Into The Woods [boyxboy]

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Two (Raven's POV)

Clean up took about two days.

Fine by me, I needed something to distract me from everything that happened, including Fin and Ivy's death. It left a cold layer on the plantation, but no one spoke of it. They tried to go on like nothing had ever happened.

It was hard without Ivy screaming at us to do a better job or Fin running around trying to screw up our good jobs. Even so, we still went to work and continued until the house was completely clean. We even decided to repaint the whole thing, which was going to take longer.

"Like a hundred years." Rylan complained as we dragged the white paint across the now bare walls, his black t-shirt already splattered with white paint beause Rylan was more of a klutz than he would like to admit. I shrugged, wiping sweat off on the back of my hand.

"At least it's something to do, get our minds off things for a little while." I admitted. Rylan paused, then snorted indigenously.

"Hard to take our mind off the fact that we have a pregnant male in the house, wolfing down all our food like freakin' Godzilla." He grunted, continuing his paintjob. I scowled as Rylan stopped again to peek inside the house. I elbowed him and he winced, glaring at me.

"It's not his fault. What if it had been Cal?" I asked. Rylan didn't say anything for a moment, just painted furiously at the side of the house before he dropped his brush in the bucket, turning to face me.

"I'd make him get rid of it." He stated. I stared at him, stunned. I hadn't pegged Rylan for that type of person. Of course he was selfish and possessive. Personally, I thought it was rooted in his low self-esteem, but to get rid of a pup just because he'd lose some attention from Cal was unbelievable.

"What if Cal wanted to keep it?" I asked. Rylan scowled.

"I'm the one with the pants in the relationship, so he has to deal with it." He announced, then snatched up his brush and continued. I frowned, but went on painting. We didn't speak for a while, just let our own words settle into our minds before I spoke.

"I don't think Cal likes that." I said aloud.

"Tough shit," Rylan retorted as he scraped some paint onto the brush, then smacked it harshly against the side of the house so a couple droplets hit his cheek, "You don't know how to be a proper mate, Raven, that's your problem."

"There's a proper way?" I asked flatly, trying not to look at Rylan so he'd see the look of annoyance on my face. Rylan really was just a terrible person half the time and this was one of those times.

"Yes," Rylan stated, sounding amused that he could explain it now, "Don't let Aidan make all the decisions. First of all, he's younger. He doesn't know as much as we do. And he's even more sheltered than Cal is because of-- Well, yea. Anyway, he can't make intelligent decisions. You have to make them for him. He may throw a hissy fit now, but later, he'll be thanking you for it."

"Cal thanks you?" I asked dryly, cocking a brow in surprise. Rylan hesitated, then scowled.

"Of course he does, idiot. Second of all, they're just not cut out for calling the shots. I mean, look at where they lay in the relationship, if you know what I mean." He paused to smirk at the thought and I rolled my eyes.

"Rylan, just because... Well, just because of the positions doesn't mean that Cal is going to let you stomp all over him. He's got more dignity than that." I pointed out, but Rylan scoffed, making me frown as he went on painting in silence.

Obviously Rylan had some power issues.

I wondered what Cal had to say about all of this, or if he even knew that Rylan thought like this. Rylan wasn't exactly the most touchy feely person in the world. In fact, he could be downright cruel, but I knew Rylan. Something about the way he acted was a front he put up, maybe to protect his self-esteem or something else, I wasn't sure.