𝐂𝐑𝐀𝐙𝐄𝐃 𝐖𝐎𝐋𝐅 ━━ LYDIA MARTIN

51

REID RELUCTANTLY sat down beside Lydia at the dining table and eyed the plate of spaghetti in front of him skeptically.

He couldn't remember the last time he sat and had dinner with someone— or rather, dinner someone made for him. He'd always make his own food because he had this weird fear that someone would definitely poison his food.

His dad, Gabriel would do it— lace his food with wolfsbane and then serve it to him. It was only when his throat would burn like hell that he'd known what his father did. He did it a couple of times, sometimes he'd even shove it down Reid's throat for the fun of it. Since then, Reid has never accepted food from anyone. He'd rather make his own to be sure.

Although he knew there weren't any wolfsbane laced in the food, he couldn't bring himself to eat. He knew that Natalie had absolutely no reason to want to hurt him but it was just the way he was. What he went through pushed him to be that paranoid.

Lydia noticed the looks he was sending the food and furrowed her brows in confusion. She leaned in and whispered, "what's wrong?"

"Nothing," he muttered, his hand reaching out to the fork and he wrapped his fingers around it. He took a deep breath before beginning to eat, sighing in relief when he didn't feel the familiar burn.

The number of times he was exposed to wolfsbane increased his tolerance for the harmful substance. Sometimes his father would take off his clothes and tie him up with chains then would simply throw wolfsbane filled water on him. It would hurt like hell for the first few times but as years went by, he learnt how to deal with the pain.

Reid's fingers tightened around the fork at the memory. Natalie noticed how unsettled the hybrid was and couldn't stop herself from asking, "anything on your mind, dear?"

"Just thinking about how... tasty this is." The half-lie rolled off his tongue making Natalie smile, "ah, I'm glad you like it, honey. So, how long have you and Lydia been dating?"

Reid dismissed the word 'dating' as if Natalie hasn't said it. He didn't exactly have this whole dating talk with Lydia yet. "A month or so," he replied, shoving a good amount of food in his mouth to prevent Natalie from asking him more questions.

However, he was unsuccessful when the older Martin smiled, "that long? Is it your first time coming in this house?"

"No," he blurted now, not exactly caring whether she found out or not. It was the least of his worries, he wasn't going to lie about that. He found it fun to delve in the surprise of others. He liked seeing the looks they'd make when they'd find out things that would probably displease or shock them.

"Oh?" Natalie raised her brows, "how come I've never seen you before then?"

"Well, you were either not here or..." He glanced at Lydia then back at Natalie, "I got in her room through the window."

Lydia choked on her food at the honesty before she quickly gulped down her water, avoiding the looks her mother was sending her. She didn't think that he would openly admit that.

"I admire your honesty," Natalie chuckled, amusement filling her eyes as she stared at him, "not many would've said that. They'd just— deny."

Reid only hummed in response, finishing his food. Then he looked at Lydia who had been quiet the whole time but decided to ignore it, thinking that she wanted to eat her food in silence but in fact, she was thinking about Reid's mother.

She didn't exactly get the time to address that matter to him and she was curious to know what happened although she was kind of scared to bring it up, not wanting to piss him off or anything.

"So, Reid—" Natalie began making him look at her, his fingers now wrapped around the glass of wine that Natalie had poured for them all earlier, "— do your parents know you're here? I mean, it's pretty late."

"They're dead." He informed blankly, ignoring the look of shock that flashed on Natalie's face. Lydia glanced at Reid, internally sighing at the look of indifference on his face.

"I'm sorry—" she was cut off by him as he shrugged, "— don't be. I'm not."

"Oh," she mumbled, "so you live alone then?"

He nodded as a reply. Natalie hummed, "who's your legal guardian? I mean, who's taking care of you?"

"Deaton," he responded, "he was a friend of my dad's."

"And you have no other family?" Natalie questioned out of curiosity, "no relatives at all?"

"No," he lied, "I don't. Anyway, thanks for the food, it was great. I'm gonna go—"

"— You don't have to go," Natalie said, "I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable, it wasn't my intention. You can stay."

"Yeah," Reid cleared his throat, "I was about to say that I'm gonna go to Lydia's room with her once she's done eating."

"Of course you were," Natalie mumbled, a smile reaching her lips, "oh, well you kids have fun."