Page 5

Breakfast at Wolf’s

I woke up the next morning after a restful night. While I was in a foreign place, I oddly felt right at home. From the moment I walked into this house, a sense of familiarity came over me. When I saw this bed with the built-in bookshelf filled with books, I almost forgot all of my troubles. I was so annoyed with myself for crying yesterday. With everything that happened I just needed a release. I never meant for it to happen in Wolf’s arms.

Just as I thought of how embarrassed I was my phone rang. I reached over to the nightstand to grab it. When I looked at the caller it was Abel.

“Abel!” I said excitedly.

“Hey, sis, how are you holding up?” he asked

“Fine.” I didn’t mean to be short with him, but I didn’t want him to feel bad.

“I’m sorry, sis, but I will fix this. You can go back to your normal boring life soon.” He spoke low with a hint of sadness in his voice.

“Whatever you do please be careful. I can’t afford to lose you.”

“And you won’t. I just wanted to check in with you. Try not to let Wolf get on your nerves too bad. I love you.”

“Love you too.” With that the call disconnected.

I found myself holding the phone in a daze. A tear landed on my cheek, but I quickly wiped it away. Now wasn’t the time for tears. I had to be strong. It would be hard being apart from Abel, but we had no choice. Since our parents’ death there wasn’t a time we were separated. My separation anxiety was so bad I didn’t even go away to college. Wolf was always good company, but he wasn’t Abel. I let the tears fall while I was alone, but this would be the last time I cried.

As I got out of bed, I made my way to the bathroom to take care of my hygiene. I brushed my teeth then got into the shower. The water was scorching hot just the way I liked it. I prayed for today to be a better day. Part of me missed the hospital already. The daily hustle and bustle was my adrenaline boost. Now that I wasn’t at work, I would need to find other things to occupy my time. Once I finished in the shower, I got dressed in one of my lounge sets with a pair of fuzzy socks. I grabbed my phone then headed to the kitchen to figure out my options for breakfast.

While I made my way down the stairs, I took in the beauty of the home. The open concept allowed the décor of white furniture to pop against the different shades of gray that adorned the walls. I had only spent a small amount of time here, but I could already tell it would be difficult to leave when the time came. Something about this house felt like home. As I made my way to the kitchen, I appreciated the sound of the birds chirping. I was so used to the hustle and bustle of the city that these moments of being in nature were appreciated.

I went into the refrigerator and grabbed avocado, tomato, and bacon. As I was unfamiliar with this space, I checked the cabinets for some tea. By the third cabinet I found tea and bread for my bacon avocado sandwich. I grabbed a small frying pan that hung above the stove to cook the bacon in. The tea kettle was already on the stove, so it just needed to be filled with water.

I smiled as I thought of how easy I adjusted to being here. Suddenly my fear of being taken away from my daily routine felt unwarranted. My smile quickly faded as I realized it wasn’t the fear of my daily routine being uprooted as much as it was fear of being alone with Wolf.

“Good morning, Lexxy. Did you sleep well?”

His smooth baritone filled the kitchen, further reminding me of why I couldn’t be alone with him. Just the sound of his voice got me hot and bothered. I turned around to face a shirtless Wolf with his arm in a sling. He was average height with cinnamon colored skin and very muscular. Everything about him was sexy to me. Wolf gave me half a smile while I found my voice to greet him back. “Good morning. I slept well. Can I make you something to eat?”

“If it’s not too much trouble, could you make me an omelet?” he asked.

“I got you.”

I went into the fridge to grab some eggs while Wolf took a seat at the large island. The silence between us was welcomed while I continued to cook. After I finished cooking, I placed both of our plates on the island.

“How are you feeling? Were you able to change your dressing without me?”

“Changing the dressing was easy. The hard part was trying to sleep with this sling on,” he confessed.

I noticed he looked so stiff that he was probably in pain. Wolf kept adjusting the strap of the sling, so he seemed to still be adjusting to it. It would take some time to get used to the sling, so there wasn’t much I could do about that.

“You’ll get used to the sling within a few days. Try not to overexert the shoulder while it’s healing,” I instructed. He nodded at my advice but looked as if he wanted to shift the focus off his injury.

