Forced To Love You

Beautiful

I washed my face after my bath so it would look like I got soap in my eyes rather than being red from crying. I didn't want to deal with Christian's concern.

In my new clothes, I stepped out of the steamy, moist bathroom and into the cool bedroom. I could hear keyboard clicks coming from the living room and my curiosity got the better of me.

As I stepped into the living room, I saw Christian sitting on the couch with his feet propped up on the coffee table. He had a laptop in his lap and was tying something to someone. I could tell he had an email popped up but I couldn't see any names from where I stood. There were some bags of chips and several bottles of sodas beside his feet on the coffee table. It wasn't the most healthy of meals but I would have taken that over a salad when I was feeling as bad as I was.

I sat down on the couch closest to the bedroom and pulled the throw pillow from behind me to clutch in front of me, almost like a shield. I crossed my legs under me before grabbing a root beer and a bag of Doritos.

"I'm sorry I don't have something better. I didn't realize how late it is."

I nodded and licked the powdered cheese from my thumb. "What are you doing?"

He sighed. "I left Zeke in charge for a while but there are some things that need my attention."

"Like what?"

"I have someone tracking Everett and they sent a report to us. Zeke thought I should look at it."

I wanted to ask more about Everett but I didn't have the energy to deal with it. "Why did you leave Zeke in charge?"

"So I could be with you. I can't focus on being an Alpha when I'm worried about you." He looked over at me and I felt my face heat up.

"What have you been doing then? Cause it's not like you've been with me the whole time."

"There are some spare bedrooms up here so I was mainly just camped out there. Trying to keep myself busy so I wouldn't go insane."

I wanted to apologize but I knew I needed the time away from him. It was hard to be around him all the time when I was still mad at him for lying to me. Among other things.

"Why didn't you just work? Why just... sit around?"

He lifted the laptop off of his legs and folded it up before setting it down beside him. "I don't like to admit defeat. In anything. If I would have told Zeke I wanted to go back to work, he would have asked questions. While I'm sure he picks up on some things, I didn't want him to know that we were having problems."

"I'm sure he knows something's going on."

"He does. But not to the severity that we're dealing with."

It almost made me sorry that I told Madison so freely everything that was going on between us.

He sat up and grabbed a Pepsi. "I'm always on the clock even when I take a break. The issues don't go away just because I need some free time."

"How much do you have to deal with?"

"Zeke handles the normal, everyday stuff like maintenance, public works, and community matters such as complaints or suggestions. I tend to handle the bigger stuff like treaties with other packs, communications with towns outside of Twisp, and... tracking my brother."

"How long has that been going on?"

"Since he went rogue. I didn't get to make it an official search until I became Alpha. I like to keep tabs on him to make sure he isn't hurting anyone or disrupting things. It turned into protecting you once I met you."

I took a sip of my drink.

"You look nice, by the way."

I bit the inside of my cheek and glanced down at my outfit. "Madison's clothes didn't really fit me any more."

"I noticed."

My face flushed and I took a bite of my chips to fill the awkward silence between us.

"I don't mean it in a bad way, Blair. You're beautiful. You've always been beautiful."

I couldn't help but feel like the bond we had made him feel this way. Yet it was still nice to hear, even coming from him.

"Thanks."

"If there's ever anything you need, all you have to do is ask. I know things haven't been easy for you here but I want you to be comfortable."

"Thank you, Christian."

He finished his drink before he stood. "I'm going to get a quick shower. Do you want me to stay somewhere else tonight?"

I shook my head. "It's your room. I'm ok tonight."

He nodded.

I waited until the bathroom door was shut before I exhaled the shaky breath I'd been holding in.

There was something about the way he spoke to me and the things he said that made me shaky. I couldn't tell if it was in a good way or not.

He definitely had an affect on me. That was for sure.