Ember Rains

The Date

As I led her through the woods I was glad to see that she seemed comfortable.

“Can I ask you a question?” I asked suddenly.

“Sure.” She responded in a whisper.

She smiled slightly as we walked. I caught myself staring at the way the sun shone through the trees and glistened off her strawberry blonde hair. The red tones in her hair intensified natural pink in her cheeks. She was stunning and I couldn’t remember what I was going to ask.

After a minute she glanced at me and frowned, “What is it?”

‘Smooth…” Brooke commented smugly.

‘Why didn’t you snap me out of it?’ I snapped.

Brooke was silent.

‘You were staring too.’ I clarified, annoyed.

“You seem pretty comfortable alone here with me, why is that?” I smirked, c*****g my eyebrow at her.

‘Nice save.’ Brooke smirked.

To my surprise she chuckled.

“You are in my turf now.” She shrugged. “I feel more comfortable in the woods.”

“We were in the woods that first day.” I pointed out.

She flinched slightly. “Yeah, I wasn’t doing really well. I was hurt and I was worried you or somebody else would hurt Tyler.”

I nodded and slid my hands into my pockets, I had known that. I still didn’t like thinking about it. I couldn’t help but long for the day that she trusted me. Not only with her own safety but her sons as well.

“What did you mean by this is your turf though?” I grinned arrogantly at her. “These are my woods.”

She smiled, “The last three years Ty and I have lived out in the woods. Honestly the last forty-eight hours indoors have seemed almost suffocating.”

She shrugged awkwardly. For the first time since we started walking her smile faded away. She tugged at her sleeves awkwardly and let her head drop so she was watching her feet. 

“What's wrong?” I asked, unable to stop myself as I watched the pain flash in her brown eyes.

She took a deep breath and forced a smile. “Nothing, just thinking.” 

She shrugged passively before straightening again. Her posture was no longer relaxed though and her expression was tight and pained.

“Please?” I asked, relenting to not ask again if she didn’t answer.

She just shrugged and after another minute of walking we were there. There was a rusty old trampoline in the middle of a tiny clearing of trees.

“Wow, that’s random.” She said, staring at the trampoline.

I laughed “I know right. The guys and I found it in high school and it sort of became our get away when we needed a break from training.”

“Huh,” she replied thoughtfully.

“Anyway, I brought food and drinks. I figured we could have a picnic.” I said, trying to sound confident. “Or we could still go to a restaurant. I just figured you would prefer this.”

She stared at me with that same confused expression she had worn after I bandaged up her side. I wondered why she was so confused.

“It’s perfect.” Her voice was suddenly quieter, more uncertain.

“Are you okay?” I asked and she nodded. “Okay then let’s go.”

I thought for a brief second about offering her my hand but was unsure how that would go over. Instead I gestured for her to go ahead before falling in stride with her.

‘Coward,’ Brooke grumbled irritably. 

I ignored this knowing he wanted to feel her touch as much as I did.

We talked for hours until the quarter moon was high in the sky. In our circle of trees with no other light, the moon and stars shone brightly. The air smelled sweet and damp, as if rain was not far off, but the cloudless sky shone with millions of wonders untold.

As we lay only a foot apart and watched, we talked about things of little relevance. Learning our favorite foods and colors, allergies or embarrassing stories. I wished I could stay with her, like that, forever. I knew, however, that Tyler was waiting for her, and this perfect moment couldn’t last forever.

Just as I thought this my phone pinged with a message from Rowan. 

“Avrily went to bed and Tyler wanted to go home so Rowan took him back to your place.” I informed Myra.

“Ty,” Myra sat up looking around as if the darkness had suddenly taken on a new meaning. 

“Let’s go.” I said sliding off before offering her my hand.

It was time to get back to reality. I would probably have been disappointed about that, if she hadn’t taken my hand without hesitating. Once she was down she slid her hand away nervously, but I would take what I could get.

At her apartment complex I walked her to her door. After a second of hesitation she met my eyes. It lasted only a couple seconds, but that was a record so far.

“Thank you, I had a good time.” She said looking back at our feet.

“Thank you for coming.” 

“I-I need to go.” Myra said, taking a step away from me.

“Of course.” I smiled gently down at her. “Tell Tyler I said hi and next time we can do something together the three of us.”

She hesitated frowning. She studied my face as if to find an ulterior meaning to these words.

Finally she nodded slowly before ducking her head and unlocking the door. I couldn’t help but notice she moved as if she was expecting to be attacked any second.

‘I want to kill whoever hurt mate.’ Brooke hissed.

‘Me too, but she needs us here more than she needs vengeance right now.’ I sighed feeling the repetitive nature of this conversation growing 

‘I know.’ He sighed, responding to both my words and unspoken annoyance. ‘I’m sorry.’

‘It’s your nature.’ I shrugged as I headed back to the car.

I wasn’t going home though. Tonight I would watchover and be sure no harm came to my family.