“Why don’t we take this to the living room and put a movie on?” Wolf proposed.

He didn’t wait for a response as he carried his plate to the other room. I didn’t want to eat alone so I grabbed my plate and cup of tea then followed him. Once I was comfortable on the couch, he passed me the remote.

“I’m sure you have no interest in anything I watch,” I assured him.

“Lexxy, you’re technically a guest, so you can choose what we watch. I’ll rock with whatever for today.”

I shrugged my shoulders then turned on the newest season of Married at First Sight . Since I had been so busy working, I was behind a few episodes. I had caught up on everything through social media, but I still wanted to see for myself. I looked over at Wolf and he looked intrigued but didn’t make a peep. In fact, we finished our food and were halfway through the episode before he said anything.

“Let me get this straight. These are a bunch of strangers. They agree to get married without even seeing what the other person looks like. This is wild.”

“The dating pool is trash. Sometimes you have to go to extreme measures to find your person.”

“I promise you will never have to do anything this extreme. Our pact we made as teenagers made sure of that. Do you remember it?” Wolf looked at me intently.

“How could I forget? I didn’t want to tell Abel about the boy that broke my heart, but you were there to listen. We made the pact that if all else fails we would marry each other. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but it would be kind of hard to fulfill now,” I said as I looked away from him.

“I never hid how I felt about you. My friendship with your brother is one of the most important relationships in my life. Being shot made me feel like I can’t keep living my life without having everything I want. I would just have to find a way to make Abel understand that what I feel for you is real,” Wolf said as he grabbed my chin for me to face him.

We inched closer together as he kissed my lips. Being in such close proximity of him made me break out in a sweat. I was slightly taken aback by him kissing me. He was right. Whenever we were alone, he always alluded to the fact that he was interested in me. The fact that he was ready to make a move to let my brother know his feelings about me was kind of scary. It was one thing to fantasize about what could be, but Wolf wanted to be with me.

Our tongues danced back and forth, bringing back memories of the very first time we kissed. Wolf, my savior, had just beat up this asshole I went on a date with. I called him in tears when the dude got a little too touchy feely for my liking. That night solidified everything I ever felt for him. It was the night the pact was made as he consoled me with bruised knuckles after kicking that dude’s ass.

I broke our kiss before it could go any further. “Wolf, we can’t do this, you know that. Abel has been very clear on how he feels about his friends dating me. I know most people won’t understand, but Abel is more than a brother to me. He’s a father figure in a lot of ways. He stepped up and took care of me when my parents died. It would feel like I was disobeying him if we date.”

“I understand and respect his feelings, but I’m not just anybody. At this point if I have to choose between my friendship with Abel and being with you, I have to choose us. We aren’t kids anymore. I don’t want to see you with someone else to avoid hurting your brothers’ feelings.”

I got up off the couch and walked over to the oversized bay window. This was what I was afraid of when Abel mentioned me staying here with Wolf. Abel had no idea how I really felt about his best friend. I could never bring myself to tell him. As I got older and began dating, he always told me his friends were off limits. It was something he drilled in my head.

Wolf and I had a magnetic pull between us that never went away. We dated other people but always found ourselves single. I turned away from the window to face Wolf who was still seated on the couch.

“It’s not uncommon for you to have such strong emotions after such a traumatic event. If you weren’t shot, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. Let’s just agree to keep our feelings in check until all of this blows over,” I suggested.

Wolf let out a low chuckle. “My feelings for you don’t have shit to do with me being shot. If you want to believe this is some kind of trauma response then you can do that, Doc. I’ve been feeling you since we were teenagers. When I saw the white light in that hospital it was no coincidence that all I heard was your voice. If you want to live you have to fight. Isn’t that what you said? So, I chose to fight to stay alive. Now I want to fight for us to be together. What’s it going to be, baby girl? You down for the ride?”

I looked at the man that stole my heart years ago. He sat back on the couch as cool and confident as ever. What could I say to that? The two men closest to me and now I had to choose. Do I follow Abel’s wishes and stay away from his friend? Or do I follow my heart and be with this man? The man who has filled my dreams for years. Wolf continued to watch the show while I looked out the window with a decision lingering over me. What was a girl to do?