Chapter 8

Ok, so this chapter might be a little boring but I wanted you to know some history behind Sutton, Jason, and Taylor. Dont worry though, Evan comes in too.

Thanks again to everyone who read and voted and fanned and commented. Keep it coming :)

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Chapter 8

Sutton’s POV:

I quickly exited the study; the heat of his gaze was almost unbearable. Retreating from the room as quickly as possible, I high tailed it all the way to the kitchen. A lone staff worker was there, drying the last dish and putting it in the cupboard. Seeing me, she quickly scurried out, leaving me to my thoughts. I pulled out a stool and sat at the breakfast bar, staring out the large window in front of the sink that gave you a nice view of the back yard. I noted with joy that there was a swimming pool out there. Swimming was a close third to running and dancing.

“What are you doing in here?” Taylor said as she walked in. She looked radiant in a soft yellow dress with her curls bouncing down to a few inches below her shoulders. My sister was stunning, and I felt a pang of envy shoot through me. She looked just like her parents; she had their genes and knew all about them. I didn’t know what my parents looked like, whether I took after my mom or dad.

I wondered frequently what my biological family was like, who they were and what kind of life they had. Oddly enough though, I’d always wondered about whether I had another sibling or not the most. Having Taylor as my sister always made me wonder if I had a sibling out there in the world who wished they had a sister. Maybe if they didn’t know they had one, it was easier to live without one. I also frequently wondered about my parents. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to understand how they could just give me up. Especially if they knew they were werewolves and that I would be one. How could they give up their baby knowing that there was a chance she would grow up and shift all by herself because she was raised by humans. The first shift is the hardest, the most painful and perplexing thing. The first time I shifted I couldn’t understand what was happening; the only thing comprehendible was the pain. That was the day I became grateful for having werewolf parents because the thought of having to go through that was unimaginable.

“Just thinking.” I answered Taylor. She nodded and walked around the bar until she was standing in front of me.

“Meet the Alpha and his family?” She asked.

“Oh yes. I sure did.” I looked down, speaking slowly.

“The son’s pretty hot, saw him when he was walking to the study. Parents are real nice. So is the rest of the pack. They’re all so friendly and…warm. So different then our old pack.”

“Mhm.” I didn’t really want to discuss how cute Evan was. Though he was majorly cute.

“So, you want to go check out more of the town tomorrow? Maybe go see some neighboring towns since this one is so dreadfully small. Maybe we could go to lunch and then go see what we have to work with.” She said excitedly.

“Actually, I was thinking I’d spend the day with Jason.” I said absentmindedly.

“Oh. Ok, well maybe the next day then.” Her voice was soft and sad. I looked up but she looked away.

“Maybe.” I told her.

“So, I guess you’re happy. Jason’s moving back.” She spoke, her voice interlaced with distain and oddly enough, there was a hint of jealousy. Her face was hard and impassive at the thought of Jason. She looked up at me and then down, her voice softer when she spoke. “It’ll be the two of you again.”

“What’s your deal with Jason?” I asked. She and Jason never got along. It’s gotten so bad one of them has to leave the room if the other one is in it. Every time she sees Jason her face gets all sour. Sometimes though, when I’m with Jason I’ll catch a glimpse of pain and longing in her face before it flashed back to hatred. I could never understand those brief seconds when she looked so vulnerable.

“Nothing.” Her voice was cool.

“Don’t lie, Tay. You and Jason have never gotten along and I want to know why.”

“You just don’t get it.” Her voice was louder.

“Then tell me.” I raised my voice too. She looked at me, her face red with fury. Taylor can get worked up easily, especially now a days. She changed a year ago and your first year after the change your always very testy and moody, constantly fighting your wolf.

“You just don’t get it do you? You’ve never gotten it! I’m your sister, and yet every time he comes around you just throw me to the side and ignore me. Imagine how it feels for me to watch you with him. One day, the two of us are closer than ever and then the next thing you know he shows up and you’ve totally forgotten about me. I come in second to him every time and I can’t figure out why. I can’t figure out why he deserves your attention so much more than I do. Why can’t I just this once come first? I’m your god damn sister and that’s still not enough!” She yelled. Her face was red and her eyes shown with tears, some of which had already spilled down her cheeks.

