To Share You (manxman)

Chapter 9

I stand in front of that house for the second time in my life. I still feel intimidated.

My mate left earlier today, taking her whole family, plus Raphael's brother with her. I still don't quite get how they can be brothers considering that Raphael was adopted at an early age and Sam is so much younger. But I don't dare ask. I know it's not something I can't ask my mate about, since this is Raphael's life, but I'm not close enough to Raphael to just ask him either.

I sigh.

Looking up at the house again, I feel as if I want to turn back and just go home.

There's honestly nothing, absolutely nothing, that makes me want to be here. I'm doing this for my mate and her alone.

I sigh again.

Mum always mentions how sighing makes people age quicker. I decide that for today (and just maybe the whole weekend) I'm going to ignore that rule.

I didn't bring much, just some other clothes to change into, some assignments I should get on top of and my phone. Sleepovers aren't my thing. And sleepovers with Raphael are definitely not my thing.

The ringing of my phone pulls me out of my day dreaming. I dig in my bag until I find it and smile when I see my mate's name flash on the screen.

'Hi.' I say, suddenly unbelievably happy.

'Hi.' she laughs back, 'Are you at the house already?'

So she's just making sure I don't back out then. Fair enough. I don't necessarily appreciate it but I do get it. I did almost decide to just not turn up.

'Yup. Was just about to go in.' I say.

'Good. I hope this works.' she says, before wishing me luck and hanging up.

This whole thing has sort of been suspicious from the moment I thought longer than two seconds about it. There's just no way the whole alpha family just decides to up and leave for a weekend, especially taking Sam with them. The longer I think about it, the more this seems like a set up.

Another sigh leaves my lips before I finally do take the first step into the house.

It's eerily quite, no sound at all. In contrast, my own steps echo weirdly through the empty hallway.

I leave my jacket and shoes by the door, at one of the hooks, before walking in further.

It's such an odd feeling to just enter someone else's house. My mate did tell me to just go in since Raphael probably either won't be home yet or not hear me.

"Raphael?" I decide to call to see if he is home. There's no answer. I call again, with the same result.

I settle on him not being here and randomly explore the ground floor. I don't dare go upstairs yet, not brave enough to venture further than what is instantly accessible and also the area most guests would spend time in. Turns out the ground floor is mainly one whole spacious room that comprises kitchen, living room and eating area. There's just two other little rooms, the office I was in last time with mum and a bathroom.

I end up on one of the comfortable looking sofas and take out one of my assignments to start work on that but it soon becomes clear that there's no way for me to concentrate enough at all.

So after half an hour of trying to get some words from a book into my head and reading over the same sentence thousands of times, I give up.

Instead, I head to the kitchen to check what kind of food they have. If I'm being forced to stay here, I'm making myself something to eat.