would be almost unbearable. Finding my way to the top of the impressive staircase, I started down and looked around again. A lone maid stood by the door, cleaning a glass table that held a picture with a silver frame. She looked up at me as I walked down, her face instantly contorting into a polite smile.
“Yes?” She asked, seeing my questioning expression. She pushed a strand of dark black hair behind her ear and waited for my answer.
“Do you know where the kitchen is?” I mumbled, feeling uncomfortable. I clenched my hands together, palms sweating, and wished that I’d worn a long sleeve today. Instead I was stuck in a floral tank top and ripped, black jeans. The doctor back in the other back had given me some of his daughter’s clothes for the ride home.
“I’m sorry?” She took a step forward and frowned slightly when I took a step back.
“Kitchen.” Was all I was able to utter.
“Oh, oh, right. Sorry, my hearing has always been off.” She chuckled and smiled lazily.
I took the time to study her and was surprised to see she didn’t look much older than Sutton. Black hair framed her face and white teeth peeked out from behind her lips when she smiled. I was slightly shocked by her eyes. They were a startling shade of grey with blue swirled in. Her eyes reminded me of someone I’d rather not think of but at the same time, they were quite different. Where his held nothing but anger and malice, hers held a certain mischievous twinkle. I furrowed my eyebrows at her rather causal uniform. A navy blue dress hugged her tall frame. It was actually sort of cute… I guess Sutton wouldn’t have her maids walk around in anything that wasn’t appealing.
“Down the hall, third door on the right. Or you can use the one on the third floor but since you’re already here…” I blinked, startled when she spoke again. Seeing my flustered expression she chuckled and nodded towards the hallway behind me. “The kitchen?”
“Oh, right.” I flushed. In my momentary inspection I’d forgotten all about asking her where the kitchen was. “Sorry.” I apologized.
“No worries.” She smiled at me easily. I avoided her gaze and looked at the glass table that held a picture.
The picture of choice was Sutton and Evan’s wedding. Both wore gleaming smiles, happiness evident in their faces. Around them stood their bridal party. Spencer and Jason had their arms over each other’s shoulder, grinning goofily. Evan’s younger cousin that served as the flower girl was seated on the floor, her amber curls bordering her adorably chubby face. Next to her Sutton’s sister’s stood, each wearing a content and cheerful expression. I couldn’t stop my eyes from wandering further up and to the right, already knowing what I would find. A thirteen year old girl stood next to the bride, her hair straightened to perfection, natural looking make-up perfectly intact. She wore ridiculously giddy smile, her eyes shining with such happiness you would have thought it was her wedding day. My mouth and throat went dry as I kept my gaze locked on the familiar girl. I knew who I was looking at.
Me.
A younger, happier version of myself. A thirteen year old version. A version who isn’t tainted or marked with nightmares. A more innocent me. There it was again, my past. Not even five minutes after declaring I wasn’t going to think about it anymore, here it is, being slammed in my face. My eyes couldn’t stray from my former grinning face. I looked so incredibly happy, it was hard to believe that just a few hours after that my world had turned completely upside down. It was hard to believe that just a few hours after that photograph was taken the world had fallen out from underneath my feet. And it was hard to believe that three years after that photo was snapped, that giddy girl grew into me. A haunted shell of a girl.
“Hey, you ok?” I snapped my eyes away from the photograph and ran a hand over my face and through my hair.
“Yeah.” I murmured. “I should go find that kitchen now.” She nodded and smiled gently at me, concern filling her features. “You did a good job by the way. The table looks good.” I commented, nodding towards the shining glass.
“Thanks.” She looked like she could barely contain her laughter. I glanced at her, puzzled. I’d made it to the first door of the hallway before she called out. “Eliza.”
“What?” I asked, turning around to face her.
“My name’s Eliza.” I nodded, unsure how to respond, and she smiled again. Ok, this girl really likes to smile. “If I see Hattie, I’ll be sure to tell her you appreciate her hard work.”
“Who?” I questioned. I swear, this girl makes no sense.
“Hattie. The maid.” I flushed instantly, realizing my mistake.
“I’m sorry. You were just standing by the table and the cleaning supplies were on it so I just assumed…” I trailed off, flustered again.
“It’s ok, I thought it was pretty funny. Thank you for just providing me with my laugh of the day.”
“Uhh, your welcome.” I hated the uncertain tone my words seemed to be filled with.
“I like you. You’ve got this awkward, adorable look about you. If you’re ever looking for someone to talk to or hang out with, just ask around for me. I can guarantee I’m not hard to find.” She smirked at me briefly before waving and disappearing out the door.
“Ok?” I questioned quietly to myself.
Three doors down I pushed open a swing door and stepped into the kitchen. I gaped at the large, open room. Stainless steel appliances, gleaming black marble countertops, a long breakfast bar. I trailed my fingers lightly over the cool marble of the island in the middle of the room and looked around the room. Windows provided most of the light in the room and the white walls assisted in making everything look open and airy. The windows on the far end of the room offered a view of the backyard and pool area. I could still see my mate’s group of friends huddled up, talking and laughing. Turning my back to the view, I opened the refrigerator door and looked inside.
You know your family is loaded when they have at least three of everything in every color it could possibly come in. Green, red, and yellow apples. Purplish red and green grapes. Orange, yellow, green and red bell peppers. I honestly don’t know how all this food fit in the refrigerator. It made sense to have a hell of a lot of food since werewolves have large appetites, but this was a little excessive. Deciding not to sort through the different mix of food, I plucked a green apple out of a drawer and closed the door. I was rinsing the apple off in the sink when his overwhelming scent had me stopping dead in my tracks. All my movement stilled and my sense went on high alert. I could practically feel his gaze drilling into my back.
I suppose somewhere between the time I’d turned away from him and his friend and the time it had taken me to stop gawking over the food, he’d decided to come inside. Only thing was, he decided to use the door that opened up into the kitchen. The kitchen I was currently standing in. Which puts us in this slightly weird position. To be honest, I really had no idea what to do. I considered making a break for it when I remembered where the door was located. Unfortunately, it happened to be right behind him. Which means I can turn around and try to flee, or turn around and strike up a conversation that is more than likely going to be awkward and uncomfortable for the both of us. Either way, I would have to turn around. Mustering up whatever strength I had in me and taking a deep breath, I did just that. I slowly turned and then almost comically I gasped and dropped my apple. Why?
Because there was my mate in all his shirtless glory.