She snatches her hand away from me before walking off the stage, getting the attention of everyone in the crowd, including my fiance and Cody, who looks just as confused as I am because I was just suggesting something and she freaked out. My face becomes flush and I looked over at Joey, who motioned for me to come over to him. I walk over to him, leaning my head on his back, hiding behind his form as he continues to talk to the pack about the hunting restrictions. He reaches around and grabs my hand to give me silent support since he couldn’t exactly give it to me verbally right now.
The meeting lasts about ten more minutes and once it’s over, we all rush towards the quarter house, not wanting to get stopped by anyone in the pack at the moment. Cody turns toward me as we rush through the grass. What was that about ?
I shrug my shoulders, feeling guilty. I have no idea. I think she’s just stressed right now and needed to calm down a bit so she left, that’s it.
He picks up his speed to get to the house fast to talk to his mate. Joey grips my hand in his, looking down at me with a soft smile. When we get to the house, I pull him to our bedroom because this was definitely something that I needed to talk to him about. We move towards the bed to sit down as he grabs my hand to feel the cool metal of the ring as he waits for me to speak.
What’s the probability that you’ll go to battle with the rogues ? I whisper, gripping his hands tight in mine. He looked down at the ground with a sigh and I can see the frustrated look on his face as he moves through his thoughts.
I don’t know, Kade. I don’t know if there’s even anything else to do besides that. If we want to get it over quick, then we do that. But the thing is, I have to decide quickly because if we lose track of the pack, then there’s nothing to do any more until they come back looking for us, he tells me.
No, you don’t have to decide quickly, we do. You aren’t alone in this decision-making process, alright ? You have the whole house here to help you figure out what the best plan of action is. Whatever we decide, we’ll do it together, I tell him.
He lets out another long sigh, setting his head against my chest. I’m so stressed.
I nod my head, running my hand through his hair to send chills down his spine. I know, but everything will be okay. You know that you’re not alone, so don’t think that you are. We’re in this together and whatever is decided will be the best option we choose from, so don’t worry.
He nods his head, picking his head up to give me a sad smile. I give him a quick kiss before rushing to the closet to pick up some plaid pajama pants before going back over to my fiance, who gives me a confused look when he sees what I’m holding. What’re you doing ?
You’re stressed, so you’re going to take a small nap while I make dinner since Lila’s gone for the night, I tell him, throwing the pants at him. Lila and Conner decided to go to the apartment for the night since they haven’t had the chance to be alone in a while, which means us kids had to find food ourselves here in this empty house.
I gave Joey a quick kiss as he changed his pants before walking out the door to go towards the kitchen where I pulled out the ground beef to start making some chili since that sounded really good right now. After about 30 minutes of cooking, I hear feet on the stairs and Melissa comes into view when she comes up to the bar to look at me as I measure out the spices I need.
She clears her throat, sitting up on the bar stool as she crossed her arms on the marble counter. I just wanted to apologize for getting mad at you during the meeting. Cody told me that you said that I was stressed and you’re right, I really am. I’m just really worried about what’s going to happen and I just want all of this rogue shit to just disappear because it’s always in the back of my mind and I hate it.
I give her a sincere smile, walking over to sit next to her at the counter. I sigh, nodding my head. I know. Everyone around here is stressed and it’s totally okay to break at points, so don’t worry about it. We’re okay and we will be okay as we move through this. Things might get tough when we have to make a decision on what our next step is, but we’re all together right now and that is what we need to focus on at the moment.
She smiles, setting her head on my shoulder. You’re totally right. We shouldn’t focus on the future, just what we have right now.
Exactly. How’s Cody doing ? Is he freaking out ? I ask, getting up to stir the vegetables in the pot before adding in the spices and tomato sauce.
Yeah, he’s really worried about what’s going to happen as I’m sure Joey is as well, she tells me, playing with the sleeves of her hoodie as she stares at me as I stir the food that was starting to give a good aroma to the whole house.
He’s really stressed, like I had to tell him to nap because he was so freaked out, I tell her.
Oh, man, that’s not good. We all just need to relax, right ? She asks me.
I motioned towards the food that I was cooking. Comfort food is the best food for a time like this. I was thinking we could all watch a movie or something while we eat to just get our minds off of everything.
Sounds like an amazing idea to me. Don’t let that beautiful ring fall into our dinner, alright ? I don’t want it to be dyed red and ruin the beauty of it, she said with a giggle.
I chuckle, holding my left hand out to look at the shiny ring that was still placed on my finger. Trust me, the last thing I want to do is ruin this ring. I love showing it off.
It’s absolutely gorgeous. I’m just waiting for the day I get mine, whenever that might be, Melissa says, looking at her empty fingers that hold nothing but finger nail polish.
I always assumed that you and Cody would get engaged before Joey and I. I mean, you two have been together forever, it just makes sense. Do you think he’ll propose soon ?
She lets out a sigh. I don’t know. I’m hoping that seeing his best friend get engaged will resonate with him, but I don’t know if it will. We’ve talked about it before and he seems open to the idea, but I think our age has a lot to do with why he hasn’t popped the question. He just thinks we’re so young.
But come on, you two already know you’ll be together forever since you’re mates, so you’re definitely going to get engaged eventually, why not just do it now ? I mean, it’s totally his choice, but if you know that you’ll be with someone forever, don’t you want to just promise that to each other as soon as possible ?
Melissa nods her head. Yeah, that’s my thinking too, but he just doesn’t think that’s a good idea. He still wants to wait, most likely, which is alright, I guess. It just means I’ll have to be open to the idea of waiting until I’m a bit older, I can live with that.
We heard someone coming down the stairs and she holds her finger to her lips to tell me not to talk about this anymore. I look down at my chili before covering it since it had to sit for awhile to soften until I can put in the beans. I pull out my phone as Cody comes over to sit at the bar with his girlfriend who he gives a quick kiss to.
Where’s Joey ? He asks.
I made him take a nap to calm down, he’s kinda stressed, so I decided to make some food and we’re all going to sit down to watch a movie while we eat to take our minds off of everything, I tell him with a smile, hoping that it’ll make him feel better.
He smiles, nodding his head. Great idea.
We all go sit on the couch to watch some TV as we wait for dinner to be finished. After about 30 minutes of that, I realize that food will be ready soon, so I go into Joey and I’s room to wake him. When I walk in, I see the blanket covering almost all of his body, except for his right hand that’s slightly twitching in his sleep like he’s a dog that’s dreaming about running. I gently pull the blanket back to see his gorgeous face, laughing lightly when I see a stream of drool coming out of the corner of his mouth to hit his pillow. I reach my thumb out, wiping it away before leaning down and placing a soft kiss on his lips.
After a few moments, he wakes up to kiss me back, stretching before wrapping his arms around my body. I pull away from his lips to hug him for a second before sitting him up, earning a groan from his mouth. I chuckle, sitting next to him. Food’s ready, we’re gonna watch a movie while we eat, so come on.
His head falls onto my shoulder as he lets out a sigh. What’d you make ?
Chili, I tell him, running my hand up-and-down his leg as he starts to wake up from his sleep. When he gains energy, we get up and go to the kitchen where our friends are already grabbing bowls. Once we’re all ready, we put on an action movie to keep us all entertained, but halfway through it, I pass out with my head in my fiance’s lap who had already fallen asleep again as soon as he was done eating. What a day.