Chapter 65: 65: Call to the Past

GRAYSON

Belle pulled her older-than-the-dinosaurs phone from her back pocket. It was a flip phone the size of a small brick. It was a reminder of the way she was living when she was in Maine.

It made me unnecessarily angry.

“What are you doing?” I asked her.

She clicked through her list of contacts in a hurry. “I’m looking for Queen Evangeline’s phone number,” she explained.

I stared at her, sure I had finally pushed her to the brink of madness. “What?”

“Evangeline gave me her number when she visited me at the diner. She told me I would need to talk to her about something sometime in the near future. I think now’s that time.”

I squeezed my eyes shut in frustration. “Baby…”

“I know, I know, you don’t believe me because you think I was having some sort of grief-induced psychotic break and made the whole thing up.”

She hit the call button and put the phone on speaker. “But just humor me for a second, would you?”

I sighed and listened to the sound of the phone’s call tone echoing throughout the large room. I wasn’t sure what Belle thought she was going to get out of this.

I would admit, though, I was a little interested in seeing how this was going to turn out. Who the hell was on the other side of this number?

After a minute of listening to the tone, it went to the automated voicemail—the kind that told me this phone number belonged to no one.

Belle deflated as she stared down at the phone. She hung up before having to leave a message and looked up at me. “Okay, so maybe it was a psychotic break. But it was worth a try, right?”

She looked like she was on the verge of tears. She was at her breaking point. I had stressed her out enough for one day.

I leaned down and kissed her forehead. “Right,” I responded in a gentle tone.

***

I took Belle to the library. She needed to know as much information about the Fae as was available to her. Over the last several months, I had done a lot of my own research.

I had scoured the supernatural kingdom in search of any text I could find on fairies or shifting into anything besides a wolf.

I found a total of three books—all with only one page of viable information each.

It was infuriating.

And it was all I had to show Belle in regard to answers. I felt useless.

I took her out after that. As much as I knew she wanted to be alone with me to talk this all out, I couldn’t do that for two reasons.

First, because I knew she needed out of our apartment, and second, because I had proven that I couldn’t be alone with her in our apartment without getting precariously close to fucking her into next week.

So, yeah, I took her out instead. We went for lunch and talked for hours. It was much easier to concentrate when she was sitting across from me, out of arm’s reach, in a public location. It kept me in line.

I told her everything she wanted to know and thanked my lucky stars she didn’t get too mad at me for keeping so much vital information from her for so long.

Don’t get me wrong; she was mad—she just also had it in her to take pity on me and forgive me. I truly did not deserve her.

It was late in the evening when we finally made our way home. We were both tired from the emotional day.

My arm was wrapped around my sweet mate’s shoulder, and she leaned into me lovingly as we approached the door to our apartment. I stopped her as she reached for the doorknob.

“I need you to do me a favor, Belle,” I said. I faced her to make sure she could see me head-on. “I need you to help me out with something.”

She nodded apprehensively. “Okay…”

I couldn’t help myself as I slowly pulled her to me by her waist, so we were pressed together. “You have to cut me a break. You have to stop being so goddamn sexy before I go fucking mad.”

Her lips slowly turned up. “I don’t know if that’s something I can control. I do have a whole lot of new lingerie to break in.”

I held in a groan, picturing her in the little black number she had put on earlier. “Belle…,” I warned.

She giggled. “Hey, it’s not just my fault! You know how hard it is for me to be around ~you~ without tearing ~your~ clothes off?”

A low purr vibrated in my chest. My hand drifted down her body, skating over her jean-clad ass. Her talking about ripping my clothes off did not help with the point I was trying to get across.

“Oh, trust me, you’ve made that perfectly clear, little mate. How about we agree to help ~each other~ out then?”

She rolled her eyes. “Okay, fine. I promise not to try and seduce you anymore…even if my sexiness is often simply uncontrollable.”

I chuckled. “And I promise the same.”

I led her through the door of our apartment, feeling much lighter than I had when we last left.

That was until I noticed the figure sitting in the corner of our living room.