Found: A Sage Hollins Novel

CHAPTER TWELVE

"Sage...sweetheart," I kissed her forehead as she groaned, shielding her eyes from the sunlight coming through the hotel window with a comforter.

"I don't wanna," she whined, "Can't we just stay in bed?" I pondered the idea, toying with it in my mind.

"I wish, but it's already fifteen after eleven. We are very late for school." 

With this she sat straight up, "Did you say eleven?!" I couldn't help but chuckle as I looked at her. She had my gray t-shirt on, and her hair was pure static. Her eyes narrowed at me as she caught my gaze on her hair, "I'm not the only one with bed head." she grumbled, jumping up and skittering to the attached bathroom. 

After a moment, she was back and her hair was in a ponytail. 

"It's the best I could do," she muttered, "I don't have a brush." 

I admired her top to bottom. The shirt was entirely too big for her, hanging off of her like a dress and she had put her socks back on. I knew she wasn't wearing anything underneath because she had pouted the night before while throwing a lace scrap in the garbage. 

"You are beautiful as ever, my love."

She gave me a brief smile before her panic from before had set in and she scrambled over me to get her phone on the nightstand. 

"Oh s**t!" she cursed, "You have to get me home now!" she showed me the screen on her iPhone and pointed at the 12 missed calls from Maggie, 10 missed calls from Millie, 6 voicemails and a barrage of text messages. 

I let a curse slip, plastered a kiss on her and hopped out of the bed, searching for our pants. 

"There!" she pointed to my right and I grabbed up her jeans and tossed them to her, just as she found mine and threw them to me. 

"Oh baby, your mother is going to kill me." I grumbled, fastening the button on the denim. 

She gave me a wink, "I won't let her, but we're definitely in trouble." The curve of her lips sent heat to my loins and I groaned, grabbing her by the nape of her neck and kissing her hard. 

"I never want to leave here." she whispered when I let her up for air. She groped my hardness, looking up at me through thick black lashes and biting her lower lip. 

I lifted her up and she wrapped her legs around me, giving my hands freedom to explore the wetness between them- overjoyed she hadn't put the jeans back on yet. She moaned pleasantly in my ear, thrusting her torso so my fingers would rub her delicacy just the way she wanted it. I didn't take my eyes off of her face, I wanted to see her in the daylight as I pleased her. She was the description of beauty, her delicate features pulled back in ecstasy as her body moved against mine. I felt her tighten with her release and the drips on my fingers as they entered her, seeking out the climax. 

She slid off of me slowly, trying to catch her breath. Without taking my eyes from hers, I placed my fingers in my mouth, tasting her. Her emerald eyes widened, the same gold flecks from the night before glistening with desire. "Oh you're bad, Reid Carter" she whispered. Before I could kiss her again there was a loud pounding on the door and I felt both of our hearts stop. 

"Get your pants on!" I whispered urgently, pointing at the jeans she'd dropped back to the floor. 

I grabbed my hoodie from the end of the bed and slid it over me, tiptoeing through the bedroom to the door exiting the suite. I glanced through the peephole and swallowed hard, opening the door. 

On the other side stood a very angry, foot tapping Maggie Hollins and a small girl in overalls- I imagined that was Millie. Maggie's voice was the epitome of rage as she boomed, "Where is she?!"

                                                                        SAGE

I heard Mom's voice in the entryway of the suite and my heart sank. This was not how I wanted her to find out about Reid and I...I was going to tell her I'd decided to let him take me on some dates. I never imagined she'd find us with out pants down literally. I knew I technically was an adult, and technically these were my decisions to make- spending the night with a boy was perfectly normal at my age. That didn't change the fact that I was still in high school and my mother was my biggest supporter. I was ashamed I had lied to her.

I pulled up the zipper of my jeans and padded carefully out of the room, horrified to find that not only was my mother standing there, gaping at me in disbelief- she had brought Millie too. 

"Mom, how did you know where we were?" I barely got out.

She didn't bother with trying to be calm, "Are you kidding me?! You feed me a platter of lies on where you are, who you're with and what you are doing and you want to know how I found you?!" 

I found I couldn't look up at her face, my sights were stuck on her slide on shoes against the marble floor. "Mom, I'm sorry-"

"You don't even know the meaning of sorry, Sage! And then, to top it all off- you wouldn't answer your phone! How would I know if you were alive or dead?! How do I know you're safe with Reid?! I don't! He could be just like Rob-"

This time I cut her off and almost immediately regretted it, "No, mom, he's not! Reid is nothing like his father. He's calm, sweet and he's so gentle..." my words faded off as I saw her scanning me over, and then the room. 

Her eyes landed on my sweater and bra thrown misshapenly over the lounge chair in the corner. I felt a knot in my stomach and when her gaze met mine again I knew she had put two and two together. 

She began shaking her head in denial, "No...no, tell me you didn't. Sage, please tell me you didn't..."

