Playing Devil's Advocate

One Week Later

     A week came and went without a decision made.  My birthday was celebrated but not by much, a couple red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese icing and a few pairs of shorts and leggings for presents.  Garret and I ate every meal together, he still won't tell me why he might possibly want me to work for him, and he hasn't changed into a wolf (that I know of) since he showed me what he really is.  I haven't gotten homesick yet, but i doubt that I will anytime soon.

     "Colten!"  I yell as I wander down the halls of the mansion.  "Where are you?"

     "Colten is running an errand for me," Garret says as he appears seemingly out of thin air behind me.

     I yelp at his unexpected arrival and whip around.  I take a quick step back at his close proximity.  "Why must you do that to me?"  I ask with a hand over my heart to calm its racing speed.

     He chuckles at me, "It's fun to see your reaction each time.  Why were you looking for Colten?"

     "Well if you know I'll react each time then that only further proves my theory of you being a jerk.  And if you must know, I was looking for Colten because I wanted something to do other than wander the halls of your mansion."

     "You wanted to do Colten?"  Garret asks with mock shock written on his face, "I don't think that's very acceptable for a young lady like yourself to say."

     "Oh, shut up, Garret," I say, lightly slapping his arm.  "You know I didn't mean it that way."

     "Well, I'm free for the rest of the day if you want do something," he informs me with a mischievous glint in his eyes.

     "What would we do?"  I ask cautiously.

     "Whatever you want to do.  I mean, it could involve food, or music, or anything really."

    "Wait, I'm confused.  Is your mind still in the gutter or are these legit suggestions?"

     "A little bit of both actually," he chuckles.

     "Could you get your mind out of the gutter then?  That might actually help me make a decision."

     "But where's the fun in that love?"  He asks as he takes a step forward causing me to step back in turn.

     "Ummm," I try to come up with a clever comeback, or even a response, but his emerald eyes and unwavering stare has my mind muddled.

     He steps forward again, his ever present smirk returning to its rightful place.  I step back in reply and gasp when my back hits the wall.  His smirk grows bigger as he takes the final step to close the distance between us.  "Looks like you've gone and gotten yourself trapped," he states as he takes in my wide, frightened eyes.  He places a hand on either side of me and leans on the wall.  He smiles, "now why would you allow yourself to get trapped?  Didn't your parents ever teach you better than that?"

     "Well, I don't suppose they expected that I'd be running with werewolves when they were raising me,"  I say under my breath as i look down at my feet.

     He chuckles, "I suppose they didn't."  He leans in closer and I crutch down, "What are you doing?" he asks confused.

     "Escaping," I laugh and dash under his arm and down the hall without a destination in mind.

     "Good luck!"  I hear Garret chuckle as he begins to chase after me.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

     I wind up running to the kitchen and decide to make a snack.  I open the pantry and grab the bread and peanut butter, then grab the grape jelly from the fridge.  I pull a knife out of a drawer and make myself two PB&Js.  As I'm putting away the jelly i feel two strong arms wrap around my waist and somebody's warm breath fans across my neck.

     "You decided to escape to the kitchen?"  Garret asks with a chuckle.

     I relax and turn in his arms to face him.  "Well, where else could I go?  I mean, my stomach was demanding to be fed and my mind was yelling for me to escape.  I don't even know how I got here."

     "So, I see you made me a snack, but where's yours?" he asks as he pulls away and begins to eat one of my sandwiches.

     "I don't know what you mean," I say as I take the sandwich from him and turn to leave.

     He grabs my waist and pulls me back to him as I take a bite into the sandwich.  "Oh, I think you do," he says as he leans down and begins to nibble on my neck.  I involuntarily tilt my head to allow him better access and feel him smirk.  When he pulls away I fight the urge to whimper in protest.  When I finally open my eyes I see Garret finishing off the sandwich I had taken from him.

     I eat the other PB&J as Garret finishes cleaning up my mess in silence (he even cleaned and put away the knife!!!)  I turn to leave the kitchen without a word to Garret.  I hear him following me through the halls of the mansion.  "You know I have no idea where I'm going, right?"  I ask after a few minutes.

     Silence.

     "Garret?"  I look over my shoulder and see that the hallway is empty.  "Hello?"

     I hear a chuckle, Garret's chuckle, and jump.  I turn around but nobody is there.  "Come on, Garret!  This isn't funny!"  I say as I begin to imagine every possible horror movie scenario.  I sit against the wall so that Garret won't sneak up behind me and rest my head on my knees.  "Stupid jerk," I mumble.  "Why won't you just make your decision already?  You said a few days, it's been a week!  You'd rather play games than decide what to do with me.  Just make up your mind already!"

     "Annie?"  I hear a voice ask.  "Who are you talking to?  And why are you on the floor?"

     I look up at the owner of the voice, "Colten!  I thought you were running errands for Garret."

     "I was, and now I'm back. Ta-da!"  He says as if talking to a five year old.

     "Shut up, you know what I mean," I mutter as I punch his arm.

     He chuckles and pulls me into a hug, "I know, I was just messing with you."

     "Whatever," I grumble as I pull away.  "I'm lost.  Can you help me back to a familiar place?"

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

     Once we get back to the foyer I know where I am.  I thank Colten for rescuing me and begin to head back to my room to get ready to swim when I hear Colten say something.  I turn back towards him and ask, "What did you say?"

     "I said," Colten sighs, "Master Garret has made his decision."

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

A/N:  Hey guys! I'm back! And look, I uploaded!!! I tried to load this earlier today (um, yesterday, but I haven't slept yet so, today) but Wattpad didn't allow it for some reason.  I apologize for the long wait, I got overwhelmed with school, and life and then got writer's block on top of this (hence this crappy chapter.)  But I'm fighting through the writer's block, took the summer off of school, and my life is finally calming down (see previous post for how much my life was flipped upside-down in a single week, plus a few more things the week after that!)  Like I said, I know this chapter sucks, but writer's block doesn't allow much to flow through.  And to all the people who waited patiently for this upload, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR STICKING WITH ME AND WAITING!!!  It really does mean a lot to me.