I stared, surprised. I honestly hadn’t expected this. It made sense now. Why she hated Jason. She was jealous of him. I thought about it carefully, and then came to the startling conclusion. She was right. One memory jumped out at me as I thought about what she said. On her eighth birthday we’d had a huge birthday party for her. There were pony rides and bounce houses and everywhere you looked there were eight year olds screaming and running around. I was there with Jason and being the only non-screaming kids there, we stuck together. I remember my sister in her little teal princess dress with a crown on her head running alongside us, wanting to hang out with us. I was eleven and really didn’t want my eight year old sister bugging me. So I did what I knew she couldn’t do yet. I grabbed Jason’s arm and pulled him up to where my tree house was and started climbing. The tree house didn’t have a ladder so you had to climb up the tree to get in. Taylor still hadn’t learned how to do that and I used it to my advantage. I remember what happened next so clearly because I still regretted it.

I’d just gotten to the first branch of the tree and I was standing on it, looking down. Jason was still at the bottom, trying to shake Taylor off his arm. She wanted to come too but couldn’t climb the tree. Finally managing to free his arm, Jason reached up and started climbing. He’d gotten a good ten to fifteen feet up when Taylor suddenly jumped up and grabbed his leg, wanting him to come back down. He lost his grip and crashed back down toward her. I still remember both of their cries. He cried out in pain, as his left arm took the brunt of his fall and cracked. Taylor’s voice called out as she was knocked down roughly by Jason’s feet. They both they at the bottom of the tree in a heap. Everyone was silent, staring in shock. I stared down at them a minute, my mouth hanging open. I snapped out of it and jumped down, landing next to Jason. I crouched down and put a hand on his shoulder, looking at him.

He groaned and looked up at me with tears in his eyes, the pain in his arm was so bad. I felt bad for him, and a little scared about how hurt his arm was. I’d never seen him cry before. He cried out again as Taylor got to her feet and out from under him. I looked over at her, furious. If she hadn’t pulled his foot he wouldn’t have fallen. It was all her fault.

“How could you Taylor!” I yelled, two angry at her to care that people were watching.

“I didn’t mean to, Sut.” She said quietly. Her dress had mud all over it and her crown was askew on her head. Her bottom lip quivered slightly.

“You didn’t mean to? That’s just the thing Taylor! You never mean to! You just ruined yet another thing. Out of all the sister’s on the world, I get you!” I shouted.

“I’m sorry.” She said quietly again. The more I looked at how unhurt she was and how Jason was still lying on the ground in pain, the angrier I got.

“I’m sorry is not going to fix this! God, I swear you’re the worst little sister ever!” I screamed at her. There aren’t words to describe how sad she looked in that moment. Her face was crestfallen and a tear slid out. She took a shaky breath and looked down. When she looked back up her moth was open like she was going to say something, then when she saw my face it shut. She took off running after that. She pushed past shocked parents and confused kids. My parents stepped up then. My mother’s face showed horror and shock at what I’d said while my dad’s showed disappointment. Other parents looked at me like I was a cruel person. My anger slowly ebbed away and I regretted saying those things. I took a step to go after Taylor but my mom’s voice rung out.

“No!” She said. Clear and final. “Stay away from her Sutton. Leave her along for awhile. I just can’t believe-” She couldn’t finish. She shook her head and took off in the direction of where Taylor had run, leaving me feeling shocked. My mother was usually composed, especially in front of a crowd. But her voice had been shaky and breathless, filled with disbelief.

If you looked at the picture taken an hour later when Taylor was blowing out her candles you’d see an eight year old girl with her mom standing next to her, surrounded by other kids and their parents. It would look normal. Yes, the other kids had looks of delight and hunger in their eyes as they looked at the cake. Yes, everything seemed calm and at ease. But if looked closer, there was something off in the mom’s smile. There was some shock still hidden in the parent’s eyes. If you looked really close you’d notice two things. You’d notice the absence of the little girl’s dad and older sister as they were at the doctors with the older sister’s not related by blood brother. And most of all, you’d notice the pain in the eight year old’s eyes and she put on a brave face and smiled broadly at that moment, pretending everything was ok, even if it was not.

Jason had his arm broken that day, and Taylor had had her heart broken by the one person she had loved the most. I knew that because I’d read it in her diary a few weeks after the incident. She didn’t speak to me for weeks after and she never tried to tag along with me and Jason after that either. That was also when she started to resent Jason. She’s spent the least amount of time with him and avoid him like the plague.

Pulling back to the present, I looked at Taylor and saw the same vulnerable, exposed, hurt little girl I’d seen seven years ago. Taylor nodded, like she knew exactly what memory I was thinking about.