I struggled for a moment to find the words, "Mom...I love him." I certainly couldn't say, 'yes, I did, at least four times- and right before you showed up, we almost ventured into a fifth time.'

I looked at Reid who closely resembled a ghost- I couldn't help but find it a little funny how even a prince, with his soul mate, could feel frightened of his girlfriends mom after she finds out they've been having s*x. I gave him a small smile that he reciprocated, softening when he heard me say I loved him.

"Love doesn't matter right now, you've joined him now! You've initiated the next step of the ceremony." her voice held the weight of a thousand boulders. I felt the impact as I took a moment to consider her words. I hadn't thought of the repercussions when I gave myself to him, and in my own way I knew he wasn't thinking about it either. I just knew it was the right thing to do, I felt it in my bones. 

There was a very long silence where you could barely hear anybody breathing. The air in the room had become thick with stress, and I had no idea how to respond. Luckily for me, I had my awkward best friend to break the silence.

"Does anybody want to tell me what's going on?" Millie spoke and every eye in the room turned to look at her. She was in her traditional overalls, a pink striped long sleeve shirt underneath an combat boots. She'd pulled her auburn curls into dual French braids along the side of her head and I noticed that she had opted for bright red plastic frames for her glasses. 

I glanced at my mother and then at Reid, who was watching me. He gave me a small nod, and mom muttered something along the lines of, "You're going to tell her anyway, you might as well do it now." before pausing and saying, "You know what, Sage? I am so beyond the point of anger. Very rarely in your life have I ever been angry with you, but damn it, I am right now. I'm going downstairs to the bar. I need a drink."

Nobody dared to mention that it wasn't even noon yet. Instead I watched her go and once the door shut behind her I sat on the sofa with Millie and told her everything. About faeries, about my mom, about my human father and Reid's ruthless family tree. Then I told her about the Moon Goddess and the bond she had placed on Reid and I- our mate bond. At some point Reid had cleaned up my torn off clothing and put them in the bedroom before ordering us all room service brunch. 

By the time I finished telling her the whole story her eyes were wider than I'd ever seen them. 

"I-I don't even know what to say...Faeries...wow. Wait, so does this mean that you're engaged?" she looked up at me, her face crinkled with curiosity. I struggled with my response for a moment, not entirely sure what to call it. I was thankful that Reid had gone into the other room.

"Well...sort of. I'm 'destined' to marry Reid." I wiggled my fingers with air quotes, "Even though it feels like I'd want to be with him even if it weren't for the Moon Goddess. He hasn't exactly proposed to me, so I don't know if we're technically engaged. But we will get married- someday." 

Around a sip of coffee she responded, "Then he better get you a nice ass ring." I chuckled and she gave me a bright smile. 

"I'm so glad you're here, Mils." 

She reached over and squeezed my hand, "Me too. I just wish you'd told me sooner." I gave her a little shrug, "I probably would've, but I don't know the rules to this faery business. I know that they- we -have to be quiet, and that the kingdom is shielded from humans. But I've been wanting to tell you everything since the very start." 

"I'm glad I know now. Does this make me like a Duchess? I want to be royal too!" she joked and I scoffed. 

"I'm not the Queen yet, and hopefully not for a long long time. I'm so scared, Mil. I don't know enough about these people, I don't know how to lead. I just want to graduate and spend the summer with you and with Reid." I let out a long sigh and she patted my knee. 

"So you love him, eh? Do you really, or were you just saying that because you were afraid of your mom's reaction to her sweet little girl having s*x?" I appreciated her trying to lighten the mood. 

I smiled, a real full smile, "Oh no, I love him. I love him with my entire being. It's the oddest thing... month ago, I had no interest in relationships. None at all...but now? Now I can say with absolute certainty that I am wildly in love with the man in the other room." 

Millie was glowing, "I'm so happy for you, Sage. I hope that everything works out, it seems like a lot has just fallen on your shoulders. And I'll be here- whatever you need, I'm here. Even if it's just a girls-night-in watching She's the Man or Dirty Dancing." I leaned over and hugged her, more grateful for her than she would ever know. 

I swapped clothes with Reid before we departed, never missing his eyes on my bare skin as I changed out of his shirt. He approached me slowly before I put the bra on and pressed his bare chest against mine, kissing me lightly, "I miss you already." 

I giggled, "We're lucky today was a teacher work day and I didn't have school. My mother would've really killed us." I kissed him back, "I miss you too." I felt hot tears in my eyes and wiped them away, annoyed.

He tilted my head up to face him, "That's probably the mate bond. We've joined now, it'll be harder for us to be apart." Wrapping my arms around his middle I settled into his chest, "It's already hard to be away from you. Now that we've...ugh, this will be torture."

There was rapping on the bedroom door, and then my mother's slurred words, "Yeeeew have 500 years to bang each other. Takeh me hchooome." She had had a little too much to drink at the hotel bar apparently.