Red Hood (Book One)

Chapter Twenty

 Brandon and I walked out of the forest, onto the dark road. We got in my car, and drove to a brown wooden cabin surrounded by trees. I parked in front of the cabin. We went inside through the back door. A dark skinned fat woman came into the kitchen, and greeted Brandon with open arms. 

 She kissed his cheeks, like they didn't have streaks of blood on them. Then, she turned around and stared at me in confusion. I smiled nervously. Brandon noticed this and chuckled.

"Ma, this is my friend, Candy."

"Oh. It's nice to meet you," his mom said, smiling.

I finally spoke. "It's nice to meet you too, Ms. Gray. Where's the bathroom?"

"It's upstairs."

I went upstairs to the bathroom, and closed the door behind me. While I wiped the blood off my face with a wet paper towel, someone was running in the hallway. Then, someone knocked on the door. I opened it, and Beverley was standing in front of me.

Her being here explained so much. I was speechless. Honestly, when she looked me up and down, I realized there was blood splattered on my green dress. Damn.

"I heard you needed this," she said, handing me a green towel and blue robe.

I smiled. "Thank you."

"You're welcome. You can come to the room across the hall when you're done."

I closed the door and got naked. Then, I turned on the shower. The hot water and white soap washed the blood off my body. I took a deep breath. For once, all the bullshit was over.

When I got out of the shower, my dress and black boots were gone. Anyway, I dried off and put on the robe. A little boy almost ran into me when I walked into the bedroom across the hall. I closed the door behind me, sighing in relief. 

 A red t-shirt and green sweatpants were laid out on the black queen size bed. My phone vibrated when I put them on. The door swung open when I was getting dressed. That little boy from earlier hid in the closet. A light skinned girl ran in here and stopped when she saw me.

"Who are you?" she asked, crossing her arms.

I sat on the bed. "I'm Candy. You lookin' for somebody?"

"Yeah."

"He's in the closet."

The girl opened the door and chased that boy out of the room. I bit my lip and walked to him. He leaned down and kissed me softly. A shiver went down my spine when he held me close. 

A knock on the door broke our gaze. Beverley was standing in the doorway, holding my clothes. She chuckled and came in anyway. I guess privacy didn't exist in this house.

"You couldn't be bothered to knock?" Brandon asked.

Beverley put my clothes on the bed. "I don't have to. It's my room."

"That doesn't matter. You ruined our moment."

"That can wait. Dinner's ready."

Brandon let go of me and left the room. Beverley and I walked downstairs to the dining room. We sat at a brown oval dining table. The four other people at the table were whispering. They stopped as soon as Brandon's mom came in and set a pitcher of iced tea on the table.

Everyone started eating their meatloaf as soon as she sat down at the end of the table. Jazz music played in the background. While I ate, she stared at me.

"So, I heard you and Brandon confronted the Woods family. Is that right?"

"Yeah. We found out their secret and it got ugly," I answered.

 "Oh, I see. Serves them right for stealing our blood."

She smiled proudly at me. I poured myself a glass of that tea. Brandon smirked at me from across the table. When I sipped my tea, I couldn't help but think about how welcoming the Gray family was.

Thank God, the Crimson curse was never real. I took a deep breath and watched Brandon leave the room. If it wasn't for our deal, I wouldn't have come here. But I knew one thing. A different curse had been broken.