Chapter 4: Red shoes in the woods Part 1
Anna’s P.O.V.
From the moment Lauren had invited me over, I had been in some sort of dream state. I recalled how Brenann had spoken about his home, with such love, so tender… I longed for a home I could talk about with so much love.
The day passed in mostly a blur, I danced as well as I could but still, the idea that I might be pregnant haunted me.
After school, I met Lauren at the entrance; she was waiting for me with a happy smile.
“Let’s go.” She said and pointed towards the bus stop. We waited for a few minutes in comfortable silence before the bus came and we headed off to the opposite direction I had come from this morning, away from the city.
An hour, filled with simple yet pleasant chit-chat, the bus stopped and Lauren told me this was our stop. I looked out the window and saw we were in a wooded area, a wonderfully green area. We jumped out of the bus and onto the soft soil at the side of the road. Lauren started walking.
“Where is your place?” I asked her eagerly.
“It’s just a short walk away to the gates.” She said. I smiled and followed. As she had said, it was only a short walk, about 10 minutes. We reached high gates that weren’t fully closed so entering was easy. The moment we walked through the gate I could see a lot of different houses, some small, others big. People were walking everywhere, walking, talking, playing games and all other sorts of things. The thing that surprised me most was the enormous amount of children running around.
“Why are there so many children?” I asked Lauren.
“Oh, no particular reason, the number of twins and triplets is quite high here and most people feel safe enough to have many children, they know they will get a good education on the grounds and have more than enough room to play.” She said. It still didn’t explain everything for me but it decided to leave it at that for now.
“Which house is yours?” I asked. Lauren was about to answer when a guy walked up to us.
“Hey Lauren, is this a new member? I’m taking over Brenann’s responsibilities for now so I’ll take over from he-“ he couldn’t finish his sentence because Lauren punched him in the stomach with major effect.
It surprised me, Lauren was about a foot taller than I but I didn’t expect her to take down a 7 feet giant… I looked at the guy who was hunched over. He was built like a bear, with huge broad shoulders and a strong jaw line, his hair was dirty blond and his eyes a pale blue color. He seemed quite nice. I put my hand on his shoulder and bend over slightly.
“Are you alright?” I asked him with concern.
“Oh yeah, Lauren likes hitting me, I’ll be fine.” He laughed. “I’m Harrison by the way, and who might you be?” He asked as he straightened himself and shook my hand.
“I’m Anna, pleasure to meet you.” I smiled. I now understood why he had been so affected by Lauren’s punch. This guy was nothing more than an oversized teddy bear.
“Alright Anna, if you will follow me we’ll take this conversation to the office.” He said.
“What conversation?” I asked confused. Lauren hit him on the back of the head before he could reply and hissed something to him softly which seemed to shake him up quite a bit,
“Come Anna, I’ll show you the house.” Lauren said as she turned towards me with a smile.
“What conversation?” I asked again, feeling very confused.
“He thought you were a new member of our community and wanted to talk to you about things like that.” Lauren said vaguely.
“But why would Brenann do that otherwise? He’s a construction worker, right? And why can’t Brenann perform his tasks? Is he sick?” I asked.
“You’re a clever peach.” Harrison smirked and stood relaxed while leaning against a nearby tree, he observed Lauren as she was trying to form an answer in her head. I could see her mind work overtime.
“Ugh!” She grunted at Harrison before grabbing my arm and pulling me away. Harrison followed with a smirk on his face and I knew I would like Harrison a lot.
“Lauren, why aren’t you answering my questions?” I asked her.
“Yes Lauren, why aren’t answering her questions?” Harrison asked. Earning him a kick in the shin.
“Anna, trust me I’ll explain everything, just… not now… and well… not me…” She said sounding confused herself.
I sighed and shook it off. We walked towards the biggest house, built on the side of a slight hill. It was beautiful, it was a white, 3 story house with windows that had shutters, the door was painted a dark green color I liked. Lauren pushed over the door and we entered a huge hallway with hard wooden floors. Lauren didn’t give me the chance to take in more details as she pulled me towards a door at the back of the hallway. We went into the room and I saw it was a kitchen.
And in the middle of the kitchen stood Brenann.
Brenann’s P.O.V.
I hadn’t slept all night, I was angry sad furious and sad again, Harrison had stayed by me and had promised to get the doctor and take over my duties for the day. I walked slowly towards the kitchen, feeling slightly weak, the wounds on my arms had started closing up a bit, but the blood was still everywhere and some of the wounds were still open, making it look at least three times worse than it really was. All of it would be gone within 24 hours anyway.
