That Innocent Face
1740 Words
Chapter Four.
Rafe’s POV.
I might have been drunk but I could still remember vividly the night I kissed Freya Nightshade.
It was the only real and genuine thing I had felt in years.
She was seated right across from me at the dinner table, I could still feel how silky smooth her hair felt when it slid over my finger. Her scent was everywhere, messing with my head and making my wolf stir in a way that terrified me.
I hated it. Hated how her presence made my body tense up.
Hated how she was now picking at her food with her head down, looking so damn small and innocent. Like a scared little bird.
But she wasn’t innocent, she was far from it.
That night at the party, I felt this stupid, overwhelming pull towards her, it might have been the alcohol but I couldn’t control it so I staggered over to where she was huldded in a dark corner and kissed her.
And for one perfect heart-stopping second… she kissed me back.
I felt her melt into me. It was real. I knew it was.
Then, with disgust, she shoved me away and ran.
The next day, I expected a reaction… something. A blush. A glare. Any acknowledgment at all that the mind blowing kiss we had shared the night before was real but she looked straight through me. Like I was a ghost.
The way her nostrils flared in disgust when she looked at me, the hatred burning in her eyes while she pretended nothing happened made my blood boil.
“Come on Rafe, everyone knows she’s kissed half the team. She’s the school’s slut.” Aaron’s annoying voice filled my ears.
I could still hear it, the sickening, mocking laughter that followed in the locker room after Aaron pointed out that he had seen me kiss her the night before.
“You should have seen the way you were all over her like she was special. I guess when you’re that desperate even thrash starts to look good, right guys?”
Those words still haunted me and that day, I almost killed one of the guys that had been laughing.
Aaron knew he had struck a nerve and he feasted on it. He told me everything, gave me a list of everyone she was doing things with and even led me out just in time to see her step out of the janitor closet with one of the guys from the team.
The f**ker was grinning from ear to ear while she adjusted her clothes.
The bullying that followed after that… it was different. I wanted to wipe that fake, innocent look off her face. I wanted to bury whatever emotions I had felt and the only way to not give a f**k about her was become her biggest bully.
I thought it would be amusing, that I would love seeing fear in her eyes, but I was wrong.
Anytime she looked up at me with those captivating almond eyes of hers, it tugged at a corner of my heart. It made me want to reach out and wrap my arms around her protectively, and inhale her scent.
God! I hated myself for that. I hated how my blood boiled when the other guys laughed at her, I hated that I cared but the bullying did a pretty good job at helping me mask my emotions.
Everything was good until Dad decided to screw things over.
I knew he was seeing someone but I never thought he would marry anyone and not even in my wildest dreams would I have imagined that the woman he would choose would be Freya’s Mom.
And now, here she was. In my house. Not just as my stepsister but as my tutor!
How was I supposed to keep hating her when she was sleeping in the room right next to mine?
“You both are siblings now and you should start acting like it. Start with schoolwork, maybe some time alone in the library will help you both actually learn how to talk to each other.” Dad’s voice snapped me out of my thoughts and I became aware of my surroundings again.
I knew that wasn’t a suggestion but a command.
I saw her stiffen, the look of horror on her face at the mere thought of being trapped in a room with me for an hour.
Slowly, I nodded unable to speak because even though I was trying so hard to act like she wasn’t here, my eyes kept drifting back down to the sight of her long slender, smooth legs underneath the table.
The dress she had on was short and the sight of how her skin glowed softly sent a weird sensation through me. I had never seen her like this before, her hair damp from the shower and her body looking so soft and enticing.
Without thinking, I reached out and gently brushed my fingers against her legs in a manner that made my wolf growl in pleasure.
I wanted her, with every fiber in my being and only the goddess knew how long I could keep pretending like I didn’t.
Her body went rigid under my touch, she dropped her cutlery loudly and her eyes widened in horror. When she pulled away from my touch I felt a sharp pain across my chest, pressing down on me and suffocating me.
She would give herself out to every asshole in school but act like I was beneath her? Like I was so damn disgusting?!
The look on her face, the way she scrunched up her nose to show how much she despised the fact that I had touched her made me want to push back on my seat and grab her hair.
I want to fist it right there in front of both our parents, force her to look at me and tell me why she would even let any of those sick bastards touch her.
Instead of that, I took a deep breath and tried to calm my racing heart. I could feel the adrenaline coursing through my veins, reminding me that I was on the brink of losing control in front of everyone so without a word, I rose sharply to my feet and stormed up the stairs to my room.
“He has always been a difficult kid but he’ll come around.” I overheard Dad whisper to them but I didn’t turn around.
Keeping my wolf under control had never been so damn difficult!
Freya Nighshade sure knew how to get under my skin and with her under the same roof, I wasn’t sure how much longer I could keep holding back.
I skipped breakfast the next morning because I didn’t want to be stuck at a table with her again, not after what happened yesterday but the moment I got to the bottom of the stairs, Dad popped out of nowhere with her and her Mom behind him.
I couldn’t help but notice how distant she was from her mom, not like I would know what kind of relationship people have with their Moms since I never got to meet mine but I just had this feeling that they weren’t close.
Or maybe she was just nervous with me around.
“You’ll drive Freya to school.” Dad commanded with a smile and she immediately tried to protest but he refused to take no for an answer.
“What? No.”
“It wasn’t a request, Rafe.” Dad growled.
She was trembling, her entire body quivering like she had just been sentenced to death. Like being in the same car with me was the most horrible thing that had ever happened to her.
The silence in the car was deafening. I could see her pressing her body so hard against the passenger door, trying to get as far away as possible.
I reached over to grab my phone from the console and she flinched.
She jerked back so hard that her head hit the window.
At that moment, something in me just snapped.
That flinch. That annoying look of terror she had around me.
After everything she did. After whoring herself around to the same people that bullied her, she was acting like I was the monster!!
I slammed my feet on the brakes. The car screeched to a halt in the middle of a quiet tree-lined street. We were still a good mile away from school.
“Get out.” I snarled, my voice low and dangerous.
She stared at me, her eyes wide open in confusion, “W-What? We’re not—“
“Just because my father decides to run a charity case by letting you into our house doesn’t change anything,” I cut her off, my voice unrecognizable and cold as ice,
“You’re still the weak, pathetic nobody you’ve always been.” I leaned over, my face inches from hers so she could see that monster she desperately wanted me to become,
“And if you so much as dare to breathe a word about our little family arrangement to anyone in school, I’ll kill you myself. Now, get out.”
I saw it, the tears that quickly pooled at the bottom of her eyes. She didn’t argue. Her hands trembled as she fumbled with the handle before she shoved it open and scrambled out.
She stood on the curb, her backpack clutched to her chest like a shield. She looked so damn small, completely lost and alone.
I didn’t care, I slammed my feet on the gas and sped off.
My heart was pounding. I felt sick. Furious.
But as I turned the corner, I couldn’t fight it any longer, my eyes flicked to the mirror and my heart straight up stopped.
Aaron’s jeep was parked right next to her. He was leaning out the window, that slimy smile on his face as his lips moved.
I saw her shrink away from his car, hugging her backpack tighter and when he stepped down to grab her, cold dread flooded my veins.
My body moved before my brain caught up. My foot slammed against the brake and the tires screeched as I wrenched the wheel in a violent u-turn.
I wasn’t thinking at all.
The idea of her alone with Aaron on a deserted road…
I had to get back to her. Now!
- Writer
