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| Arabella Lockhart |
Griffin Maxwell.
I shudder at the thought and a million goosebumps instantly covered my skin. It was only for a second but in that second that our eyes met, I knew. This wasn't how it was supposed to happened and it certainly was not supposed to happen with him. It was just my luck!
The mixing bowl in which I had been stirring my brownie mix nearly slipped out of my arms, due to the fact that I wasn't paying attention to my mixing. I set the bowl on the counter and pulled out the pan where the mix would go, I made my way to the sink and turned the faucet on and rinsed the pan. Baking was my stress reliever, it was the only way I could work my thoughts out and it was kinda of my lucky mojo. In middle school I'd bake muffins till midnight before a major exam and ace it and then other times I'd bombed hard, later on I figured that I didn't flunk my exam because I couldn't get the recipe right, but because I was baking till 12 o'clock in the morning three nights in a row! So why was I baking right now?
His scent.
It was still lingering and it was driving me crazy! I thought if I baked enough chocolate fudge brownies maybe it could drown out the scent but it's not and it's driving me crazy! That's stupid piney, aroma that won't go away...
I placed the pan inside the oven and set my timer. I looked over to the clock on the wall it was well past 12 and my bedtime. Kaden would be upset if he knew I was up this late, even when he was away he'd text me to make sure I was getting enough sleep. He was that kind of brother, overprotective and caring.
If he only knew the kind of hell I'd been in while he was away, he'd be so angry. My dad knows that which is why he warned me not to tell him about it, Kaden was next in line to become beta and getting caught up in high school drama wasn't becoming of a future beta.
The sound of car door being shut closed suddenly snapped me back to reality. Who was here this late? I quietly walked over to the front door and peeked through the blinds, I could make out two tall figures stumbling towards the front of my house.
No way. This is not happening.
I opened the door and walked out to the front porch. Kaden was practically carrying Griffin, who looked like he was almost if not completely passed out, on his back. Kaden didn't look so good either, I hurried to help him.
"Don't, Bells." He warned. "I got it."
He had this look in his eyes that said it all. He knew. I took a step back and watched as Kaden struggled to bring Griffin upstairs to his room, which was only a door away from mine. I made my way around them and opened the bedroom door, Griffin sensing my presence made a grab for me but Kaden maneuvered him so he'd stumbled into the room and on the bed.
I let out a sigh of relief.
"That was a close one," Kaden breathe out.
You're tell me. I laughed, internally of course.
Kaden stared at me for a few minutes before turning around and tucking Griffin into his bed. He yanked his boots off and tossed them into the closet, Griffin mumbled something in his sleep.
"Ara... mine."
☽ ✵ ☾
Sleep was the last thing on my mind, I couldn't sleep knowing that Griffin was literally sleeping right next door to me. His presence somehow awoke every nerve, every cell in my body and they were all telling me the same thing: go, go to him. I wrapped my comforter tighter around myself to restrain myself from getting out of bed. I covered my ears to block the voices but the sound of my heart started echoing louder inside and that was driving me mad. I tossed my comforter to the ground and reached for my side table, grabbed my headphones and phone and opened up the first music app, the soothing sounds of instrumentals began to fill my ears and drown all other thoughts.
My eyes began to get heavy with sleep, when I felt my bed dip to one side, I tried getting up but was wrapped in my comforter, before I could even make a move. I stiffened as I felt a pair of strong arms warp around my waist, but the fabric prevented any kind of physical contact, their head snuggled against my own before settling on top of it, again the blanket keeping me from actually feeling anything, not even the slightest electrical spark.
"I couldn't sleep," his voice was deep and gruff with sleep, "I could hear your heart beat."
I gulped, not being able to respond. For obvious reasons.
"It's okay, you don't have to say anything," he took a deep breath that made the hairs at the back of my neck stand on end. "We can just sleep." He mumbled and pulled me in closer to his chest.
