Betrayal & Redemption

Chapter 19

Caroline POV 

I wake in the dark, and groan. Ugh my head. I'm laying on Jackson's chest and try to snuggle into him, before realizing I have to pee. I get out of bed, trying not to disturb him, and head for the bathroom. My limbs feel like lead, my body feels like I got run over by a bus, and I'm sore in places I didn't know I could be. I do my business and head out into the living area, beelining for the fridge.

Told ya it would hurt ya, baby, Jackson says in my head. 

Good f*****g morning to you, too, I grumble at him. 

I open the fridge and poke around. 

Ah yes! You had them put food in here? God I love you, I gasp and put my hand over my mouth. 

"I love you, too," he says from behind me. 

He wraps his arms around me and my face goes completely red. 

"I didn't mean- I just- It slipped," I stumble over my words. 

"So you don't love me?" he asks, his voice right in my ear. 

"Of course I do, you i***t," I say to him. 

I turn and kiss him deeply. He pulls away and wrinkles his nose. 

"You breath smells like you chewed on the ass end of a skunk. What happened to you last night?" 

"Uhh what do you mean?" 

"Well, after the, uh, beach...you disappeared. I found you up here naked and in our bed." 

"I don't actually know," I tell him and turn around, continuing my fridge raid. 

He growls loudly and I pull out a styrofoam box full of different mini desserts and pop one in my mouth. 

"What the f**k do you mean you don't know?" 

"I can't remember. I woke up here with a pounding headache and no clothes," I tell him. I take another bite of a purple cake. 

"So you don't know if you were out with another wolf, drowning puppies, or perhaps out at a strip club?" he asks me, his voice going deep. 

I roll my eyes. 

"Obviously all of the above," I tell him. 

There's a soft knock on our door and we look at each, both of us naked. 

"Give us a minute!" I yell. We scramble for some clothes. I find a robe and slip it on. Jackson slips on a pair of sweats and then turns to face me. He grows steadily in his pants. 

Seriously? A robe is better than me naked? 

No. I was hard until someone knocked and then I saw you again and got hard again. 

I open the door and there stands Evelyn. 

"Girl, I thought you said 8!" she says impatiently. 

"8? For what?" I ask her. 

"For our spa day! Don't tell me you drank that much..." she says. 

"Speaking of. Do you know what happened last night? I have zero memories..." 

She eyes Jackson wearily. 

"I'll tell you at the spa," she says and tugs my hand. 

"Wait! I gotta get dressed!" 

I run to our closet and open my suitcase. I drop the robe and as i'm about to put on a bra, large hands stop me. 

"I'm not done with you yet," he purrs in my ear. 

"I gotta go!" I tell him. 

I slip on a pair of shorts, a bra, and a red t shirt. He reaches between my thighs and under my shorts. He rubs my p***y slightly and then brings his hand to his nose. 

"You smell so divine," he tells me. 

I bite my lip and moan at the look on his face. I instantly go wet and he smells it, inhaling deeply. I watch as his pupils get black and I can feel his longing as he looks at me. 

"Hmm. That's new..." I tell him. 

"You marked me last night. You can feel what I feel now," he tells me. He cranes his neck to the side so i can inspect my handiwork. 

"Not too shabby, eh?" I say, pride in my voice. 

"Can y'all stop fornicating? I need a detox stat!" Evelyn's voice comes from the front room. 

"Coming!" I yell. 

"Finally. Be sure you clean up after," she say. 

I emerge from the closet and giggle. 

"No not like that," I tell her. 

Jackson comes up next to us with his wallet in hand. He hands me a black visa card. 

"Make sure she gets pampered. If she doesn't do it right, then you can take that from her and use it properly," he tells Evelyn. She salutes him. "You're so weird," he says to her. 

He pulls me around to face him and kisses me deeply. 

"Have fun, baby," he whispers in my ear. "I'll see you soon." 

"I miss you already," I say to him. As the words leave my lips, I realize how true that actually is. 

Evelyn grabs my hand and yanks me away from him. We head down the stairs and out front to where a car is parked. It's a deep burgundy with the word Nautilus on the side emblems. The windows are tinted black, and the sunroof is open. 

"You wanna drive?" she asks. My mind flashes back to the last time I drove a car. 

"Not really," I tell her and head for the passenger's seat. 

She shrugs and climbs in the driver's seat, starting the car up. We head into the little town and stop at a lush hotel. She pulls in front to the valet, and when he comes to get her door, she slips him a few bills. We head inside and we follow the signs that say Inizio Spa. We get to the front desk and I hand the woman the card. 

"What would you ladies like done?" the plump woman behind the counter asks. 

"I uhm..." I trail off, overwhelmed by menu behind her. I don't know what half this stuff is. 

"The works, please. For us both. Do you have any packages?" Evelyn asks. 

The woman tries to hide her smile and hands Evelyn and I menus. The starting price is $500 for a basic package. The most expensive one is well over $1,000 and has a caviar face mask. 

"We will take the premier packages. And do you have a food menu? We would like lunch as well, and keep the champagne coming," Evelyn rattles off our orders. 

We are led to a private room with lockers. We slip off our clothes and put on plush robes. The woman comes back and my stomach rumbles. She hands me a menu and I look at the food selections- everything sounds divine. 

"Hmm. It all sounds really really good. What do you want?" she asks me. 

"It all sounds good to me, too. But I think I want crepes, corned beef hash, pancakes, and some orange juice," I tell her. 

