Page 9 of Wolf

“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?

You Rollin or Nah?

I knew I wasn’t playing fair this morning, but Alexis left me with no choice. We had been trying to spare Abel’s feelings for far too long. The shooting could have gone another way. I decided that I wouldn’t live my life with any regrets. I’d spent years lusting over Alexis watching her date loser after loser. Abel was my right hand, but I couldn’t allow that to stop me from pursuing his sister. I didn’t believe in coincidences. This shooting was the universe’s way of waking me up.

My life was full of everything except someone to share it with. There had been plenty of women in and out of my life. I always found fault in them no matter what. They may have been perfect for someone else, but they weren’t Alexis. When I woke up in the hospital and hers was the first face I saw, I knew I couldn’t ignore my feelings any longer. It would be hard to break the news to Abel, but it would have to be done. I decided to take this time alone with her as an opportunity to show her how life could be with us together.

I guess asking her what she wanted was too much for her. She went from staring out the bay window to cleaning up our dishes from breakfast. I decided to give her some time and not follow her, but it had been over an hour. There weren’t that many dishes, and my kitchen wasn’t dirty.

I got up from the couch and made my way to the kitchen. She was seated on one of the chairs on the island scrolling on her phone. I walked to the opposite side of the island, so we were face to face. I took in the unreadable expression on her beautiful brown face. Her eyes were scrunched up as she played with her ponytail.

“Come on. Let’s go for a walk so I can show you the property,” I offered. I walked over to her as she finally set her phone down. Once I reached Alexis, I extended my hand for her to grab. It was warm, so we didn’t need coats. She rose from the chair, and I led us out the back door.

The house was on three acres of land, so there was plenty of land to cover. One of the things I loved about this property was the guest house I had built. I used it as my art studio most of the time, as I never had guests here. As we walked hand in hand, I allowed Alexis to take in the greenery that surrounded us. When we reached the studio, she gasped as she entered. My portraits covered the walls, so I figured that was the reason behind the gasp.

“Wolf, did you make all of these?” she questioned.

“Yup, this is my studio. I come here to clear my head and create. Since going legit, I’ve had more free time.”

She took her time to stop in front of each portrait and study it. I felt vulnerable, but there was honestly no one else I could be this vulnerable with. Over the years, Alexis and I have shared things with each other that we wouldn’t share with anyone else. This bond we shared wasn’t built overnight. Abel just thought I was being a brother figure to her. Honestly that was how it started initially, but over time it became apparent that it was far from that.

“I’ve always known you were talented, but these are much better than anything you ever shared with me. I can see the growth in your drawings. What’s the story behind these pieces?”

“When I started drawing, I had no idea what any of these pieces were. As I continued on, I guess they became my story. The first one showed my relationship with my parents. Next was the relationship between my mother and I now that my father is no longer with us.

“Then came my relationship with Uncle Will after my mother and I moved here. Here is Abel and I, which is a display of our brotherhood amongst the other club members. And this one represents you—the way I remember meeting you with pigtails and glasses.” I snickered.

Her eyes watered as she studied them all. I met Abel and Alexis at a very pivotal time in my life. The death of my father was sudden and unexpected but necessary. He was physically abusive toward my mother and I. His death wasn’t one that I talked about often, especially since I was the reason he was dead.

I had been a protector all my life. The first woman I ever had to protect was my mother. One night my father came home intoxicated and beat on my mother. She usually tried to fight back, and I would drown out the noise.

On this particular night I didn’t hear anything, so I came out of my room. My mother laid unconscious on the kitchen floor. At that moment I decided I had enough, so I grabbed the big knife my mother told me never to touch. My father came toward me and landed on the knife. I watched as he bled out on the floor. While he choked on his own blood, I didn’t call 911 like I was taught. I let him lie there next to my mother. When my mother eventually came to, she called my Uncle Will. He had his crew clean up the kitchen.

My mother and I moved into his home in Parkchester Heights that night. He told us as far as anyone knew my father left us. It wasn’t like the story was so far-fetched since he was a known womanizer. A man I never wanted to be anything like.

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