I opened the fridge and took out a carton of OJ, gulping it all down in one go. I also took out the pre-made breakfast Lauren had made for me. Pancakes and egg. Both cold.
I put everything on the counter and turned around to get a plate. I glanced at the clock and felt a shock go through my body. It was already 6 pm. Much too late for breakfast.
The kitchen door flew open and I turned myself towards it with slight shock, I hadn’t realized anyone had entered. I was even more shocked when I saw Anna walk through the door with a quizzical look on her face as she glanced from Lauren to Harrison who was trailing behind the girls. Shortly after that she looked towards me and a smile appeared on her face, not a big smile, not a warm smile, it was an even better one. It was an embraced smile. Touches of pink lay on her cheeks and the corners of her mouth were turned up slightly.
It was only for a few seconds; the smile then disappeared and was replaced by a face of shock, horror and sadness. She pulled her arm out of Lauren’s grip and ran towards me, taking my arm in her small hands.
“What happened?!” She asked with shock as she inspected my arm without flinching. “Lauren, do you have a first aid kit?” She asked Lauren. Lauren mumbled something and walked away. I gave Harrison an urging look and happiness struck his face just before he followed Lauren. He knew that Anna was my mate and it was best to leave the two of us alone.
“It’s nothing.” I told Anna.
“Nothing? Are you kidding? This looks really bad, sit down.” She said and urged me towards a seat.
Even when sitting down I was bigger than her standing frame. She turned around and started opening cabinets. She pulled out a clean kitchen towel and made it wet. She turned back towards me and stared softly cleaning my arm.
I recalled myself, the me from a mere week ago, the me who wouldn’t even notice a touch for it wasn’t powerful enough. I wouldn’t even feel a punch. Right now, it felt everything, these small hands made my skin tingle, they sent a sweet sensation through me. I closed my eyes, I just wanted to feel this.
After that horrible night, she was now with me, she was treating me with care and love, she was, just for now, my Anna.
“Does it hurt?” She asked me softly.
“Not at all.” I told her with a smile and opened my eyes.
“How did it happen?” She asked.
“I was working on something and it went wrong it’ll be over soon. I heal fast.” I told her.
“That’s good to hear.” I could hear a slight pinch of relieve in her voice.
“Why are you here?” I asked.
“Lauren invited me, I wanted a place to get away from everything.” She said, I could hear a strange emotion in her voice, I couldn’t describe it.
“You’re always welcome in our home.” I told her.
“Thank you, that would be great, it’s so beautiful here.” She said and could see hear her inhale deeply. “I can smell the forest and the air is so clean, it’s wonderful.” She sighed.
“Why don’t you stay a while?” I asked her suddenly.
“I couldn’t, Geoffrey expects me back in a short while.” She said. A dark shadow creeping over her face.
“Something tells me you don’t want to go back to him.” I said and I wished for her to give me permission to kill him, I wanted him gone, far away from my Anna.
“That might be true, but I’m still his wife, I’ll have to work things out with him.” She said wiping away the last smudge of blood. “Your shirt is also covered in blood; I think that shirt is done for.” She said.
I looked at my shirt and realized she was right. I pulled it off in a reflex and threw it in the bin, in the corner of the kitchen, while Anna rinsed the cloth. When she was done, she turned back and took a step back, pressing her back against the kitchen counter.
“Maybe you should get a new shirt, I’ll wait down here.” She said as she averted her eyes. But I wasn’t going to let that happen.
I didn’t want her to work things out with her…you know… I wanted her to look at me, be like a schoolgirl and be embarrassed and happy over seeing a muscled topless guy. I wanted her to look at me, I wanted her to look at my body and be satisfied with it. I stood up and walked towards her. Towering over her with my tall frame, compared to her tiny one. I set one arm next to her on the counter and put my wounded arm behind her back, leaning into her. I turned on the tab and held my arm underneath.
“You missed a spot.” I whispered into her ear and I felt her shiver. Her breathing got heavy. I turned of the tap, my arm wet. I set it on the counter on the other side, trapping her completely. I looked down at her and saw that this time she was indeed looking at my abs. she looked up and her eyes met mine.
The eyes I saw filled with tears yesterday were now filled with lust.
I forgot about her husband, I forgot everything apart from her and me. I knew that if we made love, she wouldn’t ever cry. She would scream with happiness and pleasure and never thing of another man again.
That was what I intended to do, I was going to make her mine.
I leaned in looking at her mouth, she looked at me, trying to see what I was doing. When she realized her eyes widened for a moment until I cupped her face with my healthy arm and she closed her eyes, giving me the permission to kiss her…