"Oooh yes. I'll have the same. But make the orange juices mimosas. Actually, can we make our champagne orders mimosas too?" 

The woman writes it all down and nods at us with a smile. She rushes off and the plump woman from the front comes back. 

"While you guys enjoy your breakfast, we will have you in the salt jacuzzi. After that, we have the exfoliating sugar scrubs, a mask of your choice, mani pedis, waxing, and 2 hour long massages with access to the pool and jacuzzi," she says. 

We nod and she leads us to a warm, steamy room covered in tiles. There's a jacuzzi next to a pool, with some lounge chairs. The woman plops towels down next to us and another woman appears with glasses of orange liquid. I pull my hair up in a messy bun and grab one of the glasses. Evelyn slips off her robe and gets into the jacuzzi. 

"Evelyn! What are you doing??" I ask her. 

"What do you mean?" she asks, grabbing a glass herself. 

"You're naked!" 

"You're supposed to be. It's a spa." 

"We are?? Are you sure?" 

"Uh yeah, or else they would have given us swim suits," she says laughing at my expression. 

I slip my robe off and step into the jacuzzi. It feels amazing and envelopes my body in warmth. I let out a sigh and lay back against one of the jets so it hits my lower back just right. I lay my head back and close my eyes. 

"You know, I might be able to get used to this," I say. 

"That's the spirit. Oooh food's here," she says excitedly. 

We nibble on the food and it is possibly the best meal I've ever had. I mind-link Jackson and thank him. 

Jackson POV

You can show me how thankful you are later, sweetheart, I reply to her mind-link. 

I can feel her smile and blush. 

"Oi, loverboy. You listening?" Carter asks. 

We're sitting at the table eating breakfast. 

"No. What were you saying?" I ask, munching a strawberry. 

"I asked if you thought about how you were going to propose, you moron," he snaps at me. 

I roll my eyes. 

"No. I think I'm just gonna ask." 

"Evelyn will never forgive you-" 

"And?" 

"And if she doesn't forgive you she punishes me!" 

"I still fail to see how that's my problem," I tell him, taking a sip of the orange juice glass that was set in front of me. 

"I will make it your problem," he says, a weird, creepy smile spread across his face. 

"Yeah, go ahead buddy-boy. You try that," I tell him. 

I stab a piece of sausage and take a bite. I watch his face as his eyes go misty. A smile spreads across his face and he looks over at me. 

"What?" I ask. 

"Oh nothing. It's just that Evelyn is learning a lot about Caroline... She gave me some info about something that Caroline might like. That's all," he says and he scoops up a mouthful of eggs. 

"Oh? And what might that be?" I ask, nonchalantly. 

"I would tell you, but I think I'll need you to agree on your proposal first," he says. 

Smug f*****g bastard. 

"Hmm... And if I refuse?" 

"You might have an unhappy woman on your hands," he says, batting his eyes in mock innocence. 

"What do I have to agree to?" 

"Glad you asked. Here's the idea that Evelyn and Caroline came up with last night," he says, producing a paper bar napkin with the world's worst drunken drawing I've ever seen. 

"Hang on- you know where they were last night?" I ask him. 

"Well- I didn't until this morning. Evelyn told me everything. And might I say- you dog. s*x by the lake in the moonlight?? I didn't think you had it in you to be so romantic!" 

I ignore him and eat more of my food. What the hell was she up to last night? 

"What other shenanigans did they get into?" 

"I don't think I'm supposed to tell you. What time you wanna head over to the mall? The girls are gonna be another couple hours- their massages are halfway done and then they're getting lunch," he says to me. 

I smile thinking about Caroline. A warrior I didn't know came up to us. 

"Alphas," he said, bowing. 

"Yes Frederick?" Carter replies. 

"A fax just came in for Jackson," he says nervously, holding out a piece of paper to me. 

I grab it and read through it. $2M to watch over another Alpha's daughter. Frederick retreats as he sees my expression shift. Shit.. I wouldn't be able to bring Caroline with me. This is a year long contract, too..I wouldn't be able to handle a year away from her. I hand it to Carter and go back to eating. He lets out a low whistle. 

"Do you set these rates?" 

I shake my head. 

"Must be desperate."

"Nah. Fuckin BloodMoon is desperate. They're buying poor young girls before they can find their mates," I tell him. 

"It's sick," he says, shaking his head in disbelief. "You gonna take it?" 

"Probably not. Caroline might very well be pregnant right now thanks to my stupidity. I can't leave her with that," I tell him. 

"You know what you could do..." 

"I'm not killing the BloodMoon Alpha. That's not a pack I want to be in control of, no matter how many of their wolves submit to me," I say. 

"Then wipe them all out," he says as if it were that easy. 

"Look man- I'm telling you. Damian was a miracle. I won't get that lucky again..." 

He sighs. "Well. Caroline is welcome here as long as she likes. I don't know what Evelyn is going to do when you guys go home." 

"Maybe you guys can have some pups of your own finally," I tell him. 

He grins at me and wiggles his eyebrows. 

"So how do you reject a proposal like this?" Carter asks. 

I take the paper, rip it up, and toss it on the floor. He laughs and claps me on the shoulder. 

"You crack me up, brother." 

I just roll my eyes. 

Two hours, one run, and one shower later, we pull up to the mall. 

"Evelyn said they'll be here any minute," Carter says. 

My heart pounds in my chest and my palms are all sweaty. Am I...nervous?