“All I’ve ever wanted was for you to love me as much as you love Jason.” She said quietly to me. I opened my mouth but she shook her head and breathed out. “I’m going to bed.” She said as she walked out of the room. I sat there, dumbfounded. I don’t know how I would feel if Taylor always chose someone else over me. Hurt, betrayed. Lonely. I cried a bit at that last one. How could I have just left all those times with Jason and gone out and done all those fun things while I left her at home with the maids and chef’s to sit there and be lonely.

I guess I’d let some things slip through the cracks growing up. I’d criticized my mom about not paying enough attention to us, but I never paid enough attention to Taylor. The thing was, I never intentionally chose Jason over her. It just happened. With our age difference I’d always assumed she wouldn’t want to do any of the things we did. It wouldn’t have killed me to stay home with her though.

You’re a bad sister. My wolf stated.

Oh, great. Your back.

Miss me much?

Ever heard of sarcasm?

Sweetie, I invented sarcasm.

Don’t sweetie me.

Ohh, you are touchy.

Go away. I so did not want to argue with my wolf right now.

Let’s go find our mate.

Let’s not.

Of  course I get stuck inside such a boring person.

Of course I get stuck with such an annoying wolf.

Don’t make me come out there!

I’d like to see you try. I retorted.

Your pushing me, don’t test me.

Touchy much? I teased.

You’re a bad sister. She got the last laugh. I tuned her out, which wasn’t easy since she kept whining to see her mate. My mate. That brought me back to another problem.

Jason had talked about Evan before. He told me stories about the crazy parties they went to and all the girls they had gotten with. I could already tell Evan was a man whore. It doesn’t exactly warm my heart knowing he goes through girls like cops supposedly go through donuts. I’d never personally been the victim of a player, Jason had taught me all the tricks so I was never fooled, but I’d seen it countless times. Guy shows interest in girl. Girl shows interest in guy. Girl falls for guy. Guy gets laid. Girl gets dumped. It played out over and over, yet girls never learned the lesson. Don’t fall for stupid tricks! Yet, easier said than done I suppose.

From what Jason has told me, Evan is the best of the best players. He knows exactly how to get in your pants, and then kick you to the curb afterward. Jason once told me the amount of girls Evan has slept with could make a football team. I didn’t care whether Evan was my mate or not, I wouldn’t get played and I am not under no circumstances, sharing with another girl. I need a guy who is committed to me, not committed to me and four other girls. Doesn’t work like that. I was mulling over that when I heard the kitchen door swing open, and the air started to sing with sparks. I knew exactly who had just walked in.

Evan’s POV:

Sutton stood across from me, her back facing me, staring out the window. I knew she knew I was here by the way her shoulders tensed up and then relaxed. She let out a sigh and then turned to look at me. We stood still a moment and I admired her once more. Her long waves were tinted red and gold in some places and her dark lashes framed her eyes. She really was beautiful.

“Hello.” She said simply. Her voice was soft and calm. I almost laughed at the simplicity of her words. After countless stare downs today, the first thing that comes to mind is hello? I couldn’t help it, a chuckle escaped my lips. She grinned. “Yeah, I know. I couldn’t really think of anything else to say and I figured we should actually talk this time instead of just looking at each other.”

“It’s a good thing you said something. I could have just stared at you all day.” She blushed at that.

“Well Evan, what are we supposed to do now?” She asked. I knew she was referring to us being mates.

“To tell you the truth, I don’t know. All I know is that you occupy all my thoughts and you’re the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen. You’re a mystery to me, and I intend to spend the rest of my life trying to unravel that secret.” I told her honestly. Oh man, the boys were right. Look at me, five minutes alone with her and I’ve already basically confessed my undying love to her. Looking at her, she didn’t look shocked or scared. She looked a little embarrassed, with a faint pink overlapping her pale skin on her cheeks.

“You make it seem like I’ve already accepted you as my mate.” She teased.

“Like you could resist this.” I said cockily as I raised my arms and flexed for her.

“Oh yes. You’re a best.” She said smiling.

“As long as your my beauty.” I said softly. She looked at me a minute, her face soft and thoughtful.

“The way my brother described you, I thought you would be some arrogant jerk who wouldn’t be able to keep it in his pants. Maybe I was wrong about you.” She finally spoke, though it seemed like it was more to herself. I decided to be truthful with her.

“To be honest, I was. But that went away as soon as I laid my eyes on you. Everything changed when I saw you.” Oh boy, I sounded like some lovesick little wimp. She seemed to love this sensitive side of me though, because her eyes lit up at my words.

“But you don’t even know me.” She responded quietly.

“But I’d like to.”

“You’re really…something, Evan. I’ll give you that.” She said, smiling softly.